THE MODEttN HISTORY OF SILK. 1()1 



she always found that the chrysalis was uninjured 

 by this mode of treatment, and that the moth was 

 regularly transformed at its proper time. 



If, therefore, the chrysalis caa bear so great a de- 

 gree of heat as boiling water, it is obvious that the 

 warmth of the ovens, and the length of time it is 

 necessary to keep it there, to ensure its destruction, 

 must greatly injure the strength and glossy hue of 

 the silk. But this is not all, for in Italy tlwy suffer 

 the moth to cat its way out of the largest cones, 

 in order to have eggs from the most healthy, and 

 thereby lose all the silk in those cones. Here, the 

 silk may be gathered, as well as the moth preserved; 

 and thus do we possess two striking advantages, 

 which amply compensate for the loss of many others. 



In the year 178.'5, Miss Rhodes again tried the 

 rearing of the Silkworm ; but, owing to the diffi- 

 culty of procuring mulberry-trees, she gi-eatly limited 

 the numbers, preserving only as many eggs as covered 

 a sheet of writing-paper. In order that the worms 

 might have the advantage of the hottest summer 

 months, these eggs were not exposed until the 

 morning of the first of June ; and, before night, 

 some hundreds were hatched, and, in a day or two, 

 the whole made their appearance. As she had con- 

 vinced herself, from experiments, that lettuce was 

 the only food which could be relied upon next to 

 the mulberry, she caused some large beds to be 

 carefully cultivated. She then made trial how long 



