CULTURE OF WILD SILKWORMS 



much cracking of the long whips they carry for this purpose, as well us keeping their red flags 

 all aflying. Secondly, they must see that the worms have enough leaves to eat, moving them 

 whenever one tree is trimmed to another untouched oak. Frequently the whole crop is gradual Iv 

 carried in baskets from a hillside shorn of its foliage to a neighbouring one just waiting to 

 be cropped. In this work of watching and tending the worms during their larva state one man 

 is counted on as being able to care for about 4,000 during the spring culture and, roughly, 5,000 

 in the autumn. 



Taking the 2oth July as the date when the first imagoes appeared and the 3ist July as, 

 approximately, the time when the last ones pierced their shells, we see that, with from 60 to 65 

 days allowing for sluggards allotted to the larva stage, the whole crop should have matured 

 this year during the first week or 10 days of October. It is not, however, safe to fix definite 

 limits for this culture period, as it may be, and is, much influenced by the time when the spring 

 eggs are set for incubation. However, it is known that the first baskets came down for 

 shipment this year during the latter part of October, and that the stream continued right up 

 to December, with a high-water mark between the loth and I5th November. 



The ordinary producer does not retain any portion of his autumn crop to provide an- 

 cestors for his spring family, dismissing the subject with the observation that his cocoons are not 

 desirable ones for breeding. To secure those which are most promising for this purpose, he uses 

 one of two methods: either he procures some seed cocoons from a special district which is noted 

 for its superior product, or he inquires among the producers of his own neighbourhood to 

 ascertain which "home" has had an especially good crop and has consequently saved over a 

 portion of it to sell as seed for the coming season. These he buys in the spring at prices ranging 

 from 50 to 100 per cent, higher than the ordinary values of the mercantile cocoons of the 

 autumn. These seed cocoons must be kept in a room tempered by artificial heat usually only 

 that of the k'ang, to render certain their escape from the killing Manchurian frosts, although 

 they will, according to CHANG, live through the exposure of an open life if the snows come in 

 time to cover and protect them. Yet, in spite of this generally accepted belief in the power of 

 the frosts to kill the chrysalides, a Japanese firm has erected and equipped a plant for baking 

 the cocoons they secure during the winter to make sure of landing them uiipiinctnred in Japan 

 when navigation opens in the spring. The precautionary measures of the Chinese to attain this 

 result consists in exposing the cocoons to the cold and wind at intervals of every 20 days 

 throughout the winter months ; they do not use the baking process at all. 



When the seed cocoons have been properly cared for, the butterflies appear at about the 

 Gh'ing Miiiy (ffi BfJ), which usually falls in the early part of April in the Western calendar. 



