29 
above that it is impossible to state the exact quantity of food con- 
sumed by the Silk-worm 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 65 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 
be said that the food mentioned must be of the best quality. Were it 
poor, it would be impossibie to give any figures at all. 
Too much can not be said in favor of giving the larvze plenty of room. 
Every worm should be free to move easily without incommoding its fel- 
lows. We should therefore aliow the issue of an ounce of eggs during 
the first age, from 10 square feet at the beginning to 39 square feet at 
the end of the age, daily extending the space occupied by them by spread- 
ing their food over a greater table surface. In the second age, they 
should spread in the same manner so as to cover from 50 to 75 square 
feet, in the third from 100 to 160 square feet, and in the fourth from 200 
to 320 square feet. KEntering the last age, spread over 450 square feet 
of surface, they should gradually be extended until they occupy, at the 
spinning period, 640 square feet. It need hardly be said that when the 
worms have been decimated by disease the surface occupied by them 
need not be so extensive. | 
The litter of the worms should be cleared away by the use of netting 
or perforated paper, before and after each molt, and once at about the 
middle of the third age. While small, the frass, dung, and detritus 
dry rapidly, and may (though they should not) be left for several days 
in a tray with impunity; but he who allows his trays to go uncleaned 
for more than a day during the two last ages will suffer in the disease 
wud mortality of bis worms just as they are reaching the spinning 
point. 
Summed up, the requisites to successful Silk-worm raising are; Ist. 
Uniformity of age in the individuals of the same tray, so as to insure 
their molting simultaneously. 2d. No intermission in the supply of 
fresh food, except during the molting periods. 3d. Pienty of room, so 
that the worms may not too closely crowd each other. 4th. Fresh air 
and as uniform temperature as possible, Sth. Cleanliness. The last 
three are particularly necessary during the fourth and fifth ages. 
PREPARATIONS FOR SPINNING. 
With eight or ten days of busy feeding, after the last molt, the worms, 
as we have learned before, will begin to lose appetite, shrink in size, 
become restless, and throw out silk, and the arches for the spinning of 
the cocoons must now be prepared. These can be made of twigs of 
different trees, two or three feet long, set up upon the shelves over the 
