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Silkworm farming, or sericulture, was a backbreaking job that often required the participation of entire families

  • By Peter Ross Range
  • Smithsonian magazine, July 2008, Subscribe
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silkworm cultivation The arduous task of silkworm cultivation involved keeping the tiny silkworm eggs (about 35,000 of them weigh only an ounce) at the correct temperature. Hatched worms then had to be fed mulberry leaves around the clock.

Bottega Della Cornice Collection, Nodolibri Archives (Como, Italy)

 

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    Silkworms were first brought from Asia to Byzantium around A.D. 550. Legend has it that two monks hid silkworm eggs inside a bamboo pole to smuggle them out of China, where they were guarded as closely as state secrets. The monks then presented the eggs to Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in Constantinople, where he created a thriving silk industry. Silkworms reached Italy through Sicily in the 12th century, and by the 13th century, silkworm cultivation—or sericulture—had migrated north to the Po River Valley. By the 16th century, sericulture had been introduced to the Como area.

    Silkworm farming was a brutal job. Since silkworms require a constant, mild temperature, entire sections of farmhouses were turned over to them and whole families would often pitch in, stoking round-the-clock fires to maintain the proper warmth. Some even "gave the worms the house and slept outside in the stalls with the animals," says Ester Geraci, an official at Como's Educational Silk Museum.

    The process began with the 10-to 14-day incubation of silkworm eggs, which are produced by the mating of adult silkworm moths. According to the Silk Museum, keeping the tiny, delicate eggs (about the size of a pinhead) at just the right temperature was "the task of the women, who often carried small bags of eggs in direct contact with their skin. . .sometimes between their breasts." Once hatched, the worms, only about one millimeter long, had to be fed mulberry leaves night and day. From a birth weight of only half a milligram, they would grow 10,000-fold to a final weight of around five grams and a length of 8 to 9 centimeters (3 inches) in just 30 to 32 days. Then, in the final three days of their larval stage, the worms would start to spin their cocoons out of one continuous thin filament—up to 1,200 meters (or 4,000 feet) long—which they emitted from a "spinneret" located near their mouths. The filament, formed primarily of a substance called fibroin manufactured in two glands on the underside of their jaws, hardened instantly when it came in contact with the air.

    After about a week, the cocoons were placed briefly in a hot, dry oven to kill the adult moths inside. (If allowed to emerge from a cocoon, an adult moth would ruin the silk, so just enough adult moths were allowed to fully mature to maintain the reproduction cycle.) The cocoons were then put in hot water to facilitate the difficult and tedious task of extracting the silk. The minute end of the cocoon's silk filament had to be located and threaded onto a reel, which then unwound it from the water-warmed cocoon. The silk thread was then cleaned, twisted (to prevent filaments from separating) and woven into fabric.

    Como's silk companies now buy most of their undyed raw silk (both fabric and yarn) from China.


    Silkworms were first brought from Asia to Byzantium around A.D. 550. Legend has it that two monks hid silkworm eggs inside a bamboo pole to smuggle them out of China, where they were guarded as closely as state secrets. The monks then presented the eggs to Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in Constantinople, where he created a thriving silk industry. Silkworms reached Italy through Sicily in the 12th century, and by the 13th century, silkworm cultivation—or sericulture—had migrated north to the Po River Valley. By the 16th century, sericulture had been introduced to the Como area.

    Silkworm farming was a brutal job. Since silkworms require a constant, mild temperature, entire sections of farmhouses were turned over to them and whole families would often pitch in, stoking round-the-clock fires to maintain the proper warmth. Some even "gave the worms the house and slept outside in the stalls with the animals," says Ester Geraci, an official at Como's Educational Silk Museum.

    The process began with the 10-to 14-day incubation of silkworm eggs, which are produced by the mating of adult silkworm moths. According to the Silk Museum, keeping the tiny, delicate eggs (about the size of a pinhead) at just the right temperature was "the task of the women, who often carried small bags of eggs in direct contact with their skin. . .sometimes between their breasts." Once hatched, the worms, only about one millimeter long, had to be fed mulberry leaves night and day. From a birth weight of only half a milligram, they would grow 10,000-fold to a final weight of around five grams and a length of 8 to 9 centimeters (3 inches) in just 30 to 32 days. Then, in the final three days of their larval stage, the worms would start to spin their cocoons out of one continuous thin filament—up to 1,200 meters (or 4,000 feet) long—which they emitted from a "spinneret" located near their mouths. The filament, formed primarily of a substance called fibroin manufactured in two glands on the underside of their jaws, hardened instantly when it came in contact with the air.

