The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1882-04-15
DOMESTIC SILK GROWING.
Ilrsm Ms SeismiDle Amsrieam.

fered by a firm in that city for the
best exhibition Of cocoons called out
twenty-five competitors, including three
from the Southern States. In all there
were about thirty exhibitors Of cocoons,
floss silk, and reeled silk. Cocoons
were shown surrounded by floss as spun
by the worms on branches, and also as
spun separately in small paper horns,
according to the "cellular" system, as
well as packed in bottles denuded Of the
floss. Single, double, and pierced CO.
coons were exhibited, with silk worms
eggs and specimens of the dead worms
and moths. An especially interesting
exhibit of the silk Of foreign and domes-
tic worms, and of the silk Of new
species, fed on Usage orange, was made
by Prof. {. V. Riley, of the United
States Department of Agriculture. The
process of reeling was practically illus
trated, and plush, taffeta, and satin
looms were in operation. There was a
large variety of manufactured silk goods,
including many hand-painted screens
and banners.
In the two years since the society was
started il has sent Silkworms' eggs and
| slips of the mulberry tree TO persons in
nearly every State of the Union. The
cocoons spun by the worms at the houses
of those who have taken up this new in
dustry have been purchased by the soci-
ETY.. An ounce Of eggs costs IS, and
the worms hatchcd from them will make
30, 600 cocoons. The society pays 81 a
pound for cocoons, from which the silk
is then recled OFF, each pound of cocoons
making about quarter of 4 pound of
silk. The reeling is done by an en-
ploye Of the society, as there are no
skilled American reelers.
Some specially interesting facts with
respect to the practical condition and
results Of the industry were lately given
To the Philadelphia PnbHc LcIgtr by
Miss Nellie Rossitcr, a girl OF fifteen,
who has for year or more made bus-
ness of silk-growing. BY combining
the work with teaching the art Of seri
culture Miss Rossi;cr has found it quite
profitable. Just now, while homegrown
silk is a curiosity, there is quite de-
mand for hanks of the recled silk, un-
twisted, as specimens. There is also
the beginning OF private business de-
| mand for hanks TO be used in embroid-
cry and in the manufacture OF artificial
flowers. The bright young lady teacher
had on exhibition a cream-whitc lily
with buds OF glis,ening yellow, beau:i-
ful piece OF work, which was TO be sent
TO Mrs. Garfield. /, seemed to the
reporter that il could scarcely be hand
made, so delicate and pure were the
shining petals. but he was informed that
the process was the same As tha; employ
ed in making hair work. There are
seven natural shades in cocoons, Miss
Rossi;er said-grcen, 4 birthstone yell
low, straw. salmon, lemon, orange, and
white all OF them making good effects
to work with.
The hanks of rccled silk bring from
SI.oo to Ss.oo-fifty cocoons making 4
hank. From $50 to SEQ cocoons yield
4 pound of silk, according to iineness.
and the silk brings from So. SO to SIS. 50
from manufacturers, according TO the
skill exercised in the reeling.
Badly reeled silk, the American Con-
sui in Lyons points out, is worth less
than when on the cocoons. According
Is he denounceS rs 4 fatal error the n
tempt Of our silk growers to furnish
ieeled silk. Skillfull reeling, he says,
is an ar, to be acquired only by years
of apprenticeship and constant practice,
and not all who try can learn the trade.
Keeling by ordinary reels requires a
sufiicicncy of highly skilled labor thir-
teen hours 4 day for twenty cents, and
even Italian women find it better to sell
their cocoons; the idea of rceling is like
each farmers grinding his wheat TO sell
in flour. This much promised. the Con-
sui sees no practical force in the objec-
tion that scricul;urc cannot be made
profitable in this country because of the
cost of labor, since the labor required
does no; necessarily involve any outlay.
II is essentially home industry, need
ing no severe manual labor, except for
few days At the end of the season, and
when large crops are raised. In many
of our States the wives and daughters of
country people, now relieved by machi-
merry from all the old time labor of max
ing clothing from the raw material, are
unable to contribute TO the family in
come except by going away from home;
in the silk districts of Europe there is
less agricultural machinery than here,
aud nearly every woman who works at
sericuliurc takes for il time that would
otherwise be turned TO field labor land
is also dearer there, and taxes heavier.
The buildings possessed by the peasants
and used for scriculture are generally
small and miserable, while here the
roomy barns are empty during the CO.
coon season better intelligence prevails
here some diseases which have been
more or less prevalent in Europe have
not appeared here, although many ex-
periments in silkgrowing have been
made and the prospect is that these
differences will make the necessary cost
Of cocoon production here at least as
low as in Europe. As to the matter Of
profit, the Consul thinks that the yield
may be large enough to be very conve-
nient TO numbers of families, the reason
able product of an average family
being SIS to saoo. The great difficulty
being to find market for the cocoons,
sporadic and hasty efforts should be dis
couraged; the product of few isolated
families in the interior could not be sold
TO advantage /; but il several hundred
families were engaged in the work IN
the same neighboihood, the charge OF
marketing their united crop would be
only small PERCENTAGE Of its value
Sericulture must have proper channels,