152 
THE ART OF REARING 
ages ; but it can no longer be done so now, since 
from one ounce of eggs are drawn, at present, a 
hundred, or even a hundred and twenty pounds of 
cocoons. 
The small branches may be cut when there is 
not much leaf required, as it happens until the 
accomplishment of the fourth age, or when there 
is but a small laboratory to serve. 
Besides the inconvenience of having such leaves, 
those that gather them are liable to be wet 
through ; they should always have clothes pre- 
pared for them to change, and be given firing, 
food, and drink; lest in preserving the silk-worms 
we should lose the men, or at least expose them to 
disorders. 
To dry in a day several hundred pounds weight 
of mulberry leaves, I proceed in the following 
manner. 
When the wet leaves are brought in, I have 
them spread on brick floors, or on mud floors, 
which should be as clean as possible. 
Then, according to the quantity, one or two 
persons spread them with wooden forks, turn them, 
throw them about, and move them much. This, 
often repeated, very soon shakes off the wet. If 
the floor is not of bricks, and the ground gets wet, 
the leaves should be raked off to another and drier 
part of the floor. 
Although the leaf appears quite dry after this 
