The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-05-30

gowns are due TO the patient labor Of
very ordinary looking worm. If she saw
the creature on the roadway she would
probably exclalm obi the horrld little
beaatie Won't somebody please tread on
it2" AID some admiring cavalier viii brave
~ clap aown his foot and stamp the life
out Of one Of the most Industrious workers
on the earth. who with his fellows, have
supplied fine rainent for men and women
long before the era Of Christianity, and
who gives annually to the wOrkaday world
paying labor FOR hundreds of thousands
of human toilers- Great cities have been
established milIionaires created. wonder
full machinery invented tens Of thousands
Of homes erected, all by the meek labor Of
an humble worm
lit is needless to mention the vastness Of
the silk industry Of this country and Of
foreign countries. notably China and
France Every woman shopper can talk
learnedly about the beauties of Lyons
silk The silk worm made the city Of
Lyons. 1T gives employment to nearly
100000 wage earners in this country IN
directly it supplies toll for 100000 workers
In all the countries of Europe and the far
East 1t supports millions of people Yet
not enc woman out Of a thousand would
recognize the humble creature if 1T strayed
across her path
WHAT IT FEEDS ON.
There are many silk worm farms IN this
country. but to one here there are a score
In France and in China or Japan. The in
sect finds raw material chiefly in the leaf
the common silk moth. the caterpillar OF
which Is the silk worm. The tree is said
by a proven to be made for the worm and
the worm for the tree and it seems to
have a fiber peculiarly suitable for textile
use, some Of the Pacific islanders making
clothing by mascerating the bark of the
paper mulberry. without the intervention
of the silk worm. Most of the silk of COM
merce s made by this one moth from this
one food, yet it can feed in whole OF in
part upon other leaves, as those of the
Usage orange in this country and it has a
score of cousins or more distant relatives
as the Tussah moth Of India, which live
upon other trees and produce a similar
material.
HOW TT LOOKS.
The moth Is about an inch long, whitish.
with brown stripes and lays at the close
OF summer numerous eggs about the size
Of pin head. attached singly to the leaf
by kind If gum, which. when dry. has a
silky appearance. The moths soon die.
the eggs do not hatch until the next sum
mers and can meanwhile be sent around
the world The sale Of grain. % or seed %
as the eggs are also called, is Of itself a
business for lt brings as much as four
dollars the ounce. tenfold the price years
ago, BEFORE an epidemic swept through the
silk world.
Each moth lays from 400 to 700 eggs. but
Ct takes over 100000 TO make pound In
obtaining eggs for breeding. the grower
usually places the moths on cloths in a dark.
warm room, whess they contentedly lay
their eggs and die In tropical countries
hatch by natural heat: in others. artificial
warmth Is necessary; and in old times hot
beds were used or the eggs were carried
about by women in little bags ia their
bcsoms-
The careful grower makes ready for the
Matching BY providing latticed trays or
bundles Of twigs, about which the food. Of
4nely chopped mulberry leaves, Is distrib-