The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-08-14
The SilkwOrm at Work.

The insect is in one ssase tiny man
ufacturer himself, finding his raw ma
terial' chiefly in the leaf of the mulber-
~ tree, which gives name to the com
mon silk-moth, the caterpillar of which
is the silkworm. The tree is said by a
proverb 60 be made for the worm and
the worm for the tree, and it seems to
have fibre peculiarly suitable for tex
tile use. some of the Pacific Islanders
making clothing by macerating the
bark of the paper mulberry, without the
Intervention of the silkworm. Most of
the silk of commerce is made by this
one worm from this one food. yet it can
feed in whole or in in part, upon other
leaves, as those of the Usage orange in
this country, and it has a score OF cous-
ins and distant relations. as the Tussah
mOth of India, which live upon other
trees and prodnce a similar material.
The moth is about an inch long, whi-
tish, with brown stripes, and lays at the
close of summer numerous eggs about
the size of pin heads. attached singly to
the leaf with sort of gum, which when
dry has a silky appearance. The moths
sOOu die, the eggs do not hatch until
the next summer. and can mean
while be sent around the world. The
sale of grain or seed. as the eggs are al
so called, is of itself a business. for if
brings as much as four dollars 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 eggs, but it takes over
six hundred Thousand to make pound.
In obtaining eggs for breeding, the
grower usually places the moths on
cloth in a dark. warm room, where they
cOntentedly lay their eggs and die. In
tropical countries, such as Southern Chi
ma and India, the eggs hatch by natur-
nj heat in other, artificial heat is ne
cessary and in old times hot-b were
nsed, or the eggs were carried about by
the women. in little bags in their bos-
Oms. The careful grower makes ready
for the hatching by providing a number
of lattieed trays or bundles Of twigs.
about which the food of finely chopped
mulberry 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 fifteerth, twenty-second and
thirty-secOnd days he ''moults, - becom-
ing torpid and exchanging old skins for
new. Like his fellow worm, man, he
has ''seven ages, a" the sixth, when he
has obtained the mature age of thirty
two days, is the spinning, and the last
the breeding period. At the approach
OF the spinning age the worms from an
ounce of eggs (nearly forty thousand
eggs) will have required over !, 200 lbs.
OF leaves, and will need about 1S4 square
feet for their homes.
Each days Matching is kept Uogeth-
er, lest the older eat up the TODD from
the weaker brethren, aud every care
must be taken to prevent the growth of
the minute fungus which makes ''silk-
worm rot, - and to ward off other dis
eases. In 1857 Europe was swept of
much of its silken wealth by one of
these parasitic diseases, and one of Pas
teuI s early triumphs was in discover
ing its nature.
The worm is conservative and never
attempts to move from his place until it
is time to begin spinning. He then be-
comes distended with the silk juice and
semi-transparent, like ripe yellow
plum, and he can presently be observed
lifting his head and looking about for "A
good site for his cocoon building which
has been furnished by the cocoon grow
er in arches OF twigs on lattice work.
some of the worms are lazy, and the
twig has to be applied. The spinner,
with careful forecast, adjusts his body
in the best position for the cocoon, and
commences to- throw the floss which
forms it outer coating.
The material Of the silk is a gImmy
secretion IN sericteria, two large glands
along each side of the body, terminating
each IN a spineret in the mouth each
thread proves on microscopic examination
to be double, one strand coming from
each spiupret. What the angler prizes
as 'silkwOrm gut" is this sericterium
soaked in vinegar, stretched and dried
in the sun. The worm closes himself in
tighter, the interior thread being the
finer he fixes his body IN place with his
hooked feet and throws his head here
aud there as he spins.
The thread is sometimes l.SOO feet
long without break; good cocOons should
yield 300 yards. II takes at least 2,JOC
worms to raise pound of silk. Within
five or six days the spinning is compile
ted, and the moth presently makes prep
arations to emerge, by the help OF an
other secretion which sOftens and dis
solves the end of the cocoon. Since il
piercing the end OF the cocoon the worn
breaks the continuity OF the thread, il
is usually killed just before this stag
by exposing the cocoon to the sun whert
the temperature is above SO degrees, o
by baking, steaming. or otherwise heat
ing them so that the fibre is not gum
med together by the heat.
a Liberal PROSECUTOR--In Poin