88 
THE ART OF REARING 
occupy a space of nearly thirty-six feet eight 
inches square ; thus the sheets of paper containing 
the worms, should be put upon wicker tables or 
trays of such dimensions. 
The first day after the coming forth, and the 
distribution of the silk-worms, they should be 
given, in four meals, about three pounds three- 
quarters of single soft leaves, chopped very 
small, dividing the time, so as to allow six hours 
between each meal, giving the smallest quantity 
for the first feeding, and gradually increasing the 
quantity at each meal. 
It is very beneficial to chop the leaf very small 
during the first age, and to scatter it lightly over 
the worms. The more the leaf is chopped, the 
more fresh-cut edges are there to which the 
young insects fasten themselves. In this manner 
a few ounces of leaves will present so many edges 
and sides, that two hundred thousand insects may 
feed in a very small space. In this state they 
bite the leaf quickly, and it is consumed before it 
can be withered. 
A quantity of leaves, ten or twenty times more 
abundant, that is not chopped small, would not 
be sufficient for this quantity of worms, because 
they require to find at once, and in a small space, 
the means of feeding easily. 
If care is not taken to chop the leaf small, and 
to give the young worms space when they are 
