03

SILKWORMS

1. One of the most interesting points in the manufacture of silk is the mode in which the silkworms are reared.Those who are engaged in this work select a certain number of well-formed cocoons . At the end of fifteen or twenty days, the moths come out of these cocoons. All moths whose wings are expanded at the time of their birth are regarded as useful; whereas those which have crumpled wings and no eyebrows, and which are without down, are considered useless, and are at once destroyed.

2. After a day or two, the females, each having been placed on a sheet of coarse paper, begin to lay their eggs. In the silk districts of the north of China, owing to the coldness of the climate, pieces of cloth are used instead of sheets of paper. The number of eggs which one moth lays is generally five hundred, and the periodrequired for this is about three days. The moths die almost immediately after they have laid their eggs.

MOTH

3. During the autumn and winter months, the eggs are carefully put away on shelves in a large, well-aired room. In spring, each egg hatches out into a tiny black worm scarcely thicker than a hair. Those in charge begin at once to feed the little worms with the leaves of the mulberry-tree, cut into very small pieces with sharp knives, so that the leaves are not bruised nor their juice lost. When the worms are quite young, they are fed every half-hour. By-and-by their meals are reduced to one each hour; and when they have attained to their full growth, they get only three or four meals a day.

4. Like all other creatures, these young silkworms have their seasons of rest, and to these seasons the Chinese give distinguishing names . The first sleep, which takes place on the fourth or the fifth day after birth, is termed the “hair sleep, ” and lasts but one day. The second sleep takes place on the eighth or the ninth day, and the third on the fourteenth. The fourth and last sleep, which takes place about the twenty-second day, is styled the “great sleep, ” in consequence of its long duration.

FULL-GROWN SILKWORM

5. During each period of sleep, the worms cast their skins; and after getting rid of their old skins, they grow very quickly in size and strength. When they have reached the age of thirty-two days, they are full-grown, each being about two inches in length, and almost as thick as a man´s little finger. They are then of an amber colour. At this stage they cease to take food, and begin to spin their silk cocoons.

COCOON

6. In spinning, they move their head first to the oneside and then to the other, and continue this operation until the whole body has been enveloped in a cocoon or case of silk. The time which a worm requires to accomplish this labour is from three to five days; and assoon as it has enclosed itnone in the cocoon, it falls into a deep sleep. The attendants then place the bamboo shelves on which the cocoons lie near a slow fire of charcoal or of wood, in order that the chrysalids, as the worms are called at this stage, may be killed by its heat. Otherwise they would, in three weeks more, break from their prison and appear in the form of moths—the last and perfect state of insect life.

7. The chrysalids having been destroyed, the cocoons are removed from the frames. Women and girls now unwind the cocoons, placing them in boiling water, in order that the silk may come off more easily.These workers must be deft of hand and expert in the business, fully capable of making the threads of equal size, and of producing them bright, clear, and glossy.

8. When the cocoons are put into boiling water, the outer layer, which is called the silk rind or shell, is first unwound. Another set of women, who are equally expert, are then engaged in unwinding the inner layer of the cocoons, called the silk pulp or flesh. In the course of a day, one woman can unwind five ounces of silk; themost expert workers cannot do more than eight ounces.9. From long, white, and shining cocoons a fine and good thread of silk is obtained; from those which are large, dull in colour, and not firm of texture , a coarse thread is produced. This coarse thread is used in making the stuf s with which dresses are lined. Whenthe silk covering is removed, the chrysalids are eaten by the workers, who regard them as excellent food.

WORD SPELLING

WORD EXERCISE

1. Make sentences showing the use of expanse and expansion .

2. Give various meanings of regard and of respect, distinguishing the literal or primary from the fi gurative or secondary meaning

3. Explain the word texture, and give a list of words from the same root, with meanings.