Weekly graphic. [volume] (Kirksville, Adair Co., Missouri) 1880-1949, 1895-10-25
THE sILK-WORM IN JAPAN.
HIRosAKI. JArAN, |
August %, 1895. I

The annual revolution of the con
ference has made many changes
here this year and l find mysel
domiciled in HirOsaki, city il
the extreme north OF the larges
island of Japan.
l noticed with some little inter
est the life OF the silk worm this
spring in Yonezawa and think
perhaps you would like to heal
something about these busy little
creatures.
l was calling one day at Lady
Matswdaira's, wife of the Count
mentioned in my last letter. She
was feeding some, for even the
ladies of highest rank do not con
slider it beneath their dignity tc
feed and care for these little crea.
lures, though they might consider
it beneath their dignity to do work
that we would think far more
agreeable. Her little charges were
just one day old and when she
brought them out for me to see
had to look very closely before
could distinguish them from the
leaves on which they they were
feeding. They were hardly so
large as our smallest red ant and
of dark grey color.
A few days alter this one of my
pupils brought me a few silk
worms to feed that l might watch
them in their growth. Tney are
fed on straw trays, first a layer of
rice hulls is sprinkled over the
bottom, then the mulberry leaves
are cut up quite fine and the tiny
worms are shaken from the paper
on which they were Matched. At
first they need feeding only three
times a day but they grow quite
rapidly and their appetites in
crease just as fast, and at last they
require feeding every hour, day
and night The children are kept |
out of school to gather the leaves
and indeed it is very busy time
for people who raise a great many.
They have some very amusing
traits. Iasked one of the girls one
lay if they did not try to crawl
of the tray where they
Are fed, she remarked, ooh no the
'ilk-worm is very gentle. They
'est every seventh day, will not
lat at all and seem to be asleep; {
t seems that people who want to
work on without regarding one
lay of rest in seven ought to learn
lesson from these wise little
worms. 1t sometimes happens
hat their day of rest falls on Sun
lay, depending of course on when ,
hey came to life; when this hap ]
'ens the children call them Chris ,
ian silk worms. After their rest f
nd fast they 60 to work with re- I
lewed vigor, first shedding their
loliday dress and putting on a {
lew garb for the next weeks work. r
hey shed their skin four times 7
uring their brief life and at the t
nd of the month begin their work e
+ spinning; we first notice they
ave stopped eating and are busy +
lrning their heads from side to ,
ide, then we examine the mouth !,
losely and see the fine silken
hread almost invisible; they are c
hen taken from their companions
nd placed in a tray filled with fes-
oons of straw where they soon 3
1row out web much like the h
piders, only pure white, this they D
raw closer and closer round them +,
nd at the end of another week the n
'ork is done and the cocoon when "
aken out of the loose web is about 1
ne size and shape of small pea o
ut shell with two compartments. 1
few are selected for reproduc- q
on and the rest are thrown into T
oiling water to kill the insects in f,
de, for if left to hatch the cocoon h
if no further use. n
In about two weeks the moth O
atches out and is about the siza
the small white moth that
'eates such havoc in our cabbage
atches at home. The female is a
liver gray and the male is nearly
hite. They sit quietly on the "