The History of Silk, Cotton, Linen, Wool, and Other Fibrous Substances; / Including Observations on Spinning, Dyeing, and Weaving.

by Clinton G. Gilroy

In China, the tradition of the silk culture is, as already shown, carried back into the mythological periods, and dates with the origin of agriculture itself. These two pursuits or avocations, namely, husbandry and the silk-manufacture, form the subject of one of the sixteen discourses to the people. It is there observed, that “from ancient times the Son of Heaven directed the plough: the Empress planted the mulberry-tree. Thus have these exalted personages, not above the practice of labor and exertion, set an example to all men, with a view to leading the millions of their subjects to attend to their essential interests.”

In the work published by Imperial authority, entitled “Illustrations of Husbandry and Weaving[135],” there are numerous wood-cuts, accompanied by letter-press explanatory of the different processes of farming and the silk-manufacture. The former head is confined to the production of rice, the staple article of food, and proceeds from the ploughing of the land to the packing of the grain; the latter details all the operations connected with planting the mulberry and gathering its leaves, up to the final weaving of the silk.

[135] The drawing, [plate I.] (Frontispiece) is a faithful copy of a loom represented in this curious work. For this representation of a Chinese weaving engine, as well as several translations, explanatory of the silk-manufacture, &c., we are indebted to Walter Lowry, Esq., Sec. to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions in this city; who kindly permitted us to copy it from the original plate, forming a part of the interesting work above referred to, which is composed of seventy-five volumes, and was, as we understand, presented to the Board by a New York merchant. Many of the illustrations are extremely beautiful, reflecting the highest credit upon the artisans of the “Celestial Empire.”

The mulberry-tree is chiefly cultivated in Chĕ-kiang, which province, together with the only three others that produce fine silk, namely, Kiang-nân, Woo-pĕ, and Sze-chuen, is crossed by the thirtieth parallel of latitude. Chĕ-kiang is a country highly alluvial, intersected by numerous rivers and canals, with a climate that corresponds pretty nearly to the same latitude as that in the United States of America. The soil is manured with mud, dug from the rivers, assisted with ashes or dung; and the spaces between the trees are generally filled with millet, pulse, or other articles of food. The time for pruning the young trees, so as to produce fine leafy shoots, is at the commencement of the year. About four eyes are left on every shoot, and care is taken that the branches be properly thinned, with a view to giving plenty of light and air to the leaves. In gathering these, they make use of steps, as the young trees could not support a ladder, and would besides be injured in their branches by the use of one. The trees, with their foliage, are carefully watched, and the mischiefs of insects prevented by the use of various applications, among which are some essential oils.

The young trees of course suffer by being stripped of their leaves, which are the lungs of plants, and this is an additional reason for renewing them after a certain time. They endeavor in part to counteract the evil effect, by pruning and lopping the tree, so as to diminish the wood when the leaves have been gathered. It is surprising, however, to observe how soon a tree in those climates will recover its leaves in the summer or autumn, after having been entirely stripped of them by a typhoon or hurricane. Fresh plants are procured by cuttings or layers, and sometimes from seed. When the trees grow too old for the production of the finest leaves, and show a greater tendency to fruiting, they are either removed or so cut and managed as to produce young branches.

The principal object, in the cultivation of the mulberry, is to produce the greatest quantity of young and healthy leaves without fruit. For this reason the trees are not allowed to exceed a certain age and height. They are planted on the plan of a quincunx[136], and said to be in perfection in about three years.

[136] In gardening, the quincunx order is a plantation of trees disposed in a square, consisting of five trees, one at each corner and a fifth in the centre, which order repeated indefinitely, forms a regular grove or wood, viewed by an angle of the square or parallelogram, presents equal or parallel alleys.

Mr. Barrow, who observed the management of the trees and silk-worms in Chĕ-kiang, confirms the usual Chinese accounts, by saying that “the houses in which the worms are reared are placed generally in the centre of each plantation, in order that they may be removed as far as possible from every kind of noise; experience having taught them that a sudden shout, or the bark of a dog, is destructive of the young worms. A whole brood has sometimes perished from the effects of a thunder-storm.”

Some notion of the extent of the care required in the management of the worms may be formed from the following extract, taken from the Chinese work referred to at the beginning of this chapter.

“The place where their habitation is built must be retired, free from noise, smells, and disturbances of every kind. The least fright, makes great impressions on these sensitive creatures; even the barking of dogs, &c., is capable of throwing them into the utmost disorder.