Chapter XI: Cultivating Silkworm-Gut at Home

BY EDWIN T. WHIFFEN

After a little experience every angler with the fly who is in the habit of studying the problems that constantly confront him recognizes the importance of concealing the connection between the line and the lure. Such a connection is established by means of the leader, consisting usually of silkworm-gut imported from Spain. Now the desirable qualities in a leader are strength, fineness, and unobtrusiveness. This last essential depends upon color, absence of luster, and of any small peculiarities which serve to call attention to any particular part of the leader. In its ordinary state, the Spanish gut offends against all three just-mentioned qualities; its color is obtrusive, it possesses a shine that makes it a target for every eye, and the frequent knots mean just so many points to distract the fish’s attention from the object of the angler’s special interest--the artificial fly. The shine may be removed by one of the processes known as “drawing,” that is, taking off the outer layer of the gut by means of sandpaper; but this unduly weakens the product. The leader may be artificially colored, and this also is usually a weakening process. The knots, like the poor, we have with us always.

As a result of the study of these conditions, I became convinced years ago that a substitute for the Spanish-gut leader was a matter of desire for the angler.

As the Spanish “gut” is the product of the silk-sacs of the Asiatic silkworm, the idea naturally presented itself of endeavoring to substitute a larger caterpillar, and one with larger silk-sacs, for the insect from which the Spanish gut is derived. This substitute was sought for in the various American bombycid (family _bombycidæ_) or silkworm larvæ. Of all our American varieties, the caterpillar spinning the largest cocoon is that of the cecropia moth (_Platysamia cecropia_). The general color of this moth is a rusty red or brown; this is the color of the head and foreparts. It has a distinctive white collar; the abdomen is reddish, and has bands of black and white; the wings are grayish with bands of red and white extending across them. A characteristic is the transparent membrane or eye-spot which is found on the fore wing; a whitish crescent or kidney-shaped spot marks the rear wings; and the whole wing has a clayish-brown edge. The antennæ or “horns” are broad and feathery, those of the male being much more so than those of the female and thus furnishing an easy means of distinguishing the sexes.

The full-grown cecropia caterpillar averages from three to four inches in length but when very large may measure nearly five inches, is moderately stout, and of an apple-green color. On the various segments of the body are tubercles or shot-like appendages mounted on the ends of little stalks. On the second, third, and fourth segments these tubercles are of a coral color; on other segments they may be blue or black. The head is green with black markings. These features characterize the full-grown worm.

Next in size as a spinner of cocoons is the _Telepolyphemus_. The polyphemus moths are nearly as large as those of cecropia, and they vary in color somewhat more than the latter moth. The general impression is a reddish or yellow, furry brown, with black scales peppering the wings, on which are cross-bands of red or pink, white, and gray. On each wing is the typical eye-spot, and a transparency surrounded first by a lightish brown circle, and by a black ring outside of this. Like the cecropia, the sexes are distinguished by the difference in breadth of the antennæ. The color of the bodies is a dark or light tan, and the forepart has a gray band. The cocoon is ovoid in shape, when first spun looking as if dusted over with lime; later the color is brown. The caterpillar spins on practically the same kinds of bushes or trees as the cecropia. In the spinning process, the worm does not break the thread to form a means of egress at the front of the cocoon, as the cecropia does; hence the long thread may be reeled off, and might furnish a valuable fiber. The film when thus unwound from the cocoon has a beautiful silver tint, and is surprisingly strong for its size.

The caterpillar reaches an extreme length of three inches or little more, and it is plumper for its length than the cecropia. The general color is blue-green on the back and yellow-green on the sides. Yellow tubercles are found on the back and sides, arranged in lines.

A caterpillar much resembling polyphemus is luna (_Actias luna_). The line on the anal plate is yellow, instead of brown, and the worm is of a different shade of green; and thus may be readily distinguished. It spins a thinner cocoon, and probably has little value as a gut-producer.

Among the smallest of this class of the moths is the _Callosamia promethea_, whose method of attaching its cocoon distinguishes this phase of its existence from the preceding varieties. A handle, like an umbrella’s, securely holds the cocoon to the twig or leaf-stem. This is a pretty little moth, but the results of my experiments with it go to show that as a producer of gut it is a failure, the strand being small, short, and weak.

