56 A DISCOURSE

book- ii. begathered last of all, as being most proper to repast the worms with, .towards their last change. The gatherer must be neat, have his handsclean and his breath sweet, and not poisoned with onions or tobacco,and be careful not to prefs the leaves, by crowding them into the bagsof baskets. Lastly, That they gather only,: unlefs in case of necefsity,leaves from the present, not from the former year’s sprigs, or okl wood ;which are not only rude and harsh, but are annexed to stubbed stalks,which injure the worms, and spoil the. denudated branches. One notemore let me add,.That in first hatching, the eggs sometimes discloseearlier than there is provision for them on the tree, in which case thetender leaves of Lettuce, Dandelion, or. Endive may supply.the defect, _so they feed not on them too long or over much, which gives them thelask.

12 . This is whatT thought fit to premonish concerning the gathering,of the leaves of this tree for silk-worms, as I find it in Monsieur Isnard’sinstructions, and in that exact discourse of his published some yearssince, and dedicated to Monsieur Colbert, (who has, it seems, constitutedthis industrious and experienced person surveyor of this princelymanufacture about Paris, ) because the book itself is rare, and known byvery few. I have no more to add but this, for our encouragement, andto encounter the objections which may be suggested about the coldnefsand moisture of our country, that the spring is in Provence no lefsinconstant than is ours in England 5 that the colds at Paris are altogetheras sharp ; and that in May, when it has continued raining for nine-and-twenty days succefsively, Monsieur Isnard afsures us he proceeded in hiswork without the least disaster ; and in the year 1664, he presented theFrench King, his master, with a considerable quantity of better silk thanMefsina or Bononia could produce, which he sold raw. at Lyons fora pistole the pound, when that of Avignon, Provence , and Dauphine,produced little above half that price. But you are to receive the com-plete history of the silk-worm from that-incomparable treatise whichthe learned Malpighius has lately sent out of Italy , and dedicated tothe Royal Society , as a specimen and noble: effect of its universalcorrespondence, and concernments for the improvement of useful know-ledge. To this I add that beneficial pafsage of the learned Dr. Beal,,,communicated in the twelfth volume of the Philosophical Transactions ^No. 133, p, 816, where we find recommended the promotion of this tree..