GIRL WINDING SILK.
While the worm is spinning its cocoon it takes no food, and as it is continually emitting silk, its body gradually diminishes to less than half its original length. When its labour is completed it rests awhile, and then once more throws off its skin; but it is no longer a caterpillar; its form is changed into a chrysalis, or aurelia, with a smooth brown skin, and pointed at one end. A few days after the insect has finished spinning, the cocoons will be ready to be unwound. Our amateur silkworm cultivator then takes the cocoons out of the paper cones and separates the outer floss silk. He then throws several cocoons into a glass of water slightly warm, to make them more easy to unwind, and having found the ends, proceeds to wind the silk on a reel, or he gives the task to a sister’s gentler hands, while he prepares a little box of bran, in readiness to put the poor exposed chrysalis the moment it is released from the cocoon. As the winding proceeds, the cocoons become thinner and thinner until the insects within are visible. The chrysalis, though covered with a horny skin, and apparently without much sensation, shows very plainly that it is sensible of the rough treatment it is receiving, as the cocoon is tossed about in the water by the motion of the reel. It rapidly moves the rings of its tail, which is doubtless a sign of uneasiness or pain. When nearly all the silk is wound off, there still remains a transparent film like silver paper, which is torn open to let out the chrysalis. The latter is immediately buried in bran, where it remains very quietly for a week or two, then changes into a cream coloured moth, lays its eggs, and dies. This is the common domestic treatment when silkworms are kept for amusement, but in a commercial establishment such as those of Italy, they are very differently treated.
FEMALE SILKWORM MOTH AND EGGS.
The cocoons are collected in large quantities, separated and sorted according to their quality, about one-sixtieth part being saved for the production of eggs, after which the life of the chrysalis is destroyed in all the rest. This is done in hot countries by exposure to the sun; but in more temperate climes by artificial heat, such as that of an oven after the bread has been withdrawn. Before the cocoons can be reeled they must be separated from the floss, which is done by opening the floss covering at one end and pushing out the cocoon. Care is taken in reeling to use cocoons of one quality, as different qualities require a different treatment.
The natural gum of the cocoons is first softened in warm water, kept at the proper temperature, either by a charcoal fire or by a steam pipe. After remaining in this for a few minutes, the reeler (generally a woman) gently stirs up or brushes the cocoons with a short birch rod, and to this the loose threads of the cocoons adhere, and are thus drawn out of the water: they are then taken commonly four or five together, twisted with the fingers into one thread, and passed through a metal loop, to get rid of dirt and impurities: the thread then passes on to the reel, which is so constructed as to have a slight lateral motion, so that the thread of one revolution does not overlay the other; for if it did so, the threads would be glued together before the gum had had time to harden by exposure to the air. The threads of the four or five cocoons are thus united into one strong and smooth thread. Sometimes as many as thirty cocoons are united into one thread, and it is difficult to wind more. As often as a thread of any single cocoon breaks or comes to an end, the attendant supplies its place by a new one, so that by continually keeping up the same number the united thread may be wound to any length: these joinings are not made by a knot, but the new end is simply laid on the compound thread, to which it adheres by its gum; and as the threads are finer near their termination than at the commencement, it is necessary for the reeler to add other cocoons before the first set is quite exhausted; so that the compound thread may be of uniform thickness. The filaments of three fresh cocoons, added to two half-wound ones, make a thread about equal to that from four fresh cocoons. The cocoons are not entirely wound off, but the husk containing the chrysalis is used together with the floss silk under the name of waste. Improved methods of reeling have been introduced on the continent, but they are similar in principle to the above.
Eleven or twelve pounds of cocoons yield about one pound of reeled silk; and as from 240 to 250 cocoons weigh a pound, the number of cocoons required to produce a pound of silk may be estimated at 2,817½. The length of filament yielded by a single cocoon is 300 yards, but some have yielded as much as 625 yards.
The reeled silk is made up into hanks for sale or use. The form and contents, as well as quality, of these hanks, differ greatly, as will be seen by the following wood-cuts.
