KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



195 



THE SILK WORM. 



The beams of April, ere it goes, 

 A worm, scarce visible, disclose; 

 All ■winter-long content t:> dwell, 

 The tenant of his native shell. 

 The same prolific season gives, 

 The sustenance by which he lives; 

 The mulberry-leaf, a simple store 

 That serves him till he needs no more! 



Well were it for the world, if all 

 Who creei) about this earthly ball, 

 Though shorter-lived than most he be, 

 Were useful in their kind as he! 



This truly useful and industrious worm 

 was not originally a native of France, nor even 

 of Europe, yet the French breed and manage 

 them very successfully in their southern pro- 

 vinces, and have brought their silk manufactures 

 to great perfection. 



It was not till the year 555 that two Greek 

 monks, returning from India to Constantinople, 

 brought with them a number of silk -worms, with 

 instructions for hatching their eggs, rearing and 

 feeding them, winding off the silk, and the rest 

 of the process, upon which manufactories were 

 established at Athens, Thebes, and Corinth. In 

 the twelfth century, King Hogee, of Sicily, 

 established a manufactory at Palermo and another 

 at Calabria, having brought workmen from the 

 cities of Greece (which he had conquered in his 

 expedition to the Holy Land), and, by degrees, the 

 rest of Italy and Spain learned the art from 

 the Sicilians and Calabrians. In the reign of 

 Henry I., the French began to imitate their 

 neighbors with great success. The. silk-worm, 

 and the mulberry tree, being introduced by Pope 

 Gregory X. In 1495, when the French returned 

 from the Neapolitan conquest, further progress 

 was made. The mulberry tree then began to 

 be cultivated as far north as Allan, near 

 Montelimort, whence it afterwards spread into 

 many other quarters. Henry IV., aided by 

 Oliver de Serine, planted the garden of the Tui- 

 leries with mulberry trees, and introduced the 

 culture of it at Moulins, Tours, Angers, and 

 Saumur. 



As to the importance of the culture of the 

 mulberry tree, and the production of silk-worms, 

 together with the manufacture of silk dependent 

 upon it, it appears that, in forty-three depart- 

 ments of France, the annual value of their pro- 

 ducts is 42,000,000 francs. 



The English, seeing the success of their neigh- 

 bors, were envious to possess some of these useful 

 worms, and King James I. had mulberry trees 

 planted, and silk- worms propagated, in his 

 British dominions, where, from various experi- 

 ments, it appears they will thrive, and work as 

 well as in any part of Europe. 



The quantity of silk used in England alone, 

 amounts annually to more than four million pounds' 

 weight, for the production of which myriads 

 upon myriads of insects are required. Fourteen 

 thousand millions of animated creatures annually 

 live and die to supply this little corner of the 

 globe with an article of luxury. If astonishment 

 be excited at this fact, let us only extend our 

 view, and survey the vast population of its 

 widely-spread region, all whose inhabitants, 



are indebted for their clothing to the labors 

 of the silk-worm. 



This insect, from a small egg, becomes a 

 worm, which, when first hatched, is perfectly 

 black, with the exception of the head, which is 

 more a shining sable than the body. In a few 

 days, it assumes a whitish hue, or an ash-grey; 

 after which, its coat sullies and becomes rugged, 

 at which time the animal casts it off, and appears 

 in a new habit. As it increases in size it grows 

 whiter, but a little inclining to green, till at 

 length it ceases to feed ; and sleeping for almost 

 two days, it divests itself of its skin a second 

 time, and appears in a third habit— its color, head, 

 and whole form being indeed so much changed, 

 that one would almost fancy it impossible to be 

 the same. 



It now begins afresh to eat and enjoy itself for 

 some little time, when it relapses into its former 

 lethargy, at the conclusion of which it once more 

 changes its covering, and at length renounces all 

 feasting and society, and prepares for its exit by 

 framing for itself a silken cell of admirable 

 structure and beauty. The beginning of this 

 curious work looks like confusion, being only a 

 sort of down or glue to repel the rain, nature 

 having ordained them to work upon the trees in 

 the open air, although they are now reared in 

 the house. 



This is the insect's first day's employment, 

 and on the second it forms its ball or cone, al- 

 most covering itself over with silk, and on the 

 third day it is entirely hid. The rest of the opera- 

 tion is therefore invisible, but it continues spin- 

 ning for several days, till the cone is brought to 

 perfection; then, folding itself into a case of 

 less delicate structure, it takes its repose, and is 

 metamorphosed into a chrysalis. Thus it remains 

 without either sign of life or motion, till at 

 length it awakens, and becomes a beautiful moth, 

 after making itself a passage through its silken 

 sepulchre. 



It' dies at last, having by its eggs prepared for 

 a future stock of worms, which the warmth of 

 the ensuing summer re-animates to live again. 

 Well may imagination be fatigued in contem- 

 plating the countless numbers which every suc- 

 sessive year spin their slender threads for the 

 service of man, and which show, in the wondrous 

 of creation, the wisdom of its Creator ! 



The Silk Mill. 



The first silk mill of pre-eminence was erected 

 in Kngland by a mechanic, John Combe, in the 

 year 1718. It stands on an island in the river 

 Derwent, in Derbyshire. Its history is well 

 worthy of note, as it speaks the power of genius 

 and the influence which the enterprise of an in- 

 dividual has on the commerce of a nation. 



The Italians having been exclusively pos- 

 sessed of the art of silkr-throwing, the merchants 

 of other nations were consequently dependent on 

 that people for that article of commerce, " silk;" 

 and thus it continued till the commencement of 

 last century, when one was constructed near the 

 present works, by a person of the name of 

 Crochet, on a small scale; but his machinery 

 being insufficient for the work, he soon became 

 insolvent. Thus it was for some length of time 

 abandoned, whether from being thought a task 



