AGRICULTURE. 153 
with paper, and pierced with holes, upon which some young mulberry 
leaves are strewed; from the tenth to the fourteenth day the eggs hatch, 
when they are carefully carried to the feeding apartments. Several distinct 
periods are distinguished in the life of the silkworm ; during the first (pl. 
32, fig. 19) the worm is sparingly fed with cut leaves. In the second period 
(jig. 20) the supply of cut leaves is increased; during this period the first 
skin is cast. In order to clean the frames, tender branches of mulberry are 
laid over the worms, and when they have crept upon them they are removed 
toacleanframe. On the fourth day of this period thesecond skin is cast. In 
the third period (jig. 21) the worms are again removed, and on the fifth day 
the third skin is cast. On the sixth day of the fourth period (jig. 22) the 
fourth skin is cast, and the frames are again cleaned. In the fifth period 
(jigs. 23 a and 28 6), the feeding increases until the tenth day, when it again 
decreases gradually. Onthe 11th day the worms cease eating, the body 
becomes transparent, and the thread is visible. The spinning-chamber is 
now arranged with branches of birch, upon which the worms creep and wind 
their cocoons (pl. 32, fig. 14). This operation occupies six or seven days, 
though the cocoons should not be removed until the tenth day. 
The chrysalis is then to be killed, which is effected by exposing the 
cocoons to a high heat, to steam, or the vapor of turpentine. They are then 
thrown into hot water to loosen the glue which binds the threads together, 
and the silk thus loosened is wound upon a reel eight to twenty-four threads 
together. Nine to ten pounds of cocoons give 1 pound of silk. 
F. The Honey Bee. 
The rearing of bees, though not generally pursued by agriculturists, is one 
of the most interesting employments of the husbandman, while there is 
none in which he can engage which affords so large a profit upon the 
capital invested, or the labor and attention required. 
In a wild state, bees occupy hollows in trees, living in families of from 
20,000 to 40,000. In a tame or cultivated state, however, they are kept 
in boxes or baskets made of straw or willow roots, called hives. A com- 
plete swarm of bees consists of one queen, the mother of all the other bees 
(pl. 32, jig. 48), differing in form and shape from them all; her wings are 
much shorter, and her legs are without the brushes and cavities with which 
the working bees are furnished. The queen is the object of the attention 
and solicitude of the whole hive, and alone lays the eggs which produce 
the working bees; the latter (jig. 45), which are the smallest and most 
numerous in the hive, are produced in small cells, and are but sparingly 
fed at first. When fed with the food prepared for the queen they lay eggs, 
which, however, produce only drones (jig. 44). The working bees have 
stings, and upon their legs brushes, with which they collect the pollen which 
adheres to the hair of their bodies from the flowers, and pack it away in 
small cavities or baskets on their legs; this pollen is thought by most 
naturalists who have turned their attention to the subject, to be made use 
of by the bees only for the purpose of feeding their young, their own 
food being exclusively honey, or sugar in some other form. The drones 
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