REARING SILKWORMS. 109 



but feed the branches of the mulberry. They 

 make trays of straw woven into strong wooden 

 frames, nine feet long and three feet wide. 

 These are fastened to two upright posts or stands, 

 and are placed, four or five, one over the other, 

 at equal distance apart. On these trays they 

 place the large worms and feed them with 

 branches, changing them when the debris accu- 

 mulates too much. 



It is not at all surprising, that with this mode 

 of raising silkworms, that they have to buy seed 

 every year, for such a style of operating would as- 

 suredly tend to develop disease of the worst form. 



For the worms to spin, they tie little bundles 

 of twigs or coarse straw together, and lay them 

 on those trays till the worms crawl in and then 

 begin to spin. When the worms have formed 

 the outline of the cocoons, and the branches are 

 as full of the forming cocoons as they think best, 

 they take these branches and stand them up in 

 some quiet place to finish their work. 



Thus the whole business is carried on in the 

 crudest fashion, and calculated to bring in the 

 most meager results. Nevertheless the landlords 

 find that their profits are much larger from the 

 silk business than from all other productions of 

 their landed estates, though the time occupied is 

 only about seven weeks. 



The silk season is the busiest, happiest time of 



