H0CKINGS' GARDEN MANUAL. 179 



during which period they should be kept warm, and 

 have fresh tender leaves six or seven times a-day. The 

 first sleep lasts about a day and a-half, and on their 

 awakening they should be carefully classified as to age, 

 as it saves much time when the whole on one shelf or 

 compartment pass through their several stages together. 

 The second stage lasts four to six days, during which 

 the temperature may be reduced to an average of 72° ; 

 the torpor lasts about thirty-six hours. During the 

 third stage the worm eats voraciously; the room should 

 be well ventilated, the beds kept clean, and food sup- 

 plied four times a day, chiefly of white mulberry. 

 After a rest of about thirty hours the worm issues into 

 its fourth stage, which lasts seven or eight days, and 

 during which it should be fed exclusively on white 

 mulberry, or other sort equally rich in seric matter ; 

 and the apartments should be kept thoroughly venti- 

 lated. The fourth sleep lasts about thirty-five hours, 

 after which the worms eat enormously, and their treat- 

 ment should be the same ; great cleanliness being 

 necessary to preserve them in health. After eight or 

 nine days they will acquire a yellowish tint and cease 

 to feed. Small bundles of twigs, ferns, &c., should be 

 placed round the frames, in which they will spin their 

 cocoons, which will take about eight days to complete. 

 Within ten days of their commencing to spin, select 

 the cocoons which it is intended to preserve for breed- 

 ing; choose them for fineness of thread, of oblong 

 form, slightly contracted in the waist or middle, solid 

 in construction, and avoid those pointed at the extre- 

 mities. 



About 250 cocoons will be required to produce an' 

 ounce of eggs ; one ounce of eggs will produce about 

 38,000 worms, which yield one hundred pounds weight 

 of cocoons, worth 2s. per lb. In reeling off the silk 

 four threads should be wound together. Six hundred 

 pounds weight of cocoons will produce about 100 lbs, 

 of silk. 



