No. 124.] 259 



12 lights each, 10 by 12 glass, and one door, frequently all of them, 

 open : we were careful to feed on dry leaves, sprinkling air-slaked lime 

 over them, and not cleaning the hurdles but a few times. We lost very 

 few by disease, the ant proving our only enemy. This season we fed 

 enough to make about one bushel of cocoons, and did not lose in all 

 probability KKJ worms, the most of which were mashed, or dropping on 

 the floor, were destroyed by the ant. 



We fed this season in a plastered room, 3 large windows of 18 

 lights each, and 2 doors, all of which were generally open from 8 to 

 9 o'clock, A. M. We were induced to make a fire in the room about 

 daylight for a few mornings, the season being colder than I ever be- 

 fore saw in the south, though a native. I fed partly on morus and 

 partly on the red (wild) mulberry. I have three neighbors that have 

 fed more than we have. They feed on shelves, suspended from top 

 of house, in, generally, a shed, weather-boarded with split white-oak 

 clapboards, no sash, no fire. One of them fed in an open log-house 

 this year, with not even a door-shutter, or the cracks of the house 

 stopped. This lady, Mrs. Nancy Wells, wife of Mr. Wm. M. Wells, 

 sent to our Fair a specimen of her silk, and a purse knit of it, on both 

 of which she took a premium. She has been making silk three years, 

 uses the common reel and the common spinning-wheel, and deserves 

 great credit for her zeal, industry and public spirit. 



None of the experiments I know of in this region, but have been 

 very successful; and, except my own, I do not think a thermometer 

 would vary one degree ^'rom the shelf where the worms were, and 

 out of doors, except the blowing of wind would cause a slight varia- 

 tion. I have visited these fixtures each year, and know what I say. 

 The loss is so trivial that neither could say if there were any. Be- 

 sides which, I have seen the worms one to two inches thick on the 

 shelf, crawling over each other; and when moved, they were taken 

 up, not one by one, but really as taking up a handful of nails. 



This season I fed worms with leaves well wetted with dew, so much 

 so, that shaking them on the floor would pretty well sprinkle it, which 

 we generally did. Heretofore we gathered dry leaves in time, or 

 even wiped them dry, but it was so tedious we resolved merely to 

 shake the water off", and our worms grew apparently more rapid than 

 ever they h ul before. As a fact to prove this, they began to wind 

 the 25th or 26th day. They were never fed after 9 o'clock nor before 

 6 to 7, generally 5 or 6 times a day, sometimes, though not over 4 

 or 6, giving them leaves, or branches with the leaves on them. Hur- 

 dles cleared off but seldom, and when done so, the leaves and stems 

 were a mass of some inches in thickness, and sometimes even mil- 

 dewed, and the odor offensive. We had made up our mind, that much 

 of this feeding with cut leaves, all day and all night, cleaning hurdles, 

 dry leaves, no moisture, &c. &c., was too much trouble, and unneces- 

 sary, and we tried the plan. We would not hesitate to feed in the 

 open air, if it were not for birds, poultry, ants, and our heavy rains, 

 all of which are enemies, especially the numbers of one and the quan- 

 tities of the other. 



The great difficulty in all matters of improvem.ent in the south is, 



