Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-10-12
ABOUT SILK CULTURE.
SOMETHING WHICH ATTRACTS THE
ATTENTION OF THE FAIR SEX.

4 Chat with the Lady at the SILK Reel.
The Worms Voracious Appetite-Eggs
and Cocoons-Isnorance of the General
Public-Profits.
Rambling through the exposition the other
day, | was particularly interested in the silk
weaving department, and stopped to talk
Now, here is a profitable, easy, home employ
ment, which is just beginning to obtain the
attention it deserves among women and girls;
something desirable, too, for delicate women
who find little to do that their strength per-
mits.
The placard, ''Women's Silk Culture Asso-
citation of the United States" is q little stag
gering, but the whole thing is very interest
ing. 1t was only eight years ago that few
philanthropic rich women of Philadelphia
incorporated it to assist in affording a new
industry. They succeeded in obtaining from
congress s., 900 to help the thing on. The
association now furnishes mulberry trees free
Of charge in numbers not less than twenty
five nor exceeding 100, to those intending to
begin cocoon raising. A queer thing about
mulberry trees is that no other insect feeds
upon them. They will thrive wherever corn
will
The association at Philadelphia now has
twelve auxiiiaries in various states mainly
In the south, all formed for the purpose of
giving American women chance to catch
the thousands of dollars which annually roll
into Italy and other countries for our i'm
ported raw silk. Why in Italy, many fam
lilies almost move out of their own houses
during part Of the summer to use every
available room for the worms that spin them
their years support.
EGGS, WORMS AND CoCooNs.
Igot to talking with the lady at the reel
about it. Yes" she said, cit 8 a very nice
thing for lady to do. You see an ounce Of
eggs is enough to begin with There are
$1,000 eggs in an ounce, and the whole out
lay is only about SO, racks and ALL You
take good, big, airy room, and spread tho
eggs around it on paper. You keep the eggs
in an ice bcx till you want them to hatch.
The rooms about 20 dogs, and you take 1t
to about 50 degs for the eggs to hatch.
Then You begin to feed them fine cut leaves;
next small twigs, and SO on. Silk worms
have bigger appetites than schoolboys. They
eat much more than their own weight every
day"
When the worms ara ready TO spin their
winding sheets they creep up on the racks.
When the cocoon is finished the beforetime
worm is stihed by being put into the sun,
otherwise he'd eat his way through the end,
cutting all the threads, and, the emblem OF
Immortality, issue from his grave gorgeous
moth. The cocoons look like peanuts "Peo-
pie come here every day and ask for pea
nuts" Mrs. Irving laughed. 81 think this
must be the funniest corner Of the exposi-
ton. People show an ignorance of the whole
subject which IS extremely amusing. The
other day the Hennepin county teachers came
here. They got some circulars and cocoons
and samples of silk, and are going TO do
something among their pupils Most of them
seemed posted, but one of then-a man, by
the way" and she laughed, asked where the
cocoons were grown. l told him those were
raised in Philadelphia. He seemed q little
surprised, but asked if it didn't take pretty
rich soil for them"
SOME BEAUTIFUL SPECIMENS.
We were standing near the counter where
ere displayed the different shades of raw silk,
which shades, she said, are produced by tho
different feeds The best silk is the white,
from the worm fed on the English mulberry.
The case has some beautiful specimens which
somewhat resemble hair. AS we were tali-
ing two ladies were evidently arguing near
One of them turned with Isn't that a wig?,
pointing TO one of the specimens As th.y
moved OF the reeier said ooh, that's moth
ing; the other day a we'll dressed lady asked
NE if bought hair there, as she had sone
she'd like to dispose of. She must have
thought bad decided preference Tor canary
and blonde hair"
"Yes,n said she, there's steady demand
for cocoons There are never enough. Tuey
bring $1.15 o pound usually, and we like
them fresh, they spin better them That re-
minds me as was 'reeiing' the other day a
gentleman came along and thought it was
burning shame those things were being
roasted alive You see the cocoons were
bobbing up and down in the water We
have 30 put them in to soften the silk. Soon
after couple Of intelligent looking ladies
came along. One Of them said, Is she boil
ing those worrns to kill themF No. said the
other, she's Matching them: don't you seer
Why, Il you'd ST beside me an hour and hear
the comments, warrant you couldn't keep
your face straight,
bet here; I'm telling you nonsense instead
OF giving information We buy the cocoons
at the association in Philadelphia in any
small Quantities, from women all over the
Oh, it's great thing, and be-
coming more popular every year. Some
city ladies are very successful in raising
They buy the mulberry leaves
from leaf markets, where they are brought
by farmers The farmers plant them for
hedges We have a large room in Paramount
park, where the association grows TIE /
cocoons What DO we do with those we buyt
Wei, the association employs six reelers who |
spin tie six, as am doing now, into skeirs |
o: raw silk, and they are sold to the various |
six manufactures Of tie country."-"A E |
f. in St Paul Pioneer Press
Elevation Of the Grocery Store.