Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1920-11-18
From Cocoon 10 Cloth.

- SN'hS PioNuSSN dt E>SN ol-
leans, where, on the largest silk farm
IN the United States, a super-silk- worm
has been developed. nearly twice the
size of the ordinary worm of other silk
producing countries, a worm which
produces l,So0 yards of silk 10 the
cocoon, as compared with 1000 to L.
200 yards, the best previous proiuc-
ton.
I These discoveries are the result of
ten years experiments, made by DR..
Nartan X. OSigian, native of Har-
poot, Armenian, son of a family
which has been producing silk there
nor more than seven centuries, and
who is now an American citizen. At
first much doubt and scepticism met
the announcement of the discovery of
the method of cumulative and quail
i;ative feeding by which DR.. Osigian
claimed to have produced the colored
silks direct from the worm, and il was
not until the Department of Commerce
of the United States sent Daniel
Waters, one of its trade commissioners,
TO investigate DR.. Osigian's announce
ment, that the discovery became Of
fcially established as a fact.
Mr.. Waters remained two weeks at
the silk farm at New Orleans, and on
the eighteenth Of August, of this year,
rendered report to the Department Of
Commerce in which he said in part:
1.-The largest silk farm in the United
States was visited by me and inspect
ed not only the growing trees, but the
worms in their various stages, the
cocoons and the weaving Of the silk.
The production of worms which actual
ly will spin silk of eighteen different
colors is a scientific achievement like
ly 10 revolutionize the industry. Con-
nected with this farm is a Mrs. Olivia
Blanchard, who has been engaged in
| Federal work for a number OF years,
and who is now making thorough re-
searches in sericulture. She has
books printed at the beginning of the
nineteenth century, showing that silk
was produced in Virginia, Georgia,
Louisiana and other southern States at
that time. From all | can learn from
these and other reliable sources, this
silk now being produced at New Or
leans is superior to the imported ar
tice."
The secret Of the colored silk is in
the feeding, and this is not being re-
vealed, though efforts are now being
made to have the Department of Com
merce take hold of the discovery and
encourage the silk-producing industry
throughout the southern States.
The super-silkworm is the result Of
feeding on the leaves Of a new tree,
also the creation of DR.. Osigian,
through the grating of mulberry cut
ings on Usage orange roots, pro-
ducing large, feshier leaf,
roots, producing a large, heshier leaf,
with greater food value to the worms.
There is no secret as to the character
of the tree, or the cause Of the greater
size of the worms, but the result is q
cocoon, from each Of these super
worms, containing from so to 80 per
cent more silk than any cocoons ever
previously produced.
The New Orleans farm contains
100000 of the new mulberry-osage
orange trees, with land on which TO-
100000 more are being planted as
rapidly as they can be grown and graf
ted. William Edenborn, New Or
leans capitalist, owner of the Louisiana
Railway and Navigation Company Rail-
road and of several business buildings,
advanced the funds whereby the farm
was started. In the refrigerators Of
the silk-house are 100000 eggs of
the silk moth, which are kept in cold
storage, retaining life indefinitely, I'M
til needed, when they are exposed to the
heat of the ordinary summer day, in
Louisiana, from rs to IS degrees, when
they begin TO hatch in three days, con-
tinuing the Matching process for three
or four days longer, by which time
all the worms are out.
When the Matching is completed the
worms are spread on trays, three
inches deep and fifteen inches square,
lined with the large leaves of the new
mulberry tree. Tn first thing the
worm develops is an astonishing ap-
petite. If man were possessed OF
silkworm appetite, in proportion to his
size, the world soon would be bar
rem desert. These little worms eat for
five days and nights, without ceasing,
| - 49,. f.nx. 70 d hnirs