Part 9 (2/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: WOOL PRODUCTION]
In some instances the wool is obtained by a daily combing of the half-grown lambs. This process, however, is employed in the rug-making districts only; in general, the fleeces are clipped either with shears or machine clippers. In the United States the latter are generally employed, and but little attempt is made either to sort the fleeces or to separate the various qualities of wool in the same fleece.
The raw wool always contains foreign matter such as burs and dirt; it is also saturated with a natural oil which prevents felting. The oil, commonly called ”grease,” or ”yolk,” is an important article of commerce; under the name of ”lanolin” (_adeps lanae_) it is used in medicine and pharmacy as a basis for ointments.
The world's yearly clip is a little more than two and one-half billion pounds, of which the United States produces about one-eighth. In Europe and the United States, owing to the increasing value of the land, the area of production is decreasing; in Australia, South Africa, and Argentina, where land is cheap, it is increasing. From these three regions wool is exported; most European countries and the United States buy it. In the latter country the consumption is about six pounds for each person.
[Ill.u.s.tration: WOOL]
The wools of the Mediterranean countries--France, Spain, Italy, Algiers, Egypt, etc.--are the best for fine cloths; those of central Asia for rugs and shawls; the others are used mainly in medium and low grade textiles.
=Other Wools.=--The Angora goat, originally grown in Anatolia (Asia Minor), and the Iran States (Persia, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan), furnishes a beautiful white wool, commercially known as ”mohair.” Smyrna is an important market for it, and England is the chief buyer. The Angora goat has been introduced into South Africa and California, where it is successfully grown. From the former country there is a large export of mohair.
Cashmere wool is a fine, downy undercovering, obtained by combing the fleece of a goat native to the Kashmir Valley in India. A single animal yields scarcely more than an ounce or two, and the best product is worth about its weight in gold. It is used in the manufacture of the famous Cashmere shawls, which are sold at prices varying from five hundred to five thousand dollars. They are made in Persia and India.
Llama and alpaca wool are fine textile obtained from animals of the camel kind native to South America. The wool is either black or brown in color. A considerable part is used for native-made articles, such as saddle-blankets, etc., but much of it is exported to England.
Most of the ”camel's hair” of commerce was originally worn by goats, being called by its commercial name because of a similarity in texture to that of the camel's hair. The camel of Turkestan, however, furnishes a silky textile that is much used. The brown wool often found in Hamadan rugs is natural camel's hair, and a considerable amount mixed with sheep's wool is used in certain textiles. The camel's hair of China is made into artists' brushes.
=Silk.=--The silk of commerce is the fibre spun by the larvae or caterpillars of a moth, _Bombyx mori_, as they enter the chrysalis stage of existence. The silk-growing industry includes the care and feeding of the insect in all its stages. The leaves of the white mulberry-tree (_morus alba_) are the natural food of the insect, and silk-growing cannot be carried on in regions where this tree does not thrive. Not all areas that produce the mulberry-tree, however, will also grow the silk-worm; the latter cannot exist in regions having very cold winters, and therefore the industry is restricted by climate.
The moth, shortly after emerging from the chrysalis stage, lays from two or three hundred to seven hundred eggs. These are ”hardy”--that is, they will remain fertile for a long time if kept in a cool, dry place; moisture will cause them to putrify, and heat to germinate. If well protected, they may be transported for distances.
In rearing the silk-worm, as soon as the latter is hatched, it is placed on mulberry-leaves, and for five weeks it does nothing but eat, in that time consuming many times its weight of food.[33] Then it begins to spin the material that forms its chrysalis case or coc.o.o.n. The outer part of the case consists of a tough envelope not unlike coa.r.s.e tissue-paper; the inner part is a fine thread about one thousand feet long that has been wound around the body of the worm. This thread or filament is the basis of the silk textile industry.
[Ill.u.s.tration: _Copyright, 1898, by Nature Study Pub. Co._
SILK INDUSTRY
1. Silkworm Eggs 2. Fourth-stage Worm 3. Pupa in Coc.o.o.n 4. Coc.o.o.n 5. Male Moth 6. Female Moth 7. Unspun Silk 8. Raw Manufactured Silk 9. Manufactured Silk]
[Ill.u.s.tration: SILK PRODUCING REGIONS]
At the proper time the coc.o.o.ns are gathered and, if immediately to be used, are plunged into hot water. This not only kills the chrysalids but softens the coc.o.o.ns as well, so that the outer cases may be removed. The cases removed, the rest of the coc.o.o.n is soaked in warm water until the gummy matter is softened and the fibres are free enough to be reeled. In the latter process the ends of a number of coc.o.o.ns, varying from five to twenty, are caught and loosely twisted into a single strand. The silk thus prepared forms the ”raw silk” of commerce. Sometimes a number of strands of raw silk are twisted into a coa.r.s.e thread, thereby forming ”thrown silk.” For convenience in handling, both raw and thrown silk are made into large skeins called hanks, and most of the silk product is exported in this form.
A given quant.i.ty of coc.o.o.ns yields scarcely more than one-tenth its weight in good raw silk. The remaining part, consisting of broken fibres and cases, is shredded and spun into silk thread of inferior quality.
This material, commonly called ”husks” or ”knubs,” forms an important item in silk manufacture, and much of it is exported to Europe and America.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SILK PRODUCTION]
According to traditions, not wholly trustworthy, eggs of the silk-worm were smuggled to India in the head-dress of a Chinese princess. Thence sericulture slowly made its way westward to Persia, Asia Minor, and the Mediterranean countries. Wild silk, a coa.r.s.e but strong product, is grown in many of these countries, but mainly in China, where it forms an important export. The Chinese product is commercially known as ”tussar”
silk. Of the product of raw silk, about thirty-five million pounds, China yields about two-fifths, j.a.pan and Italy each one-fifth. The remainder is grown in the Levant, Spain, and France.
Most of the raw silk of China is exported from Shanghai and Canton; that of j.a.pan is s.h.i.+pped mainly from Yokohama. Among European countries Italy is the first producer of raw silk, and France the chief manufacturer.
By the operation of a heavy tariff a considerable manufacture of silk textiles has grown up in the United States. New York City and Paterson, N.J., are the chief centres of the industry.
The southern part of the United States offers an ideal locality for sericulture. Various attempts at silk-worm breeding have failed from lack of training, but not on account of geographic conditions.
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