53 



fe one. With respect to the gross quantity of 

 silk produced from an ounce of eggs, there is the 

 same difference : all depending upon the assiduity and 

 energy of the culturist. who, as he wills it, may 

 either produce 40 or 120 pounds of cocoons. In- 

 stances have been given, and are well authenticated, 

 where, in an establishment in which 6 ounces were an- 

 nually batched for 10 consecutive years, the average 



dampness; but all these, except the defective im- 

 pregnation, may be guarded against 



It is maintained that no disease will occur, if the 

 temperature of the place where the moths are kept, 

 be maintained between 68* and 70, when the 

 apartments are dry and free from vitiated air, and 

 when the eggs are carefully kept Low marshy 

 places are unfavorable, as beat and moisture is 

 yield* to the ounce of eggs was 100 pounds of, highly injurious to their healthful existence 



coceons, or 11 1-9 pounds of raw silk. Now if the 

 CAsualties had reduced the worms down to our stand- 

 ard of 20,000 to an ounce of eggs, and that is about 

 the fair average number, then an acre would pro- 

 duce 305 pounds of silk. This is a very large 

 yield, and of coarse should not be relied upon, or 

 at all events no one should be disappointed at a 

 greatly-diminished production, though we bj no 

 means would discourage the hope, that even a larger 

 produce might not be raised in either Neir Jer- 

 sey, Pennsylvania, Delaware. Maryland, Virginia, 

 .1 Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Louisi- 

 ana, Alabama or Mississippi 



Our table, it will have been perceived, sets 22.640 

 egzs as the number contained in an ounce ; this is 

 arbitrary, having deducted nearly 33 per cent as the 

 presumed loss. 



E5EM1E5 OF SILK WORMS. 



Red Ails. These are deadly insects to silk 

 worms. To prevent their attacks, the posts con- 

 taining fixed shelves ought not to touch the ceiling, 

 nor must the shelves reach the walls, and their legs 

 should either be smeared with Molasses, or placed 

 in basins of water, or perhaps both would be best. 



The smaller varieties of birds are rery food of 

 them, bnt as these would not enter while there are 

 persons in the apartment, there is not much danger 

 to be apprehended from them. 



Fowls, nice, rah, weazles, lizards and spiders, are 

 also their enemies. If the apartment be infested 

 with mice and rats, they most be trapped and killed: 

 from weazles and lizards not much need be feared, 

 and as for the spider, though a deadly and destruc- 

 tive foe, the broom most be made to render him his 

 quietus. 



DISUSBS OF THE WORMS. 



It may be assumed as a sound proposition, that 

 nearly all the diseases to which this noble insect are 

 subject, arise from^/bol air, or from an trregvbr or 

 overheated apartment; from exposure to sodden at- 

 mospheric transitions; from too close crowding; 

 from the too great accumulation of filth, and from 

 improper food. There may be eases where the ex 

 citing cause of disease springs from some particular 

 condition of the air, against which prudence, fore- 

 eight, and art, cannot avail And as it is useless to 

 speculate upon that over which we hare no control, 

 and which depends upon eontingenees that may or 

 may not occur, let us rather torn oar attention to 

 those enumerated diseases* the cause of which we 

 know. 



DISEASES FROM DETECTS I3T EGGS. 



When the eggs are too thickly heaped together 

 they become heated even at a low temperature, aw 

 the" embryo becomes injured: there are also other 

 causes which injuriously affect the eggs, such as the 

 imperfect impregnation of the eggs [dubto,] and 



high dry situations are always the best, both for 

 the worms and the Mulberry. 



DISEASE FROM IMFCRITT OF THE AIR OF THE LABORA- 

 TORY. 



It is surprising to find bow large a portion of me- 

 phitic air disengages in a large establishment, par- 

 ticularly in the fourth and fifth ages from the silk 

 worms. The damp stagnates in it, the transpira- 

 tion is cheeked, the dung and fitter undergo the 

 process of fermentation and emit noxious exhala- 

 tions.; the skins of the worms become relaxed, and 

 disease follows in a few hours, and hence the neces- 

 sity of using the means, which we have before attuv- 

 ded to, of ensuring a renewal of pure air by the ex- 

 pulsion of the heavier, and replacing it by fight, 

 fresh, exterior air. The burning of shavings ist tiM 

 fire places or stoves, or the fumigation f the apart- 

 ment, are the most efficient means; indeed they are 

 the only ones to be relied upon. It may be weB to 

 re mark here. th%! if c'.e'ir.lintis be ob~ervd, U wiJI 



scarcely ever be necessary to apply other 

 than the solutions of chloride of fine; and to be 

 candid, we believe this agent the best under any 

 circumstances. Its affinity for pt 



natter is proverbial ; nor is it less so with , 

 og vegetable substances. Count Dandolo, howev- 



er, has the following recipe which he 



being eminently active as an anti-putreseent a- 

 gent: 



Take 6 ounces common salt, mix it wefl with S 

 ounces of oxyde of manganese : put this mixture hi 

 strong bottle with 2 ounces of water, cork H wefl. 

 Keep this bottle in a part of the laboratory farthest 

 from the stoves or fire places. In a phial put 

 li Ibs. of sulphuric acid, (oil of vitriol,) and keep it 

 near the bottle, with a small wine glass and an 

 iron spoon. Put in the wine glass two-thirds of a 

 spoonful of oil of vitriol, pour it into the huge bottle, 

 and there will issue a white vapor. Move the bot- 

 tle about the laboratory, holding it up high to let 

 the vapor spread through the air. When the va- 

 por ceases, cork up the bottle and replace it Du- 

 ring the fifth age of the worms, it is good to repeat 

 this fumigation three or four times a day. During 

 each successive repetition, the quantity of oil of vit- 

 riol may be diminished. The quantity slated is 

 sufficient for a laboratory of 5 ounces of eggs. 



The necessity for the use of this remed j may al- 

 ways be known by the presence of an unpleasant ef- 

 fluvia in the room, or a cloiencn of the air and 

 difficulty of breathing. 



The fumigation tntmH always be renewed after 

 each "E****"C nf the hardies or ihclvti, and in 

 moist damp weather. 



The use of oil of vitriol, is, as the reader is sen- 

 sible, subject to its dangers. If dropped upon the 

 dothes or skia, it wifl burn, and its vapor if inhaled 

 too closely, wovld he in jurious. The way to guard 



