SILK GROWER'S MANUAL. 213 



CHAPTER XIV. 



OBSERVATIONS ON THE FEEDING AND QUALITY OF FOOD. 



The quantity of silk which the insect affords, is in 

 proportion to the amount of food consumed ; the dura- 

 tion of the silkworm is prolonged by a cool season ; 

 or by scanty, or irregular supplies of food ; in this case, 

 the amount of silk is greatly diminished. When a 

 crop of silkworms lingers, either through cold or fam- 

 ine, for forty days, the amount of silk which they can 

 afford is not considerable ; while the bounteous harvest 

 afforded by a crop of silkworms fully fed and well 

 attended, which in a warm temperature finish their 

 labors in twenty-four days, will produce more than 

 double the amount of silk. The silkworm feeds night 

 and day, and the more they are fed, the faster they 

 grow, and the sooner they will come to maturity ; and 

 in proportion to the dimensions of the insect, will be 

 the size of the cocoons, and the amount of silk pro- 

 duced. 



A certain quantity of food being indispensable to 

 sustain life, and the amount of silk which is afforded 

 being of itself wholly the production of the excess of 

 the food consumed, it follows as a consequence that to 

 feed them profitably, they must be fed well. Feeding 

 with branches I consider the most economical mode for 



a warm and dry climate like ours in California, as the 

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