BEcause that these two things , First , the making of lodgings for the Silk-wormes : Secondly , the abundant planting of the best Mulbery trees in a requisite distance one from another , whereby to haue the best leafe to feed the Wormes , require some good time for the due preparation of them : Therefore that no time be lost for so great and so gainfull a businesse , ( the profits whereof will be most certaine , and that with small charge , after that these two prouisions are once for all well accommodated ) we send you these necessary instructions aforehand , till you receiue a booke which shortly shall be purposely printed for you and store sent , to teach all there , the exact vsage and ordering of Silk-wormes , the skill whereof may soone bee learned , and presently put in practice .

The lodgings of the Silk wormes Of these two preparations then , which require some length of time to fit them , the first is , that you must make the lodgings and rooms for the Silk-wormes , so commodiously and conueniently for them , as they may easily doe their worke , to yeeld you abundance of silke : which is but a vaine hope , if you lodge them in a place vnproper , and contrary to their nature . The Chambers for to lodge and bring vp the Silk-wormes in , must bee made spacious , lightsome , pleasant , neate , and wholesome , farre from ill sents , damps , fogs , and humidities : warme in cold , and cold in hot weather : they must not be lodged in the lowest roome neere the ground , nor yet in the vppermost roome neere the tiles , because of the distempers of these two contrary situations : the lowest roome may be too moyst , and the vppermost too windy , too hot , or too cold for them , according to the seasons . Neuerthelesse , the lower roome is the better of the two , and may bee borne withall , if the floore be dry and boorded , and that vpon it you erect one onely single Stage for the Wormes , three or foure foot high from the floore , for the auoyding of cold dampes and moystures , and so as there bee too , one roome aboue it close boorded , to the end the Silk-wormes may be still placed farre off from the tiles , which being neere them , are alwayes hurtfull to them , because that the winde and the cold pierceth thorow them , and the heat of the Sunne is there also insupportable , when it lights vpon the roofe in his full force . Thatched leafes naught Thatched roofes are also naught for them , because they harbour Mice and Rats in them , which are great deuourers of the Wormes .

The most proper and commodious roomes for the Silk-wormes then , Middle roomes best . are middle chambers , which must be spared for them two months only in the Spring : or else if your house-roome be too straight , you must build new lodgings expresly for them , in which they will soone quit the cost , and that durably after ; but otherwise to expect profits of them in bad roomes , will not be worth your labour .

You must cast the proportion for their roomes after this manner : The proportion of the roomes . The Silk-wormes comming of ten ounces of seed , to be kept and fed well at ease for the best profit , must haue a middle chamber of forty two foot in length , eighteene foot in bredth , and twelue foot in heighth ; and for more or lesse Wormes you keepe , ground your selfe thereafter , vpon this proportion .

The houses wherein you keepe them , Situation of the houses for them . would be situated in a good , cleere , dry ayre , for moysture is a great enemy vnto them : the chambers wherein you feed them , must haue casement windowes to open and shut on both sides the roome , being opposite one against being blacke , is greater , and better to taste , than that of the white , which is lushious ; besides all this , the blacke is of farre slower growth than the white Mulbery tree .

Three sorts of white Mulbery trees . Of the white Mulbery tree there are manifestly knowne three kinds , which neuerthelesse are onely distinguished by the diuers colours of the fruit , which are white , blacke , and red , and seuerally brought forth by seuerall trees : all which three sorts , notwithstanding the difference of the colour of the fruit , beare but one name of the white Mulbery tree . These three sorts resemble all one another , both in leaues which they bring forth , all of a meane greatnesse , and a smooth feeling , the wood of all being yellow within , and the difference onely to be knowne by the fruit , as aforesaid .

The white Mulbery tree better than the blacke . The blacke Mulbery tree leafe makes grosse and course silke ; but the white Mulbery tree leafe makes fine , & high-prized , ( for according to the finenesse of the leafe , will the finenesse and goodnesse of the silke be : ) Therefore alwayes where it is in your power to make the best choyce , store your selfe with the white Mulbery tree ; which as it is farre better than the blacke , so also it springeth faster , growing more in two yeeres , than the blacke in sixe .

The white Mulbery tree , bearing the blacke berry , best of all . Yet among the three sorts of white Mulbery trees , there is choyce also to be made ; for by the searching of some it hath been found , that the leaues comming of that white Mulbery tree which beares the blacke berries , are 〈◊〉 than any of the other white Mulbery trees , bearing either the white , or the red berry . Wherefore if it bee possible , furnish your ground onely of this kinde , that the food of the Silk-worme , and so withall , your silke may be the more exquisite .

Next to this , is the white Mulbery tree , bearing the white berry , which some ( according as there are diuers fancies ) holds to be the better : neuerthelesse the former is generally held the best .

Aboue all , A Rule . keepe no tree in your Mulbery yard , which beares leaues very much indented ; for it is neither of so great substance , nor yeelds so much food as that which hath lesse nickes : but yet this tree will be made good by grafting vpon it .

