Volume 1

...[failure to do so] will inevitably lead to disease. Therefore, after the summer silkworms have completed their Great Sleep The fourth and final molt before the silkworms begin spinning their cocoons., they must be placed on bamboo screens and aired out.

The screens should be suspended or laid out flat in the center of the room, leaving several feet of space on either side to allow people to walk back and forth. First, distribute the silkworms thinly on the left half of the screen. Once they have been aired, move them to the right half and clear away the "sand" original: "sha" (沙); a common term for silkworm droppings or excrement.. When the right side becomes crowded, spread them back toward the left. These reed screens are wide and spacious, allowing the silkworms to stretch out freely without being cramped by the edges. This prevents the "steaming heat" disease A condition caused by poor ventilation and high humidity in the rearing trays..

Picking Out the "Straying Mothers"

Whenever the silkworms have been sifted original: "shai" (簁); the process of using a mesh to separate the silkworms from their waste., those few that remain behind in the mesh are colloquially called "Straying Mothers" Li niang (離孃); literally "mothers who have left the group," referring to silkworms that fail to pass through the sieve with the others.. This name refers to their being scattered from the main group.

Strong and healthy silkworms will naturally crawl upward, while those that are sick will "sink in the sieve." To be at the bottom of the sieve is called "sinking in the sieve." Generally, the silkworms caught in the sieve are not of the highest quality. However, during the sifting process, some healthy ones may simply be left over by chance; one must carefully select these out and not discard them all indiscriminately.

Examining the "Everlasting Mothers"

Among the large silkworms, tiny crawling insects dead, dead These may refer to parasitic maggots or pests that were found deceased in the trays. may suddenly appear. These are known as "Everlasting Mothers" Zhang niang (長孃); likely a reference to parasitic fly larvae, such as the tachinid fly, which were a common plague in sericulture.. They are born within the colony original: "tai sheng" (胎生); literally "viviparous" or "born from the womb," used here to describe pests that appear to emerge spontaneously from the silkworms. and age alongside the silkworms. Although their appearance is sometimes taken as a sign of a flourishing colony, they must still be inspected and removed.