News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1889-08-29
ABOUT SILKwoRMs.
One of Our Girls Gives Some inter
esting Facts.

Some OF our boys and girls perhaps dc
not know that at the United States De
partment OF Agriculture silk culture was
established three years ago. This year
congress has appropriated $40, 900 for
Its silk industry throughout the United
States, and the seed OF eggs for expert
mental purposes, accompanied by full
directions, can be obtained by merely
writing to Mr.. Philip Walker, special
agent III charge of the silk culture at the
Department of Agriculture, Washing
ton, D. O.
Now as to the silkworms. The eggs
are not rs large as pinhead and are OF
a grayish color. They have been kept
on ice all winter, and in seasonab,e e
tlme-that is, when the Mulberry leaves
first appear in the spring they were
taken from the ice in little perforated
tin boxes, two by three inches, contain
ing onequarter of an ounce each and
! labeled with the name of the breed.
They afe then inclosed in q wooden box
and addressed to the person for whom
| they are intended
When they are received they must be
taken from these boxes and spread thin
ly on shallow board or tray for about
twenty days ut temperature of seventy
five degrees. At the end of that time the
tiny worms eat their way through the
eggs and appear, their bodies being GOV
cred with short, stiff, back hair. Some
coarse net or cauze should be spread
over them and finely chopped white
mulberry leaves scattered over the
cloth.
This should be done four times day.
The worms will gradually grow larger
and turn lighter for six to eight days,
when they will refuse food and hold
their heads erect for two or three days
This is the first moult (they moult or
change their skin four times before they
SPIN. After they have slept thus for
two or three days, the worms will twist
and turn until they have shed their
SKINS when they will begin to eat again
very heartily.
The fourth moult is more difficult,
and great many perish while tits going
on. They are now cream color, aud
when full grown are about three inches
long. Great care should be taken that
dry leaves are given them in all stages,
as damp leaves give them disease, and
they should not be kept too thick, about
two hundred worms to a square yard at
the last stage. The trays should be
cleansed once after each moult.
Eight days after the first moult, if they
have been well fed, they will crawl over
the leaves and toward the edge of the
box or tray. Then some twigs or /
branches should be stuck around the /
box and the worms will crawl ND the /
branches, nodding their heads to and |
fro, until they are soon inclosed in a /
silken web, which it takes four davs to
spin; but they should mot be touched
for eight days after this, for the worm,
as soon as it finishes the cocoon, has to
change its skin again. Then it is what
we call a chrysaHs
By cutting the cocoon open with n
sharp knife or a pair of scissors Won find
it is short, stumpy and of dark brown
color; and in ten or twelve DAYS more
if let alone, it will burst from the co
coon in cFea I'M -coloretl n,oth. v.hi,.l,
soon lays eggs and dies. The eggs are
kept on ice for next springs Matching.
But if we allow all the moths to come
out we would have no good silk to reel,
SO these cocoons. after they have been on
the twigs eight days, must be put in an
oven so as to kill the worm, and they
may be kept many years without reel
ing.
/ will give brief description of how
the reeling is done. First, the cocoons
are put i'll boiling water to soften the
gum; then they are brushed with
brush made of fine twigs until an end is
caught. But this first thread is coarse
and tangled (used to make ribbons,
laces, ETC., y so it has to be pulled until
one clear thread is caught; then it is
ready for reeling. When seven or eight
threads are taken and then wound Off
in one single thread, it is taken from the
reels and twisted in large hanks and
sent to the weavers. - Philadelphia
Times