The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1892-06-26
SILK CULTURE IN KANSAS
Progress in Raising Cocoons and Pro-
ducing the Silk Thread of Commerce.
The Usage Orange Leaf ReliShed by the Worms
American silk Better than Foreign in
Price-New Industry for Girls.

sas now unwinds the delicate fiber with
which the worm cloisters itself from the
world. The reason is that the two govern
ment stations, one at Philadelphia and one
at Washington, received NO appropriation
from the last Congress. and the expert
ments at these points must stop for the
present. For silk raising In America is
commercially yet in the experimental
stage. All of the stations, called filatures,
where the silk is reeled, and there are only
three of them, have required federal or
State support. The third f~lature. which
was visited by q Journal reporter. is In the
little town of Peabody, 1S4 miles west OF
known as the Kansas silk station,
and last year received from
as it was by the farmer element. an ap-
perintendent of the station, had asked tor
$40 00O. but be says be received more than
he expected. for every appropriation was
may well have been liberal with the Kan
sas silk station, for 1t is the forerunner of
an industry which promises to bring the
State great wealth and fame. Snperln-
tendent Buck, In bis last report TO Gov.
Humphrey, says that cOcOon-raielne Is eX-
tending to every quarter OF the State. The
applications for eggs come from forty-slx
counties.
IL also stated in my report" said DR..
families received, for the cocOons they had
produced, the sum of 81, 254, or an average
of S23.22 per household. At trst glance
this does not sem worthy of consIdera-
ton. but when it is known that the tine
occupied in earning this money was
only Six weeks. and that the work
was done by children or the aged.
whose labor would otherwise be
nnproductive. the showing becomes a
creditable one. CocOoD-raislng must be
followed as chicken-raising Is, that Is.
make it an incidental revenue to the farm.
l was recently visited by an enthusiastic
lady who had come into a fortune. and
having become interested in silk culture.
proposed to go to Nebraska, buy 100 acres
of land. and set it out entirely in mulberry
trees for food for silk worms. Now i never
knew an exclusive poultry-raising bust
ness to be success; and / dis,
venture, advising her to raise
silk-worms in season as one source of rev.
enue. Happily, we hive n colony of Men
nonites In adjoining counties who under
stand utilizing this source of revenue
These sturdy. honest but slow-going people
produce a large part of our coc0Ops. Our
native farmers do not understand the
value of the industry so well. The profit
young woman or girl. to which
class this silk : culture is espe-
ciaily adapted, can make 1892
at chicken raising or anything else
care of the worms need not Interfere with
cbIckeD.raising at the same time, and a
plentiful supply of pin-money will reward
the effort. l have but recently paid Q
farmer's daughter. sixteen years of age,
S43 for the product OF her six weeks work.
Her father acknowledged TO ME that moth
ing on the farm better rewarded the time
and the labor expended. Forty-six dollars
in a lump would set the head of any cOun-
try girl whirlipg with schemes of visits. of
dresses and of presents. l know of several
families where the crop OF cOcoons added
500 to the years income"
"How did Kansas become interested in
silk culturef' j asked of Dr. Buck.
There was n German in the State some
years since" was the reply, who was u
crank of cranks and his hobby was silk
culture. His name was i. HRrner. In his
enthusiasm he wOuld travel about the
and reeling the silk for delighted fellow
passengers on the trains, on his
fingers He asserted that Kansas
presented every climatic condition neces-
sary TO the production OF raw silk. His
agitation developed u nucleus of public
sentiment. which. about tive years ago, led
10 an appropriation by the Legislature of
Sl3,C00 for the establishment of an expert
ment station. The work was put in charge
OF q commission of three men, Messrs. j. :.
CodGing. j.. III. Morse and c. Williamson.
MIR. Williamson lived hero in Peabody and
secured the founding of the fila
a sUTs h SGDa,sS on h11 site OF ten ten
appropriation was expended by the time
the Legislature met again, but enough had
been accomplished TO encourage tie friends
of the experiment.. and an appropriation of
$4,000 was secured. The silk commission
ers had made HGrner. the German enthu-
siast, supe~rintendcnt of the f~ilature. but
he proved Impractical and without business
qualifications. He engaged in q quarrel
with the commissioners. and was DIS
charged. He drifted to Kansas City. where
he soon died a pauper. But he left. as
u heritage to the state, the established tact
that IL can produce the finest of silk III any
quantity. l predict the time will come
when Kansas will be grateful for the work
of this forernnner. With the accomplish
ment of producing silk, our Legislature be-
gan TO take still broader views of the in
dustry. and made the silk station subject
TO the control of tho State Board of Asri-
culture"
But what prevents the station becoming
self-supportingP the writor asked.
I'VE have not devised" was the reply,
"a rapid system of reeling the silk from
the cocoons- 1t takes too much time and
labor on the American standard of wages.
We pay from 80 cents to 81 per day Tor
labor which, III foreign countries, receives
from 9 tC 10 cents per day. China with
her millions of people. IL able TO produce
vast quantities of raw silk because OF tho
multitndes of people and the contracted
range of their wants. Some of our reoiers
make S!.25 per day. The reelers are al
young women and girls. and must spend
several months learning the business.
Keeling is skilled labor, in fact, and the
tendency OF wages, as the industry
spreads. will be upward instead OF down,
for the demand will lead the supply of
competept reelcrs. There Is a fortune for
the man who invents n rapid device for
reeling the fibre and thus reduce the cost
of it's production in the state known on the
market az raw silk. Then the industry in
America will become self-sustaining. |
predict both the invention of the needed
device and the future prosperity of silk
culture"
but is American silk of as fine q quality
as foreIgnf'
"Yes, and even finer. / was informed at
Washington and Philadelphia that he best
cOcoons received there were grown in Kan
sas. We sell our entire product 10 Belding
Brothers,, of New York. and have been
pa 80 cents a pound more than
they pay for other American ak and
81 more per pound than for foreign silk.
When IL is considered tina: there are $50
silk-mills IN tho United States which must
depend almost wholly on the foreign mar
ket for the raw product, the importance of
successful domestic culture becomes inoai-
culable."
What did your station produce last
rearf"