Leaders. 81 



The best single article known to me on this subject is 

 that by Mr. Charles F. Imbrie, in the "Annual Cyclo- 

 paedia," Appleton's, volume xiv., 1889, page 762. 



Mr. Imbrie assures me that this article is based on 

 personal investigation on the spot. I quote an abstract 

 from him, as follows : 



" The province of Murcia, Spain, has always enjoyed 

 a practical monopoly of the manufacture of silk-worm 

 gut. Though the industry is small, it has long attract- 

 ed the attention of silk-culturists all over the world. 

 Gut is still made in Sicily ; but the quality of the Sicil- 

 ian product is invariably poor, and as it can, therefore, 

 compete only with the very lowest grades of the Span- 

 ish article, it is hardly possible that there can ever be a 

 profit to the manufacturers. Silk-culturists in China, 

 Japan, France, Italy, and the United States have done 

 their best to produce a marketable quality of silk-worm 

 gut; but they have never succeeded, unless the fortui- 

 tous manufacture of a few strands of a fair quality can 

 be considered success. In the United States, China, and 

 Japan, a long, heavy gut has frequently been made ; but 

 in no instance has the strand had the tensile power of 

 much lighter Spanish gut. The numerous and invari- 

 able failures to produce a good quality of it outside of 

 Murcia force the conclusion that there are unique con- 

 ditions favorable to its manufacture there, and insur- 

 mountable objections to manufacture elsewhere." 

 ******* 



" When the worms are quite ready to spin, not an 

 hour before or after, they are thrown into a tub half 

 filled with a strong mixture of vinegar and water. This 

 kills them instantly. They are left in this pickle about 

 twelve hours generally over one night. This gives a 



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