The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-04-01
THE SOURCES OF SILK.
THE PUGNICTyY OF THE SPIDERS
And THE TORACITY
OF the Worms That Spin 1t.

Almost every worm of aerial habits Il
more or less a silk worm. The caternil
lars nests so frequent in orchards ant
= strawberries are no more than big, I'm
kempt and composite cocoons. Solitary
creepers have the same power of silk
production. In fact, many of them en-
ulate those gentlewomen, the spiders, ir
letting themselves up or down. or round
about with threads of their own spin
ming. These aerial roadways, indeed
fairly criss-cross the summer air
They are invisible save when a glancing
sunray strikes across them, notwith-
standing their use is often made only
too palpable by big, hairy, wrlggling
something which slips down or along
them to deposit itself upon an unsus-
pecting head or arm.
After the caterpillars come the senu-
inc silk-spinning spiders. These are
distinguished from the common web
spnners by the nature Of their product.
1t Is true silk strong, elastic, beauti-
fully lustrous. 1t is produced, too more
abundantly in proportion to food than
the regular worm flament Stockings
ana mittens have been knitted of the
spider silk The only bar to its produce
ton In commercial quantities s the
Warlike habits of the Insects. WHEREBY
er three meet there is a battle royal
which ends only with the death or dis
abling of all the fighters.
Down In Paraguay there is a spider
which spins brilliant yellow silk in
such profuson the natives and the
spaniards collect it, and manufacture
1t, on rude native looms into shawls,
ribbons and short lengths for Jackets
4 The color deepens and brightens with
use, and is said to be inirnitable-a
glowing golden hue no dyer can pro-
| duce.
| The silk worm proper is an embodied
appetite. He eats, eats, never hasting,
never resting. He has been CONNER
cialized to such a degree that it is posi-
BILE to estimate beforehand just how
much silk he will turn out from given
weight of fresh mulberry leaves. They
are white mulberry leaves-to be exact,
MoruS multicaulis
Italy and China furnish the best
silk, hence the best silk worm eggs.
though Japan is coming to be reckoned
with in the matter of silk supply. This
is due mainly to the fact that the spec
ia painstaking labor required In silk
raising is cheaper in China than any
where else. Chinese working women
get daily wages of three cents, Every
where it is women who do most of the
work in rearing the worms. Men bring
in the fresh leaves, and cultivate the
trees which supply them, but in the
sllkeres women watch over the worms,
from the egg to the cocoon,
To keep the eggs dormant requires a
temperature just above freezing. They
must not be laid In the Matching trays,
without regard to the season If 1t is
Geld and backward the hatch must be
postponed to wait the growth OF the
leaves.
When first the worms hatch they are
fed on leaves finely shredded, in bits
suited to their tender jaws. After the
first moult the leaves are only torn.
Thenceforward they are used whole,
but must not be allowed to get hard
and woody. They are stripped from the
young shoots just before they reach
full size. A tree that has given, all it's
early leaves to the silkworm brood is SO
weakened that 1t may die. Consequent
ly, trees are not fully stripped unless
under great stress.
After the fifth moult the worms, fat,
green, sluggish rolls refuse to eat and
begin moving their heads rapidly from
side to side. This is the sign Of cocoon
spinning, so the women supply the trays |
with bundles of clean, short twigs |
Upon these the worms crawl, attach !
themselves and begin spinning. The /
cocoon is finished in twelve to twenty
four hours. The goodness or badness of /
1t is judged less by the size than the
weight and symmetry.
A percentage of the finest cocoons are
set apart to hatch out and produce next
years eggs. The rest are baked at a
steady heat that destroys the chrys-
aid without injuring the silk, then
boiled, doubled, reeled, secured and sent
to market.
There are tricks in the trade of silk
|
thread can be loaded with metallic or
earthly stlts to weigh half as much
lgain as the pure raw silk But dealers
ire alert for such frauds and have
ricks of their own to offset them.
A curious industry is the manufacture
If silkworm gut for fishing tackle.
The best of it comes from the Spanish
'llk fields. A silk worm ready to spin
is cocoon has within long, much con-
'oluted intestine filled with pure fluid
lk. The gut makers take such worms,
nip off both ends, then deftly draw
ut the full intestine, straighten it, pass
t through sundry chemical solutions to
eanee and strengthen it. and at last
Try it and tie it in punches.
The result is filament several yards
ong, strong, fine, elastic and in water
early invisible. This is the gut lead
r attached to the end of braided line,
0 hold the hook. wv,
Silk worm gut is also useful in sur
cry. 1t has possibly the greatest tex
lie strength proportional to size of any :
nown ligature.
Chemistry has found out way to do
/ tanks what the worm does In its
tomach, that is, how to dissolve woody
bre into clear, ropy liquid. This is
pun by forcing 1t through innumcrable
ny holes in a brass cylinder. Then
ne threads are chemically treated,