D CULTURE OF WILL) SILKWORMS 



From the value of the silk the price of the cocoons is usually computed by taking the 

 selling price of the silk procurable from 1,000 cocoons as the purchasing price of the cocoons 

 themselves. With the cost of the raw material thus just covered by the returns from the silk 

 spun, the filature owner looks to the by-product of waste silk approximately equal in weight to 

 the pure silk to pay for the labour in spinning and to provide the profit. Although great 

 fluctuations in the price of these cocoons have taken place this year, it may be safely stated that 

 the average has been from Antimt/ Tts. i.io to Antuiiy Tfe. 1.20 per 1,000, equal taking, say, 

 2s. gd. to the Shanghai tael to from 3*. 2d. to 3. 6d. Just within the past month, however, 

 the price on the Chefoo market, which regulates sales here, broke so violently under the weight 







of the heavy shipments from these eastern ports that 1,000 cocoons could be bought there, 

 with duty, freight, and all incidentals paid, at such low figures as from Tfs. 0.90 to Tfo i. The 

 pierced cocoons command, generally, a little over one-third the value of the others. 



Weight of Cocoons. 



It may be useful also to append here a note on the weight of the autumn cocoons as 

 we have been able to observe it in different stages of the cocoon's age. When just fresh from 

 the trees that is, those brought down for shipment in October, 1,000 average very close to 

 10 catties (Jf), or 13^ pounds avoirdupois; while these same cocoons in spring, after the chrysa- 

 lides have been killed and dried by the exposure of the winter, do not, as a general rule, exceed 

 from 6 to 8 catties. The pierced cocoons tipped at from i to 2 catties. 



Marketing the Cocoons. . 



To prepare these cocoons for shipment, the countryman puts about 30,000 into a ba.skot 

 woven of willow twigs which he buys from the weaver at from i to S2 and shaped much 

 like a hogshead. Although these vary in capacity and weight, the average was found to be 

 about 30,000 cocoons, weighing 3 piculs, or 400 pounds avoirdupois, net in the autumn, and 

 35,000, weighing 2\ piculs, or 330 pounds, in the spring. 



Usually two or three such baskets are placed on the Manchurian cart, to be hauled clown 

 over the still muddy autumn roads by from four to seven cart animals, which means an incon- 

 gruous mixture of ponies, mules, donkeys, oxen, and cows. And a stirring sight it is up on the 

 pass that leads the Feng-huang-ch'eng road into Aritung during one of those feverish days when 

 the cargo is being rushed down for shipment before the ice forms in the river, as the gully-like 

 roadbeds on either side of the divide absolutely teem with struggling animals and shouting 

 carters trying to get their loads over the almost heartbreaking obstacles which go to make up a 

 Manchurian road. Once in the town the baskets are taken to the grounds or sheds of the 



