SILKWORM GRAIN. 
333 
according to the season ; the average duration is forty- 
days, often less. By these data for raising one ounce, 
every educator will be enabled to raise the grain which 
he requires, according to the importance of his magna- 
nerie, provided always that he bear in mind that the 
magnanerie which suffices to raise one ounce (if he is 
prudent and really wishes to maintain great uniformity 
on his claies* by rejecting, at the time of moulting and 
dedoublement, all the worms which are of slow and 
imperfect growth) ought, for his own best interests, to 
contain at least one-half more grain than he can rear at 
the fifth age. With respect to the grain which is to 
serve for rearing the following year in the magnanerie, 
this is my mode of procedure. 
Having left on the tree those cocoons, the grain of 
which is to pass the winter in the open air, I remove 
the rest to a dry and well-aired place. After having 
cleaned them of the external flue adhering to them, I 
weigh them separately ; the female cocoon is generally 
heavier than the male. I perform this operation in 
order to separate, as much as possible, the sexes, and 
thus prevent the coupling of moths of the quality of 
which I am not entirely satisfied. 
Every moth which is not perfectly formed must be 
thrown away without hesitation. I then string the 
cocoons in chaplets of a hundred together, without 
crowding them, and hang them up so that they may be 
well aired on all sides. 
Dark brown cloths, stretched on frames and in a 
sloping position, receive the moths. I allow the 
coupling to continue for twenty-four hours. The very 
* Claie — the frame on which the silkworms are reared in feeding 
them. It is made of square deal laths. 
