Part 6 (1/2)
The weeks had been busy, fatiguing ones with hastily snatched meals, and interrupted slu stretch without lad the caterpillars have their houses made!”
”They are better houses than you think, too,” added Josef ”For each silkworum-like substance thatdown to sleep in a leaky cottage where the rain h”
”But there is no rain in here,” objected Marie
”Of course not But the silkworm does not know that He builds his house just as he would if it was out-of-doors where the good Lord intended it should be Your caterpillar hasn't the wit to realize that conditions have changed with the years, and that he now lives out his days beneath a roof that does aith the need of water-proofing It is because the cocoons are thus sealed on the inside that the water does not penetrate them when they are floated You'll notice that if you ever have a chance to see the silk reeled off It protects the chrysalis until it pierces its way through its silken house and comes out a moth But of course we shall not let ours do that”
”Why not?” inquired Marie
”Why not? Because after you have worked so hard to get your silk you do not want it broken into short bits and spoiled, do you? If ere to let the moths mature and make holes in the cocoons it would ruin all our silk No We s that we may have them to hatch for our next crop of silkworms We'll select some of the finest cocoons for the purpose--those that are largest and most perfect Some must be male and some must be female moths”
”But how can we tell? Aren't they all shut up inside the cocoons?”
gasped Pierre
”Oh, it is quite easy,” answered Josef ”The fe, is a little sharper at one end than at the other We'll choose about the saood cocoons for breeding, and you've got to know lots of things about them And after we have chosen them there will be the rest of the cocoons to sort That will require care, too We cannot do it as experts do, but still we can group theet at it to-ive you your first lesson I fancy your mother knows more about it than the rest of us for she has always helped your father do this part of the work”
”It will be fun to learn!” cried Marie ”Won't it, Pierre?”
”I don't believe it will be very hard,” sniffed Pierre ”There can't be much choice in cocoons Most of theer than others”
Josef regarded the boy a hed
”Don't be too cock-sure of that!” he retorted ironically
[Illustration]
CHAPTER VII
THE SILK HARVEST
The Bretton fa their cocoons into baskets, grouping together as well as they were able those that were to be kept for breeding; those that were soiled or imperfect; and those that were double They also separated the cocoons that were of different colors, for a the lot were not only white ones but reenish tint This varied, Josef explained, with the different species of silkworms Before the silk was reeled off the cocoons would, of course, go through another and h classification under the hands of the experts at the filature, as the reeling factory was called But even this first rough grouping was a help to the buyers
In the meantime some of the caterpillars that worked , and could not be disturbed Accordinglythe cocoons that were finished
Those in the lower tiers of arches were first taken out, and afterward the ones higher up on the shelves The sooner the cocoons could be collected, after their completion, Josef said, the better, for within ten days they depreciated froht a lower price In consequence the Brettons, ere to sell their crop to a silk athering their harvest as soon as possible
Many of the cocoons were really beautiful, being of a perfect oval outline and of pale golden color
Marie and Pierre were delighted
”It is worth all the endless trays of mulberry leaves, isn't it, Mother?” exclaier cocoons, I areed ”But reood luck No epideht the lives of our caterpillars; nor did annoyances of any sort interrupt their spinning
We did our part, certainly; but favorable conditions had much to do with our success”
”I only hope we have kept the right sort of cocoons for breeding,” said Josef ”That is all that is troubling me now Upon our selection will depend the quality of our next season's crop There are soNot only et the thread I tried to search out those with the ring-like band round the centre, for I have heard your father say that if we could get those ould be sure of having vigorous silkworms, since only caterpillars of the most powerful constitution make their houses in that way”