Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1884-08-14
SILK WORMS AT WORK.
Hundreds Of Thousands of Them Spin
ming Silk Under One Roof.
What Miss Nellie Rossfter Has Ae.
complish od-Ex perimcnts TO OBJ
tain New shades I'm Cocoons
-Interesting Details.
PHILADELPHIA Times.

Miss Nellie 14ilicOln ROsSllef, the young
silk culturist, ;" Of worldwide fame, is now
conducting operations ON a more extensive
scale than ever. The first Of this seasons
crop Of silk WORMS is az its height. visit TO
Miss Rossiter's residence, G054 Vine street,
West Philadelphia, viii reveal 20 the in
quirer the complete process Of silk culture,
from cocoon back to cocoon again. The two
parlors on the first floor Of the house are oc-
cupied by Miss Rosters unique and valuable
collection. The silk stock farm is spread
throughout the second and third stories of
the house, which is so crowded with frames,
trays and mulberry branches that the human
occupants of the buildings are pressed for
living room. Every one of the family-from
the grandfather aged 81, TO the little brother,
aged lis actively employed in the work, all
being devoted assistants to Miss Nellie, the
business woman.
SILK WORMS AT WORK.
The worms beneath this one roof number
hundreds Of thousands and all are in a per
fectly healthy condition. They are about the
size Of an ordinary caterpillar, but are smooth
and in color vary from gray to cream white.
The feet are white, yellow, orange, pink,
81 ye-green or pale brown, and from this tint
can he told the color of the cocoon that each
wcIGa viii make. The worms creep thickly
over the mulberry branches, eating greedily
Or preparing to spin. Cocoors of every
! shade, just begun or just completed, are scat
tered thick rywhere-among the leaves,
IN bundles OF straw prepared for them or in
bGnches OF cut paper. The frames are kept
neat by outspread sheets of white niusquito
netting and the floors are sprinkled with
water, 50 that everything about the worms
il clean.
Besides the WORMS and scattered cocoons,
ilore are moths TO he seen. The silk worm
moth is smooth and of a uniform pearly
tint. The male moth is smaller than the fe
male and may he known by his making a
slight buzzing noise, while the female is al
ways silent. The eggs of the silk worm are
about the size of pins head and vary in
color from yellow to brown. la a third-story
back room. spread out upon newspapers, are
perhaps several bushels of this years cocoons,
All large aud beautifully colored, principally
SNOW white, cream white, sage-green, lemon
yellow and golden yellow. Seven natural
shades have been observed in cocoons, in
Guiding "a pale pink and a fawn-brown
NEW EXPERIMENTS.
Miss Rooster has made several interesting
experiments this season, which, if successful,
a pioneer in silk culture One of these is the
rearing Of q new variety Of silk worn,s,
known as BLACK Thibets," recently imported
from India, and which may be distinguished
from ordinary silk worms by dark gray
strings upon the body. Another is the cross
ing Of different color-producing worms. with
the view of obtaining new shades in cocoons
A deeper yellow and green have already
been produced.
Miss Rooster also believes that the inv is
not far distant when families can manufac-
ture their own silk from the cocoon to the
completed fabric. Accordingly she is exper-
imenting in diving the reeled thread, in spin
ming it. and in weaving dress patterns. Al
ready she has added to her stock of imple-
ments a larger reel for unwinding the silk
from the cocoops. n spininc-wheel and a
hand-loom, said to be capable Of giving 80
distinct effects TO a woven surface Miss
Nellie has secured the cooperation of Mr..
John Haig, an English sillt-weaver, residing
in Haddington who has made her the loom,
of his own invention, and is teaching her