An imported variety, from China, is the cynthia or ailanthus silkworm. Its cocoon and method of attachment resembles those of promethea. It produces a slightly longer and larger length of gut.

As a fact, none of the American silkworms are worth bothering with as gut-producers in comparison with cecropia; although I have secured fairly good, stout strands of gut, four or five feet long, from polyphemus. But my experience has been that a small cecropia caterpillar produces as much gut, and of a better quality, than a large polyphemus; while a big cecropia is unapproachable in this respect, yielding a strand of gut from six to nine feet long, round, smooth, of a suitable color, lusterless, and _knotless_. Polyphemus is not worth raising if cecropia can be obtained.

Polyphemus moth--one-quarter life size ]

Promethea--half-grown worm, adult, and new cocoon, on one bush ]

By hunting, available material for the cultivation of these worms may be obtained in the shape of moths, cocoons, eggs, and caterpillars, the cocoon state being on the whole the most satisfactory. In length, the cecropia cocoons vary from somewhat over an inch (very small) to three inches (very large). Some are slender and compactly spun, others are loosely spun and baggy. They vary in color, when fresh, being brownish, and when weathered, somewhat silvery. They are more pointed at one end than at the other. Careful examination of this pointed end shows that the threads were broken and then puckered together in the process of spinning. The cocoon usually is attached to the side of the twig, branch, tree-trunk, or stalk on which the caterpillar has chosen to spin. The caterpillar may elect to spin on its food-plant, or it may wander away and spin on almost any suitable stalk or twig. Its cocoon has been found on maple, willow, woodbine, oak, plum, elder, wild cherry, spicewood, apple, pear, nettle, wild hemlock, sumach, ailanthus, and other varieties “too numerous to mention.”

It is worth while to look almost anywhere in a locality in which cocoons are being found. Usually there is more or less of a little colony discoverable where a single cocoon has been discovered. You may pick a cocoon plastered to the trunk of a tree at its very root, or attached to a shoot but a few inches from the ground; then as you glance up you notice the brown, baggy bunch thirty feet in the air, spun alongside the tip of the twig. No place is too unusual or insignificant to be overlooked, though one soon develops a special sense in searching.

Your equipment for cocoon-hunting need not be elaborate. There are some things that are helpful, if not really necessary. You can put in your pocket the cocoons that you find, if you wish, though there is danger of crushing them; a bag or a box of some kind is better. If you are abroad in the Spring, when the moth is laying its eggs, some little paper or tin boxes will make good receptacles for your “finds.” In the same season you will need larger boxes in which to put any moths you may capture, and a net will be necessary for taking the specimens. In Summer or early Fall, the caterpillar season, some boxes large enough to hold your captures without crushing them will be advisable. As for clothing, wear the oldest and toughest you have. It is not especially conducive to the beauty of head-, foot-, or body-gear to go crushing through bushes, briars, and shrubs, over bogs and swamps, or to crowd up trees and into other places difficult of access in which some caterpillars seem to have taken a fiendish delight to spin. An umbrella with a crook for a handle is helpful in pulling down branches or twigs just out of one’s unaided reach, where frequently fat cocoons are attached. A fish-line with a weight on the end is serviceable for bringing down those branches a little too high for the umbrella. If you are working among trees of any size, a long pole with a triangle-hook attached will enable you to reach cocoons spun by worms of the most aspiring spirit. The most valuable item in your equipment you will not be able to take with you at first--a general ability to distinguish good territory from bad and to “smell out” every specimen in the locality.

Let us suppose it is Fall or early Winter, and you are hunting cecropia and polyphemus. You should follow along the road or street studying carefully the trees and shrubbery. Luckily enough for the hunter, cocoons as a rule are not found in high, dense vegetation or inside of groves or woods. Circle around the outside of such places, studying carefully every tree and shrub, low or high. Examine any tuft of leaves or protuberance on twig or trunk. Pass over nothing that at all suggests what you are in search of. Sometimes it is a good plan to study a clump of bushes or a tree from one direction and then slowly circle it so that the light will be thrown on the leaves and limbs from various angles.

