The Monmouth inquirer. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1865-1933, 1925-11-05

4Prepared by the National Geographic So
ciety, Washington d. c.
YArAN.S valuable silk industry was
only temporarily injured by the
earthquake and fire that destroyed
~ the great silk shipping port of
Yokohama two years ago, and now
thousands of pounds of the threads
that the well-dressed world demands
are leaving Japanese shores almost
daily.
Japan, the land of the rice paddy,
became Japan, the land of mulberry
orchards, to satisfy the wishes of
American women. For thousands of
years silk was the cloth of queens.
To-day what was once princess
dowry of silks is the property of
nearly every stenographer Of any
metropolis in the United States.
If a worm shall serve princess,
though she be multiplied by 50,O00,000,
that worm ought to be lifted above the
ranks of common crawling things.
Will,it make silk stockings any more
attractive to American women for
them to know that the silk was spun
by "heaven worms? 1t is thus the
japanese name the tiny creatures
that labor for them.
To see these models of perfect
conduct in their swaddling clothes,
the visitor in Japan must adjust his
itinerary exactly. He must stop at
some farmhouse almost on the very
day the mulberry leaves burst from
~. \
leaves, unironed by the sun. Centu-
ries of selection enable the 'heaven
worm' to time his debut with his
breakfast When the silkworm is
as thin as a bit of black thread and as
short as the width of a pencil-lead,
ne must have new, tender leaves, and
the precision with which silkworm
eggs hatch and mulberry leaves unfold
approaches magic
Though the Heaven worm" fulfills
the edict that "children must be seen
and NOT heard he is perfect pig
for food He eats all night and all
day He must because he is required
to multiply his weight hundreds of
times in 40 days. The silkworm's
discreet silence in youth is broken in
his lusty old age. japanese, however,
love the soft, rain-like sound produced
by thousands of worms, earnestly eat
ing.
Barring gluttony, the 'heaven
worm is as domesticated as a good
dog. Silkworms are raised in shall
low rice-straw baskets with narrow
rims. yet the Japanese store millions
of them on shelves in their homes with
perfect assurance that the spark of
adventure will never prompt them to
roam abroad and underfoot. Their
fast-traveling fuzzy American cousin
is wild by comparison.
silk is Their "Velvet" Crop.
Silk culture is a pin-money industry
in Japan because it mainly employs
mothers, mothers-in-law, grandmoth-
ers, great grandmothers, and children,
during short period of the year, sell
dom more than month and a half.
On a farm the head Of the house may
take no part often he is a govern
ment official, merchant or an army
officer. Silk is velvet crop for
tile family Golfers because, except for
the cost of fertilizer for mulberry
trees the snvestment is practically
nothing. Most farms sell their co
coons direct to agents.
Rules of hospitality are amended
during silk season Ordinarily Wis
iting relative or a friend is enter
tanned and given tea and food. But in
silk season it is perfectly good form
for the visitor to go to the kitchen
and help himself The silkworms al
most force the family out of house
and home. A typical farm may have
a house of nine rooms on one floor.
1t is about 80 feet wide by so feet
long. While the worms are small and
thousands live happily on one tray
there is ample shelf room, but when
they are fat, old and juicy only 300
can enjoy the same bed and board.
Then every inch of the house seems
filled with trays.
At the end Of 40 days growth the
worms must be furnished with facili-
ties for the spinning of their cocoons.