I NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



OL. V. 



Published by John B. Russkli. at No. 5'i North ilarknt t^trect, (opposite Pamioil Hall) Thomas G. Fessenden, Editor. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, vVPRIL 18, 1827. 



No. 38. 



tie 



:i th 



AGitlCULTURE. 



ON THE CULTURE OF SILK. ~~ 



Continued J'ioki page 080. 



c tilings being p'.oniised. I shall now pro- 



to describr ihe method I observed to be used 



ance for hatchin;^ the worms. In order to 



tlie loss which must necessarily follow, if 



ulberry leaves should happen to be destroy- 



fi'ost, attcr yon Iiavo begun to prepare your 



, tlicy reckon it advisable to divide them, and 



re them for hatching at two different times, 



distance of ten or twelve days, the one after 



her. 



e advancement of the season determines the 



of preparing your eggs for hutching, as you [ 



sed to that as soon as you observe that there I 



prospect of having a sufficient quantity of j 



for your worms, by the advancement of the' 



;s of the mulberry. But in order to be proper- I 



epared for this work, you must begin a month I 



re the usual time of hatching ; first to put 



eggs in little divisions, from half an ounce to 



unce, which you must place upon a piece of 



n white p;iper. upon plates, for example ; and 



hose plates containing the errgfs in a place a 



i wanner than where you had kept them dur- 



the winter ; for e.xamplo, if you have an alcove 



place them upon the shelf within the alcove. 



them remain in that situation for the first five 



i.x days, after wliich you must prepare some 



e chip boxes, perfectly clean and neat, seven 



es lo ig, four inches broad, and four inches 



h, and cover them on the inside with clean 



tc paper, into which put tlie ddTerent divisions 



•our eggs, having a small box 1 tr each division, 



i place these boxes in a basket, upon a stool or 



ir, at the foot of your bed ; making one of the 



ttrasses of your bed go underneath the basket; 



I cover the basket on the lop, first with some 



er of woollen cloth, which pin close over it, 



1 above that place a bed cover above all, so as 



keep in the heat communicated by the mattrass 



the eggs ; in which situation let them remain 



six days longer ; after which increase the heat 



14 degrees of. Reaumur's thermometer,* pre- 



riing that heat equal, night and day, by means 



a little fire in some corner of the room at a dis- 



ico from the bed. 



n the morning when you got up, put a heater 

 one kind or other: for example, a tin bottle 

 th hot water, or a foot stove, into your bed be^ 

 ixt the sheets, and proportion that heat so as to 

 lual the heat you give to the bed, when you lie 

 it yourself; keeping up the same heat as near- 

 as you can, until you go to bed again yourself 

 the evening. 



Having kept them in this situation for eight or 

 ine days, you must then put your difierent divis- 

 ons of eggs into little pieces of old linen cloth, 

 vhich mu.-ft be washed thoroughly clean for that 

 lurpose, as the lee.st dirtiness in the cloth would 

 i)rove prejudicial to the eggs ; each piece of cloth 

 ihould be of the si. e of a foot square : turn up the 

 snds of the piece of cloth, and tie them with a bit 

 af thread, as near to the top or end as possible ; 

 by means of which the eggs will lie loose, and 



* Or about 50 degrees of Fahrenheit. 



can he shook, and turned from time to lime, with- 

 out untying the knot : replace these packets in 

 the basket, and cover them up as before, turning 

 and shaking tlio seed in the packets three or four 

 limes a day, that it may receive the heat equallv 



On putting tlie eggs into these packets, increase 

 the heat to I4J degrees of the thermometer, ;ind 

 keep up that heat night and day, as equally as pos- 

 sible ; for which purpose, have a couple of ther- 

 momelors in your room for your direction. After 

 the eggs have remained in the little packets for 

 three or four days, increase the heat to 1.5 de- 

 grees ; and in four days more, if the weather 

 seems settled, and very promising, increase tiie 

 heat gradually to 16 degrees, visiting and turning 

 the eggs from time to time as before. 



When the eggs begin to turn white, and the 

 mulberry trees are so far advanced as to be out of 

 danger from cold winds, or slight degrees of frost, 

 increase the heat gradually to 17^ degrees, or 18 

 degrees at most, to quicken the hatching of your 

 e^gs, and to make the worms come out as nearly 

 at the same time as possible. But never increase 

 the heat to more than 18 degrees, because a 

 greater heat never fails to push the worms too 

 fast, and to render them red at their first coming 

 out. 



When the worms are red at their first coming 

 out it is a sign the eggs have either been bad, or 

 ill kept over winter, or overheated ; that is, too 

 much forced when laid to hatch. Worms of this 

 colour are good for nothing, and are therefore 

 to be thrown away, to avoid the expense of feed- 

 insr them, since they will never produce cocoons. 



