The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1875-04-01
SilkwOrms in Japan.

THE rearing of silkworms has always
received great attention at the hands of
the japanese and has now attained to u
high degree of perfection. The COM
mencement of the season varies in the
different parts of the country according
as the temperature happens to be high or
low. When the climate has pretty
equable temperature the silkworm egg
cards are taken out of store about the
beginning of April and hung up in some
quiet nook of the house. After the
lapse OF twenty-five or twenty-three days
the worms will appear; they are care
iully watched and paper is wrapped
round the cards, which are now placed
in basket-tray. They are looked at
every morning and brushed off lightly
with feather fan on to another piece of
paper. Mulberry leaves are then taken
cut very fine and well Sifted, tossed so
as to get rid of the leaf fiber and then
mixed with certain proportion of mill
let bran. With this the worms are fed
Fresh paper is wrapped round the cards
and this course is pursued for three days,
when all the worms will be out The
paper with the worms on it is then
placed in clean basket-trays over lay or
OF mating. The worms are fed about
five times day. After three days the
paper is removed and the worms are
transferred to mating This stage
is known as the kaminuke" One
card will probably multiply itself
sixty times SO far as the number of
worms go. As a rule, about ten days
| elapse before the first sleep is entered
upon, but this depends upon the tenn
perature. When the cocoons are OBJ
served to be preparing for the first sleep
they are sprinkled with millet bran and
covered with a net, mulberry leaves be-
ing placed over the net. After a couple
OF hours the net is raised and the worms
brought away with the mulberry leaves,
to which they will have attached them
selves. They are then placed in fresh
basket-tray, and the one from which they
have been taken is well cleaned. When
the worms have reused themselves from
the first sleep they are sprinkled with
rice bran and covered with a net as before,
after which they are shifted to a fresh
basket. The same course is pursued
when the worms go through the second
and third sleep, but for the fourth sleep
the net is not used The period that
elapses between the second, third and
fourth sleeps is from six TO seven DAYS at
each stage. Much attention is paid
W Cleanliness, as neglect III this
| respect exposes the worm to dis
ease. Mulberry leaves are given
with an unsparing hand, the
leaves being chopped coarser and coarsor
as the worm grows in size. Sleeves of
different sizes are used so as to meet the
feeding requirements with fine or coarse
leaves. As rule, the worms are fed five
times day, but in hot weather when
the leaves are apt TO get dry they are
gwen as often as eight or more times a
day; in cool weather the leaves are given
perhaps only three times, but with no re.
duction in the actual quantity The
nicely. An important feature in the
rearing of silkworms is the giving the
proper quantity of food, neither over
leedlng nor, on the contrary, starving
the worms. After the fourth sleep the
leaves are given whole. The worms have
now attained full size, and soon cease
feeding altogether. When they are OBJ
served to be seeking for place to spin
in, the best are picked out and placed on
the "mabrushi." This is a continuance
made either of straw or light twigs. and
intended to facilitate the spinning of the
cocoons. The cocoons are spun in three
days. Those selected for silk are dried
IN several ways, either In the sun or by
artificial heat, or by steam.-N. Y.
Graphic.