Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1885-09-11
THE SILEW0RH At WORK.
Howthe Silk of G Commerce is Produced
by the Little Insect.


The insect is in one sense a tiny
manufacturer himself, finding his
'raw material chiefly in the leaf Of
the mulberry tree, which gives name
to the common silk.moth, the cat
erpillar Of which is the sllkworm.
The tree is said by proverb to be
made for the worm and the worm
for the tree, and it seems to have a
/ fiber peculiarly suitable for textile
use, some Of the Pacific islanders
making clothing by macerating the
bark Of the paper mulberry, without
the Intervention Of the silk-wOrm.
Most Of the silk of commerce is
made by this one moth from this
one food, yet it can feed in whole
or in part, upon other leaves, as
those of the Usage orange IN this
country, and it has Il score of cous'
ins or distant relations, as the
Tussah moth Of India, which live
upon other trees, and produce a
similar material.
The moth is about an inch long,
whitish, with brown stripes, and
LAYS at the close of summer numer.
Gus eggs about the size of a pin
head, attached singly to the leaf
10y a kind of gum, which, when dry
has silky appearance. The
moths soon die; the eggs do not
hatch until the next summer, and
can meanwhile he sent around the
world. The sale of grain or seed,
as the eggs are also called, is of
itselfa business, for it brings as
much asst per ounce, ten-fold the
price years ago, before an epidemic
swept through the silk world. Each
moth lays from four hundred to
seven hundred Gigs, but it takes
over six hundred thousand to
make pound. In obtaining eggs
for breeding, the grower usually
places the moths on cloths in 4
dark, warm room, where they con
tentedly lay their eggs and die.
In tropical countries, as Southern
China and India, the eggs hatch
by natural heat; in other, artificial
warmth is necessary F.; and in old
times hot.beds were used, or the
eggs we're carried about by women
in little bags in their bosOms. The
careful grower makes ready for the
Matching by providing latticed trays
or bundles of twigs, about which
the food of finely chopped mnlber-
rs leaves is distributed. The tiny
worm at first eats two meals day
at the end Of FIVE days he casts his
first skin, on the ninth day his
second again, on the the fifteenth,
twenty.second and thirtysecOnd
days he 'moults,' becoming torpid,
and exchanging old skins for new.
Like his felI0w.wOrm, man, he has
sseven ages the sixth, when he
has attained the mature age OF
thlrty.two days, is the spinning,
the last the breeding period. AT
the approach of the spinning age
the worms from n single ounce OF
eggs (nearly 10000 eggs will have
required over l,2OO pounds OF
leaves, and will need about Isl
square feet space for their homes
Each days Matching is kept to-
ccther, lest the older eat up the
food of the weaker brethren, and
every care must be taken to pre-
vent the growth of the minute fun
gus which makes 'silkworm rot and
TO ward off other diseases. In 1901
Europe was swept of mach OF its
silkcn wealth by one of these para
, sitic diseases, and one ofPasteur'
early triumphs was in discovering
its nature.
Tue worm is conservative, and
r never attempts to move from hi
, place until it is time to begin spin
ning: he then becomes distendet
| with the sill, juice and semi-trans
E parent, like a ripe yellow plum, ant
can presently be observed lifting
his head and looking about for
good site tor his cocOon-bulldlng
which has been furnished by the
?. cocoon.grower in arches of twlg'
y ON lattice.work. Some of tn
II worms are lazy, and the twig ha
n to be applied. The Spinner, wit
d careful forecast, adjusts his bod
l. in the best position for the cocoon
D. and commences to throw the ilos
II that forms its outer coating.
1t The material OF the silk Is
ir gummy secretion in sericteria, tw
b. large glands along each side of tn
W body, terminating each in n splI
s. neret in the mouth {; each fiber
le the thread proves on microscop
III examination to be double, Oh
id stand coming from each pinnere
Or What the angler prizes as sill
$. worm gut is this serictereu
Il, soaked in vinegar, stretched an
fe dried in the sun. The worm clos'
lg himself in tighter and tighter, I'll
" interior thread being the finer; ]
or fixes his body in place with hi
s hooked feet, and throws his hea
l.. here and there as he spins.
MT The thread is sometimes l,SO
he feet long without break; goo
" cocoons should yield 300 yards;
A -nn q, a.,