Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-09-26
silk Culture i'm the Tyrol.

the Emerald Isle, and dotted here and
there with flowers known only to our
greenhouses: then up through pine
woods fragrant with the mingled per-
fume of tree and flower, and bright
with many-colored blossoms, trailing
gracefully from tree to tree, or nesting
up to the giant stems as if for protec-
ton; emerging again high up on a
sunny Alp, where the cattle Craze and
and corn and wine enrich the thrifty
bauer; ON through acres of wines trained
carefully over trellis work, beneath
which we walk as through an arbor,
sheltered from the scOrching sun, up
turreted and castellated like most of
these medieval baronial mansions, but
shorn of its glory, inhabited no longer
by proud and lawless baron, with his
handful of armed retainers lOrding it
over the peasantry, but by simple
farmer, himself little above the ordinary
peasant, yet by frugality and industry
rapidly rising to wealth, and cOnse-
quently to power. Every inch of
ground seemed turned to good account
corn waving here, haymaking there;
acres of trellised vines laden with un-
ripe clusters, orchards of pears and
chestnuts, and everywhere hedges
about five feet high, neatly trimmed,
with here and there small white berry
resembling a raspberry. From these
hedges women were diligently picking
the leaves, and with them filling those
huge Blankets with which Tyrolean
women toll patiently up their native
mountains, bearing loads which our
laborers would reject as too heavy.
The utility of this seemingly useless
/ labor we were soon to learn, for our
friends informed us that the enterpris-
ing proprietor had added to the legiti-
mate operations of an ordinary farm,
the culture of silkworms, that he had
! sent TO Italy for women skilled in the
management of the silk-wOrm, and had
already begun to realize considerable
profit from his novel venture. Upon
our request TO be allowed to see the OBJ
iects of his care, we were cOurteOusly
conducted to- large partially-darkened
room. fitted up with a double row of
shelves i'm the centre, like those used !
i'm many farmhOnses for the storage of
cheese. On first entering the room our |
ears were aSsailed by rustling noise !
~ of much munching, reminding us of |
the accounts we had read of an army of |
locusts, and as our eyes became accus- |
toned TO the subdued light we found /
that the noise proceeded from a multi |
tude which | think might be counted /
by many thousands, if not millions. of |
catterpillars, in many stages of growth,
whose vOracious apperites were salts
isfied by the huge baskets of leaves
culled from the hedges of white null
berry which we had seen; and i'm this
work alone four women were constantly
employed. The shelves. which were
light and movable, and surrounded bv
a narrow ledge, were taken off i'm rota-
tion, the dry, partially consumed leaves.
with such luckless individuals as adj
hered to them, being shaken into an
empty basket. and the vigorous worms
supplied with fresh leaves several
times day. We had supposed that
this refuse would be thrown aside rs
useless rubbish after the worms had
been carefully picked from it, but we
were told. on the contrary. that this
mass of withered leaves formed excel
lent litter for the cattle, who ate what
they chose, treading the rest under foot
for manure; and as for the few worms
adhering to the refuse. the fact of their
doing So proved them TO be weak and
unhealthy, and therefore useless: so
they were consigned to their doom to be
trodden to death by the cattle. Having
examined the worms i'm all their various
stages, from the tiny. recently Matched,
To the great ugly-looking creatures as
large as finger, just ready to spin, we
were shown into another room filed
with branches of trees upon which the
more advanced worms were busy spin
ming their cOcOOns. Some of these are ,
carefully selected and reserved for a
supply of eggs for the next year, while
the remainder are wound off for silk,
the moths thus treated being, believe.
generally killed by the process, or too i
much injured by the necessary INNER
sion In hot water to be depended upon i
for fertile eggs. In vet another room |
lay the rich produce of the previous :
year, great masses of rich, creamy silk. |
ready for delivery to the merchant to be
carded and spun, and prepared by many
processes for the manufacturer. The
manner in which the worms are reared
strictly analogous to that employed in ,
China, and is, doubtless, that which has
been found by experience 10 be the
most simple and profitable. In China,
we learn from Fortunes Wanderings
in China, the worms are kept in dark
rooms, on shelves one above the other,
and only differ from those we have
been describing in being placed in round :,
sleeves upon these shelves. Then !,
again, we learn that "the trees, or
rather bushes, OF white mulberry are Z
planted in rows on the banks of canals,
and not allowed to grow more than ;
from four to six feet in height. The i,
natives cut all the young shoots off
close TO the stump, and the leaves are
stripped from these and taken home. !
rhe Chinsse seem very particular in
stirring up the earth round the roots as
loon as the young branches and leaves
have been stripped from them" Now, +,
'ne Of the greatest obstacles to the sue
;essful rearing of silk-worms in Eng n
and is, undoubtedly, the backward II
hess of the mulberry tree. The worms i,
ire hatched before their natural food is O
'eady for their consumption; resort is d
hen had to the lettuce; but experience 8
las proved that although the Young n