I Have Seen Them Languish And
Die In Scores, In Consequence Of An Accidental Bad Smell.
The
soiled leaves, and the filth which they necessarily produce,
should be carefully shifted every day; and it would not be amiss
to purify the air sometimes with fumes of vinegar, rose, or
orange-flower water.
These niceties, however, are but little
observed. They commonly lie in heaps as thick as shrimps in a
plate, some feeding on the leaves, some new hatched, some
intranced in the agonies of casting their skin, sonic
languishing, and some actually dead, with a litter of half-eaten
faded leaves about them, in a close room, crouded with women and
children, not at all remarkable for their cleanliness. I am
assured by some persons of credit, that if they are touched, or
even approached, by a woman in her catamenia, they infallibly
expire. This, however, must be understood of those females whose
skins have naturally a very rank flavour, which is generally
heightened at such periods. The mulberry-leaves used in this
country are of the tree which bears a small white fruit not
larger than a damascene. They are planted on purpose, and the
leaves are sold at so much a pound. By the middle of June all the
mulberry-trees are stripped; but new leaves succeed, and in a few
weeks, they are cloathed again with fresh verdure. In about ten
days after the last moulting, the silk-worm climbs upon the props
of his house, and choosing a situation among the heath, begins to
spin in a most curious manner, until he is quite inclosed, and
the cocon or pod of silk, about the size of a pigeon's egg, which
he has produced remains suspended by several filaments.
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