If you are in the street, you may collect a small crowd anxious to see “what the gink is rubberin’ at,” but a true explorer never pays any attention to little things like that. A vacant city lot which has many or few bushes, stumps with sprouts springing from them, little, weazened trees that almost apologize for living, sometimes yield surprising finds. A lane in the suburbs with trees and bushes on either side furnishes good hunting-ground. If there is a wall on either side with a vine of some sort growing upon it, you may find that careful search will reveal brown, baggy bunches that prove to be cecropia cocoons. Patches of scrub white-birch or spice-bush should always be carefully examined, as such places often harbor many cocoons.

Cocoons may be hunted for at any time after the spinning season until the warm Springtime weather causes the moths to emerge from the cocoons. As soon as possible after the falling of the leaf is the best time, as certain birds tear apart the cocoons and eat the tender pupæ within. Places in the cities and suburban towns are usually more productive of results to the cocoon-hunter, not necessarily because there are more cocoons, but because the cocoons are more in view and closer together on account of there being fewer trees and shrubs to attract the female moth as it lays its eggs. Almost the best place of all is a field with numerous scattered clumps of willow, maple, spice-bush, or alder; these usually are small and accessible. The adult moth, on its egg-laying mission, seems to find dense vegetation a hindrance and hence avoids it.

The caterpillars probably do not stay many feet from the spot where they hatched from the egg; indeed, the worm may pass all stages of its life-history and spin its cocoon on a single shrub. Sometimes such unpromising spots as backyards are well worthy of search. The egg-laying function of the moth is compulsive and the eggs must be laid wherever the parent may chance to be at the proper time of depositing them. It has from two hundred to six or eight hundred eggs to dispose of in a comparatively short time, and cannot afford to be too nice as to the character of the place where it deposits them.

Cecropia cocoons of different size and shape ]

Cecropia cocoon showing the details ]

The American silkworm caterpillars have various parasitical enemies, particularly varieties of the ichneumon-flies. The adult parasite lays its eggs on the body of the caterpillar; there hatch out and the tiny worms proceed to eat their way into the body of their host, which soon may die. Or the caterpillar may live long enough to perform its functions of spinning but then dries up and dies. Or the parasite may construct a peculiar kind of cocoon within the larger one spun by the host; such specimens are interesting to the scientist but valueless to the one who wishes to rear caterpillars from the egg. As a rule, specimens which have not pupated are easily distinguishable from good ones. The silk of such cocoons is thinner, and when the cocoon is shaken close to the ear a peculiar dry rattle is heard; a good specimen when similarly treated gives a characteristic, unmistakably solid _thud_. Those specimens in which parasites have pupated are not thus distinguishable; only by opening the cocoon and examining the contents can the counterfeit be detected. It is not well to disturb the pupa in this way; it is better to watch carefully for the emergence of the wasp-like ichneumonides, which should be destroyed when they are perceived.

While the idea of collecting the cocoons and of getting a supply of eggs from the moths is unmistakably the best plan, do not be in despair if your cocoon-hunt is unsuccessful. You may be able to capture one or more fertile females in the Spring, which will supply you eggs from which enough caterpillars will hatch to keep you sufficiently busy. For this variety of “bug-hunting” you will need a net of some light mosquito-mesh, with tin or paper boxes in which to stow away your captures.

The American silkworm moths generally fly by night, and the electric light is hence a blessed institution to the moth-hunter. These creatures, some of them as large as a small bat, or, perhaps a better comparison, as broad as your hand, and of the most entrancing beauty in shape, color, and silken flight, will throw even the beginner into raptures at their sight. Some alight gracefully and stand slowly furling and unfurling their wings, as if pardonably proud of their beauty. Some float like a many-hued shadow to and fro. In either case a skillful turn of the net effects a capture. A morning search is sometimes profitable. The moths are occasionally found hanging to the roofs or beams of sheds; the undersides of bridges, if near lights, are likely places. Sometimes you will see the moths bobbing against the window-screen from the outside, where they may be taken. The cecropia, especially the female, throws off a peculiar “animal odor,” by which it may be tracked to its hiding-place in the daytime. This odor is exceedingly strong, almost offensively so, and is carried by the wind to a considerable distance; it aids the male to find the female, at the mating season. Once smelled you will never forget it.

