Part 4 (1/2)
”Why?”
”Because after three or four days they should turn to a light slate color if they are the sort of eggs ant Those that remain yellow are the unfertilized ones and will be of no use to us; we s always remain slate color until hatched?” questioned Pierre
”No, they next turn to a dull, brownish slate tint and then the caterpillar coes may take place more rapidly than this and the entire process require but a day or two It all depends on the te experience just what to do to hurry things along”
As Marie and Pierre glanced at the immaculate white shelves that awaited the newcomers, and realized that for the first time the actual care of the work they had soshoulders, it seemed like a dream
”Now there are many pitfalls which we must be careful to avoid,”
announced Josef ”In the first place we must beware of rats, mice, spiders, ants--even chickens All of these creatures can work havoc a the caterpillars Probably you will not need to worry about them very much; certainly not the rats, et in here if you are watchful and close the doors As for the rats and hly exterement in a clean place like this, but we must be on the lookout for them, because one never knohen they will creep into a building The greatest danger, aside fro your crop, lies in feeding your silkworly Remember, they must have no wet leaves if ant theht to, for you certainly have gathered enough food for them Moist leaves willelse So never get leaves that are ith dew or those that have been rained on When it looks as if a stor pick a sufficient number of leaves in advance and keep the does not trouble us so , Josef We have never done that Howthree ti worest and her ones, with more solid food elements in them, but not at first”
”They are pretty fussy, aren't they, Josef?” laughed Marie ”Lots more particular about their food than we are Mother ue as to whether we like it or not; sometimes it isn't e'd rather have, either”
”But you rinned the old servant ”Now your silkworms wouldn't They'd die, and that would be the end of them Of course some varieties are more robust than others; but they all have to have the same care”
”I didn't know there was more than one kind of silkworm!” exclaimed Marie in surprise
”Of course there are,” Pierre retorted ”Even I knew that There are lots of kinds, and soive er The big white worm such as we raise here is one of the s”
”You es its skin four times?” Marie said
”Just that It's a queer life it has, isn't it?” ; then cos and its ravenous appetite--then follows the spinning of the cocoons; and the long sleep of the chrysalis, or aurelia, as the slumberer inside the cocoon is sometimes called And last of all is the moth that comes out of the cocoon--ill let it--and lays hundreds of eggs for future crops of silkwor life it is!”
”They are funny creatures anyway,” observed Pierre thoughtfully ”They don't sees other animals do Silkworms never crawl about as most caterpillars would Shouldn't you think that after they were hatched they would like to see where they were and would go crawling all round the room?”
”You would think so,” replied Josef ”But they don't They seem to have no wish to thNow and then, of course, if they do not find food near at hand when they are first hatched they will bestir thee than at any other; and yet they would not ry Their chief aim in life seems to be to eat They are no travelers, that's sure Even when they es very little, only fluttering a short distance when they are et theo,” speculated Marie
”Oh, it is easy enough to ood teht as a leach and you can cart them round wherever you wish”
”When do you suppose our silkwore their skins, Josef?” asked Pierre
”Moult?”
”Yes I forgot the word for it”
”That all depends on the temperature of the rooree of heat we keep here the first ht days You see your silkwor at first, and as they increase in size to about three inches their skin is not elastic enough to accorowth It sireelve times your natural size in a few short weeks?”
”I'd pity Mother, letting out our clothes!” chuckled Marie
”They couldn't be let out; the material wouldn't be there,” replied Josef ”And it would be the same ith your skin It wouldn't stretch You'd have to have a new one That's what the silkworm does--only it does it several times over No skinone week and three-quarters of an inch long the next, and so on growing in leaps and bounds until it gets up to three inches and soour all the time, either, because after they are hatched it is three days before they eat much