108 
THE SILK BUSINESS, AND RAISING WORMS. 
posts,—this the feeder can put in motion in passing, 
as also rocking the cradles, thereby removing all 
impure air about the worms and among the branch¬ 
es, and shaking down all dry leaves, litter, and ex¬ 
crements into the trough, into which occasionally 
pour a bucket of water at the upper end, and all is 
washed out at open end, leaving it pure and clean. 
The motion of the cradle is agreeable to the silk 
worms, approximating to the waving of the branch¬ 
es when they feed on the tree in a state of nature. 
Another important advantage is, that no worms 
can fall through to the ground, and those that hap¬ 
pen to fall down in the brush, crawl to the lath 
sides and mount to the top immediately,—also, the 
worms readily spin among the clean, bare brush, 
making but little floss, and seldom ever domble co¬ 
coons. On the rockers I fix a fender, made of tin 
or any other material suitable, that entirely pre¬ 
vents mice (the great enemy to silk worms), also, 
ants and other insects, from ascending to the worms. 
This system throughout, is simple, cheap, and easy 
of construction, and meets all the wants of the 
worm, and greatly facilitates the feeding. It cur¬ 
tails expenses about one half, and more than dou¬ 
bles the quantity and quality of cocoons raised 
from a given quantity of eg^s over the most suc¬ 
cessful results of the most improved method of 
feeding heretofore practised. With this tent and 
cradle, and Dr. Thomas White’s patent reel and 
twister, which Mr. Harris, my machinist, has 
made perfect, every farmer may raise, reel, and 
twist silk, with a certainty of a much more profit¬ 
able return for his labor and investments than in 
any other of his present pursuits. 1 authorize you 
to adopt this system, in your own feeding opera¬ 
tions without charge, to show to the feeders in 
your region what it is. I will sell individual rights 
at ten dollars each, and county and state rights 
low in proportion, or I am willing that any feeder 
should adopt my patent system, and he give me 
one third of the surplus cocoons he raises over the 
same quantity he can raise from the same amount 
of eggs hatched and fed in the old ways, or I will 
give individual rights for three bushels of merchant¬ 
able cocoons, or two lbs. of reeled silk. Will you 
take an agency for the sale of rights in your state, 
and on what conditions ? 
I continue to purchase the best merchantable co¬ 
coons at $4 per bushel—inferior in proportion. 
Even reeled silk of 8 to 10, or 10 to 12 fibres, $5 
per lb.; payable half in domestic silks, half in 
cash, if desired. Respectfully yours, 
k . John W. Gill. 
Remarks .—Mr. Gill’s statements as to matters 
of fact, are entitled to implicit credit. He is a 
large grower of silk, feeding from more than 30 
acres of trees. He is als© becoming largely inter¬ 
ested as a manufacturer of silk. He has, therefore, 
the greatest possible interest in adopting himself, 
and in establishing throughout the country, the 
best mode of f eeding. Besides, his high character 
puts all skepticism as to his statements out of the 
question. 
For two years I have been collecting and pub¬ 
lishing facts, all going to establish the great princi¬ 
ple on which Mr. GUI’s plan is based, viz., open 
feeding , giving your worms heaven’s pure air, and ] 
all of it. This is nature. The worm, in its native 
state, feeds in the open air, on the tree, exposed to 
all the changes of temperature like the caterpillar, 
the canker-worm, and other annual insects. In 
this state it was found upon the high hills of China, 
700 years before the birth of Abraham. In this 
state it has been found in this country, at least in 
Maine, South Carolina, and on Mount Holyoke, 
Massachusetts, 1,000 feet above the level of the 
Connecticut river. 
I repeat the facts already extensively published. 
The Chinese feed in open sheds, and the climate 
of China, in the same parallel of latitude, is essen¬ 
tially the same as our own. 
Six years’ experience, and quite an extended 
correspondence have fully satisfied me that we have 
much more to dread from heat than from cold. 
Hot sultry weather, with no air stirring, is always 
bad, and in enclosed buildings, with large lots of 
worms nearly ready to spin, is almost certainly 
fatal. Hence the advantages of an open shed or 
tent, and the still further benefit of a local circula¬ 
tion of the air as secured by Mr. Gill’s simple con¬ 
trivance—the cradle and fan. 
The expense of such a tent must be small. At 
the sail-lofts in our seaports, sails too much worn 
to be used on vessels, can be got cheap. Cotton 
drillings and negro sheetings, or Lowell osnaburgs, 
each about 30 inches wide, can be got for 7 to 8 
cents a yard by the quantity. A cradle, as descri¬ 
bed, would take about 60 feet of common lumber, 
board measure, and a carpenter can make one, 
rough planed, in a day, or day and a half. A tent 
50 by 15 feet would accommodate six cradles 12 
feet in length. Each cradle will feed, I think, 
15,000 worms ; say 75,000 to 85,000 for the tent. 
I take it to be essential to this system that the 
eggs be hatched, and the worm be fed from the 
first in a perfectly natural state of the atmosphere, 
that is, hatch and feed in an open room until your 
worms are removed to the tent as directed. It is 
also essential that it be done the early part of the 
season, the earlier the better. I have no faith in 
late feeding in any way. In New England and 
New York, no worms should be brought out after 
the 20th or 25th of July. 
On this system of feeding, the silk culture may 
be extended indefinitely, and as rapidly as trees 
can be multiplied. The silk-grower may have 
tents located in different fields, wherever the soil 
is most favorable for the growth of the tree. 
I have now only to renew the earnest request 
that silk-growers throughout the country will, the 
present season, make extended experiments, on a 
large or small scale, as they may choose, testing 
the great question involved in this matter. It may 
be done on Mr. Gill’s plan, or any other, so that 
the essential principles be preserved, viz., open 
feeding from the first. Will editors interested in 
advancing the silk culture, publish this article ? I 
propose to publish, in pamphlet form, the latter 
part of August, all the experiments that shall be 
made on this subject for general distribution. To 
any editor, therefore, who will publish this article, 
and send me a paper containing it, and to any per¬ 
son in any of the states or territories, or in the 
| Canadas, who will make an experiment of open 
