82 
THE ART OF REARING 
ing. Thus, from the misei'able condition of this 
insect, notwithstanding the strength of its constitu- 
tion, if it is not treated with infinite care at those 
times when it requires care, it suffers, sickens, 
and dies. 
It is on this account that I have thought it 
might be useful to give in this and the following 
chapter, a diary of the care to be taken of silk- 
worms, that it may be known what is to be done 
for them day by day. 
I must, however, previously, make a few ge- 
neral remarks on the enormous difference, in re- 
sult, which real care produces. 
I do not here mean to allude to the slight and 
<D 
partial differences, that may be considered as only 
exceptions and accidental. In such cases the in- 
telligent cultivator, well informed by the pre- 
cepts I am going to lay down in this chapter, will 
easily know, if he is attentive, how to proceed to 
prevent inconveniences, and hoxv to remedy them. 
I mean to speak here of those differences which 
are caused by ignorant and ill-directed manage- 
ment. 
Hitherto it has been generally thought, in 
quoting facts and experiments, that, whatever 
were the quantity of eggs intended for a labora- 
tory, the quantity of cocoons never bore any pro- 
portion to the eggs ; and that, on the contrary, 
the greater the quantity of eggs, the less the 
