SILK GROWER'S MANUAL. 93 



The most hazardous period in the process of breeding 

 the- worms is at the third and fourth moul tings ; for upon 

 the sixth day of the third age and the seventh day of 

 the fourth, they in general eat nothing at all ; on the 

 first day of the fourth age the worms proceeding from 

 one ounce of eggs will, according to Bonafous, consume 

 upon an average, twenty-three pounds and a quarter of 

 mulberry leaves ; on the first day of the fifth age, they 

 will consume forty-two pounds, and on the sixth day of 

 the same age, they acquire their maximum voracity, 

 devouring no less than two hundred and twenty- three 

 pounds ; from this date their appetite continually de- 

 creases, till on the tenth of this age they consume only 

 fifty-six pounds. In general, the more food they con- 

 sume, the more silk will they produce. 



There are three denominations of raw silk, viz : or- 

 ganzine, tram, and floss. ' Organzine serves for the 

 warp of the best silk stuffs, and is considerably twisted. 

 Tram is made usually from inferior silk, and is very 

 slightly twisted in order that it may spread more and 

 cover better in the weft. Floss, or bourre, consists of 

 the shorter, broken silk, which is carded and spun like 

 cotton. Organzine and tram may contain from three 

 to thirty twin filaments of the worm ; the former pos- 

 sesses a double twist, the component filaments being 

 first twisted in one direction and the compound thread 

 in the opposite ; the latter receives merely a single 

 slender twist. 



Each twin filament gradually diminishes in thickness 

 and strength from the surface of the cocoon where the 



