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A= ee EM eee bap wou oe
84
CHAPTERI.
Dy
Z
KOKH oR
SILKWORM HOUSE,
THERE can_ be
no better proof of
the truth of the
wise saying, that
* great ends follow
httle beginnings,”
than is presented
by the silkworm;
for to that insigni-
ficant little insect
1s to be traced, in
a great measure,
the wealth ot na-
tions, the commer-
cial importance and
prosperity of our
own country, and
the stability and
firmness of our
mercantile transac-
tions. There 13,
perhaps, scarcely any article--cotton excepted-which
enters so fully into the various manufactures and
purposes for which it is applicable, nor whicn is of
such general consumption, as silk; nor one person
in five hundred throughout the population of this
country—saying nothing of the other nations of the
earth, by whom it is as largely used as by ourselves
—can be found, who has not in some degree silk in-
troduced into some part of his garment. No mat-
ter what age, what sex, what position in society,
or what trade or profession, silk is more or less
mixed up in the dresses worn by nearly every liv-
ing person in the country. This may seem start-
ling at first, but a moment's reflection will convince
us that, either in the shape of bonnets, hats, shawls,
dresses, waistcoats, stockings, lace, ribbons, bind-
ings, sewing silk, buttons, boot-laces, shoe-ties,
handkerchiets, &c. &c,, or in trimmings of one kin
or other, there is scarcely a dress in the length and
breadth of our ‘country but has some portion of
silk mixed with it. An article so much and so va-
riously used, must necessarily employ a large num-
ber of persons in its preparation and manufacture,
and involve many curious and’ interesting applian-
ces of machinery, &c., in the production of the dif-
ferent articles for which it is used. We propose to
trace, in a serics of papers, some of the more general
and useful processes connected with the silk manu-
facture, and to follow out the progress of that valu-
able material, from its first production by the silk-
worm, to the completion of the finished fabric.
It has been computed that there are,in this country
alone, more than a million of persons engaged in
the various branches of silk-manufacture, and in
the different processes attendant thereon, indepen-
dent of the immense mass of individuals who after-
wards convert the materials thus produced into
wearable goods. If to this we add the number
of persons, females principally, that employ silk in
their daily avocations, in every house in the coun-
try, and the innumerable dreas-makers, seamastresses,
tailors, milliners, hatters, and others, who make
up the maternals, we shali tind that nearly the whole
popuiation ef the fand are in sore measure depen-
dent upon the little silkworm for their comfort and
support. :
The silkworm is
the - caterpillar cf
one of the: family
‘Bombycide, system-
atically known by
. the name of Bombyx
Mori.
The eggs are glo-
bular, and about the
size of mignonnette
seed; they may be
purchased in Wash-
ington Market, New
York, at the rate
of about $2,50 per
ounce. ‘he good
ones are of a pale
slate . or ash-color;
whilst the imperfect
ones are of a light
yellow tint. The
moth is of a light
cream-color, with
transverse bands of a
darker tint on the
anterior wings, and
a crescent - shaped
central mark; the
. body, whieh is en-
circled by rings of a darker tinge, is covered, as are
also the wings, with long velvety feathers, giving a
particularly soft, thick and warm look to the insect ;
the antennz are also thickly feathered. ,
Those who have seen the moth generally known
by the name of the « ghost moth,”’ from its soft white
wings, covered with a kind of down, and lined with
powdered flock, flitting noiselessly with a monoto-
nous hovering motion over the long grass on a sum-
mer’s evening, will have seen much the same kind of
sottness of wing which is displayed by the silkworm
moth. The moth measures, from tip to tip ot the
wings, about two inches, and the wings have usu-
ally a curled or crumpled appearance, and are ob-
tusely pointed at their extremities. Each moth will
lay fron three to four hundred eggs, and the parent
generally dies after she has done 1aying. The male
hives a little jonger than the female, put rarely ex-
ceeds acouple of days from its bursting from the
chrysalis state to its death. : :
The eggs are hatched in the spring, simultane-
ously with the burstmg into seat ct the mulberry
trees, upon which they live, and the mtve worm
smmediately commences eating the young leaves
whieh are placed for its ucuisshment. It is about
egbt weeks in arriving a. maturity, snd durmg
that period changes its skin st tour cr five different
moultings.. When about to cast its skin it ceases
to eat for some length of time, and exists in a state
of perfect repose or stupor, with the forepart of the
body slightly raised. It remains in this torpid con-
dition a sufficient time for the new skin, which is
now forming, to become sufficiently mature and
strong to enable the caterpillar to burst through the
the old one. The operation of changing the skin is
one of considerable difficulty, and is sometimes at-
tended with fatal results to the insect itself, After
the forepart of the old skin has burst, the silkworm,
by a constant writhing motion of its body, slowly
contrives to press the skin backwards to its tail,
and ultimately to entirely disengage itself from the
encumbrance. The necessity of withdrawing the
last segment of its body from the old skin is the
most difficult and fatal part of the operation, and
large numbers of the caterpillars are annually lost
by it.. As soon as the moulting is over, and the
caterpillar has recovered from the exhaustion which
its efforts have produced, it commences eating vo-
raciously, and increases in size very rapidly. The
periods at which the moultings take place is influ-
enced in a great measure by the temperature in
which the egzs nave been kept during the winter
months. When the heating of the apartment has
been properly attended to, the first change of skin
takes place on or about the fourth or fifth day from
the hatching of the insect; but in gencral the
first moulting takes place in about a weck from the
hatching; the second, ina fortnight from the first.