At this time of the year, egg-hunting may yield fair results. Suitable places evidently are about the same as for the cocoons. You should carry along tin boxes with covers, in which to place the leaves upon which the eggs are found; remove the leaf entire, to avoid injuring the eggs in any way; examine both sides of all the leaves of shrubs in a promising locality.

Cecropia eggs are of an ovoid shape. On the upper side is a reddish spot, and they are about as large as quite small bird shot. The polyphemus lays white, brown-banded eggs which are larger than those of cecropia. Both species deposit eggs in a variety of ways, sometimes singly, sometimes in a short row, or in peculiar little masses.

Last, and least satisfactory of all, is the method of attempting to find the caterpillars. They hide away so cunningly as to be nearly undiscoverable, even when the signs of their presence are unmistakable. Such signs are wholly- or partly-eaten leaves and the presence of excrement on the ground beneath. Just previous to the actual spinning, the worm may crawl along in an excited fashion, as though anxious to reach a certain spot on schedule time; it may then be found almost anywhere, running up or down a tree trunk, or along the road, or across a walk. Such specimens do not ordinarily give a satisfactory strand of gut, as the chances are against their having eaten of the kind of leaf that results in the best variety of that product.

In case you have secured a reasonable number of cocoons, twenty or so, it is best to put them away in a cold place during the Winter. A good plan is to place them in a small screen-cage and expose them to the weather outside; the moisture and the cold of Winter will not work any injury but will keep the cocoons and their contents from becoming too dry. If they are not thus exposed, it is well to turn them occasionally and sprinkle them lightly with water.

When the weather becomes warm in Springtime and the leaf-buds begin to appear, bring your cocoons into a warm room, when the moths soon will begin to emerge. If so situated as to be able to have a room for rearing purposes, the moths may be allowed to fly around free from confinement. If a male and a female of the same species emerge at about the same time, they usually will mate without any difficulty. After the completion of this function the male soon dies, and the female immediately begins to deposit eggs. It lays several hundred in the course of a few nights, and then dies too, neither sex living more than a week or ten days. In case a female or females alone should emerge from the cocoon stage, a mate must be secured if the eggs are to be fertile. This is done by exposing the female out of doors, either in a screen-box with large interstices or else by securing her by tying a length of woolen yarn about her “waist,” the other end of this tether being made fast to prevent her escape. The former method is preferable, as bats and birds are fond of a tender moth. If you place the captive moth outside the window, be sure that it is on the side of the house opposite to the direction in which the wind is blowing, so that the scent may be carried farthest and be most likely to attract a mate. If your attempt is successful, the evidence usually will be found in the presence of the male in the morning.

The fertile female moth should be placed in a pasteboard box with a cover, such as a shoe box, where it will “get busy” and plaster every available place with eggs, at the same time battering its beautiful wings pitifully. As soon as all the eggs of a moth have been deposited, on the sides, bottom, and cover of the box, with a sharp knife remove them on a little bit of the paper, being very careful not to crack the hard, shiny shells, as they will thus be spoiled. Put the eggs, thus removed, into _tight_ tin-boxes or glass jars (Mason jars), and put the covers on tightly unless you wish to find wandering baby caterpillars, looking for “something good,” scattering over the neighborhood. At all times, but especially when they are small, should tight receptacles for your worms be supplied, as they will go through a pin-hole, with several feet to spare in every direction, for they are great roamers.

The hatching period may be as short as seven days, but usually is ten days, or even more if the weather is cool. Shortly before hatching, the eggs become quite dark in color; then the little “darkies” eat a hole and crawl out, soon looking too large ever to have been able to get into so small a compass. Their appearance should have been carefully watched for, and food leaves have been supplied as soon as the little, black worms were seen. The freshly-hatched cecropia caterpillar is about a quarter of an inch long, black, and with little black bristle-like tubercles. Occasionally I have had freaks in a brood, such specimens being a deep yellow in color. Any kind of leaf which the young caterpillar will take is suitable food for the first three stages of its existence; one year, when I had a brood hatch early in April, I fed them on the leaf of some perennial shrub which supplied the only “garden sass” then available. I have seen it stated that the young Asiatic silkworm may be fed on lettuce for a few days, till better food may be obtained, but my experience with the young American silkworm is just the contrary; broods coming out before the leaves opened have “turned up their noses” at tender lettuce and stolidly succumbed to starvation.