Hauing chosen your best plant of the white Mulbery tree bearing blacke berries , Soyle of the Mulbery , for good leafe . the next choise to be made , is of fitte ground to plant them in . Secondly , to haue wholesome and profitable foode for your Wormes , you must plant them in such a soile as is best fitting for your Vine , namely , not in too fat a ground , nor yet in too barren and leane , but in a middling soile : rather in a drie than a moist , in a light than a heauy , in a grauelly than a clay . For the quantity of the leaues , true it is , the farre and rich ground is the best , but not for the quality ; for the leaner ground breed the leafe , of the most profitable and perfect nourishment : the Mulbery tree hauing that in common with the Vine , which brings the best Wine in the like soile to this ; so then the lighter ground brings forth the more exquisite , delicate , and sauoury leafe for the foode of the Silke-worme , and the fat ground a more ranke , grosse , flash , and vnsauory leafe , which being an vnwholesome kind , seldome fadges well with the Worme or neuer , vnlesse it be helped by an excellent good season : whereas the leafe of the leaner and midling soyle , neuer fayles the effecting of your desired purpose . The leafe of the Mulbery will be then well qualified as is fitting , if you plant them in an indifferent soyle , somewhat dry , far from springs of water , and from bogges , and from watry and foggy places ; What soyle best . prouided also , that they be exposed to the Sunne , and kept as much as may be from the annoyance of the North and East Windes : for with the Vine too , the Mulbery hates a cold , shady , and watry situation . And though the Vine and the Mulbery bring forth more in a fat strong ground then in a leaner , yet so it is , that the little of the fruite of the leaner ground being delicate , is more esteemed and of better price , than the abundance of that out of the fatter soyle , which is coorse and grosse .

The third thing , is to shew the best time and order to plant and remooue the Mulbery tree , and at what age the leafe is good . Considering there be such store of growne Mulbery trees , small and great in Virginia to be taken vp , nothing shall be said now of planting the suckers or branches , nor yet of sowing the Mulbery seede ( which though it be the slowest , yet it is held a sure and a good way ) but we will onely aduise you to take choyce of such well-growne Mulberies , as may soonest bring profit by their forward flourishing . Experience teaches , The leafe of the old Mulbery , the best . that the leaues of the olde Mulbery trees are farre more healthfull for the Worme , and more profitable than those of the young ones , in case they be still vigorous and not falne into extreme decay through age : the Mulbery tree , as in many things , being in this also like to the Vine , which brings better wine olde than young . And as the Vine begins to beare good Wine after the seuen or eyght first yeeres of his planting , so likewise the Mulbery tree in the same age , brings forth so good leafage , wherof you may be sure to reape certaine profit .

The time and manner of remoouing of the Mulbery tree , is much after the fashion of others : you may remooue and plant the Mulbery in September , October , Nouember , December , February , March , or Aprill , and in Ianuary too if it be not frosty weather . When to remoue the Mulbery tree . Take them vp in faire weather , being neither frosty nor hotte , with such care and curiousnesse that you may haue all the rootes whole and intire , without any being broken or bruised if it bee possible : which to doe , you must neither spare cost , nor paines , nor must you want patience , which is necessary for this action , for feare lest through rude hastinesse and carelesnesse , your trees ill taken vp , prooue lost charge and labour . Before you take them vp , head them , cutting off all their branches , leauing some forked armes of them onely with snags , of such length as is fitting for new growth , as vsually is done in remouing of other trees . How to remoue Mulbery trees , and to prepare the ground for t●em . To doe well , three moneths at least before you remoue them , you must make holes in the earth ready digged for them , where you minde to set them . The longer the holes are digged before you set them , be it a whole yeere , so much the better ; for the more the earth is seasoned and prepared by the weather , the easier the trees take rooting , and draw the better nourishment from the earth . But if necessity constraine you to dig the holes at the same instant that you are to plant them , then must you burne some small wood , bushes , or straw in the holes , that the fire may supply the want of the Sunne and the frost , for the fit preparing of the earth : if otherwise , you must not fill vp the holes with that earth which was taken out of them , but with other seasoned earth , pared and taken onely from the very top of the ground , which is better seasoned by the Sunne than that raw earth which lyeth deeper . The holes must bee made very large and wide for them , for to containe the roots at full ease ; you may be sure you cannot make them too big . The rootes must be set as deepe in the ground , as they were then when they were taken vp ; so shall you plant them after their naturall manner , which is best , neither too deepe , not too shallow . There must be left halfe a foot of small loose earth in the bottome of the hole , to set the roots vpon ; which earth , if it bee not well prepared before by the weather , must bee taken from the top of the ground , and by this means , they will the easier and sooner take root downward . The roots must be set downe easily , and put into the earth as neere as may bee , to the same site and naturall posture that they were when they were growing , taking heed that in placing them , you make not the roots to presse and crosse one vpon another : wherefore see that you couer the roots well , and handsomly , putting betweene them all soft and fine earth , pressing it downe , and couering them by little and little patiently with the hand , and not treading them with the feet , or vsing rammers , and beaters , as some doe , which spoyleth them , but filling them vp rather , and kneading the earth about them gently with the hand , as is said ; beginning first from the lowest roots , and so going on to the middlemost , and then at last to the highest , till the ground be leuelled . So shall all the roots be couered , without any hollownesse being left betweene them ; for this closenesse keepes the roots from taking wind , and from water standing about them , which rots them . If in the negligent taking vp , part of the roots be vnbarked , bruised , or broken , that part must be cut off before you plant it , and you must put earth close about that place which is thus hurt , that water and ayre come not betweene it and the earth , to rot it .

