Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1936-07-23

from south to north, and north to
south.
Pagodas. Pagodas always have an
odd number of stories, may be eth
er circular, square, six or eight
sided. The primary object of pa
CODA seems to have been to preserve
relics of Buddha. Later they were
built as acts of devotion, then as
omens Of good luck, some probably
as towers of observation. The nrst
ones were built in China about 249
A. D., most of them are OF nine stor-
les, probably because Buddha was
considered the ninth incarnation or
Vishnu.
Silk. Discovery of way to un-
wind the filament of a sllkWorm
cocoon, and make it into cloth was
made by an empress about 27OO B.
C. She has been deified and is now
worshipped as the Goddess OF Silk.
The female butterfly lays approx
imately 100000 eggs of which 500
hatch during a 10 or 12 day period
of careful incubation by artificial
heat. During the next 18 day pc
riod, these worms which weigh less
than two ounces in the egg state,
will eat 5000 pounds of leaf and in
crease the space they occupy from
one sheet of paper, two feet square,
! to 100 baskets each four feet
square. When the worm is full
grown, it seeks a place to spin it's
cocoon. which it finishes spinning
from the outside in about 36 hours.
In SO more hours it is changed to
heat. boiling water or steam must
kill the chrysalis if it is not wanted
for breeding purposes. Those killed
and from which the filament is I'M
mediately unwound are used Tor
food, others which are not lmmed-
lately unwound and thus shrlvei
up within the cocoon cannot be eat
en-. Those wanted for breeding pur-
poses emerge from the cocoon IN
three or four more days as full
grown butterflies, ready to etart gen.
Grafton which is about 35 days over
again. In central China, three gen.
ertions a year are gone through
In south China, it is possible to pro-
duce seven or eight generations. The
filament is unwound from the cocoon
from the outside in, after much
soaking and boiling in hot water
The filament from five or six CO.
coons. makes up a single strand il
skein of raw silk.
Tea. Tea drinking was first rec
commended by Buddhist priest as
medicine for headache along about
$50 A. d. In the eighth century
it was subject to imperial duty ano
was undoubtedly used at that time
The leaves are picked by hand from
bushes on high ground, are dried IL
the sun. and subsequently sold tt
the middle man who puts then
through the process of firing. The
color of the tea is determined by the
firing. Most of China's tea is green
while that of India and Ceylon which
have captured the foreign market il
black. Green Chinese tea is some
times scented with the jasmin flow
er and small chrysanthemum. Nortl
China consumes large quantity o
flower scented green tea. Black tie;
is not scented.
Bamboo In China, bamboo Nigh
be called ''the universal material.
The question is not what it is use'
for, but what it is not used for |
is the most valuable product of tn
land. In this part of China, its nor
NAL growth is several feet year
In India, it has been known to grow
more than six feet in single night
One authority says ''if bamboo AM
all things made of it were suddenl.
taken out of China, the whole socia
order would be disrupted and tn
daily life of the people would be
come entirely disorganized, and tn
people would be reduced to stat
of savagery and miserable depend
ence."
Dragons. The dragon is benevo
lent creature not to be feared, AM
one who helps those who believe il
him and worship him. He is seel
everywhere in China, and is tn
motif for decorations in architec
ture, porcelain, engravings, embroid
cry brocades, wood carving, bronz
and marble, etc, etc. 1t is estimated
that fully seven out of every /