When the worms are entirely black, upon their 

 first appearance, it is a sign of their having been 

 perfectly well managed, which gives great hopes 

 of success. 



When the eggs first begin to take a white col- 

 our, put them into little chip boxes, and cover each 

 box with a bit of clean white paper, pricked with 

 many little holes in it, to allow the worms to come 

 through, taking care to inspect and shake the 

 egffs from time to time in the boxes, that they 

 may have equal access to the heat ; and when the 

 worms are ready to appear, put a few mulberry 

 leaves upon the paper, to which the worms will 

 readily attach themselves as they come out ; and, 

 by means of the leaves, you can easily take out 

 the worms as they appear, in order to put them 

 into different little boxes, and then jrive them some 

 of the tenderest leaves, cut into small pieces, to 

 feed on, giving them at the rate of three meals 

 each day. 



As the leaves when very young will dry so much 

 even in an hour's time, if exposed to the open air, 

 as to be unfit for the use of the young worms, you 

 must put them into n clean gla-ed pot ; but take 

 care to plnce them loose, that they may not press 

 too much upon each other; cover the head of the 

 pot with a wet linen cloth, and place the pot in a 

 vault or cellar ; or, in case you hove none, into 

 the coolest part of your house ; by which means 

 the leaves will keep fresh and rood for two or 

 three days ton-ether. Besides, you must take care 

 to have always in the house at a time, a stock of 

 leaves sufficient at least for three days' provision 

 for your worms, to secure you in food for them 



during such length of time, in case of wet weath 

 er ; ns nothing is more pernicious lo tiio worm.'i 

 than giving them «-et leaves for their food ; for 

 which reason be careful never to pull the leaves 

 when wot, cither with rain or dew, except on ab- 

 solute necessity ; and in that case you must spread 

 them out, and turn them, from time to time, with 

 a lonfr wooden fork, that the leaves may be per- 

 fc'ctlv dry before yo;i give tliem'to the worms. 



It m;iy here be ;idded, that it is the general 

 opinion in France that the leaves afford a moru 

 wholesome food for the worms when they have 

 been gathered four or five hours fresh from the 

 tree; and more particularly so if the trees grow 

 upon any soil other than sand or gravel; because 

 the keeping them so long so far diminishes the 

 over-richness of the leaf. The persons employed 

 in pulling the leaves must be careful to have their 

 Innds clean, and free from every strong offensive 

 smell, such as that of garlick, onions, or tobacco, 

 &c. ; and they ousrht to he particularly attentive 

 not to bruise the leaves in pulling them. 



When your worms are first hatched, keep each 

 dav's production separate by themselves, as it is 

 of high consequence to have each parcel brought 

 UD as equal as possible, that all the worms con- . 

 tained in it may be in readiness to mount for mak- 

 ing their cocoons at one and the same time. Af- 

 ter sottin.tr apart separately the production of each 

 of the first four davs, what then remains of the 

 ep-fs to be hatched may be thrown away, as these 

 later worms are always found to be weakly, few 

 of thorn compl^ajt-tljf ir cocoons ; so that the at- 

 temnt to rear them is always attended with an un- 

 necessary waste of leaves, besides the trouble 

 thev occasion to no purpose. 



When the worms are just come out, keep them 

 in a he«t not exceeding 15 degrees ; and even 

 then there is no occasion to cover them by putting 

 on the heads of the boxes, as it is better for the 

 worms to have abundance of free air. But if the 

 weather should hanpen to prove cold, you must in 

 that case put on the heads of the boxes at night, 

 or cover them with a double napkin, taking care, 

 however, not to let it touch the worms, for fear of 

 hnrtingr them, and take ofi' the head of the box or 

 napkin in the mornin?, when you give a feed to 

 the worms, as early as you can, at four or five 

 o'clock, but not later than the last. In that early 

 «tritp the three different meals should be given to 

 thp worms at the distance of six hours from each 



r>thpr. 



When the worms are cominsr out, they are not 

 to be left scarce a moment, as they ought to be 

 trnthererl from the boxes as fast as they make their 

 apne-rnnce : and as this work goes on in the night 

 as well as the dav, it becomes a very hard task at 

 that time. Monsieur Marteloy, the gentlemen al- 

 teadv mentioned, who always carefully attended 

 to this nnrticulnr himself, generally v,'ent to bed 

 it nine o'clqck in the evening, during this critical 

 pprio''. and p-ot up airain at midniorht, which was 

 o'littini' them as little as possible. But this great 

 nttertion at this time is only requisite in large 

 onerntions. for example, a pound of eggs, or any 

 nupntitv above it. 



The stajre ought to be erected in a large room, 

 with windows on each side of it, so as to be able 



