Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1869-10-07


- NIGHT.
Across the Wales. across the mea.is,
My weary children come.
Leaning. on their broken reeds.
Glad to rest ut home.
Selected Misttll1mi).
SILK CULTURE.
How II Is Carried ON In California.
Correspondence New York Tribune. 4. i
ThreeImiles from sacramento ia the resi-.
,l.nce Of Capt. W. NJ. Haynie--a low dark
frame house. hidden in luxuriant foliage
which is fragrant with June roses and OLE
,rder blossoms. Hitherto silk worm eggs
have come from tho East. Italy alone 10
said to buy $4,000, 900 worth annually from
Japan. Inst year California began to ex-
port eggs to Italy aud France. They were
sold ut u peronnce forthe sake Of intro
tlucingtthena into foreign markets; Sbatsso
many people are going into the business
that before the season was over they com.
manded $40 at home.
1t is claimed that the eggs of Califorpis
are the healthiestand best in the woodland
thai no other climate ia 10 favofdblU 70
their production, except that of some Of
the interior districts Of India, where the
worms hatch and make silk without mans
supervision. Haynes young mulberry
trees cover thirteen acres. Every winter
ho crops the stems until hey are only
three or four feet high, thanltA he spreading
branches may I've reached in tho feeding
season without ladder. The leaves are
ready for the worms by the middle Of April
and continue good until late in Novem-
sar. Capital in California has demanded
such quick and large returns, and the
memory of the disastrous morus multi
caulis fever which swept the Union thirty
years ago has been SO fresh, that few have
,,nIestaken. silk culture until within the
last two wears, Now, Haynie~ SstimStes
gagged in it. and four millions Of mulberry
trees growing. An acre of trees, he thinks,
with three careful men, to attend to them
and the worms, should produce five hum
tlrel dozen Of eggs in q season. Cinnamon
reou,re instruction, az those who come
here are chiefly Of the lowest classes, from
the coast, many of whom have spent their
gives in boats, and know little, Of the skill
ed industries of their oFni couht1y9 Tho
japanese immigrants (few, thus farl have
been familiar with silk culture at home.
Mr.. Haynes cocoonery, a wooden build
:ng, seven feet by fifty, is full Of
frames supporting broad shelves, which are
only few inches apart and are. completely
covered with silk, WORMS = varioas stsg0.s
There are now 10000; in August It is ex-
pacted that the building will contain !, ZOO, !.
600. They have become so fur American
lied that they live upon newspapers-which
oyarspread all the shelves. A uniform tenn
perature of about eighty degrees proves
iaat for them. Some varieties breed three
times year, some twice, and some only
once; and Haynie. in his experimenting,
has produced several hybrid varieties which
make beautiful cocoons.
According to the authorities, it takes
,learly 100000 newly Matched worms to
weigh pound avoirdupois. Those here,
only ono or two days old, are brown. and
about one.tweiitieth of an inch long. For
them the tenderest leaves are cut up to
present rs many edges as possible, and
they do not eat the stems or 6bres. The
larg Jest worms-thirty days old and nearly
white are more than three inches long.
They devour fibre and all with rapacity.
On shelf completely covered with them,
sIaynie laid large bunch of fresh leaves.
In a minute they were swarming over the
leaves, and in five minutes they had con-
sumM everything except the tough main
stems. Under the microscope they look
like antediluvian reptiles, with formidable
horns and frightful claws. The workmen
handle them freely, aud lay them upon
the open palm to exhibit them. They will
not leave the shelves unless they grow hun
cry; and all, young and old, are fed about
eight times In twenty-four hours. AZ the
yonerableage Of one month they are ma
ture. Then, after day or two Of volunta-
~ fasting, they suspend themselves among
branches of willow rods, and from their
snouts, just below the mouth, two little
threads OF silk as fine as gassamer begin to
striking the dir they turn to FIBRE The
doubling his body into coil, begins to weave
inclose him during his strange transngura-
ton In three days the cocoon is complete,
as large asa thimble, and rounded at both
ends. Itmay be white, -colored, buff,
orange, AMBER canary, or of almost any
other cheerful hue. It contains about 400
cards OF silk fibre, so fine that the eye
can hardly detect it. If the object
be to produce spool-silk, the cocoon ia
now kept in the sun for one day, and, that
kills the worm within. But il only seRRs
are coveted, the cocoon is left untouched,
and in eight days the :wormI is q chrysalis,
incased in little shell inside his prison.
In three or four weeks he is ready to
tunnel" out of his celia favorite method
OF escape for captives. With the only old
feature he retains--his sharp snout-he
digs out, cutting tho fibre SO that it will
no longer make thread, but only floss silk.
He energies in full glory, = snow white
moth or miller. Two cocoons, which
Haynie gave mo AZ curiosities, happened
to place on my table at the Sacramento
Hotel. The next day the ghostly
moths had come ont, and were lay
Jug eggs on my letters and newspapers.
A male and female miller are left togeth-
or for two or three days. Next the female
fastens herself upon piece Of paper and
hrposts some $50 eggs, white, as large az
pin-heads, and lying upon the paper az
close together as paving stones. Then the
moths both die.
In two or three days the eggs turn to a
BLUSH color, and then they are ripe fol-
Matching when the proper season comes.
Ksin and lightning are the great enemies Of
silk worms. Rain, soaking the mulberry
leaf, makes it poisonous for them, and q
single thundef shower may paralyZo and
kill every worm in large cocoonery in ten
minutes But in California summer il
rainless, and thunder and lightning ore
unknown except among the mountains.
This new industry is SO nice and delicate
hat it may take several years to master it,
Details but it bids fair to expand into vast
proportions. Beside supplying the Euro
pcan market with eggs, see no reason
Why California should not ultimately manu-
1.ctnre silk for the entire country. The
duty on imported silks is GO per cent, af
t,rding room for fascinating profit Here
the machinery can easily DO made, the
worm and the mulberry thrive, and skilled
Oriental labor is obtaiIlable in imitlesa
quantities. Even if we import the raw
silk upon which there is no duty, CHEAP
labor and nearness to China and Japan will
give the factories Of California great advan
iages over those of Now York, New Jersey
and Connecticut
Drunkenness.
Al the Trades Union Convention held re-
Gently in London, the following facts in re-
p,r,l to drunkenness were brought out:
Every year upwards OF G22S, OOO, 600 are
spent by the British nation ON Intoxicating