502 [Senate 



conclusive, and it is confidently believed, that whoever makes the 

 same attempt, will find that a portion of the chrysalides will not be 

 destroyed. 



A better mode of destroying them, and which proves effective, 

 as well as every way satisfactory, is one recommended by Mr. 

 Banne, a distinguished French chemist, which is as follows : Dispose 

 the cocoons in a wooden box, in a stratum of six inches deep ; upon 

 each superficial square foot of these, half a pint of alcohol sprinkled 

 from a water-pot so as to distribute the liquid equally over the co- 

 coons ; (Mr. Paine says one gill per bushel is sufficient. Have you 

 tested this 1 A. C. V. E.,) then form another stratum over these, and 

 a farther quantity of alcohol applied, and so on until the box is full ; 

 then closely covered up and left twenty-four hours. Instead of a 

 box, I used a barrel that had contained alcohol, — cut a space ten 

 inches square in the head, — nicely fitted a board with lists on each 

 edge, so that when it was shut down, all the air was excluded from 

 the barrel. This did the thing perfectly. 



With regard to the succession of crops before mentioned, the eggs 

 reserved for them were placed in a cellar where the temperature was 

 fifty-four, and according to the opinion of some writers on silk cul- 

 ture, they would not hatch without being exposed to a temperature 

 above sixty. Contrary jto expectation, as soon as the mercury went 

 up to this point the eggs hatched ; this too, when I was wholly un- 

 prepared for them, having neither feed, space nor time to attend to 

 them ; of course they were lost. Not willing to relinquish myfplan 

 altogether, about two-thirds of 'an ounce of eggs were procured, 

 which hatched the twenty-third and twenty-fourth of July ; these 

 went through their first and second moulting on the sixth and twelfth 

 days of their age without any loss, third nearly as well, fourth not so 

 successful, the weather about this time, being rainy and extremely 

 cold for the season, with constant sudden changes, which produced 

 torpidness of the worms from which they never recovered ; a consid- 

 erable portion of them formed cocoons, but few perfected them. 

 The first part of the season is unquestionably the best time for feed- 

 ing, still It is believed with proper attention to selecting feed, con- 

 genial temperature, say about seventy or above, natural best, but if 

 this cannot be had, artificial for later crops, may be successfully used. 



Much has been said and written about open feeding ; no matter how 

 open, provided all other requsites can be had. In the humble opin- 

 ion of the writer, whoever expects to produce a good crop of co- 

 coons from worms subjected to wet or damp atmosphere for any 

 length of time, and to a temperature below sixty-five, will be sadly 

 disappointed. In Lombardy, Italy and France, the great silk grow- 

 ing countries of Europe, the temperature in cocooneries is not only 

 regulated with great exactitude by artificial means, and the atmos- 

 phere corrected from time to time as occasion may require. In those 

 countries, the feeding season lasts but six weeks, and there is certain 

 as any other agricultural product. 



There the leaves from trees (not annually cut down) are used; of 

 course but one crop can be produced. This is no objection to a sue- 



