I 



56 A DISCOURSE 



BOOK II. be gathered last of all, as being most proper to repast the worms with, 

 '^^'y^'^ towards their last change. The gatherer must be neat, have his hands 

 clean, and his breath sweet, and not poisoned with onions or tobacco, 

 and be careful not to press the leaves, by crowding them into bags 

 or baskets. Lastly, that they gather only, unless in case of necessity, 

 leaves from the present, not from the former years' sprigs, or old wood ; 

 which are not only rude and harsh, but are annexed to stubble stalks, 

 which injure the worms, and spoil the denudated branches. One note 

 more let me add, that in first hatching, the eggs sometimes disclose 

 earlier than there is provision for them on the tree, in which case, the 

 tender leaves of Lettuce, Dandelion, or Endive, may supply the defect, 

 so they feed not on them too long or over much, which gives them the 

 lask. 



12. This is what I thought fit to premonish concerning the gathering 

 of the leaves of this tree for silk-worms, as I find it in Monsieur Isnard's 

 instructions, and in that exact discourse of his published some years 

 since, and dedicated to Monsieur Colbert, (who has, it seems, constituted 

 this industrious and experienced person surveyor of this princely 

 manufacture about Paris,) because the book itself is rare, and known by 

 very few, I have no more to add but this, for our encouragement, and 

 to encounter the objections which may be suggested about the coldness 

 and moisture of our country, that the spring is in Provence no less 

 inconstant than is ours in England ; that the colds at Paris are altogether 

 as sharp ; and that in May, when it has continued raining for nine-and- 

 twenty days successively. Monsieur Isnard assures us he proceeded in his 

 work without the least disaster; and, in the year 1664, he presented the 

 French king, his master, with a considerable quantity of better silk than 

 Messina or Bononia could produce, which he sold raw at Lyons for 

 a pistole the pound, when that of Ayignon, Provence, and Dauphine, 

 produced little above half that price.. But you are to receive the com- 

 plete history of the silk-worm from that incomparable treatise which 

 the learned JVIalpighius has lately sent out of Italy, and dedicated to 

 the Royal Society, as a specimen and noble effect of its universal 

 correspondence, and concernments for the improvement of useful know- 

 ledge. To this I add that beneficial passage of the learned Dr. Beal, 

 communicated in the twelfth volume of the Philosophical Transactions, 

 No. 133, p. 816, where we find recommended the promotion of this tree 



