108 COMPLETE INSTRUCTION IN 



accomplish this (i. e., to fatten stock), every 

 particle of waste from the cocooneries is saved, 

 the parts of dry leaves and tender twigs of the 

 mulberry trees, and even the excrement of the 

 worms, is saved and dried, and stored away in 

 sacks, as grain. It is fed dry, like grain, and 

 proves a wonderful flesh-producer. 



The young girls are employed in picking stones 

 off the ground and piling them in heaps. This 

 is their work when not at something else. 



When the silk season begins, which is about 

 the 10th of April, everything is life and motion. 

 The landlords buy the silk-seed or eggs (usually 

 from Japan), and deal them out to the household 

 tenants, according to the members of the family 

 who are able to care for the silkworms. They 

 hatch them out in small boxes covered with 

 glass, which they put in the sunshine, with paper 

 or cloth over them to keep off the direct sunshine. 



When the silk season is fairly inaugurated, 

 these tenants give up their best rooms to the 

 silkworms, while they themselves live in closer 

 quarters. At this season, old and young, male 

 and female, are all busy, night and day. They 

 relieve one another during the night. In seven 

 weeks from beginning, the season is all over. 



For the worms of the first age they cut the 

 leaves very fine; and for the next two ages, not 

 so small. For the two last ages, they do not cut, 



