The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-25
Something About silkworms.

Something About Silkworms.
"That gentleman Is an instructor at the
Lick Training School
''He wants to bring his class to see the
weavers at work.
'Then the children are to draw designs
and we are to weave banners and things
from them for the Atlanta Exposition"
When 1 heard that speech the other day
/ suddenly remembered something. / saw
a sort of vision OF a time, perhaps not
quite a hundred years ago, when two
funny little old-fashioned children, my
brother and I, used to sit still as mice and
happy as clans "While grandpa tells a
story"
I remember, too, that the stories we
used to beg for and rejoice in were. stories
about how things are made or where they
come fronl-real true stories.
And all that remembering made me
wonder all at once if The Calls large and
fourishing family of children wouldr It
like to hear real true story about how
something is made.
At first 1 did not feel quite sure that a
story with "solid information" in it might
be very entertaining. But when Mrs.
Kirk of Oakland began to tell me story
there was story good enough for any
body.
Before I tell you what Mrs. Kirk said
want to tell you what l heard bright
faced young woman saving to one of the
men who weave silk into haHdkerchiefs.
"Wood-hber," said she, "makes beau
tiful handkerchief. 1t is equally soft and
fine. aud think you had better try it.
"You want to make as good handker-
chief as you can, don't you?
''Well then, you want to send for some
warp and some filing of wood-fber and
you'll be surprised to see what you can
weave"
So suppose that presently we shall all
be wiping our patrician noses with dainty
little wooden dlzerchiefs-which we
shall probably believe to be every bit silk.
When silkworms are first Matched they
have to be fed carefully every two hours,
Just like any other little brand-new babies.
They are not strong enough at first to
break up the mulberry leaves which fur
nish the only food these little creatures
ever taste in all their short lives. The
leaves must be broken for the young
worms, so that they can drink the moist
ture of the leaves as it comes to the bruised
edges in sort OF milk.
In France the silkworms are carried on
blankets and held up under the mulberry
trees. They swarm all over the tree very
quickly and feed there until they are six
weeks old. The tree is covered carefully
with gauZe, as otherwise the birds, whose
mission in life it is to protect trees from
insect marauders, would eat them up
every last one of them.
In our country the silkworms are always
kept in room with sunny exposure.
The room is filled with racks, and on
these racks are placed pasteboard trays,
punched full of holes and piled with fresh
leaves. The worms eat all the flesh from
the leaves and leave the bones-that is to
say, they eat all the soft part and leave the
skeleton, that part that children call the
veins.
Those baby silkworns eat all the time,
dayseand night, for six weeks. They are
about Thfee inches long then, and they are
full to their utmost capacity. Only think
of eating steadily and as fast as you can
for six weeks and then never tasting food
again in all your lifel That is what the
silkworm really does. When he is six
weeks old he stops his meal and begins
wandering up and down in peculiar,
restless fashion"
"When I was a little girl" saws Mrs.
Kirk, 'a lady told me that Miss Cox, one
of our neighbors who kept little store,
was going to be an old maid.
81 asked her how she know, and she
said, ooh, she has the symptoms
'Of course l leased to be told what the
symptoms were, and finally the lady said
that when Miss Cox was not busy at any
thing else she was always weaving"
"'Weaying?' said 1.
Eyes, weaving. If you want to know
what that is you must watch Miss Cox
.Now Miss Cox was friend of mine
and l didn't want to be rude. l thought a
long time, but finally my curiosity con
euered and l went over to see if Miss Cox
did really weave. 1t was true. NV friend
was never perfectly quiet. If she was not
busy she rocked in restless sort of way,
or moved her hands or swayed her head
II soon understood what this lady meant
when she spoke of weaving, and | learned
to admire her Judgment when Miss Cox
turned out to be genuine old maid"
The silkworm, then, begins his weaving.
At first he does nothing but wander up
and down over certain space, as far as
possible from his birthplace and his COM
panions. He seems to take possession of q
small territory, over which he passes and
repasses restlessly, perhaps to indicate that
he has filed claim upon that particular
given the worms to retire to, and
they will swarm all over it very quick
~, choosing each his place to make a CO.
coon. When this work is carried on upon
larger scale the cocoons are found all
over the sacks, where strings are put up
for them as you would arrange your gar
den for sweet peas or morning -glories.
The silkworm has spinning apparatus
somewhere near his mouth, and it is con-
nected with his silkbags, full of liquid gum.
The silk is in this half-liquid state as
Mr.. Worm weaves 1t, and its gluey nature
causes it to adhere to the wall, string or
the hay.
The spinning goes on for some hours
perhaps for two or three days. At the end
of that time poor Mr.. Worm has walled
himself mn In q delicate little hnuse of