Apple, pear, currant, peach, plum, berry of all kinds, bay, hard and soft maple, mountain laurel, apricot, may be fed to them, some broods preferring one kind, some another. They eat voraciously, with a peculiar movement; supporting themselves by the false legs or props on the latter half of the body, and grasping the edge of the leaf with the sharp-pointed true legs, they raise the head and set the mandibles into the edge of the leaf, then bring the head slowly down, at the same time cutting the leaf away with their rapidly-moving jaws--somewhat as the barber’s instrument “dehaired” our locks just before the summer vacation, “to keep the boys cool.” After a full meal the caterpillar rests awhile, digests its dinner, and then goes at it again. No wonder they grow like pigs!

In a few days the caterpillar’s size has so increased that its skin is too small and must be exchanged for a larger one; in fact, the larger one already is developing. The caterpillar then “moults”; it refuses all food and ceases to move about, remaining still as if dead. If lightly touched, it jerks from side to side to testify its displeasure at being disturbed. It should be treated with great care as it is very easily injured at this time. Do not touch it with the hands at all if you can possibly help it; lift it, if necessary, by the leaf or twig to which it clings. Indeed, at all times handle your worm like Izaak Walton’s frog, “as though you loved him;” the tender skin is easily torn, then infection may set in and death follow.

After a period of two or three days thus spent, the caterpillar is ready to moult. The mask-like headpiece may be seen hanging down in front of the face; and the colors of the caterpillar are dingy and dirty. Then the worm begins to wriggle; the old skin splits near the head, and the caterpillar, bright and fresh as though newly enameled, crawls out--like an emblem of the resurrection. Sometimes the “mask” attached to the head is not shed with the rest of the skin and must be carefully removed. After the first moult the caterpillar regains its original color.

At all times be careful to have the receptacles for your worms scrupulously clean; every day remove the wilted leaves and dead caterpillars and thoroughly clean their quarters with a stiff brush, taking out every particle of dirt. Do not pull the caterpillars from the old leaf; put the fresh leaves into the cage and the worms will leave the old for the new, and the old ones may then be removed. A few fine drops of water should be sprinkled on the leaves every day, which the caterpillars search out and slowly drink them; but do not put in enough water to saturate the air in the receptacle. As for the receptacles or cages themselves, small tin-boxes will do well enough at first, but glass jars are better as their rounding bottoms are more easily kept clean. Give your specimens plenty of room, putting only a few into one cage unless it is very large. While the caterpillar has no objection to eating in the dark and under any circumstances can “get its hand to its mouth,” I prefer a transparent cage, as then I can more readily keep track of the progress of the inmates. These cages may be nearly air-tight as worms respire very little.

Dry, roomy quarters are essential to prevent the development and spread of certain fungoid diseases. If conditions are not right the caterpillar loses its appetite; its plump, firm appearance is changed to a thin and watery one; its skin cracks, and a whitish mold appears which soon kills the diseased worm. Dead or sickly specimens should be removed at once; and the cage should be thoroughly scalded and dried to kill any remaining germs. A little precaution, taken every day, will prevent such disastrous happenings and assure the successful maturing of the brood.

While I have been writing, the caterpillars have been feeding and growing; in a week or so they have developed sufficiently to be ready for the second moult. The process of resting, cessation from feeding, and shedding of skin is repeated; after this moult the color is distinctively yellow, and the larger tubercles are apparent. The worms should now be thinned out, some in each cage being transferred to another. Always be sure that the new receptacle is clean. Remember, the conditions of success are two: perfect cleanliness, and sufficient food of a proper kind; under these conditions the caterpillars thrive like young chicks. After a somewhat longer period of feeding--and they will keep you busy gathering leaves--they moult for the third time. At this stage their heads are green with black markings; the bodies have become yellow and have two rows of black dots running from “stem to stern”. The large black, red, and yellow tubercles might cause them to be thought in the final stage; but they now crave more food than before and fairly cram themselves with the leaves supplied to them. At this stage you should begin feeding the _leaf suited to insure the very best quality of gut_. I have found this to be, first, fleshy, juicy leaves from the plum tree, and a close second, the prickly leaves of the long blackberry, which the caterpillars munch down with much gusto. You ought to have left, in spite of accident, disease, and death, at least half or two-thirds of your hatching, or some two hundred or so healthy and flourishing crawlers. Listen as they eat, after you have put in fresh leaves for them in the morning; the sound will remind you of a gentle fall of rain in Summer.

