Wichita eagle., 1889-06-09
SUCCESSFUL SILK CULTURE.
Seventh Weekly Report of the Expert
mental Silk Station.

mental Silk Station.
To the Editor OF the Eagle.
Neatness, cleanliness and regularity il
feeding are the prerequisites to success
full silk culture. Even the silk worms
have an memorable law of casting their
skins or clothes once week and come
out with increased brightness and new
ness. This prepares them for their final
transformation. The life of the silk
worm is an the strongest argument to
infidelity and Ingersollism. l find il
facilitates the Matching of eggs to place
them on a wet cloth. As soon as they
hatch, which usually occurs early in
the morning, l place oyer them
terminal shoot of Usage and increase
the number as their members demand
more feed. AT evening place on more
new shoots. We do not find it necessary
to feed them oftener than twice day
the first week. AT the end Of the week
and each succeeding week l place on new
shoots and after they have climbed on
them l remove the shoots with the
worms to clean papers, and at the same
time spread them out to prevent crowd
ing and each succeeding week increase
the number of meals. IL feeding place
the new shoots crosswise for better ven
tilatiOn. The amount of food required
daily is equal to their silk.
By making racks or ladders for feed
ing and winding, much time, space and
expense is saved Our first brood wound
up May 80; on June l removed them
and divided them into two equal parts,
one of the larger and the other of the
smaller cocoons. Placing a pound
weight on the scales it re quired 266 of
the smaller ones and but 222 of the
larger to weigh pound. These viii be
kept separate for inbreeding and future
comparison. One reason doubtless why
the silk cocoons are superior TO last year
is they are acclimated. While the silk
worms were winding | ascertained that
they spun yard of silk thread in three
to four minutes.
All the reports come in favorable. As
to the eggs l have distributed. of course
it is simply beginning, and is nothing
as compared to the millions raising silk
in the old world, but wait and see what
we can do when we get more eggs, and
perhaps reel or two introduced. The
automatic reel is claimed to reel silk as
well by an inexperienced person as with
experience on the old reel Over one
half million of the old single reels are
in use in the old world, be-
sides 100000 hand looms to manufacture
the reeled silk into every conceivable
variety of cloth and house furnishing
goods. including carpets. One carpet in
a pagan temple for over a century cost
its weight in gold.
In one way we may successfully COM
pete with China and Japan with their
low priced labor, and that is by substi-
tuting the automatic six skein reel in
place of the single hand reel, with power
looms in place of their hand looms. Our
cheap coal oil colors instead of their ex-
pensive chemical dyes, our twenty an
nual csage broods instead of their single
mulberry brood, our new soil and
bright sunshine instead of their
impoverished soil and murky sunlight,
and our promised tariff protection.
With all these benefits, silk culture in
Kansas is bound to succeed. Silk cul-
ture came to China as an angel of light
among the royalty, with its lasting ben
efits to nation in darkness. 1t comes
to the loyal American like the dew of
heaven with its refreshing influence to
free and enlightened world.
These are the rugged steps by which
Kansas can ascend to the stars-by
bringing the silken stars down to her.
II. L. BIDwELL.