ON SERICICULTURE. 115 



a-Iialf to five-eighths long. I must tell you, that as soon as 

 they passed their first moult I placed them by themselves 

 on a small tree, in a pot without covering, and then they ate 

 well and never crawled away. The tendency to crawl about 

 seems to possess the little ones only ; and, as you justly 

 observe, it requires constant attention to their atmosphere to 

 keep them quiet. The gauze net over them prevented them 

 from getting lost and away, and what is of consequence, 

 their being constantly lifted up with a brush, which repeated 

 process no doubt injures them. I placed an oakling under 

 the net, which touched it with its top leaves, so that the 

 worms could crawl back again to eat, when they found they 

 could not get out. After their first moult the propensity 

 left them. 



"The temperature in the orangery with the young worms 

 ranged from 60° to 75°, and only on that one day — the * hot 

 Sunday'— did it rise to 110° ; it is up to SO'' and 85° occa- 

 sionally with the sun shining on the glass, but there is a 

 breeze through the open doors and windows. I have had 

 all out of doors for the last four or five days, as the nights 

 are warmer, and -do not render the worms torpid and check 

 their growth, for they do not eat when they are too cold. 



" At this moment, I have two large pots full of young 

 oaklings (second year's growth from acorns) under Brussels' 

 net, with, I suppose, 350 worms on them, and the ther- 

 mometer is nearly lOO"* in the sun, but the worms are not 

 crawling about, but feeding quietly. I take care to reduce 

 this temperature to the7n, by keeping the roots of the plants 

 sufficiently moist, and now and then in the extreme heat 

 taking off the covering of Brussels' net and watering it (the 

 covering), so as to allow the warm breeze to pass through 

 the moistened net. In your Essay, one of the French rearers 

 of this worm attributed the death of all his to the leaves 



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