THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



73 



is needed they may be constructed so that one 

 may rei^cive the surpliis water of the oilier. To 

 prevent ciiving c'wc the siilcs a slope at 45°. 

 Ecich pool should have a gale at each end lo con- 

 trol the entrance and etjcape of the water, and 

 (•lo?in(r ilie npper should tu)n the water from the 

 pools into lis natural channel, and opening the 

 low one?, drain the pools. It is useless to add 

 more as we have said the construction necessary 

 is- so simple any man may plan them to suit his 

 peculiar tiiuation. See J\Ir. INIyerle's publication. 



ON THE USE OF QUICK-LIME ON SILK-WORMS, 

 TO PUEVEAT DISEASE. 



Translated from the ' Propagateur,' for the Silk 

 Journal. 



" Crest, (Drome,) Jan. 1840.'' 

 " To the Director : — " I had promised you some 

 observations, made durinfj many consecutive 

 years, upon the contagion ol" the muscardine ; hut 

 these observations would be supeifiuous alter the, 

 excellent article on this subject lurnished by M. 

 Bezard. The rontacion is a fact too positive to 

 be doubted, and iC some persons still contest the 

 point, it is because they have not taken ihe pains 

 to assure themselves of the truth. I will under- 

 take to communicate the contagion to any worms 

 that may be presented to me, even though they 

 may be upon the point of forming their cocoons. 

 The principle of contagion being established, it 

 remains lor us to <)iscover the means of prevent- 

 ing it, and if possible of curing tlie disease afier 

 it has appeared ; and 1 do not hesitate to say that 

 such a discovery would be the most valuable pre- 

 sent that could be made to those engaged in the. 

 silk culture. Preventive means are in fact insuf- 

 ficient in many instances, as I have been taught 

 by sad experience duriiifr the past season. I was 

 perfectly successful in 1837. There were no miis- 

 cardines, or almost none ; — about twenty in the 

 whole course of the rearing. Not wiihstandinir 

 that, as I had Buffered considerably the year 

 before. I caused the walls, the ceilinnr, and the 

 floor of my laboratory lo be while-waslied anew. 

 The shelves, the ladders and all the utensils were 

 washed in caustic lie, and the eggs were disin- 

 fected. I commenced my rearing of 1838, under 

 the most favorable auspices ; my worms were su- 

 perb, and every thins led me to hope for the most 

 complete success. When, in &e Iburth age, the 

 disease manifested itself. Its progress, although 

 elow up to the time of mounting, soon induced 

 me to predict what happened : i had no harvest. 

 1 must conless that I did but little in the way of 

 combatting the disease. I had tried in vain the 

 Vi^ashing of the leaves in a solution of potash, 

 as recommended byJVl.Bassi; and Ihe immer- 

 sion of the worms in this solution was aitended 

 with no better success. I contented myself wiih 

 hastening ihe maturity of the worms, and keep- 

 ing the air constantly renewed. The two last 

 ages were spent almosi in the open air, the ther- 

 mometer standing at IT'"*,* and the hygrometer at 

 68°. I should not omit in this place the mention- 

 ing of a curious fact, viz. : that the mortality was 

 always greater during the prevalence of northerly 



* Reaumur. 



winds, than when the wind blew from the fouth. 



"From what has just been siale<l, it will be 

 seen that it is by no means sulTicient to take a iew 

 precautions such as I have mentioned, since all 

 the preventives imaginable cmdd not secure me 

 from becominir the victim of this terrible scourge 

 of our laboratories in 1838. How precious then 

 would be the specific which would not only pre- 

 sent an ellectual barrier to the irruption of the 

 diseases, but would also be sufilcientiv powerful 

 lo arrest it alter its introduction I The success 

 with which the S7nitt in wheat has been attacked 

 by the su!l)haie of copper, (blue vitriol,) has sug- 

 gested to M. Bezard, the happy thought of com- 

 i batting the muscardine by the same means. M. 

 ; Gaudiberl-Barret, of Carpeniras, has suggested 

 I the use of lime, and his testimony is of great im- 

 portance, since he has not Ibund a single vinscir- 

 dine in his laboratory during the ten years that 

 he has been in the habit of applying it, though 

 his neishbors have been often attacked. I adopt- 

 ed his practice last summer, and the result has 

 surpassed my most sanguine expectations. I will 

 give you a brief account of my experiment. 



"Notwithstanding the precautions which I 

 had taken, I was observing the course of my rear- 

 ing with some anxiety, when, alier the second 

 moulting, the muscardine broke out with great 

 violence. T thought at once of the lime, and 

 wrote to M. Gaudibert-Barrei, who had the kind- 

 ness to furnish me with all the informa:ion t 

 wanted. He told me that the quantity of lime 

 used would render the litter unfit to be fed to cat-, 

 tie.* This caused me to hesitate somewhat, as 

 I did not feel willing lo spoil the litter. The nior- 

 talily continuing, however, I at last sent for the 

 lime and proceeded to apply it. My worms had 

 finished their third moulting, and were entering 

 upon their fourth age. I had no expectalion that, 

 the disease would cease instantaneously, and, in 

 fact during the fourth age I discovered nearly the 

 same number of muscardines each day ; only Ihe 

 disease did not increase, and on this account I kept 

 up my spirits and went on to api)ly the lime twice 

 a day. The fourth moulting took place. I limed 

 the worms before and after their sleep, and on 

 clearing away the liiler, I liad the satisliiciion to 

 perceive that the disease had almost entirely dis- 

 appeared, since I did not find more than two dead 

 worms, at most, to each table of thirty-six square 

 feet of surface, I continued the liming, at least 

 twice a day, up to the time of mounting, and the 

 consequence was that my cocoons were superior 

 both in quantity and quality to any that I have 

 ever produced. The report spread abroad that 1 

 was covering my worms with lime, and I had nu- 

 merous visiters. One of my neighbors, among 

 others, came to see the experiment. His worms 

 were hatched the same day that mine were, and 

 were attacked with the muscardine about the 

 same lime. I pressed him to use Ihe lime, as- 

 suring him, and indeed demonstrating the fact, 

 that the process could not in any case injure the 

 worms. He appeared to be convinced, promised 

 that he would attend to it, went away — and 

 •did nothing. Well, what happened? His fail- 

 ure has been as signal as my success. This, my 

 dear sir, has appeared to me lo be a very sirong 



* There are several allusions made in the 'Propa- 

 gator' to feeding hogs, &.C., with the litter from the 

 hurdles. 



