Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1914-06-25
The Story of Silk.

What are these little greyish balls. all
OF them shiny, over this leaf2 They are
very tiny. Probably there are thousand
of these balls on an inch OF space.
"Balls," you say, "Why these are not
balls, they are the eggs OF a beautiful
cream moth. These eggs were laid in
month of July"
Every day they grow paler and paler
until one day you see little black Speck
appear on the eggs. AS you watch the
eggs you see tiny black something
emerge. This is the silkworm. The
beautiful little silkworm is black and as
if moves il glistens all over. This is be-
cause fine hairs are all over the sIkworm.
AS soon as the little worm is out of the
shell he begins looking for something to
eat. Mulberry leaves are the favorite
articles OF food, although orange leaves
are acceptable. The worms have TO be
fed every day and at first the worms
drink the juice OF the leaves, but soon
they learn TO eat the leaves. When the
worms first come out into this world they
are one thirty-fourth Of an inch long, but
now they are almost an inch long. After
few days the worm grew so fast he had
to moult or, in other words, he had TO
lose his covering. Is il not wonderful
that these tiny worms furnish silk and
velvet for the whole world =? These
worms must be very industrious. Aren't
they, though ? When the silkworm is
thirty days old il shrinks and becomes
slow in its movements, suddenly we see
that our silk worm has turned a rich
brown chrysalis. This chrySaliS is soon
going 10 spin fine covering all over its
body.
The worm has little glands all over IFS
body extending in rows from the eyes
back. In these glands is a jelly-like
matter which when exposed 10 the air
hardenS. As il is fall and the silkwormS
begin to feel cool they begin TO spin
web. This web is attached to the branch
es OF a tree wherein the chrySaliS has
taken up its abode.
In tWenty-four hours the ChrySaliS is
no more. 1t is covered with a yellow
silk covering. The man who tended the
silkworms took the chrySaliS and tossed
them into tub of hot water. Ii the silk
chrysalis is left alone it will turn into a
beautiful moth OF pale yellow coorlng.
When this moth emerges it ruins the CO.
coon so badly that the threads are OF nc
Use TO commerce. After the cocoonS are
in The hot water the gum that holds the
threads can easily be unreeled. This is
done by machinery and as many as six
hundred yards ofsik thread are unwound.
When spun the thread is very beautiful.
The SilkwornS feed almost entirely on
mulberry leaves, although orange leaves
are also liked by them. The worms need
almost constant attention, and if they do
not get plenty OF food and fresh air and
water they will die, as they are delicate.
The Chinese were the first people to
raise silk, and before they knew how TO
weave cloth the strings of their musical
instruments were made OF it. As they
were Jealous of their secret for many years
they would tell no one, and had it not
been for two monks from Persia, who
took some OF the silk worms home and
cultivated them, we should never have
known about silk.
The culture Of silk extended from Per-
sia to Japan, Germany, France, Italy,
Portugal and India.