Wichita eagle., 1889-05-19
A PROPHECY.

DIX years ago Oui AueIiCdu OOIoui h'
Lyons, France-Mr. Benjamin F. Peix-
ott-wrote: SIN the near future it will
| more than ever be due to the genius of
| American invention and discovery and
its application that the United States
| will become one of the richest silk pro-
| ducing and silk manufacturing coun-
tries of the globe"
Third weekly report of the silk station
| The following are the principal and most
important questions asked at the.statlon:
| by visitors:
How do YOU hatch the eggs? Ans
The warm weather matches them.
How do YOU feed them? Scatter leaves
and twigs or Usage over them.
How often? When the leaves are eat
en- or badly wilted.
How do you get rid of the waste leaves
or litter? Put fresh leaves on top and
when they climb on them to eat transfer
the new shoots with the worms on to
can paper.
Why do the worms remain on the pa
pers? They are blind and contented with
| plenty to eat.
How long do you have to feed them?
| Thirty to thirty-five days, according to
the weather.
How can you tell when
they are ready to spin:
They cease to eat, become. transparent
and restless.
How do you get them on the ladders
or rack? Place the racks where they
can get to them and they will find a
place and go to spinning.
What becomes of them when they Tin
ish the cocoon? They remain in there
until they transform to millerS.
How do they get in? They spin the
cocoons around them.
Then how do they get out? They
crowd their way out.
How many days does it take to spin:
Three.
How many days before they come
out miller? Seven.
How do you smother them! Steam
them twenty minutes. The cocoons can
only be reeled when the chrysalis is
smothered; otherwise they hatch out
and cut the threads.
Can we sell our cocoons and depend on
the government furnishing US eggs next
spring? The government and board OF
trade will doubtless distribute them.
This is the usual practice in France and
Italy at the commencement of the IN
dustry.
Can you raise What eggs we want next
spring and summer? / can raise 1000
ounces quite readily. They will repre-
sent 30, 900 to 80, 900 pounds of silk next
wear, worth as many dollars, and more
if we get protective tariff. 1t would
also represent $3.50, if manufactured
;,,+,o c.ooIc ,.;bbor ar6 thread
Is the rest of the civilized world en-
gagged in the silk culture? Yes, where
ever il is practicable silk is grown and
manufactured, Over 5000 looms are
employed in the silk good production;
nearly 100 per cent Of these are steam
power looms. Holland, Belgium and
Portugal produce six million dollars
worth. SYRIA and Asia Minor eight
million; Spain ten million ten million;
Austria twelve million; Russia twenty
million; Switzerland twenty-elght mil
lion; Great Britain twenty million; Ger
many thirty-eight million; Italy forty
five million; Japan fifty-five million;
United States sixty million; france
eighty million; China one hundred mil
lion, in all nearly one-half billion dol
lars worth which represents nearly
quarter million dollars worth OF raw silk
which can be grown better here than
any where else In the world, and we are
the only nation that is able and does not
produce it 10 any extent.
And why not? Simply because other
industries were encouraged and develop
ed and this neglected.
Do you think we can grow 1T success
fully? do.
Is your experiment Of growing twenty
crops a year likely to succeed! see
nothing to hinder and much to be
gained. In the growing of sue
cessive broods they lap on to one another
and save the time lost at the commence
ment and end of one brood. You can
use the same room, racks, trays and
hedges twenty times over in one sea-
son, and multiply one profit by twenty;
and further, the summer broods ought
to be superior to the spring brood.
What effect would silk culture have
on Kansas?
1t would boom Kansas for all time to
come. Every individual and city would
be benefited. A Zurich and Basic would
develop in one part of the state, as in
Switzerland; al Crefeld in another part,
as in Germany; a Lyons, as in France;
South Manchester as In Connecticut,
and a Patterson, as IN New Jersey-all
developed out of silk interests. But
that is not all. The setting of Kansas to
Usage hedges would modify the extremes
of our climate and extend its beneficial
| influence to the mountains on the north,
the Rio Grande on the south, and with
the winds carry its benign influence
away to the east and north of US. Simple
though it be Usage orange leaves are
grown in her bright sunshine, as ten
parts of water, twenty of sugar, thirty
five of fibre, and the sugar and gum
converted by the silk worm into golden
and silver balls of spun silk ready for US
to weave into clothing for man. What
beautiful picture: Kansas gathering
her bright rays of sun light and weaving
them into silken cloth to clothe the
world, H. E. BIDwELL.
SCHEMERS.