Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-03-21
FREE SILK WORMS AND TREES.
Farmers of the South Can Have
Them Sent For the Asking.

DIR. Howard, the chief "bugologist"
of the agricultural department, has be-
gun to scatter the eggs Of the Chinese
silk worm broadcast over the south.
OF course, they are sent through the
mail done up in small packages. Any
body living south Of Mason and Dix
on's line can get an assignment OF the
eggs merely by writing to DIR. Howard
and assuring him that there Is a white
mulberry tree on the farm or the
writer. If the seeker Of Chinese silk
worm eggs has no white mulberry tree
he can get one by writing to the chief
of the forestry division Of the agricul-
tural department. This official, Prof.
Pinchot, like DR.. Howard, has been In
structed by Secretary Wilson to supply
promptly every request made by the
farmers Of the south for the means
whereby they can begin the culture OF
silk worms. The plants have been
brought over by the tens Of thousands
from France and Italy.
The white mulberry Is not indigenous
to any part of the United States, al
though very good specimens of it are
occasionally found in various parts Of
the country. The Chinese silk worm Is
domesticated animal and refuses to
eat the leaves of our mulberry trees.
It's taste for the white variety is the
result Of more than four thousand
years of cultivation. Experiments at
the agricultural department under the
personal supervision of Secretary Will
son have shown that when the import
ed Chinese silk worm makes a meal
on q leaf from a common American
mulberry trees one Of two regrettable
results follows: Either the silk worm
dies or the product Of its mysterious
loom Is not silk. When the so-called
silk worm that is found in this country
is fed on the leaves Of the white null
berry tree it gets enormously fat In
few hours, spins a cocoon that is as
hard as an egg shell, but that contains
not one thread Of silk, then proceeds
to bore. hole through the cocoon and
sail out into the world a butterfly Of
gaudy colors.
The worm from China would bore its
way out Of his silken cocoon too, If 1t
had chance, and would f1utter around
just long enough to find its mate. but
it's color would be g. modest drab. The
Chinese worms cocoon is so valuable
for it's silk that few worms Of its kind
are permitted to emerge from the
chryselis state. How they are killed
in China and in those parts of Europe
where silk culture is carried on sue
cessfully is now known. Secretary
Wilson has devised his own means Of
checking the development Of the worm
in the chrysalis stage. He puts the
cocoons in an alright box and then
pours a half ounce Of bi-sulphide Of
carbon in the box. This does the busi-
mess. The creature that Is then half
worm and half butterfly dies and the
thousands Of silken threads or fila
ments are then not cut by the butter
fly's boring its way out through the
large end of the cocoon.
There are, by the way, according to
Secretary Wilson's count, 1,40O yards
of silken thread in each cocoon develop
ed at the agricultural department.
This thread is just about the size OF
the thread spun by spider. Secre-
tary Wilson believes that the small
farmers at the south will find the cul-
ture Of the Chinese silk worm profita-
BILE after they learn how to conduct 1t.
Some Of the white mulberry plants
that he scattered through that part OF
the country three years ago are now
large enough to supply the necessary
food to the worm, and he is anxious for
those who have the trees to begin
feeding the worms. He is having pre-
pared a detailed description Of how to
treat the worms so as to get the re-
sults.-Washington Post.