If they ate before, they cram, gorge, distend, stuff themselves now. In a week or ten days they should be ready for the final moult, from which they emerge hungrier than ever. Their color is much as before, but the size of the head seems enormous. In a week or ten days more they have grown to be four or five inches long and are very plump and sleek; then they cease feeding and prepare for the important process of spinning. First they empty the digestive system entirely, excreting a thick, syrupy fluid. Up to this time the excrement had been fairly firm, and this marked change in its consistency is an indication that spinning may be expected soon.

During the last stage it is a good plan to put the worms out of doors to feed, selecting the most suitable food-plant for them, as I have thought that the gut produced by this treatment was of superior quality. Whether that idea is fancy or fact may be debatable; but this I do know, that it is much easier for the one who has the job of looking after it to bring the worm to its fodder than to bring its fodder to the worm. They may grow somewhat larger in this way, as there is never any lack of food; and especially at this stage they eat so fast that they need feeding two or three times a day, instead of only once as during the previous moults. Now, and especially when I had large numbers, I have sometimes used small branches with their leaves placed in Mason jars containing water; although I found a tendency on the part of the caterpillars to crawl down after a drink and so drown themselves. My usual method of feeding has been to put the loose leaves (cut or torn on the edges when the caterpillar is small) right into the cage, and to change food at least once a day. Some labor can be saved by using this plan of putting the twigs with leaves into bottles or jars containing water; but to prevent the untimely loss of some of your “star boarders,” wind wool or tie cotton around the twig just above where it enters the neck of the bottle or jar, so that all suicidal actions may be frustrated. Once I matured a brood of cecropias by means of the “branch-and-bottle” method, on the top of a square piano; the jars tipped over sometimes and the water ran down into the “inwards” of the instrument, but it was only the piano that suffered--the worms thrived.

When, then, you find the soft, fluid excrement in the cage you may know that one or more of the caterpillars soon will begin to spin. The worm shortens somewhat, as the body-cavity contains little except the empty digestive system and the sacs with the fluid silk. These are two, long, transparent tube-like organs, each about eighteen inches long, of about the diameter of a steel knitting-needle, and curiously coiled and involved in the cavity of the body. At their front ends they connect with small tubes or spinnerets through which the caterpillar forces the fluid silk in shaping the material with which it spins. The spinning process is a most interesting one. When it is imminent the caterpillar crawls restlessly around, seeking a suitable place, and a short film of silk may be seen hanging down from its mouth. If you want to keep some cocoons over Winter for the next season, put the prospective spinner by himself into a glass receptacle with a few leaves, and watch proceedings.

After satisfying itself that it has selected a suitable place, the caterpillar firmly grasps a twig with the false legs or props, and with the true legs on the forward part of the body pulls the ends or sides of leaves together. Then the head moves up and down, back and forth, a film of sticky silk meanwhile gripping the leaves and holding them together. The worm works industriously, and soon the general outline and size of the cocoon appear, half-hidden in the leaves. In a few hours the caterpillar has spun sufficiently to hide itself from sight. If you wait a week or so and then carefully open the end of the cocoon, you will see an interesting sight; in place of the caterpillar, which was the last living thing observed in the cocoon at the beginning of the spinning process, a brownish pupa is seen, being a sort of case containing the embryonic organs of the future moth. Most of the cocoon, inside of the closely-woven exterior, will be a mass of fluffy silk-filaments surrounding a hard inner case, apparently lined with some compact, gum-like substance and containing besides the pupa the cast-off skin, now shriveled, brown, and crowded out of the way into the back of the cocoon.

