84 ON THE CULTURE OF SILK. 



and fresh, provided they are taken out and exposed to the air a 

 few minutes daily. Another resource is dried mulberry leaves, 

 reduced to powder, and when used slightly moistened with 

 water. Young worms are said to eat this preparation with 

 avidity. If so it would be very economical to gather most of the 

 leaves remaining on the trees just before the frosts of Autumn. 

 At this time, little or no injury is done trees by stripping them 

 of their fohage. Let the leaves gathered at this time be dried in 

 the sun and pressed into cakes in the manner Shakers preserve 

 medicinal herbs, and reduce them to powder the following season 

 when wanted for use. 



Feeding, and management generally. — The appetite of silk 

 worms is somewhat affected by the weather and other circum- 

 stances which vary in different cases. The quantity of food 

 therefore required for each day cannot be precisely determined. 

 It must be however of some use to know the quantity of leaves 

 required during each age, as nearly as possible, so that no waste 

 be made by gathering more leaves at once than will be wanted 

 during the time in which they can be preserved fresh. We 

 accordingly find, in European manuals, directions as to the pre- 

 cise quantity of leaves, by weight, which is to be given every 

 day, from the hatching of the worms until they form their co- 

 coons. One of their tabular statements of the daily proceedings 

 in the culture of silk, we shall annex, believing that although it 

 may not always be necessary or best to follow it in every parti- 

 cular, that it will serve as a valuable guide to the inexperienced 

 in this new employment. Printed on a separate sheet it may be 

 detached from the book and posted up in the laboratory, or 

 room where the silk worms are kept. 



The worms must be kept clean. During the first age, al- 

 though it will be proper to spread sheets of paper — old newspa- 

 pers will answer — over the shelves composed of wicker-work, to 

 prevent the little creatures from falling through and getting lost 

 with the litter. They will need cleaning only twice. 



The litter is to be taken away in the following manner. 

 Scatter some fresh leaves over one quarter or one half of the 

 shelf — to these the worms readily attach themselves. These 



