SILK. 



273 



opened ; when the food is thus in readiness, then is the 

 time to get it hatched. In Italy and France, at that ap- 

 pointed time, the women put the seed in small bags of 

 worsted stuff, and place them in their bosoms, during the 

 day, and at night under their pillows, for about forty-eight 

 hours ; at the expiration of which, the seed is transferred 

 into boxes, over which a paper cover is fastened w^ith many 

 small holes, through w^hich the little worms will creep. 

 Some mulberry leaves should be placed on the paper, so that 

 they may feed, which they will do as soon as they come to 

 life. These boxes are placed on feather beds v>^ith pillows 

 around them, in order to keep a uniform heat whilst the 

 worms are hatching. Those which come to life in the 

 course of the same day, should be collected and kept to- 

 gether; they will shed their skins, and ascend to make 

 their cocoons, at the same period. The hatching of each 

 successive day should be kept separate ; this order will 

 render their management and care easier, and more profita- 

 ble. ^.V^hen the hatching has been well conducted, the 

 heat proper and regular, most of the worms will make their 

 appearance on the third or fourth day ; and such seed as 

 has not come to life on the fifth or sixth day is not worth 

 preserving ; for, if it should hatch, the worms will be v^^eak- 

 ly, and not likely to do well. If, on the second day, the 

 seed that has been set to hatch should change colour, and 

 appear red, it proves that the heat has been too great, and 

 that the seed is spoiled. 



In the middle provinces of France, where the climate is 

 variable, and subject to sudden returns of cold, the cultiva- 

 tors are very cautious occasionally to exclude the outv/ard 

 air, by shutting the doors and windovrs, and always in the 

 night and early part of the morning. Sudden cold, damp- 

 ness, and especially foggy weather, are sure to injure the 

 worms by bringing disease upon them, v/hich will often 

 prove fatal, and alv/ays reduce the quantity, and injure the 

 quality, of the silk. A uniform temperature, noi; too warm, 

 is considered as very desirable for the success of the silk 

 crop ; and about seventy-three degrees of the thermometer 

 of Fahrenheit is the most suitable. 



The silk-worms shed their skins four times, w^hich is for 

 them a period of sickness, during w^hich they do not eat, 

 but appear drov/sy, and are more particularly affected by 

 any sudden change of the weather to cold or damp. The 

 first shedding takes place the sixth or seventh day after 

 their birth; the head appears to increase in size, and they 



