No. 124.] 277 



I believe that the question whether rain or wet leaves will hurt 

 worms, is not satisfactorily settled. Some of my worms this season 

 were wet by the rain leaking through the roof, but I could not see that 

 they were injured by it. Care was taken, however, to dry their food in 

 rainy weather as much as possible. This was effected by placing a 

 coarse frame of small sticks over a stove, the heat of which rising and 

 circulating between the branches quickly dried them. Frames may be 

 placed about a stove so as to dry half a ton of Canton twigs in a day. 



4th. The sulphurs and the peanuts are the only kinds of worms I 

 have fed. I am satisfied that the large peanuts and large sulphurs 

 are the two best varieties, and that there is little difference between 

 them as to profits. 



5th. I use the white mulberry principally; have a few Cantons 

 from which I cut nearly all the young twigs and shoots. 



The winter frequently kills all the young wood that has grown the 

 preceding season, and occasionally some more. My trees are large, 

 and my method of gathering foliage is as follows: With a large 

 knife I commence at the lower branches and trim all the leaves and 

 shoots, leaving only enough to keep the tree alive. The trimming 

 is effected by striking with the knife instead of cutting. 



6th. I have not noticed any difference between early and late feed- 

 ing. I am told, however, by men of experience, that there is a 

 difference. 



I did not lose three per cent of my late crop the last season, and 

 am satisfied that those worms that have attained their full size, when 

 attacked by the yellows should not be destroyed. Let them be taken 

 out of the cocoonery as soon as the disease appears, and be placed 

 on winding leaves. They will seldom eat after the disease appears; 

 therefore the only thing that can be done with them is to place them 

 in a different air and where they can easily wind. With this treat- 

 ment, about thirty-three per cent of my yellow worms produced tole- 

 rably good cocoons. 



7th. An acquaintance of mine hatched a pound of eggs the first 

 week in August. Ten ounces of the eggs hatched well, the others 

 did not. They wound about the tenth of September, and produced 

 only three or four bushels of cocoons. 



The reasons of this failure are, that they were kept in the hatch- 

 ing frames until they actually crowded each other, and thus lost six 

 or eight days' growth; then they were not fed sufficiently, as there 

 was only one person who could attend to them. 



After they were removed to buildings where they had sufficient 

 room, the weather was unfavorable, and many more died, and none 

 attained common size. 



8th. I have not made mulberry paper. 



9th. I have ascertained by experiment that one hour's immersion 

 in boiling ley will produce such an effect on the young shoots of the 

 Canton mulberry, that the bark may be pushed off with the hand. 



Water, as far as I have observed, has no effect of this kind. I 

 also ascertained that boiling ley poured on the smaller shoots in a 

 cold vessel, and allowed to remain sixteen or eighteen hours would 

 produce the same effect. 



