THE SILKWOBU. 



ber should be at least 64 degrees, and Bhould be gradually 

 increased up to 75 degrees, in which degree of warmth the 

 young worm is to be kept until the first cast takes place. 

 Between the first and second cast the heat should be between 

 73 degrees and 75 degrees ; between 71 degrees and 73 degrees 

 till the third ; and lastly, between 68 degrees and 71 degrees 

 tin the fourth. 



You win want a chopping-board, on which to cut up your 

 mulberry -leaves : they cannot be chopped too fine ; because the 

 more the leaf is chopped, the more firesh-cut edges there are to 

 which the young insects fasten themselves. In this manner a 

 few ounces of leaves will present so many edges and sides, that 

 a hundred thousand insects may feed in a very small space. 

 In this state they bite the leaf quickly, and it is consumed 

 before it becomes withered. The leaves should on no account 

 be given wet ; it is better to keep the silkworm a day without 

 food than to give it wet. If gathered wet, the leaves should 

 be spread on the floor, and afterwards dried, by a few pounds 

 at a time being shaken in a sheet, which speedily absorbs all 

 moisture. 



The time for beginning the hatching the silkworms' eggs is 

 when the buds of the mulberry begin to burst. Place the eggs 

 in shallow card-holes, and cover the top of the boxes with very 

 coarse muslin ; spread on the muslin cover young mulberry- 

 leaves finely chopped. Be careful of this ; for in the earliest 

 stages of the worm's existence it is unable to bite tough sub- 

 stances. The little worms will, as soon as hatched, crawl 

 through the muslin and feed on the leaves. 



Those hatched each day should be removed and placed by 

 themselves, with the date of their birth marked on the tray 

 that contains them. Those first hatched should be placed in 

 the coolest part of the chamber, and those latest hatched in 

 the warmest. This will tend to equalize their growth, and 

 prevent the loss and confusion which result from the worms 

 being of different sizes and casting their skins at different 

 times. The tip of a paper-knife, or something equally handy, 

 should be employed in shifting the worm, together with the 

 leaf to which it is attached, from the lid of the hatching-box 

 to the tray. On no account attempt the removal of the insect 

 with the finger and thumb. As each fresh batch is hatched, 

 place it on a shelf. 



From the time the egg is hatched till it becomes a full-growD 

 Bpinning caterpillar, five weeks elapse, and during that period 



