The National tribune., 1882-05-27


spun by them, and manufacturing those
! threads into articles Of dress or ornament
seeris to have been first practced by the
! Chinese. In China, Japan, and India SILK
! has formed from time immemOrial one OF the
| chief objects of cultivation and manufacture
! There was time when silk was valued IN
Rome at its weight in gold. 1t has been
stated that at a period when many of the
| inhabitants Of Europe were naked savages
the Chinese peasantry were clothed in gar
mentS Of silk.
From China the cultivation of silk ex-
! tended into India, and from thence TO Aslatic
| Turkey and Europe. About the 18th cen
| tury the city of Damascus, which had at
that time an ancient reputation for fine
weaving. so far outstripped all other places
! for beauty of design that her silken textiles
We're in demand everywhere, and thus
| traders fastened the name Of Damascen, or
| Danask, upon every silken fabric which was
richly wrought or curiously designed, no
matter whether il came oTnot from Damascus.
For about 2G0years the leaves Of the black
mulberry supplied the food of the silk
worms which produced the silk spun III
Europe. The white mulberry was intro
duced into Tuscany about the middle Of
| the 9th century, since which time it has
been generally employed for feeding silk
| WORMS. The leaves of this species and its
| many varieties, especially the M0rettiana
| and multicaulis, are found to contain more
Of the glutinous milky substance which
gives tenacity to silk produced by the worms
| which feed on them and which is found in
all leaves specially valuable Cor this purpose.
The white mulberry requires a warmer
climate than does the black mulberry, and
| attempts to introduce the former into the
colder parts of Europe have failed, the
growth of the tree not being sufficiently
active to make the rearing of silk-worms
upon it q profitable industry.
| The quality of the silk, as well as the
quantity produced is influenced by the con-
ditiOn of the leaves, the culture given to the
| plants, and the nature of the soil upon
which they are growing. The leaves of the
black mulberry are hard, rough, and tena-
ciOus, and the silk produced from them,
SIIOuS, Is very COdiSS.
The worms fed on the leaves of the white
mulberry from trees planted on elevated
situations, and which are only moderately
luxuriant in growth, produce a silk which
is strong very pure and of fine quality.
When the leaves are large and succulent the
worms fed On them grow large, but produce
| less silk. 1t is stated that the richer the
leaves are in saccharine and resinous mat
ters, the more valuable is the silk produced
! from them.
| SUMNER FRUITS BROUGHT FORTH BY
| WINTER SUNs"-Florida is finding source
of wealth in furnishing early fruits and
vegetables for Northern markets. This year
straw berries from that State made their ap-
pearance in New York early in January, at
| which time they bring from five to seven
dollars per quart. These fruits are grown
all along the st. Johns River, and are sent
when nearly ripe to Jacksonville, where
they are packed in refrigerators, with alter
nate compartments for ice and strawberries.
The journey to New York occupies four
days; a special messenger travels with each
carload, who sees to the careful handling of
the fruit and renewing the ice in the pack
ages as it melts. In general the fruit arrives
in very good condition. AS the season adj
yances the prices decrease, and by the begin
ming of April they bring from 80 to 40 cents
per quart, at which price the business is no
longer profitable.
Tomatoes and green peas are transmitted
L, Of "a =,
stated that the only obstacle to the indefinite
extension of this kind of trade is the cost of
the ice which is indispensable for transporta-
ton. Ice is dear in Florida, but all efforts
to carry these early crops without ice have
hitherto failed.
EFFECTS OF FRUITHG ON THE GROWTH
OF TREEs.-An instructive lesson on the
weakening influences which fruit bearing
exerts upon trees may be observed in the
case of the silver maple. In any number of
these trees, in favorable seasons some of
them will be thickly covered with seed YES
| sells, some bearing only sparse crop, and
some wholly destitute of seeds The result
will be apparent: those not bearing seeds
will appear heavily covered with luxuriant
]
foliage which will be Of a healthy green
color and the young shoots rapidly length
ening, while those trees which have borne
heavy crop of seeds will appear scant of
foliage, making but feeble growth, and yel-
lowish in color. Again, those trees which
bear only moderate crop viii be found in
good condition Of growth, and the seeds they
produce will be much larger than those on
trees heavily laden. Further, it may he OBJ
served, If notes to that effect are available
that the trees having no seeds this year are
those which produced heavy crops last year
| This is good lesson in the management of
orchard trees, and shows how they are i'll
/ jured when oyercropped.
! CANARY GRAss.-This grass is 4 native
Of the Canary Islands, and is largely grown
in Europe for its seeds which form an inn
porlant portion Of the food of Gagged singing
/ birds, especially canaries. 1t is said to be
used, TO limited extent, in the food of
highIy-trained race-horses, its effect being to
form muscle and not fat, the seed being free
from oil. In the Canary Islands the seeds
are ground into -four, which makes a nutri-
tiouB kind OF bread. Upwards Of 100000
| bushels of these seeds are annually entered