^ 2S2 [Senatz^ 



room was ventilated by opening a window four feet square on the west 

 side, and by a large door which was open when atiy one went in, hut 

 wlien no one was present it was kept shut to keep hens out. After 

 the third moulting the worms were fed upon frarnt-s covered wiih 

 straw, first with branches and afterwards with leaves; and althouo"h 

 not cleansed after this time they were perfectly healthy, not one per 

 cent dying from disease or sickness of any kind. The rest of this 

 crop were fed in the chamber of my wood and carriage-house, one 

 window in each end, and the floor made of loose boards. They were 

 fed on solid board shelves, and although not cleansed after the third 

 moultinfr, they were as healthy as the others. They spun their cocoons 

 in three ditferenl kinds of fixtures — 1st. In roofs suspended over the feed- 

 ing frames made of very thin laths, cut by a circular saw, having mount- 

 ing ladders, made of the same materials, an eighth of an inch thick 

 and one and a half inch wide. These they readi'y climb, and there- 

 by enter the roofs. 2dly. In shelves made of half inch boards six 

 inches wide, long enough to cross the feeding frames, and a ledge 

 nailed across each end about an inch thick, so by placing a suflScient 

 number on the top of each other they form a convenient retreat for 

 the worms, which they fill with their cocoons, and which are easily 

 gathered. These shelves, however, should be divided lengthwise by 

 a thin lath; which, rendering the aperture more dark, and presenting 

 more angles to attach their floss to, they would be less disposed to- 

 wander about before commencing their cocoons. 3dly. In straw* 

 Small bundles about as large as the wrist, and long enough to stand 

 upright between the feeding frames, being tied near the lower end, 

 and the top spread out, and the straw crumpled and bent in various 

 directions, afford them great facilities for attaching their cocoons, and 

 which they seem to prcler to any other. An hundred and twenty I 

 picked out of one of these small bundles. A second crop have now 

 nearly completed their spinning, and have been about as healthy as 

 the first: although from their having being crowded too thickly upon 

 the shelves, some of them were not of course full i'td^ and in conse- 

 quence lagged behind till disease and death overtook them. These 

 errors must be avoided next year. 



I have thought proper to give this brief account ; for, although the 

 operation is small and unimportant, yet it shows what may be done 

 on a more extended scale. I have read and thought much upon this 

 business, for the last ten years, and have become fully convincecJ 

 that it will ultimately become an object of great national importance, 

 and that our silk product will one day be second to no other ; ancl 

 had it not been for a continual press of professional business, I should 

 at this time have been fully engaged in the business. 



Cyrenius Hait, Somcrsef, Pulaski Co.^ Ky. — 1st. I have beer> 

 feeding silk-worms for three years in a small way, in a common 

 building, without any way to regulate the temperature at alL 



