136 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March, 



thermometer ; the box was examined every week ; and the 

 mercury was not allowed to rise above 45° Fahrenheit. The 

 above plan succeeded with me to perfection ; the last hatching, 

 on the 27th of August, was as perfect as the first." 



The same method was adopted with like success by a gen- 

 tleman at Bristol, Pennsylvania, who informed me that he kept 

 his eggs perfectly until September. I have known severe dis- 

 appointments and losses experienced by bringing the eggs too 

 suddenly from the cellar or ice house to a high temperature. 

 The transition must be gradual or it may be fatal to the worms. 

 In some cases the hatching has been commenced before the 

 eggs were transferred to the ice house. This of course would be 

 fatal. The eggs are hatched at a temperature of 82° to 86° 

 Fahrenheit. 



XV. Destruction of the Moth. — To destroy the chrysalis 

 or moth various modes have been tried. The exposure to a hot 

 sun will generally kill them, though this mode is not always 

 certain. Baking them in an oven after the bread has been 

 drawn, is sometimes done, though the silk is liable to be injured 

 in such case by an excess of heat. I have known the moths 

 destroyed by the steam of boiling water. In this case the 

 cocoons are put into a sieve and covered with a cloth, and held 

 a short time over the steam of boiling water ; after which they 

 must be dried. Putting them in a tin vessel and plunging them 

 into a vessel of water heated to 202° Fahrenheit, will be found 

 a convenient and effectual mode. Gertrud Rapp, of Economy, 

 Penn., who, as much as any one, is in this case entitled to speak 

 with authority, prescribes another method. 



In a letter dated in February of this year, to G. B. Smith of 

 Baltimore, the editor of the American Silk .Tournal, a gentleman 

 entitled to the highest praise for the intelligence, perseverance, 

 and public spirit, with which for several years ho has urged the 

 introduction of the silk culture into the country. Miss Rapp 

 says ; " Since we are killing our cocoons with camphor, we find 

 them as easy to reel, at any time after the regular season, as 