For Mulbery trees to spread and grow bigger . To haue your Mulbery trees grow big , and faire spred , you must shred off some two inches of the tops of all the branches round about , and especially to cut the master bough of the stocke , in lopping the top of the tree , so as in the whole height of the growth , the tree bee not aboue sixe , or seuen foot high from the ground : for keeping your trees alwayes at that height by shredding them , they will spread the more : for the substance going backe , will be imployed in nourishing of the stocke ; whereas if you let the branches grow at will , there will be much ranke and vnprofitable wood .

In what space to plant the Mulbery tree . The fourth poynt requisite for the goodnesse of the Mulbery leafe , is , the regard to be had in the planting of them in fit distance and space one from another , whereby the Sunne may come euery way freely to them , to giue you a well-concocted and wholsome fine leafe for your Silkworms . The more space of ground the Mulbery tree hath freely by himselfe , and the more frankly the ayre and Sunne comes to it , the greater it growes , and brings the better leaues . Therefore if you will make , as it were , whole Forrests and Woods of the Mulbery trees , you must plant them in a straight line , and comely figure of a quincunx , euery tree being distant one from another euery way , at least foure and twenty or thirty foot . Or otherwise , hauing such store of Mulbery trees as you haue somewhere in Virginia , you may take vp all trees betweene them , that hinder this distance from thirty foot , to thirty foot , that the Sunne may come throughly to them .

But if you will plant them in rankes in the hedges , and out-borders of your plough-lands , or other grounds , then may you plant them neerer together , yet alwayes without pressing them too neere one another ; for that is euer to the hurt of the tree , and the losse of the owner . But considering that the onely out-skirts of arable lands , vineyards , and other parts of your demeane lands , though indifferently large , are not sufficient to containe Mulbery trees in so great a number , as is fitting to feed the Wormes in abundance ; and for that on the other side , the leaues of the trees which are in the thickets and woods , are not so good and wholsome for them , as those that are set in due space in the out-borders , because the other neither haue Sun , nor winde at will : a meane betweene these two extremes is found , conueniently to plant the Mulbery trees for the profit of good leafage , and yet without much hindering the tillage and vse of good land . And this is to plant the trees amidst your grounds by line and leuell in double rowes , one single rowe being euen distant from the other sixteene foot , and so likewise euery tree to be set in the same distance from one another ; which being thus planted , the two rowes on each side make one faire alley . The best way to plant Mulbery trees in good order : like to the first of More field walkes . And you must dispose these allies on this manner ; namely , both along , and acrosse the field , the one alley thwarting and intercrossing the other , leauing on the outsides on them great empty squares of ground , euery square containing an acre , or more , as a man pleaseth , for to sow corne there , which may bee reaped , without being trod downe by the gatherers of the leaues ; for when they gather the leaues , they shall tread only on the allies , or neere them ; which allies taking vp but small roome , there will be but little losse of ground , either for your come , or for other vses . You must also plant the trees in these allies in such sort , that they be not set iust right ouer one against another , lest they be pestered together , but set a tree of one row , still against the empty space of the other row : so shall they haue roome and aire enough to grow lustily and freshly , hauing thus the benefit of the Sun , which will alwayes come most freely vpon them , especially vpon the open sides of the great squares . In which squares you may , if you will , conueniently sow corne , specially O●es , and field Pease , or such like ; which though they be trodden downe in the gathering of the leaues , yet can they haue no great hurt , by reason that the blades of these graines will bee then backwards , and they will rise againe , though they be beaten down to the ground ; so wil not Wheat , Rye , nor Barly , which for that reason would not be sowne in your Mulbery-yard , but vpon necessity .

There is another commodity comes also of ploughing your Mulbery grounds : for the Mulbery tree prospers much better in the loose ploughed or digged ground , then in the hard cloddy medowes and pastures , so as you take heed lest in ploughing or digging about them , you hurt not the rootes . In the same squares you may also plant Vines , where they will profit , as being not much hindered by the shade of the trees ; or you may , if you had rather , haue medowes or pastures in them , after the trees haue had foure or fiue yeeres rooting , so as you dig the earth loose about the roots , and sometimes dung them . In this sort , without hindering your demeanes better , than any other way , neere to your house ( for so is most fitting ) may you plant your Mulbery yards with great profit , both for the goodnes of the leaf , & for the pleasure and beauty which will be in the walkes , in which also if you please , you may sow , or set somewhat , that may bee for vse and profit , and quit the cost of labouring the ground .