fit to be taken off from the 7lh to the 10th day I 

 The gathering must be commenced below and con- 

 tinued upwards, and the cocoons that feel soft should 

 be kept by themselves. \Vben the cocoons are de- 

 tached. the down or floss, in which the silk worms 

 hare formed the cocoons, should be taken off. 

 The floss silk ought also to be collected and kept 

 separate. 



CHOOSUTO TUB COCOONS FOR THE PBODCCTIOJf OF 

 EGOS. 



About two ounces of eggs, which will yield, allow- 

 ances being made for accidents, 40,000 worms. 

 The small cocoons of a straw color, with hard ends 

 and fine webs, and which are a little depressed in 

 the middle, as if tightened by a ring or circle, are 

 to be preferred. There are no certain signs to dis- 

 tinguish the male from the female cocoons; the 

 best known are the following : 



The smaller cocoons, sharp at one or both ends, 

 and depressed in the middle, generally produce the 

 males ; the round full cocoons, without ring or de- 

 pression in the middle, usually contain the females. 

 Ac, however, all marks may fail, an extra number of 

 the best should be taken for eggs, and when the 

 moths come out, the males and females being easily 

 distinguished, an addition, should there be a defi- 

 ciency of either sex, can be made, from the double 

 cocoons, to the defective side- In the seed cocoons, 

 however, the double ones are to be avoided, and on- 

 ly to be resorted to, to supply a deficiency. 



By shaking the cocoon close to the ear, we may 

 generally ascertain whether the chrysalis be alive. 

 If it be alive and loosened from the cocoon, it yields 

 a sharp sound, when dead it yields a dumb one, 

 and is more confined in the cocoon. 



If white silk be desired, the choice must be made 

 among the white cocoons exclusively. The cocoons 

 intended for seed should be stript of the floss, that 

 the moth may not be embarrassed when it first ap- 

 pears, and the cocoons thus sorted, should be laid 

 separate. It is recommended by some writers, that 

 the selection of cocoons for seed should be from 

 among those thai were spun the earliest, but we 

 hardly think that can be considered essential. The 

 cocoons when selected for seed should be spread out 

 thin, and in from two to two and a half days the 

 moths vill come out, when they should be placed in 

 pairs, male and female, on the paper arches to be 

 formed across the room, as described by Mr. Smith 

 in page 46, and there permitted to couple and lay 

 eggs. Each healthy female will lay about 450 



While the moths are coupling they should not be 

 disturbed by noise, but be permitted to enjoy each 

 other's society in quiet; the room should be dark- 

 ened. and its temperature kept at from 66 to 73* 



If there be an excess of males, they must be 

 thrown away ; if of females, males must be allottee 

 to them, which have already been in a state of uni- 

 on. The male ought not to remain united more than 

 six hours ; after the expiration of that time they 

 should be gently separated. As the males are dis- 

 united, they must be pat upon the frame to be in 

 readiness to attend to ihe calls of any females that 

 may require being served : the preference, of course 

 to be given to the most rigorous. 



KILLING OF THE CHRYSALIDS. 



The killing of the chrysalids must be attended to as 

 <oon after the scathe ringoft he cocoons a* possible, to 

 jrevent their being pierced by the moth, whereby 

 he web would be injured. Each silk pod consists 

 of one single thread, the length of which varies from 

 900 to 1,300 feet. We have already given Mr. 

 Smith's plan for effecting this part of the process, 

 and we will now state the several other modes pursu- 

 ed in Europe, 



The Italian method simply consists in exposing 1 

 the grub in the cocoons to the ardent heat of the 

 sun, during three days, when the thermometer is 

 at SS 2 Fahr. from 10 o'clock, A. M. until 4 

 o'clock, P. M 



The French plan is to put the cocoons into an 

 oven in a bag, with the temperature standing at SS* 

 2 Fahr. The oven being shut and the bags fre- 

 quently stirred, the grubs are killed within 4 hours. 



In Germany they are killed by steam proceeding 

 from boiling water. A kettle of boiling water being 

 prepared, fixed in the wall, a clean basket is then 

 placed over it upon two pieces of wood ; cover the 

 basket with three or four folds of woollen cloths that 

 the steam may penetrate completely. The water 

 in the pot must be kept boiling for three hours, 

 which will be sufficient to kill the chrysalids, which 

 can be ascertained by opening one of the cocoons. 

 They must then remain undisturbed until the fol- 

 lowing day, when they will have been sufficiently 

 hardened to be removed, being then fit for reeling 

 or for sale. Suffocating with brimstone, or tur- 

 pentine oil, are sometimes adopted ; but we think 

 neither are to be recommended. 



The process of killing the chrysalids, should be 

 gone through with, within twelre days after the com- 

 pletion of the cocoons, and the sooner '.hereafter the 

 better. 



PRESERVATION OF THE EGGS. 



Collect the papers on which the eggs are laid, 

 when quite dry, fold them up and put ti:em away in 

 tin boxes, in thin layers. They should be kept 

 in a dry, cool cellar, or some other cool place, where 

 the temperature does not exceed 65 nor descend 

 below the freezing point 32 where water will not 

 freeze. 



Being thus placed, they may remain there until 

 the following spring, when the time to hatch 

 them shall have arrived. 



PROPORTION OF EGGS TO COCOONS. 



The relative proportion of eggs, depends very 

 much upon the care and attention that may be paid 

 to the feeding of the worms, the degree of nutrition 

 in the leaves, the vigor with which they may have 

 fed, and the degree of health maintained during the 

 feeding* season. The cocoons are like all other 

 crops, some heavier, and some lighter than others. In 

 Tuscany, 150 cocoons have made a pound. In the 

 early settlement of Georgia, 200 cocoons from 

 worms raised in that state, weighed one pound ; but 

 these were extraordinary cocoons, and, therefore, 

 cannot fairly be taken as the basis of a calculation ; 

 because it has severally taken, in other places, 208, 

 240,262,297,271,306,328,490 and 600 to make 

 a pound. We have adopted as our ratio 300, which 

 with ordinary care, we think may be assumed as a 