    After about a week, the cocoons were placed briefly in a hot, dry oven to kill the adult moths inside. (If allowed to emerge from a cocoon, an adult moth would ruin the silk, so just enough adult moths were allowed to fully mature to maintain the reproduction cycle.) The cocoons were then put in hot water to facilitate the difficult and tedious task of extracting the silk. The minute end of the cocoon's silk filament had to be located and threaded onto a reel, which then unwound it from the water-warmed cocoon. The silk thread was then cleaned, twisted (to prevent filaments from separating) and woven into fabric.

    Como's silk companies now buy most of their undyed raw silk (both fabric and yarn) from China.

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    Comments (10)

    Our farm, Beta Farms,is engage in silkworm farming. I have posted pictures in Beta Farms Face book. Dr Tsutato Miyazawa, Sericulture Consultant visited our farm three times already. We have another batch of silkworm coming tomorrow.

    Posted by Nannette A Thiel on March 13,2011 | 01:28 AM

    Dear All,

    Kinldy provide an information for the temperature needed for silk worm farming and how to develop the farming. Kindly provide all the details in brief for starting silkworm farming.

    Rgds.,
    Binjesh

    Posted by articles and temperature for silk worm farming on March 7,2010 | 03:28 AM

    Thank you for your kind information service. I will share what I read with my neighbors to help our community grow. warm regards Sally

    Posted by sally qazi on September 12,2009 | 08:49 AM

    For Joshua Khiew:

    Hi Joshua,

    Contact me on wildsilk@tm.net.my and perhaps I can direct you to the right way of going about this (in the future).

    Yours,
    Bjorn

    Posted by Bjorn L. Mirdan on June 8,2009 | 02:07 AM

    i am currently managing a grasscutter farm of my own and i would very much like to go into silkworm farming. i would be very gratefull if i can get help with mulbery seeds and silk worm eggs. counting on your help thanks.

    Posted by martin odotei oddoye on May 5,2009 | 11:35 AM

    Dear Sir, I am very much interested in Seri Culture. I had completed my M.Sc(Zoology). Can u please suggesst if my qualification is eligible. Thanks in advance.

    Posted by Kalpana Devi D on April 12,2009 | 03:42 AM

    Dear Sir, Im very interested in puting up a small silk worm farm in sabah malaysia. can you help me in how to get the eggs and hoew to do it. thanks

    Posted by joshua khiew on February 9,2009 | 01:22 AM

    please, i read your article and i am highly impress about it. i also would like to embark on silkworm farming and i would like you to advise me it. I am 22years in one of polytechnics in Ghana studying agricultural engineering. Please help me in whatever capacity that you can.

    Posted by BEDIE JONAS on January 8,2009 | 12:14 PM

    I raise 25 silk worms every semester with my 7th grade family & consumer sciences students during our study of textiles. In addition to learning how silk is produced, students learn many other life lessons. Most students are quite intriqued, as I continue to be, as well. I recommend it highly as a project! I buy the silk worms from insectlore.com and dried mulberry leaves from mulberryfarms.com.

    Posted by Lora Rathje on July 22,2008 | 10:44 AM

    Sericulture is alive and well - although now with modern heating and AC, it's a lot easier to keep the worms comfortable! I usually raise about 500 or so at a time, on a bookshelf in a spare bedroom. I've been raising silkworms as a hobby since 2001, and I've got a rearing journal of them here: http://www.wormspit.com/bombyxsilkworms.htm and the processing for silk is here: http://www.wormspit.com/silkworkindex.htm (scroll down, there's a video!) I also run a Yahoo group for people who are interested in raising the worms: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/catherders/
    Michael http://www.wormspit.com

    Posted by Michael Cook on July 19,2008 | 01:15 PM

    Very interesting indeed:-) Tahnks

    Posted by maria on July 19,2008 | 09:46 AM

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