A ROMANTIC HISTORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20982, 19 September 1931, Page 6 (Supplement)

A ROMANTIC HISTORY.

SILKWORM'S STORY. AFTER PATIENT STUDY. Silkworms have a romantic history. For thousands of years their silk has been produced in China. Nearly 1500 years ago two Persian monks brought some silk moth eggs from China to Europe, hiding them in hollow bamboos. The small black grubs which hatched from those were the ancestors of the thousands of silkworms which for centuries spun the silks which mado France and Italy famous. Disease often attacks silk moths. Once when tho silk industry of two great nations was threatened by this disease, the great Frenchman, Louis Pasteur, was consulted. After patient study ho succeeded in stamping out the disease. If you aro a keeper of silkworms your hobby will bo specially interesting now that the pale-yellow cocoons have been spun. Winding off the silk is a fascinating job. Do you put your cocoons in a cup of lukewarm water while you are doing tho winding? That is a simple way of doing it. In the great silk factories of Japan only carefully selected cocoons aro kept to preserve the chrysalides and carry on the race of silkworms. The other cocoons are put in an oven where the chrysalides suffocate without ever waking. Then the silk is reeled off by Japanese women.