The silk worm when full-grown measures about three
inches in length, and is at first of a slate color; but
as it increases in size it becomes paler, until at ma-
turity it arrives at nearly the same tint as the moth
itsel&. When it has arrived at this state, about ten
days after the last moulting, the caterpillar sceks
some convenient spot for the spinning of its web or
cocoon. The silk is elaborated in two long tubular
yessels lying on either side of the stomach and in-
testines, and terminating ina single tube opening
St pero ee
FRANK LESLIE’S. NEW YORK JOURNAL.
The Silktoorm and its Products, s
28 the vessels containing the tiquid gum ot which
the delicate thread ct silk is composed are called, are
closed at their 1ower extremity, from whence they
taper gradually to a greater width in the middle, and
spinnaret or spinning tube. The bags being longer.
than the body of the caterpillar, he in a convoluted
form similar to the intestines of. quadrupeds. Al-
though there are two.silk bags, and two tubes to
the spinnaret, only one minute outlet for the silk is
provided. The spinnaret or silk tube projects from
the lower part of the mouth, and is perceptible to
the naked eye. Although there is but one tube
with a single opening or perforation, the silk as it
passes from the caterpillar nevertheless retains its
double thread as drawn from the silkbags;. each
thread of silk, as formed by the silkworm, being
composed of two distinct cylinders running paral-
lel with, but united to, each other. Each of these
cylinders in good silk is quite perfect in form, and
of uniform thickness throughout. Some idea of
the thickness of these minute threads may be form-
ed from the fact that it would require upwards of
two thousand five hundred of them to be laid side
by side to cover one inch in space. When the silk
is imported, however, several threads will be found
united together. This is done by the grower of the
silkworms, as will be seen afterwards.
Having now described the insects themselves, we
will proceed to wateh their progress from the eggs
to the spinning and winding of the cocoon, .Dur-
ing the winter months the silkworm-grower pre-
serves the eggs in linen bags with great care, and
as soon as they begin to burst into life in the spring,
they are gently laid in flat wicker baskets lined with
sun-baked clay, where they are supplied with the
young and delicate leaves of the mulberry. At
this time the tiny worms are scarcely larger than
cheese mites, and therefore, for the first few days,
a small quantity of food is consumed. As it is es-
sential that the whole of the eggs should be hatched
ut about the same time, so as to ensure the tender
budding Jeaves tor the young brood, if any ot the
ougs, from cold or otherwise, are Jater than the oth-
rs in bursting te Ife, the peasants carefully wrap
small quantities ct the eggs in woollen materials and
carry them about their persons, until the artificial
warmth thus eppled produces the desired result.
For’ the first week the worms are kept m these
wicker baskets, fresh leayes being given to them
three or four times daily. At the end of the first
week they have generally grown to the size of about
halt an inch in length, when the period of the first
moulting has arrived, and the worms lie in a torpid
state for a period of two days. The ‘caterpillars
which haye survived this operation are then care-
tully removed from the wicker baskets and placed
in the kokh, which has been arranged for their te-
ception. The kokh is a low thatched’ building
formed of sun-dried bricks, with trellised windows
covered with myrtles and other trees, so as to ex-
clude birds and serpents; but at the same time’ so
as to admit a free circulation of air. In these
kokhs are long ranges of mat shelves, attached to
poles, and ranged one above another, with about
one foot space between each range. On’ these
shelves the silkworms are placed by the attendant
peasants, and plentifully supplied with mulberry
leaves, which are now devoured in such quantities
as to render it necessary to lop off, and supply them
‘with the small twigs from the trees. During the
two weeks succeeding the first moulting, large
branches are lopped from the trees every morning
and brought to the kokhs, and by this means the
leaves are preserved in greater freshness, and are
profusely sprinkled along the shelves by the peasants.
About this period the second change of skin takes
place, and after this torpid condition the worm
makes up with renewed strength and vigor, and
of their eating, on first entering the kokh, is said
to be quite as loud as a heavy shower of rain falling
on a thatched roof, and to resemble the incessant
clipping of thousands of little scissors. The care
with which the caterpillar avoids the-smallest fibre
or vein of the leaf, and selects only the softer por-
tions for its food, is remarkable, and many of the
leaves are perfectly anatomised by the manipulations
of its small jaws. It is worthy of remark that dur-
ing the whole time the worms do not move or crawl
away from one part of the shelf to another, but re-
main stationary where they were first placed; the
great business of their lives is to cat, and this they
do incessantly; the mulberry leaf is their world,
and their journey of life is comprised in its cireuit.
m the lower lip of the caterpillar. The silk bags,
To be continued.
,
contract towards the head, where they unite with the _
with considerably increased yoracity of appetite. |
From this period the caterpillars grow prodigiously ;
they never cease eating day or night, and the noise |
|