Of course you will want to draw the gut from most of the worms which you have raised. The first important matter is to know the right time for the operation. After a little experience you will be able to tell by the film hanging from the caterpillar’s mouth that the worm is what is technically known as “ripe;” but until that proficiency is developed you will more safely wait until the spinning has actually begun. Then prepare the solution in which to pickle the ripe worms. The proportions are: a sufficient quantity of vinegar (depending upon the number of worms ready) into which put enough salt to make a saturate solution, diluted with the same quantity of water. The salt should be put in the vinegar and thoroughly stirred until all the salt possible has been dissolved. Pour off the vinegar, leaving the undissolved salt, and then add the equal quantity of water. I have thought that vinegar in which the “mother” had formed was best for the purpose. You need not prepare more than a cupful ordinarily, as the caterpillars will ripen only a few at a time; and many of them may be pickled in one solution before it is used up. The purpose of the pickling process is to toughen the silk-sacs sufficiently to permit of their being pulled out. Into the solution, prepared as above, put whatever worms may be ready to spin, first tearing them across the back at about a quarter or a third of the distance from the head; but do not entirely remove or separate the torn portion of the worm.

While the pickling process is proceeding let me say that some have drawn gut without putting the worm into a solution of any kind. I have tried this method on cecropia and polyphemus, but with unsatisfactory results. I am not denying the possibility of doing it; I merely am stating my own experience. I try a few worms by this method from every brood that I raise, and hope some day to be successful. My experience has been that the unpickled sacs are too weak to permit of being drawn out in this way; however, I will describe this method in hopes that it may be useful to others. Take a board from six to nine feet long. Pin the worm securely to one end, putting one pin through the “tail” of the animal and two more about a third of the way back from the head. With a sharp knife cut off the anterior part back nearly to the two pins. Take a large pin and dip it into the silk and carefully draw out as far as the fluid silk will go, and fasten each strand with a pin; a cecropia caterpillar has two silk-sacs and yields two strands of gut. Let the gut thus drawn out dry in the shade for several days. I have read that a method like this has been successfully tried in France; but I must confess that I do not enjoy the experience--neither does the worm. Very likely the caterpillar could be killed or stupefied by some means before the pinning was done.

The method which I employ has at least the merit of being more merciful. After the worm has pickled for about half an hour I examine and draw out one end of a sac; and if it is strong and firm I continue the drawing process. If there is a suggestion of weakness I continue the pickling process fifteen or twenty minutes longer. I am convinced by experience that the precise moment for pulling out the sacs is a highly important consideration. If the pickling has been too short, the gut, while apparently strong and of good quality, seems to be lacking in the proper consistency; on the other hand, if the pickling is carried too far, the resulting strand is lumpy, and the lumpy parts while looking strong are really the weakest.

I do not feel that I can describe the exact point for drawing at which results are likely to be the best, though I could easily show to another the silk-sac when it had the proper consistency to assure them. But I will attempt a description, as even a poor one may be of some help though experience and observation are the best instructors. At its best condition for securing results, the sac on being removed from the body of the worm has a peculiar whitish appearance, not soft or mushy and yet not hard like a string of glue. The strand when pulled out suggests in appearance a tendon or “cord,” such as is found in meat before cooking it--it has a peculiar, “glairy” look. This color becomes somewhat opalescent on drying and later may turn even dark brown.

Having satisfied yourself that the sac is properly pickled, work quickly, since there are, as stated, two strands to every worm and the pickling process must not unduly be prolonged. On the shady side of the veranda or of the house stick a pin into the clap-boards and tie to it securely one end of the sac. Then take the other end of the sac in the fingers or tie it to another pin and draw the gut out to its full length. If any parts of the sac are not fully drawn out these will be lumpy and weak when the gut is dry. Fasten the end of the sac just drawn out and allow it to dry for several days. While the gut must be stretched far enough to keep it from being lumpy, a little allowance must be made for contraction in the drying process; so ease up an inch or two before both ends of the gut are made fast. I have had very good success when the gut was drawn on a rainy day and the strands became moist and slack; in such circumstances I have thought that the gut was peculiarly strong. But at all events keep it out of the sun, and if it contracts so much as to pull out the pin at either end, refasten with the tension eased up somewhat. In a day or two you usually will find that you have a variety of colors; some will turn a dark golden-brown, some may have a bluish tint, others will be light like a washed-out rootlet or fiber, and still others will approximate in shade the ordinary Spanish gut but will lack the “shine” which the latter unfortunately possesses.

