Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-10-01
AN HOUB. AMONG THE SIX
WORMS.
From A. D. Richardson's San Franeise
eorrf sspondence with the Tribunel

10 see a specimen Of it. NY companion
was James M'Clatchy, one Of the pro
pristOrs of The Sacramento Bee. Who
knows but he may yet see his journa
printed upon paper made Of mulberry
leaves, or better still, of silk, after tht
ancient Chinese method? He came tc
California in 80. His vessel was wreck,
ed on the lower coast, and he walked
400 miles, bare footed, up to San Jose
He began journalism as q carrier on
The San francisco Transcript, which
was edited by Fitch, now an owner OF
me 8atLCetI9, and McEwer, who after
ward abandoned the sanctum for the
sanctuary, and who now disturbs us
with the query. 'tIs Professionalism q
fai1ureP" In journalism he was not
one of those uncomfortable men who,
as Hans Christian Anderson says, ask
questions and never dream.
Three miles from Sacramento we
reached the residence OF Capt, W. NJ
HaYnie-a low dark frame house, hid
DIN with roses and oleander blossoms.
Hitherto stlk-worm eggs have come
nuV S5, 100000 worth annually from jap
an. Last year Cal 'fOrnia began to export
eggs to Italy and France. They were
sold at "a per ounce for the sake of in
Producing them into foreign markets
but 50 many people are going into the
business that before the season was
over they commanded SO at home. II
is claimed that the eggs OF California
are the healthiest and best in the world
and that no other climate is so favor
able to 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
ID acres. Every Winter he crops the
stems until they are only three or four
feet high, that the spreading branches
may be reached in the feeding season
without ladder. The leaves are ready
Tor the worms by the middle of April
Der. Capital in California has demand-
ed such quick and large returns, and
the memory of the disastrous morus
multicaulis fever which swept the
Union thirty years ago has been so
fresh, that few have undertaken silk
culture until within the last two years
Now, H tynie estimates that a hundred
farmers in the state are engaged in il,
and four millions of mulberry trees
growing. An acre of trees, he thinks,
with three careful men to attend to them
and to the worms, should produce 500
dozen of eggs in a season. Cinnamon
require instruction, as those who come
here are chiefly of the lowest classes,
from the coast, many Of whom have
spent their lives in boats, and know
little of their own country. The Japa-
nese immigrants (feW, thus farl have
been familiar with silk culture at home,
Haynie's cOcoOnery, wooden build
ing 20 feet by so, is full of frames sup
porting broad shelves, which are only
a few inches apart and are completely
covered with sIIk-WOrmsin various sta
ges. There are now 400, 600; inAugustit it is
expected that the building will contain
I,000, 600. They have b. come so far
Amercanized that they live upon news
apers-Which Overspread all the
shelves. A uniform temperature of
about 800 proves best for them, 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
nearly 70a.000 newly hatched worms to
weigh pound avOirdupois. Those here
only one or two days old are brown
and about one-tWentieth of an inch
long. For them, the tenderest leaves
are cut up to present as many edges as
possible, and they do not eat the stems
or dbers. The largest Worms-thirty
days old and nearly White--are more
than three inches long. They devour
fiber and all with rapacity. On a shelf
completely covered with them HaVnip
laid large bunch OF fresh leaves. In a
minute they were sWarming over The
leaves, and in five minutes they had
consumed every thing except the tough
main stems. Under the microscoDe
they look like antediluvian reptiles,
with formidable horns and frightfui
claws. The wOrkmen handle them freely
and lay them upon the open palm to
exhibit them. They will not leave the
shelves unless they grow hungry; and
all, young and old, are fed about eight
times in Lwentv-four hours.
At the venerable age of one month
they are mature. Then, after a day or
two OF voluntary Testing, they suspend
themselves among branches Of willow
rods, and from their shouts, Just below
the mouth, two little threads of silk as
fine as goesamer begin to prOtrude. AT
hrsb these are liquid, but on striking
the air they turn TO fiber. The worm
spins the two threads into one. ami
doubling his body into a coil begins to
weave around him the stlken prison
which is to iuclOse him during hi
strange TRANSPORTATION. In three
days the cocoon is complete, as large as
a thimble, and rounded at both ends,
1t may be white, straW-colored, buff.
orange, canary, or of almost any other
cheerful hue. 1t contains about 400
yards of silk fiber, so fine that the eve
can hardly detect &c and a baby's hair is
coarse beside 1t.
If the object be to produce spOOl-silk,
the cocoon is now kept in the sun for
one day, and that kills the worm with
in. But If only eggs are coveted. the
cocoon is left untouched, and in eight
days the worm il q chrysalis, incased
In a little she'll inside his prison. In
three or four weeks he is ready to "tun-
mel" out of his celia favoriUe method
of escape for caDtives. With the only
old feature he retains-his sharp snout
he digs out, cutting the fiber so that
1t will no longer make thread, but only
floss silk. He emerges in full glory,
snow-white moth or miller. Two Co
cOOns, which Haynie gave me as curl
osities, / happened to place on my ta-
bic at the Sacramento Hotel. The next
day the Rhostly moths had come out,
and We're laying eggs upon my letters
and newspapers.
A male and female miller are left
together for two or three days. Next
the female fastens herself upon a piece
of paper and deposits some ESQ eggs.
white, as large as pin heads, and lying
upon the paper as close together as pa
ving-stODPs. Then the moths both die,
Their little life seems like a satire upon
ours. Wh'u is it Owen Meredith saws
of the midge disappointed in love?
His friends would console him life yetis
Many hundred long seconds he still has to
live;
IN Ille otttte vet q mighty career spreads be-
Let him seek in the great world oraction to
strivel
In two or three days the eggs turn to
a bluish color, and then they are ripe
for hatching when the proper season
comes. Rain and lightning are the
great enemies of sillz-Worms. Han.
soaking the mulberry-leaf makes them
poisonous for them, and a single thun-
der-shower may paralyze and kill every
worm in large cocOonery in ten min
utes. But i'm California Summer is
rainless and thunder and lightning are
unknown except amongthe mountains.
This new industry is so nice and deli
cate that it may take several years TO
master its details but it bids fair to
eXpsnd into vast proportions. Besides,
supplying the European market with
egga / see no reason why California
should not ultimately manufacture silk
for the entire country. The duty on
imported silks Is 90 per cent, affording
room for a fascinating profit. Here
the machinery can easily be made, the
worm and the mulberry thrive, and
skilled Oriental labor 10 obtainable In
limitiess quantities. Even II we im-
port the raw silk upon which there Is
no duty), cheap labor and nearness to
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