Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-05-31
SOME SOURCES OF SILK.
Astounding PuEnGcity of the spi~
ders and Vorncity of the Busy
Worms That Spin 1t.

Almost every worm of aerial hab-
It's is more or less a silk worm. The
caterpillars' nests so frequent in or
chards and strawberries are no more
than big, unkempt and composite CO.
coons. Solitary creepers have the
same power of silk production. In
fact, many of them emulate those
gentlewomen, the spiders, in 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 CLAN
cling sun ray strikes across them,
notwithstanding their use is often
made only too palpable by a big,
hairy, wriggling something which
slips down or along them to deposit
itself upon an unsuspecting head or
arm, says the New York Sun.
After the caterpilars come the
genuine silk-spinning spiders. These
are distinguished from the common
web spinners by the nature of. their
product. 1t is true silk, strong,
elastic, beautifully lustrous. 1t is
produced, too, more abundantly in
proportion to food than the regular
worm flament. Stockings and init
tens have been knitted of the spider
silk The only bar to it's production
in commercial quantities is the war
like habits of the insects. Wherever
three meet there is battle royal,
which ends only with the death or
disabling 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
it on rude native looms into shawls,
ribbons and short lengths for jack
cts. The color deepcns and bright
ems with use, and is said to be inim-
itable-a glowing golden hue no dyer
can produce.
The silk worm proper is an embodied
appetite. He eats. eats, never hast
ing never resting. He has been com
merciaized to such n degree that it is
possible to estimate beforehand just
how much silk he will turn out from
a given weight of fresh mulberry
leaves. They are white mulberry
leaves - to be exact, Morus multi
cauls
Italy and China furnish the best
silk. hence the best silk worm eggs,
though Japan is coming to be recli-
oned with in the matter of silk sup
ply. This is due mainly to the fact
thnf tbn Snapial CT L. la l,r,
T required in silk raising is cheaper in
China than anywhere else. Chinese
working women get daily wages of
three cents. Everywhere 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 silkeries
the egg to the cocoon.
To keep the eggs dormant requires
a temperature Just above freezing
They must not be laid in the hatch.
ing trays without regard to the sea.
son. Ii it is cold and backward the
hatch must be postponed to wait the
growth of the leaves.
are fed on leaves finely shredded, in
bits suited to their tender Jaws. Aft
er the first moult the reaves are only
torn. Thenccforward they are used
whole, but must not he allowed tc
3 get hard and woody. They are
stripped from the young shoots just
before they reach fun size. a tree
that has given all it's early leaves tC
the silk worm brood is so weakened
that it may die. Consequently trees
are not fully stripped unless under
great stress.
After the fifth moult the worms
fat green, sluggish rolls, refuse tC
eat and begin moving their head;
rapidly from side To side. This is the
sign of the cocoon spinning, so the
women supply the trays with bundles
= of clean. short twigs. Upon these tbs
worms crawl, attach themselves anC
hegin spinning. The cocoon is fin
ished in ~ to "a hours. The good
ness or badness of it is judged less b,
the size than the weight and sym
metry.
percentage of the finest cocoons
are set apart to hatch out and pro
duce next years eggs. The rest ar,
baked at a steady heat that destroys
the chrysalid without iniuring tn,
silk, then boiled, doubled, reeled
secured and sent to market.