feed on fresh mulberry leaves so voraciously, that, in six or seven weeks they grow to the size represented in the engraving.

When they are growing, they shed their coats several times, each time assuming more delicate and beautiful colours. They have nine holes on each side, through which they breathe. The silk is spun from two small sacks on each side, filled with a gummy substance which becomes silky as it dries. The worm never breaks his thread as he spins, and it is said one ball contains entire silk enough to reach six miles. These balls are called cocoons; the engraving represents one of them.

These answer the same purpose as the chrysalis of the butterfly; and if they were let alone, a delicate white moth, or miller, would eat its way out of each of them but the holes thus eaten would break the silk in pieces: therefore they bake or scald them, in order to kill the moths. Those that are reserved for eggs are laid away in dark, still places, on sheets of paper. The moth comes out of the cocoon, lays her eggs, and dies immediately.

A few minutes' attention each day, for six or seven weeks, is all that is necessary to be bestowed upon these industrious little things. One person can attend to fifty thousand, without difficulty. It takes two thousand three hundred worms to produce a pound of silk. The principal thing is to keep

everything about them very clean and sweet. They must have fresh mulberry leaves two or three times a day; and they must not be covered with dew, dried in the hot sun, or impregnated with any disagreeable smell. Some young ladies sprinkle the leaves to keep them fresh: this is almost sure to make the worms sicken and die.

In China, a woman has the care of the silk establishments, who is called The Mother of the Worms." She is never allowed to enter the room without previously washing her hands, and putting on clean clothes. Every year the Empress celebrates a great feast in honour of the silkworms; during which, she and all the great ladies of the court march in procession, carrying branches of the mulberry-tree.

There are several species of wild silkworms in China, whose web is stronger and coarser than that of the cultivated ones. Wild cocoons are grey: those cultivated here are of a beautiful straw colour.

The Chinese children are much employed in the manufac tories of silk. Indeed, they are brought up always to be busy about something or other. A gentleman, just returned from Canton, told me he never saw the children at play there; that they all looked like little old men and women, whose minds were mighty full of business. I should like to send them a book of games-shouldn't you? I think “all work, and no play, makes Jack a dull boy."

It is a good rule to keep only such animals as are happier for being domesticated; such as kittens, dogs, or pet lambs. I would not keep a robin shut up in a cage for the price of fifty birds. Do what you can for him, you cannot make him half so happy as he would be abroad among the sunshine and the flowers. Canary birds must be kept in the house, because they come from the warm islands of Canary, and it would kill them to expose them to our winter; but, kind

little reader, if you have any feathered prisoners, which belong to our own climate, I beg of you to open the door and let them fly the first bright day next spring. I have likewise an objection to keeping rabbits and squirrels; because I am sure they are not so happy as they would be in their

native woods.

If birds are kept, their cages should be carefully cleaned every day; and they should be well supplied with fresh seed and clean water. Their cage should be hung in a warm shady nook, out of the reach of their old enemy, the cat. Gold-fish should have pure water every day, and be kept very clean. The water should not be intensely cold. If rabbits are kept, their habitation should likewise be kept perfectly clean. The door should be closely grated with wire, so that it may at once be safe, and let in the pure air; there should be two apartments, one for sleeping and one for eating, communicating with each other by a round hole, large enough for the rabbit to jump through; the edges of this hole and of the door should be lined with tin, otherwise the rabbit will nibble them with his sharp teeth. The box should slightly tip backward, that it may be kept perfectly dry. Rabbits love clover, lettuce, and lady's-delights. Little girls should never feed animals with any new food, without asking advice of those who are experienced. Birds and rabbits are often killed in this way.