The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-08-16
TIE SILKWORMS.


TEE SILKWORMS.
RoxE, July %, 1878
The silkworm rearing for 1878 Is ended; hopes and
fears over; every 6achiculoye, from the wealthy
Lombard propretors who set thousands OF ounces of
eggs to hatch down to the village doctor, tho school
mistress, the washerwoman who has pawned her ear
rings purchase mulberry leaves and half Of
seed knows tho yield per pound the quality Of the
cocoons and their price per kilogramme Mono but
those who have spent slkworm season in silk
producing countries form idea of the excite
that pervades these districts from the day when
the first mulberry leaf buds till the market closes and
the gold and silver carried OF be put
into the furnace and their intrinsic value proved
Playing on Change, unlimited loo, watching for tho
drawing OF lottery tickets alone give you o faint
notion of the prevailing eagerness and attention. due in
part To the caprcious nature Of the little
themselves, to the innumerabe Ills 10 which their
flesh is heir to the extraordinary fluctuations in prices
and above all to the fact that with many of the
10 their sole chance throughout tho year for earning
little actual money
THE RUMoRs OF DISEASE DErRyssINo RFTECT
NATIONAL INDUSTRY
Previous to the silk worm disease Italy produced raw
silk for $50 900 Of francs The disease suddenly
duced that to Now, by dint OF capital and
perseverance, OF study and experiment, OF treaty
operation between tho government and agricultural
lists, between proprietors and peasants, great
progress has been made. Neither tho
Of nor the remedy for the disease can
be said discovered but by the OF microscopes
and of chemical substances the disease once be-
detected in the egg and the cost and disappointment of
rearing saved Even by the open air system Of bring
Ing up for the sole purpose Of laying eggs for the
next year healthy spawn has been produced in large
1ar r,t{a
promising but still very far from the good old
days when eggs set TO hatch and we'll fed and
bedded gave thought their tenders than does
family of healthy children to the peasant mother
who when she has well fed clothed and cufed them
considers she has done her duty by them and them
flourish and thrive accordingly
cALcINo.
In these days calcino, sort OF apoplexy, which at
tackled the heathest worms, teothng commissions
attack the strongest child, the common alment;
crGSSSie riccione, negrou comparable TO measles and
whooping cough, would spread through certain dis
trct but the eggs OF the thus affected were
healthy in the following year. and it not until 1913
that discovered that the species had totally degen
Grated and that unless fresh blood introduced
native race would soon be utterly extinct
IMMENSELY OF THE INDUSTRY.
When II is borne In mind that besides the material
tanned for home manufacture Italy supplied the silk
manufactures of Europe with 5000 600 pounds Of
silk, while France, Turkey, Persia Greece, Spain, Ben
gal and China together, could furnish but 10 600 600
pounds 1t will be easily understood how anxious ital-
ans for the restoration and revival Of this important
branch Of national industry
ASIA
The first care to import fresh seed from Japan
and though the Japanese keep the superior qualities for
themselves and drug the foreign market with their
FUSE the eggs at least healthy and the first year
produced thriving crop Thon spectators bought up
the old seeds and covered them in wonderfully in
genious fashion with home spawn, and next year tho
called Japanese took the disease and the breed
lost heart Bat the frauds discovered and the
government provided that tho Italian Consul at Japan
should put his mark on the yearly ventures and again
japanese orignals" we're held in high esteem. The
difficulty lies in reproduction whether the evil exists
in the mulberry which, until quite lately, cultivated
in Italy without any prccauton, or whether the
necessity in certain years OF artificial heat affects the
reproductive powers Of the insect the Japanese seed
not to be trusted the second year, for although the eggs
hatch with admirable rapidity and unanimity, tho
worms die or after their third sleep in large numbers
and tho survivors spin slight sof tocoons, whose tops
are by means completed with that precision which
marks the work of all skworms who possess grain Of
serespect Consequently there is nothing for it but to
purchase original cartoons from JAPAN seed raised
the cellular system by which each worm is placed in
separate CELL supplied with mate for eight hours only
and then only the eggs laid on the first day used
seed raised on tho open air sysom-i e. the worm boz
ing BORN reared mated and laying its eggs on the null
berry tree itself This last quality decidedly preera-
BILE the worm Is already used to all the changes Of
temperature and atmosphere but as comparatively few
sufficiently robust TO survive the experiment tho
supply is very inferior TO the demand and tetches
higher price.
Once the question of the quality of tho seed solved,
then the question of leaves Only large propretors
have mulberry plantations Tho majority or skwOrm
breeders have 70 purchase them at Christmas time,
CHANGING the quantity that each trco will yield their
pickers peelers have W be fixed and then comes
very delicate pont-when to set the eggs 10 hatch;
for II the spring gives false promises and the eggs
set and cold follows on few bright warm days, tho
vegetation Of the mulberry retarded and the newborn
infants the risk Of dying Of hunger IL the
trary, they Matched too late the mulberry leaves
too forward and too hard for their tender teeth in
the first stage of their existence Not more numerous
and serious the councils OF great State than
the Matching time councils held in every silk district in
the opening Of the season.
now THEY ARE PED.
These important questions decided locality which
by natural or artificial means can DO kept nj gwen
temperature provided frames dry and whitcwashed TO
prevent the chances of infection from last years sick
set up and human responsibility almost ceases,
though human work commences IN earnest For tho
FIRST stages the must DO FED Twelve times during
the day or night with fresh leaves chopped as fine as
hairs the utmost cleanliness maintained, tho air re-
newed at least day. aud odors save OF fresh rose
leaves introduced into the nursery Woe 70 the worms
If heavy rain in, II Tho peecrs stun their sacks
too full SO that the sweat Either they leave the
unsavory meal untouched they devour II and II dis
agrees with them during their uoxt sleep, and the
! result Is that instead Of waking TO time, brisk
and hungry they have not the strength 10 dchange
their shrts,n tho phrase goes Il E., TO cast their
skins consequently their meals remain untouched aud
the oliactOry nerves Of the nurses them that
swim burial In the neighborng dungh Of this and that
severe thunderstorm sudden cold, Implying the
necessity OF large hrcs, will carry OF entire crop
Ofen, without any apparent reason, the worms will
wake up SgoT06s ron tAcT last sleep, deyour their