MUSEOS DE LA SEDA / SILK MUSEUMS

known as the “Ahogadero”, used to generate water vapour in order to stifle the cocoons preventing the moths to emerge and ruin the cocoon harvests of the rearers. The tasks performed by the SSM were very diverse. The most important one was still the sanitary control of the seed (eggs) used by the farmers. For this, the Pasteur system was applied to the seed obtained by the farmers, and also to the one produced by the Station. There was also an intense activity of rearing different races of silkworm, both native or imported, under different systems of feeding and conduction of the process, all of that in order to improve the amount and the quality of silk. The seed produced was distributed free of charges to farmers. It was stored in specially designed freezing chambers during the winter period in order to perform a controlled hibernation process that is critical for the quality of the posterior rearing. These installations could not be afforded by individual farmers and were very useful for them. It was also important the process of germination of seed, made in special incubators under very controlled conditions so that all the worms would hatch at the same time and the rearing was synchronized. To make easier the work of farmers, usually new worms were distributed, instead of eggs. An important work was also made with mulberries, the only food of silkworms. Mulberry seedlings were mul- tiplied and distributed freely throughout Spain under demand, and more than 20,000 plants were multiplied and distributed per year. An important service of the SSM to the farmers was the ‘Ahogadero’, that was construct- ed for the cocoon stifling, preventing the moth to emerge and ruin the cocoon. Before the availability of this infrastructure, the farmers had a very weak position in the negotiation of the price of their harvest. As the end of the metamorphosis approached, the fear of losing the cocoon due to its perforation (usually around 15 days after its formation) made farmers to sell at low prices. But once the pupa was dead, the cocoon could be stored for months. The Station assumed as well a very important task of disseminating and extending the modern techniques of Sericulture to the farmers. This was one of the main objectives of its mission, and was performed through different ways. There was a program of visits to the houses of farmers for the demonstration of good practices with the help of a porta- ble kit of equipment: microscope, incubator, thermometer, etc. There were also frequent courses at the SSM for young farmers and an intensive use of photographic and imaging resources. And finally, the Station assumed an important economic role in the management of the silk industry. On the one hand, it maintained a register of the seed distributed and used, and on the other hand it payed to the farmers for the harvest of raw cocoons each year, around the month of May. The harvest was transferred to textile companies that made the throwing and spinning of fibres and payed the cocoons provided by the Station once they processed and sold the silk thread to other companies. The result of all this work was evident in the maintenance of a considerable production of silk. During the years, from 1900 to 1930, the production of Murcia was over 1,000 tons per year, which was almost the whole amount produced in Spain. The Civil War was a considerable setback on the production, which decreased up to 125 tons. After the Spanish Civil War, there was a period of expansion of the activity, and the production 59