308 
THE ART OF REARING 
thoroughly dry. It should, however, be care- 
fully moved and stirred about every day, that it 
may receive the contact of the air, and not get 
pressed down. 
If, in the place allotted for placing the worms, 
the air ought to be invariably dry in that des- 
tined to keep the leaves, it should be cool, damp, 
and still. It would be a perceptible loss if the 
air robbed the leaf of its natural moisture ; not 
so much because it would wither it, as that I 
consider that natural moisture as a necessary 
vehicle for the various separations and secretions 
required for the health of the silk-worm, and for 
the perfect deposition of the silk in its reservoirs. 
Nature has bestowed much less liquid or watery 
substance on the mulberry leaf, than on any 
Other leaf of any tree in our climates. 
If the allotted space for the preservation of 
the leaf is very damp, it will not alter it, so 
that it be cool and well closed ; it is heat and 
accumulation that spoil the leaf. It should be 
managed that these places should be under, or 
very near the laboratories. There will be found 
to be great advantage in having a good provi- 
sion of leaves at hand, particularly at the vora- 
cious period, called in France (La graiida freze, 
oil brife) in the fifth age of the worm ; and this 
advantage will be felt still more, should there 
occur any continued rains at that season. 
