50 
PLANTS AND INSECTS 
From the forty-four thousand larvae, about one hundred and fifty 
pounds of cocoons are produced. The cocoons are about the size of 
pigeon eggs. 
After a careful selection of the best cocoons is made for future 
breeding, the rest are put into shallow basins of warm water to kill 
the chrysalises. Then these cocoons are carefully brushed back and 
forth. This loosens and dissolves the gummy matter which holds the 
fibers together and catches the ends of the silken threads as they are 
liberated. The threads are then reeled off, four or five in a strand, 
ready for cleaning and twisting. 
Each cocoon supplies about three hundred yards of silken thread. 
The cocoons for future breeding are placed upon cloths and sub¬ 
jected to gentle heat. In about two weeks the moths appear. They 
dissolve the gummy matter of the cocoons with their saliva and push 
their way out of their prison-house. 
The silkworm moth is very shortlived. It never leaves the cloth 
upon which it first rests. It dies almost immediately after depositing 
its eggs upon the cloth. Twenty ounces of cocoons will produce one 
ounce of eggs. —Sara E. Far man. 
A HONEY-BEE 
Coming from work in, the evening, 
All worn with the toils of the day, 
Glad that our duties were finished, 
We wearily tramped on our way. 
Crossing our path then we saw her, 
And watched as she hastened along; 
Her load, I am sure it} was heavy; 
Her journey, it must have been long. 
Wee bit of life, she had labored 
Since first gleam of sunlight at morn; 
No one can tell all her struggles, 
Nor how many loads she had borne. 
Quietly, swiftly, she passed us, 
Swinging low in her homeward flight, 
