Year: 1867

These eggs are about the size and shape OF
pins heads, and are imported into Italy on
cartoons(to which they are gummed), and
sold at SO much quire like note paper; the
heat or gas, or a wood fire, or the rays of the
sun, being sufficient to rouse the dormant
life. Ny companion informed me that in
some towns the silkworms were already busy
with the mulberry leaves, and that in Others
the spinning was over-the webs being in the
hands of the factory-girls. This was good
news, for it gave me prospect of a bird s.
eye view Of these interesting labors. from the
first to the last stage.


" sILK-FIELD.'


The first g silk field y which we visited was
a farm house. The farmer had invested in
g eggs" and his wife and daughters were
busily engaged feeding some of the tiny in
sects which had Just emerged from the shell
For this purpose they had collected great
basketsful of mulberry leaves, the twigs and
soiled pulps Of which were cut away as
not to offend the dainty palates of the future
| silk-spinners. At some of the tables we
saw sllkworms of a larger growth, some full
grown or nearly SO, about two inches long,
yellow or cream color, with two brown spots
above the head, like painted eyes a mask.
their real eyes and real head being much
smaller and occupying one extremity of
their body, as the tail occupied the other,
head and tail being much alike. These able
bodied climbers, twisting in and out of lab
yrinths of leaves-crawling over juicy stalks
and letting themselves down from heights of
verdure-were already hard at work filling
their wonderful insides with the materials
for a wholesale manufacture of silk goods, a
fancy fair of luxury and wealth in en-
bryo state of maggot and vegetation-it be-
ing the opinion of some authorities that the
silkworm can do nothing without the null
berry leaf, and of others that the mulberry
leaf is simply to be regarded as an article
of food, and not in itself conducive to the
production of silk


CARTOONS OF EGGS.


Some of the cards being still unmatched,
| asked the price of one of them and ex-
pressed my surprise that eggs laid in on
country can be so admirably developed in ane
other, and that too after a long and trouble
some sea voyage, and in strange climate
This proves, | think, that free-trade is nat
ural if not divine law. l was informed
that piece of g seed paper or(as it is
sometimes called)an " egg letter. six inches
long by four wide, costs from five to five-and-
twenty francs, according to quality.


. But what has quality to do with it? y
| inquired


Ny informant stated that cartoon of Jap
anese eggs cost five times much as Lom-
bard one - But how is this?'' | inquired
4 thought all the eggs were japanese? :
The silk butterfly is not indigenous to
Europe


. That is true" was the reioinder But
some eggs laid in the country. Those
laid abroad are called eggs of the first gen
Grafton, and are the most expensive, while
those laid IN Lombardv have less value. Eggs
of the third generation (that is to say, eggs
which have been laid in Italy by Lombard
hens, themselves laid IN these valleys). are
considered imbecie. and not worth their keep.
They grow up to be habby and indolent and
make fluff instead of silk, raising hopes
which are never realized. and eating up the
best provisions to the detriment of their COM
panions. -


The farmers wife directed our attention
to some newly-hatehed caterpillars, which
she said had been very troublesome. and had
given her a great deal of anxiety. They
were black, and about half the size of needles.
curled up and thin, and pointy at both ends.
She informed us that they required much
looking after as a baby. and had TO be coaxcd
to eat, some of them dying out of sheer ina
bilty to find their way to their days food.


| asked to see some of last wear s silk. un-
worked-that is to say, fresh from the cater
pillar. The good lady hunted up specimen
Of her best goods, and displayed it with a
certain look of pride. 1t was long and soft
like golden hair, and was fastened at one end
with a blue ribbon. 1t was exactly if
some beautiful girl had entered a convent
and had left her hair as legacy to her
mother after breaking her heart The good
lady informed us that it was worth two shil-
lings an ounce.


THE OPERATIVES.


After we had visited the mulberry trees
and seen the children at work upon them,
laughing, shouting and stripping them OF
their leaves as ruthlesslv as a winter storm
might have done-the other trees remaining
in full leaf-we left the farm and the farm
people. and continued our way down the val
lev at the rate of seven miles an hour-pony-
sleed-our driver being in good humor. At
sunset we reached a town famous for its silk
and for its wine, and dismounting at the
principal Inn, where my companion had an
other appointment, sent away our bGgherinO
(chaise drIver).


: Next morning we took stroll through
the town and visited some of the principal
inhabitants. Every one was silky to a
degree. Their households were in a state OF
abnormal excitement and confusion owing to
the frenzy with which their wives and
daughters were dcvoting themselves to silk
No one talked abont anything but silk from
morning till night, and [ am convinced that
some one had dreamed, his dreams would
have been about silk. Some stated that the
silk-harvest would be good, others that it
would be bad, others, again, that, good OF
bad, it the only thing worth living for
and striving for; and that silk-soft, sound
salable silk-was the end and only object Of
mans (and woman's) existence here below.


Our last visit was at village in the south
of Lombardy, where the harvest was much
more advanced. One of the rooms which We
visited was barn, in which hundreds o
thousands of gaLlette (chrysalides) were col
lectcd. They were as large as a wren's egg
their surface being hard like cardboard, but
fluffy and porous, and their color reflection
of the silk inside. Most of those saw were
a pretty golden color, like sunbeams, and
was informed that the quality frst-class
My companion told me that the little prison
ers (clapped into prison by their own indus
try), had to be kept perfectly still, and tha
if touched they died or gave up working
just as some authors cannot write if there ii
an organ-grinder in the next street. Won
derful little workers


4 Study from Life.


SCENE IN GAMING HOUSE IN GERMANY.