tion felt while sitting in a current of air, is no evi- 

 dence of that air or the place we sit in being of a 

 lower temperature than the air of a room where 

 faiere is no such current. The air passing over the 

 surface of our bodies carries off heat, and thus 

 causes the cold sensation, while at the same time the 

 current of air, that "feels cool," is in many degrees 

 vrarmer than our bodies. But silk worms are 

 not warm blooded animals, and of course they do 

 not experience the same relief, having no excess of 

 animal heat to be carried off. Although many per- 

 sons have assured me that they had lost many 

 worms by hot weather, I am constrained to think, 

 that the heat was not the sole cause of the loss, for 1 

 have never lost a worm that I could attribute to that 

 cause. Hot weather will undoubtedly cause the de- 

 struction of the whole of them, if the litter and ex- 

 crement be left unremoved ; and I always suspect 

 some such want of attention in every instance of the 

 destruction of worms by hot weather. Heat dees 

 not injure the worms in their natural state, nor will 

 it in their state of domestication, if they are kept as 

 free from filth as they are on their native trees. 

 Keeping the shelves clean, the worms not too much 

 crowded, the air in the room pure by the use ol 

 chloride of lime and ventilation, and feeding with 

 fresh dry leaves, I consider the best and only preven- 

 tives of any ill effects from hot weather. 



Between the 25th and 35th days of the worm's 

 age they will show signs of a disposition to spin 

 They will become somewhat of an amber colo 



niently lie on the papers may be placed there. This 

 mode has the advantage of security against ants 

 and mice, which are very destructive to these insects. 

 The room should be dark, if possible, while the in- 

 sects are on the papers, and each sheet should be 

 filled before any are put upon another, and as soon 

 a the moths on one sheet are done laying eggs, it 

 hould then be taken down, folded, and put into a 

 in box in a cold cellar, uhere all the eggs must be 

 cept till wanted for use next spring. The moths 

 are in the form of a grayish white butterfly, and 

 generally begin to lay eggs in 24 to 36 hours after 

 eaving the cocoons. The eggs are. at first of a pale 

 yellow, or somewhat of a sulphur color, but in three 

 days turn to a light slate color, and subsequently to 

 a dull brownish slate color. When seen through a 

 microscope they are speckled. Those that remain 

 yellow have not been fecundated, and of course are 

 worthless. Each healthy female moth will lay about 

 450 eggs, generally, handsomely disposed and firmly 

 attached to the paper in a circular form, the whole 

 covering a space about the size of a fifty cent 

 piece. 



Should the eggs be permitted to remain exposed 

 to the warm weather, they will hatch, and, unless 

 another crop be desired, they will be lost. This is 

 the only injury they are liable to from warm wea- 

 ther. The flies eat nothing after leaving the co- 

 coons, and die in a few days after depositing- the 

 eggs. The tin box in which the ejsss are directed to 



about the joints of the body, semi transparent, 

 throw out fibres of silk on the leaves, and wander 

 about. The brush for the cocoons should now be 

 provided. The best and simplest that I have been 

 able to find is the broom-corn. Clear it well from 

 seed, and cut it from the stalk close to the junction 

 of the straws: spread out the top in imitation of a 

 small tree, and set it on the shelf with the top press- 

 ing against the bottom of the upper shelf to hold it 

 in its position. It may be set in rows six or eight 

 inches apart, across the shelf, and over the top 

 shelf an extra one may be placed for this purpose. 

 The worms will readily find and climb these little 

 trees and spin their cocoons in them , the worms 

 will be four days spinning their cocoons, and they 

 will all generally be finished on the 8th day after 

 they first begin that is, all of the same day's hatch- 

 ing. The brush may then be taken down, the co- 

 coons taken off, cleared of the loose tow, and pre- 

 pared for reeling. 



The cocoons from which eggs are expected must 

 be spread out in a room, secure from mice and ants, 

 and in five to ten days the moths will come out of 

 the cocoons, when the males and females will couple; 

 they must then be taken by the wings in pairs with- 

 out separating them, and placed upon sheets of pa 

 per disposed for their reception, where they are to 

 remain. There is generally about an equal number 

 of each sex. I have found the best mode for fixing 

 the paper for the moths to lay on, as follows: stretch 

 two pieces of strong twine across the room from vval 

 to wall, about two feet apart, and another about a 

 fool over the middle of these. Lay large sheets o 

 paper (old newspapers will do) over them and pii 

 them down at each side to the lower twine. The 

 sheets of paper will then be in the form of the roo 

 of a house. As many pairs of moths as can conve 



be kept, is intended to protect them from mice and 

 insects. The eggs should be kept in a dry cellar, 

 as mould and mildew will injure them. There will 

 be many double cocoons, those which have two or 

 more worms in them ; these and as many more of 

 the others as are wanted should be selected for 



After clearing- the cocoons of the loose low, such 

 as are intended for reeling, and cannot be wound off 

 immediately, must be subjected to some process by 

 which the chrysalis will be killed, to prevent its per- 

 orating the cocoon. Heat ia most commonly ap- 

 )lied. In Europe the modes of its application are 

 arious. Some bake the cocoous in un oven about 

 jalf heated for bread ; others apply steam, and others 

 xpose them to the rays of the sun for several 

 lays during the heat of the day. There is danger 

 of scorching the silk in the first mode ; of decom- 

 )osing the fibres, in th second ; and, of not perfectly 

 accomplishing the object in the third. I have found 

 the following mode preferable to any other, as the 

 object is perfectly effected without danger to the 

 siik. I put the cocoons into a tight tin vessel, with a 

 cover clo&ely fitted; and put this vessel into another 

 a little larger, containing such quantity of wafer as 

 will nearly fill it when the other is put into it; the fire 

 is then applied and the water kept boiling half an 

 hour, or more, according to the size of the vessel 

 and until the cocoons in the inner vessel shall have 

 become as hot as the boiling water. The cocoons 

 are then spread out in a dry room, that whatever 

 moisture there may be, may evaporate. By this 

 mode, the heat can never be raised so high as 

 to injure the silk, and th6 fibre is not loosened by 

 moisture; on the contrary, much of the natural 

 moisture of the cocoon is dispersed. After this op- 

 eration, the cocoons are ready for the reel or for sale. 

 All the cocoons that can be reeled in the course of 



