Читать книгу Walking in the Cevennes. 31 walks and the Tour of Mont Lozere онлайн

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Once the worms had hatched they were kept and fed in the huge high buildings called magnanerie which are still seen in the Cevennes today, many of them in ruins. These buildings were constructed so that the rooms were kept at an even temperature with constant ventilation – hence the rows of small windows and many chimneys. After one month, when the worms had ceased eating and started to weave their cocoons – which took around three days and yielded 1500m of silk thread, it was imperative that the cocoons remained dry and did not rot. The thread was then spun off the cocoons, mainly by the nimble hands of women and young girls, to be made into bolts of silk, garments and stockings in the local factories.

In the middle of the 19th century the silk worms were struck by a disease called pébrine, and a remedy was not discovered until 20 years later in 1870. By this time cheap silk imports from China and India were entering the country, and the industry never recovered – the last silk-producing enterprise closed in 1965.