The sun., 1902-09-07
saused by the lsafng Of the mulberry

country nave been particular on that point
90 you think? In Italy, in order TO sim
lilIF lhlngS, one woman takes charge OF
me Matching for the entire neighborhood
and when the worms are ou' each peasant
goes 10 her Tor the quantity he wants
once he worms are haJched YOU must
"ducn'" ih"n. Some Of them hatch out
the first day, NOR he second and the third
day, and finally the stow coaches come out
oH he fourth day.
If II is good Matching IL point Of Num-
bers, YOU throw away the worms which
have come out on The first and the fourth
day because there /, too much difference he
tween them, your object throughout being
Ia Hrt your rearing a. nearly a. possible Of n
uniform size and Of uniform habits
That j. what | mean by educating tho
Norms, For instance, as soon as the first
days ha'Ching il cut you place over the
paper, on Hhch you have spread out the
eggS, piece Of netting, or perforated
paper, or something Of that sort, on this
you sprinkle young mulberry leaves chopped
into fine pieces
Tho worms will then crawl up through
the holee so as TO feed on the leaves. You
then lit them of, resting oil this nettii z
or paper, and put them on Cnc Of a number
Of tiers Of shelves Each day yOu put
over them a new piece of netting. or some
thing having openings through which
Of leaves; each day, that is, except whe n
tho worm, take nap, Four tines during
their life of about six weeks they lake a
sleep. each time Of twenty-four hours.
AT first they may not all go TO sleep
AZ the same time but you must try 10 train
them 10 get together on that point. II
some Of them waken before the others
do, yo,l must not feed them until all are
awake.
when they are all awake give them
plenty of food Also 500 that they have
plenty Of air.
They are cxcpedirg'y accommodating
when well trained, these little worms.
They never crawl about unless they are
not supplied with food.
Finally, however, they show signs Of
rcstlessness ard you may know that they
are uneaaily hunting for place to spin.
Then YOU take your bundles Of branches
which you have already prepared and set
these up bet the shelves where the
worms are spread out.
They will crawl up among the top twigs
and Sot to work on their COCoons. As soon
AS the worms are through spinning, the
peasants strip the Cocoons Of the fagots
and sell them You see they weigh little
heavier then than they do later,
silk culture has failed in this country
because the attempts have been ignorantly
conducted For instance the trees have
NOT been good.
They are three kinds Of mulberrics, the
rcd. the white and the non-fruit bearing
The red is not good for use in silkworm
culture, vet il has been indiscriminately
used over here. Furthermore the trees
are not properly treated.
"The Italians have discovered that the
vertical portions OF tree bear the most
wood, the horizontal branches the most
fruit and the oblique branches the most
leaves. As il is leaves they want for the
silkworm they lop of the undesirable por-
tons Of the tree so that IL becomes in shape
like an inverted cone or pyramid the point
resting on the trunk where the branches
begin TO shoot.
Trees are trimmed with mathematical
precision, 80 that at the end of three years
growth a tree is stem with twenty-four
almost equi-distant branches Now, where
will you find trees thus treated In this
country?
The peasants with whom | came in
contacr over in Lombardy sold their cult
ures for from s35 10 800 each This II not
great deal. but one must remember that
they have little land and less room.
This sum was easily earned by the more
helpless members of The families the chill
dren and old people. That is why say it
will mean so much to the people here in
the South. In five or six weeks tho chill
ITeI, or III" NoINIl, OF llI' Dltl people, can
earn more than they could make in any
other way.
And if we raise the silk. We shall have
silk mills, We used to raise cotton and
export II Now we have cotton mills
1t will be- the same way with silk"
How did you get your appointment
Miss Kelly was asked.
Secretary Wilson had written me to
stop in Washington on my way home. |
4, IA ,,,I had ,n1ly .t,h nr
.Hsalwari Of The sntono!ogica division,
visited Lombardy 20 look into the matter
for himself. | expect to hear from him
almost any day.
NV appointment followed my visit to
Washington, My first duties arc the prepa
ration Of two monographs; one on silk
worm culture, the other on the culture Of
the mulberry tree. These will be ready
for the printer this fall, as they are already
nearing completion
Il have also authorization to travel
through North and South Carolina and
investigate conditions, learn what has been
done and what can be done.
when | was in Italy | persuaded the
Duke to send a thousand trees TO this coun-
try 10 be set out upon his mother-in-law's s
plantation near Charleston Without prop
er attention they have, nevertheless done
very well
Seven hundred are alive and have grown
much more luxuriantly than they do in
Italy. Over there "A tree sometimes grows
to be 200 years old, and a grated tree
grows to be 100 years old.
when | came home | brought some Of
the sikworm seed with me and ] gave
small quantities 10 persons who asked
for It. But what would you have? IL ism I
seed they need. 1t is knowledge.
sThpv dom know how IN take care Of