Restrain the tendency to use the freshly-drawn gut too soon; although it may be fine in texture and apparently strong, it should thoroughly mature for several days or even weeks, for best service. Once properly prepared, it will give good use for years. I have in my possession two leaders drawn ten years ago, yet they still are reliable.

I had to learn by experience that a careful maturing of the product is essential to success. On one occasion I had drawn several hundred leaders, but they were placed in a tin box before they were dry and were stored in a damp place; on examining them several weeks later I found about twenty of them still good, but the rest had become ruined from mildew.

Do not expect that every leader you draw out will be a good one. The Spanish gut sold in this country is but a small part of the total product, and not one strand in a hundred is perfect. So, much of your product will come out flat and weak, like the inferior strands of Spanish gut, due perhaps to improper pickling, the wrong kind of feed for the caterpillar, or to an unhealthy worm. A considerable number will be of fair strength, testing to three or four pounds, and sufficiently strong for brook-trout fishing; and occasionally you will get a fine specimen, long, round, and strong enough to hold a bass on fly tackle.

Cecropia moth, which in life may have a five-inch wing spread

Two of Mr. Whiffen’s one-strand, home-grown Cecropia leaders, six feet long ]

Naturally the strands will require testing to select the good from the bad. Tie a loop in one end of the strand and attach it to a hook or nail in the wall. Give it a moderately strong pull, holding by the other end. If the strand breaks easily or near the middle, it usually is wise to discard it, although it may be fine in texture and apparently strong; yet I have had strands break near the middle in this way, which on being fastened together by loops made successful leaders. The thin end usually is the weakest part and may break off a few inches at a time till two feet or more have been removed. Now take those that stand this preliminary test successfully and give them a more severe one. Take a milk bottle, for example, and put enough water in it to make it weigh say three pounds; then attach the strands to be tested and see if they will raise, one at a time, that weight. If they do they are strong enough for trout-fishing with light tackle. If you desire to select any leaders for bass fishing, some which will show a greater strength, study very carefully the leaders you have just tested and take the largest, strongest-looking strands and with your milk bottle filled to five- or six-pounds’ weight, test them again. A fair proportion of the gut drawn from a brood of cecropia worms should stand this latter test.

With regard to those leaders that have “come through,” you will have a product from six to nine feet long, of a slight taper, uniform in consistency, even in color and strength, and which in appearance will surpass the Spanish fine drawn-gut.

In one respect the inferiority of the American product must be admitted; I have not yet succeeded in producing a strand of gut that will test to ten or twelve pounds, as I understand an occasional strand of Spanish gut has done. Still, the extreme length of the imported article is eighteen to twenty inches, while the native product is three or four times as long. Strands tied together are not as strong as the single one, because the knot is the weakest part of the leader; therefore a leader testing up to eight or nine pounds is a very strong one. It is not improbable that a better variety of food, or a different pickling solution, or a careful breeding of worms to secure desired qualities, may produce an article superior to anything which I have been able to get, thus far. I have gone about the matter in an amateurish way and have produced results far exceeding my first hopes.

I consider the field a promising one. A first-class salmon-leader, for instance, is listed at five dollars, and is the product of several Asiatic silkworms. A cecropia strand of equal length and testing up to four or five pounds has been produced. As already noted, a cecropia caterpillar has two silk-sacs and yields two strands of gut. It is possible, therefore, that with really scientific study and manipulation one cecropia worm might produce ten-dollars’ worth of gut. If one caterpillar in a hundred did, the occupation of raising them would be profitable. The raw materials--cocoons, moths, eggs, or caterpillars--cost nothing to collect, and at present very little to buy. Surely some person of more scientific bent than myself, with persistence and research, will work out a product which will be the best of its kind.

LANDING-NETS AND OTHER EQUIPMENT