1840.] SENATE— No. 36. 243 



the most promising auspices, who has not a dwelling place for these 

 tender objects of his charge, in which he can raise the temperature of 

 the air to the necessary point, when it has fallen below; and thus keep 

 the wheels in motion, or restore at once to vivacity, the torpid animals 

 whose faculties are benumbed and labors suspended by cold. Stove 

 heat is perfectly adequate to this want. 



Being prepared with a proper receptacle for the young caterpillar, 

 when it shall break its shell, and vegetation having advanced fiir 

 enough to furnish the needed nutriment, the little embryos are to be 

 called forth, by exposure to the influence of a summer atmosphere. 

 The process of hatching in the warmth of early June, out of the sun's 

 direct rays, is ordinarily effected within from five to ten days. Then 

 commences the business which may not be intrusted with impunity to 

 truant or slack hands ; but for the encouragement of promptness, in- 

 dustry and attention, will find its reward at the end of twenty, thirty or 

 forty days. Tender leaves should be laid for the worms as soon as 

 they appear, and that will be in the morning, for two or three succes- 

 sive days. The |)roduct of each day should be kept by itself, if con- 

 venient, that there be no unnecessary assemblage of those of different 

 ages. The expenditure of feed is very small during the first days of 

 the worm; but care must be taken to serve them with fresh leaves as 

 often as they need, and to see that none of them lose their chance of 

 thriving by being buried in rubbish, or retarded in growth by being 

 crowded out of their right through the greater strength and activity of 

 their fellows. Chopping the leaves puts them in a good condition for 

 the worm, until its powers and voracity give it an easy mastery of any 

 thing that contains the material of silk fibre. 



Through the successive ages of the worm, an eye is constantly to be 

 had to the convenient arrangement of hurdles or shelves on which the 

 worms are placed ; the seasonable and judicious distribution of feed; 

 their preservation from unwholesome effluvia, and from suffocation in 

 their own litter ; and other useful matters essential to their cleanliness; 

 and such purity of air as health requires, whether in men, beasts or 

 reptiles. As to the kind of platform upon which a discreet cultivator 

 should deposite his little passive animals, to receive their daily suste- 

 nance, and go through their successive ages, to the production and 

 maturity of the golden apple, every man's ingenuity will decide. Fresh, 

 pure air, circulating freely about the bed on which the worm reposes, 

 and which he never leaves at his own choice, is always important ; and 

 provision should be made accordingly, for ventilation, especially where 

 the atmosphere becomes hot and sultry. 



