The Portland daily press., 1896-05-30
VALUABLE WORMS.
What The Humble Silk Worm Does
for Humanity.
AN INDEFATIGABLE WORKER CIV
ING WORK TO OTHERS.


Take Up Silk Culture With success-An
Industry as Old as CiviIization-The
Silk Farms of Many Countries.
The gay summer girl who faunts her
siIken hnery In the face Of an admiring
world does not think that the best of her
gowns are due to the patient labor of a
very ordinary looking worm. If she saw
the creature on the roadway she would
probably exolaim "Oh the horrid little
beastie Won't somebody please tread
on itT'and some admiring cavalier would
bravely clap down his foot and stamp the
life out OF one of the most Industrious
workers on the earth, who. with his fell
lows. has supplied fine raiment for men
and women long before the era of Chris
tianity, and who gives annually to the
wor k-a-day world paying labor for hun
dreds Of thousands of human toilers.
Great cities have been established, mill
ionaires created, wonderful machinery
invented, tens of thousands of homes
erected, all by the meek labor of an hum
BILE worm.
It 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
laarnedly about the beaties Of Lyons silk.
The silk worm made the city of Lyons.
1t gives employment to nearly 100, 900
wage earners in this country. Indirect
ly it supplies toll for 100000 workers.
In all the countries Of Europe and the
far East it supports millions Of people,
Yet not one woman out of thousa nd
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
score in..Frsnoe and in China or Japan
The insect finds raw material chiefly in
the leaf Of the mulberry tree, which
gives name to the common silkmoth, the
caterpillar Of which is the silk worm
The tree Is said by proverb to be made
for the worm and the worm for the tree,
and 1t seems to have fiber peculiarly
suitable tor textile use some of the Pa
oifio islanders making clothing by mas
oerating the bark of the paper mulberry,
without the intervention of the silk
worm. Most Of the silk of commerce is
made by this one moth from this one
food, yet it can feed, in whole or in part,
upon other leaves as those of the Usage
orange in this country, and 1t has q
score of cousins or more distant rela-
tives, as the Tussah moth of India, which
live upon other trees and produce a sim
liar material.
HOW 1T LOOKS.
The moth is about an inch long, whit
ish, with brown stripes, and lays at the
close of summer numerous eggs about
the size Of a pin head, attached singly to
the leaf by kind of gum, which, when
dry, has silky appearance. The moths
soon die, the eggs 90 not hatch until the
next summer and oan meanwhile be sent
around the world. The sale of s'grain, -
or Seed" as the eggs are also called, is
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 it takes over 60O 600 to make q
pound. In obtaining eggs for breeding,
the grower usually places the moths on
cloths In a dark, warm room, where they
oontentedly lay their eggs and die. In
tropical countries, as Southern China
and India, the eggs 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 in their bosoms.
The careful grower makes ready fol the
Matching by providing lattioed trays or
bundles of twigs, about which the food,
of finely chopped mulberry leaves. is dis
tributed. The tiny worm at first eats
two meals day; at the end of five days
he casts his first skin, on the ninth day