Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-08-30
SILK STATION IN KANSAS
Marion County Has the Only Estab-
fshment of That Kind.

3
ishment of That Kind.
One Of the institutions to which tn.
people of Kansas point with pride i
the state silk station at Peabody. Mar
ION county. 1t is the only one of it;
Kind in the United States. saws tn,
St. Louis Republic. 1t was established
eight years ago by legislative enact
ment and is maintained by biennfa
appropriations The first approDria
ton was $4,000, the second SlO00(
and the later ones have been $1,000
each. Not all OF these appropriation
have been expended. however. murh
has been recovered back into the treas
ury. Dr.. Buck, the present srDerin.
/ tendenI, has been in charge of the
station six years. The station consists
/ OF ten acres OF land, on which are
raised mulberry trees and various
other food furnishing plants, and a
tWo-story building about 10 by 50 feet
equipped with boiler, engine and ten
reels. From four to ten hands
are employed in the station through
out as great a portion of the year as
Is necessary to work up all the CO.
coons that are purchased.
The primary work of the station is
to raise silkWOrm eggs for free dis
tributiOn to such Kansas residents
as will make an honest effort TO grow
worms. From fifty to 80 ounces of
eggs are produced each wear. which
means vast numbers of worms, Two
years ago 125 ounces We're sent out to
forty-elght counties and a large ouan-
tity OF cOcOOnS was purchased. After
the cOcoOns have been raised by those
TO whom the eggs are furnished. the
station buys them at the rate of 81
per pound and reels them, selling the
commercial silk. This reeling process
IS very tedious one, and constitutes
the bulk of the work done at the sta
ton. There has been absolutely no
Improvement in silk-ree1ing devices
during the past 200 years, and the
machines are crude in the extreme.
The inefticiency of these reels and the
necessity of paying much higher wages
for reelers here than in other silk
producing countries initiate against
the financial success Of this branch
OF the station. Girls are paid from
$3.50 to 81 per week, whereas in
France, according to a statement made
to Dr.. Buck by the French silk COM
missioner, 90 cents a week is the COM
mon price. The consequence of this
is that it costs $125 per pound to reel
silk at Peabody, against only 20 cents
in France
The sllkwOrm eggs are furnished to
applicants in April, and the work of
hatching and raising the worms is
done during the latter part of April
and in May. Only about six weeks
are required to raise the worms, and
that is the only portion of the year
that can be employed in the business
Keeling the silk can be carried on
throughout the season, as the cocoons
are not perishable. No great amount
Of skill is required in the successful
growth of the worms, but great care
in following easily understood instruc-
tons is essential. The work consists
mainly in supplying the voracious
worms with something to eat, and
may be performed by women and chill
dren. Dr.. Buck says that an ordinary
family of children can produce 100
pounds of cocoonS during the six
weeks season. These coc0onS are
worth 800. Any rough building, pro-
eided it has a good roof, is adapted
to the business of worm raising. To
produce 100 pounds of cOc0ons re-
qulreS fully as much room as is con-
tanned in four ordinary living rooms.
Russian mulberry leaves are the food
employed at the station, but outsiders
who grow worms use Usage orange
leaves most exclusively. The latter
are as good as mulberry leaves.
The silk produced at the Peabody
station is of exceptionally fine quality.
Bedding Brothers, of New York, the
largest silk merchants of the United
States, wrote DR.. Buck recently that
Kansas silk was the best they ever
had. The Peabody product commands
from so cents to 81 a pound more
than ordinary commercial silk. The
price varies widely, ranging from $325
to $3.50 per pound. An effort is being
made to have the government take
hold of the Peabody station, with some
show If success. Requests for eggs
and instructions are frequently re-
ceived from neighbOring states, and it
is thought no more than just that
the scope of the experimental work be
extended beyond the limits of Kansas
by making it a government institution.
AS it now stands, residents outside of
Kansas have no easily available means
of obtaining eggs and no market for
their cocoons, a there innnnnnnnnnn
their cocoons, as there is no other silk
filature than the one at Peabody in
the country
TEN THOUSAND TONS A DAY.