140 Silkworms in India. [ Vol, I, 



quickly than others, but no food should be given to these forward individuals until 

 nearly all have completed the molt. This serves to keep the batch together ... It 

 is however unnecessary to wait for all, as there will always be some few which remain 

 sick after the great majority have cast their skins. These may be destroyed, as they 

 are usually the most feeble and most inclined to disease : otherwise the batch will grow 

 more and more irregular in their molting, and the diseased worms will contaminate 

 the healthy ones. . . . The importance of keeping each batch together, and of causing 

 the worms to molt simultaneously, cannot be too much insisted upon as a means of 

 saving time. As soon as the great majority have molted they should be copiously fed > 

 as they grow very rapidly after each molt. 



" The second and third castings of the skin take place with but little more difficulty 

 than the first, but the fourth is more laborious, and the worms not only take more 

 time in undergoing it, but more often perish in the act. At this molt it is perhaps 

 better to give the more forward individuals a light feed as soon as they have completed 

 the change, inasmuch as it is the last molt, and but little is to be gained by the 

 retardation, whereas it is important to give them all that they will eat, since much 

 of the nutriment given during the last age goes to the elaboration of the silk. As 

 regards the temperature of the rearing room, great care should be taken to avoid all 

 sudden changes from warm to cold, or vice versd. A mean temperature of 75° or 80° 

 Fahrenheit will usually bring the worms to the spinning point in the course of 35 days 

 after hatching, but the rapidity of development depends upon a variety of other causes, 

 such as quality of leaf, race of worm, &c. If it can be prevented, the temperature 

 should not be permitted to rise very much above 80°. The air should be kept pure 

 all of the time, and arrangements should be made to secure a good circulation. 

 Great care should be taken to guard against the incursions of ants and other predaceous 

 insects, . . . and also against rats and mice, which are to be feared almost as much 

 as any other enemy the silkworm has. 



"So much depends upon the conditions of development mentioned above that it is 

 impossible to state the exact quantity of food, consumed by the silkworm during its 

 life. It will not be far from the truth, however, to place the amount consumed by the 

 issue of an ounce of healthy eggs, which matures in 35 days, at 6| pounds during the 

 first age, 20 pounds during the second, 65 pounds during the third, 200 pounds 

 during the fourth, and during the fifth and last age 1,250 pounds. This makes a 

 total of between 1,500 and 1,600 pounds. It need hardly he said that the food 



mentioned must he of the best quality 



" Every worm should be free to move easily without incommoding its fellows. We 

 should therefore allow the issue of an ounce of eggs during the first age, from 10 

 square feet at the beginning to 30 square feet at the end of the age, daily extending the 

 space occupied by them by spreading their food over a greater surface. In the 

 second age they should be spread in the same manner, so as to cover from 50 to 

 75 squai - e feet, in the third from 100 to 160 square feet, and in the fourth from 

 200 to 320 square feet. Entering the last age, spread over 430 square feet of 

 surface, they should gradually be extended until they occupy, at the spinning period, 

 640 square feet. It need hardiy be said that when the worms have been decimated 

 by disease the surface occupied by them need not be so extensive. 



" In rearing silkworms great care should be observed in not handling them more than 

 is absolutely necessary, and as in cleaning up the litter made by the caterpillars it is 

 necessary to transport them from one table to another, several methods have been 

 adopted ; of these the most satisfactory seems to be by means of netting stretched on 

 light frames, which are laid over the worms, and the fresh leaves placed on top ; the 



