150 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 3 



dread, especially in the fifth state, the cold and 

 damp winds of the south. Besides the exterior 

 humidity, a great quantity is developed in the 

 niagnanery, from the leaves and from the worms 

 themselves. 



The dryness of the air, besides being essentially 

 injurious to silk-worms, as to all otJier animals, 

 even when in the greatest possible purity, withers 

 and crisps the leaves; and the worms, instinctl}' 

 perceiving that the>.y require a certain quantity of 

 water in their food, reject the leav^es as soon as 

 they wither; there is consequently the sufTering of 

 the worms, as well as the loss of leaves. 



All intelhgent cultivators know, from their own 

 experience, how important it is to fulfil all the con- 

 ditions of a continual renewal of the air, a uniform 

 temperature, and an invariable humidity; but from 

 a want of the means for doing this properly, they 

 are compelled to guard against the injuries which 

 may arise as well as they can, and to this end, 

 they are m the habit of burning in the apartment 

 aromatic plants, boiling vinegar with cloves in it, 

 sprinkling the worms with chloride of lime, &c. &c. 

 But the inefficiency and even danger of these ex- 

 pedients is readily perceived. 



Dandolo, the distinguished cultivator of Pied- 

 mont, delayed not in ascertaining that these means 

 were detrimental to the silk-worms, and immedi- 

 ately and completely reformed the art of man- 

 aging his establishment. To purify a magnanery, 

 he made holes in the floor, ceiling and lateral walls, 

 for the admission of fresh air, and the escape of 

 these fumigations, which he had ascertained were 

 dangerous; and in the magnanery, constructed on 

 his plan, and called Dandolories, the proprietor ob- 

 tained fi'om 100 to 110 pounds* of cocoons, instead 

 of from 50 to 60 for each ounce of eggs; but his 

 imitators, un;brtunatcly, are but few, in conse- 

 quence of the want of encouragement in Pied- 

 mont. Here is the subject presented lor conside- 

 ration in France, where encouragements are not 

 wanting. 



Nevertheless, the system of Dandolo is yet de- 

 fective; he established his fireplaces or furnaces in 

 the magnanery, and the immediate action of the 

 heat which is developed, and the exhalations which 

 arise Irom the combusUbles, cannot but be inju- 

 rious to the silk-woi'ms. Besides, his means are 

 often inetf(2ctual, specially in lowery and stormy 

 weather, when the air does not ii-eely circulate, 

 and when it is necessary to have recourse to fumi- 

 gations of chloride of lime, the application of which 

 it is far from being practicable at all times to make, 

 with the desirable exactness. 



ft is necessary, then, to employ more powerful 

 and infallible means, lor illustrating tlie principles 

 of sanitory purification developed by Dandolo: it is 

 thus that science assumes its control over the sub- 

 ject, and completely annihilates the action of exte- 

 rior inlluences, removes the source of heat beyond 

 the magnanery, and is enabled to realize, simul- 

 taneously, the ibur conditions so essential to suc- 

 cess in the management of silk-worms. 



In the system of D'Arcet, the magnanery is in 

 the second story, and the furnace or calorilery, is 

 in a small apartment in the lower story, which is 

 called llie air chamber. The air issues from this 

 chamber into pij)es, which extend the whole 

 length of the floor of the magnanery, and from 



*The pound of 16 ounces. I 



which it issues through circular holes of various 

 sizes. In the ceiling, are made a number of con- 

 duits and openings, perfectly sj'mmetrical with 

 those below, and it is by these superior openings 

 that the air escapes through a funnel into the 

 chimney of the furnace, which receives the pipe of 

 the calorilery, after having been introduced into 

 the magnanery, by which a continual warmth is 

 kept up. 



It is only necessary, then, that a proper tempe- 

 rature and humidity should be maintained in the 

 apartment; and this result is easily obtained, for, 

 by the aid of a furnace, ice, moist cloths, and dise- 

 cating substances, there can be produced heat, 

 cold, humidity and dri^iess. 



In the month of April, 1833, Mr. D'Arcet sent 

 to Mr. Camille Beauvais, his plans of a "Salubri- 

 ous Magnanery," and as the period of breeding 

 the silk-worms was near, the application of the 

 system and a knowledge of the result, would be 

 postponed lor a year if it was suffered to pass, Mr. 

 Camille Beauvais was impatient to test this scien- 

 tific theory by an experiment, the success of which 

 was guaranteed by his experience in the manage- 

 ment of silk-worms. In a month he constructed a 

 new magnanery, which was so judiciously arrang- 

 ed, as to insure to him all the advantages which 

 could be derived from the proposed improvements. 

 He corrected, as soon as possible, such imperlijc- 

 tions as necessarily arose fi'om the novelty of the 

 system applied to the rearing of silk-worms, and 

 the precipitate manner, in which the work was 

 executed. 



Mr. Camille Beauvais, immediately found in the 

 interesting and successful result which he obtain- 

 ed, the prize of his assiduity and his devotion;* 

 and has the gratification of liaving demonstrated 

 more clearly than had before been done, that a new 

 era may be commenced in the culture of silk — 

 thanks to Mr. D'Arcet's system of salubrity, for 

 the application of which, it only requires a careful 

 and attentive workman to execute the instructions 

 which he has given, in a perfect manner.(i) 



Still, gentlemen, if the important fiict which has 

 been established near the capital of the empire, 

 seems to countenance those bright hopes which 

 numerous enlightened men have entertained, it is 

 proper to declare — it is |)roper to repeat, in the sin- 

 cerity of truth, which repulses all equivocal tri- 

 umphs, that whatever confidence this remarkable 

 experiment merits, and has already obtained, it 



*TIie current price of raw silk, was at tliat time, 

 twenty-live francs per half killogram, and Mr. Camille 

 Beauvais sold his for fifty. It was produced by that 

 beautiful race called Sina, which Louis XVI. obtain- 

 ed from Canton in 1784, and was by degrees changed, 

 in consequence of the negligence and avarice of the 

 first culti\ators of this species of silk-worm; but Mr. 

 Poidebard has been enabled, by lon^ and assiduous ef- 

 forts, to regenerate it in a remarkable manner, and J\Ir. 

 Camille Beauvais has endeavored to restore it in all its 

 primitive beauty. 



(1) It is highly probable, that the apparatus for 

 heating green houses with hot Water, or tlie cockle or 

 furnace for warming private houses and public build- 

 ings, may bo advantageously substituted for Mr. D'Ar- 

 cet's method. If the theory of Mr. Beauvais shoidd 

 be deemed worthy of ado])tion in this country, the in- 

 genuity of our enterprising citizens will, beyond a 

 doubt, discover some simple, cheap, and better mode. 

 — Tianslalor. 



