Taking advantage of the good weather finally returning, the Elders of Cornus and Fondamente enjoyed this day of June 4. After a tormented journey through the Cévennes mountains covered with forests, the bus emerged onto the plain.
First stop: Saint-Hippolyte-du-Fort and its silk museum. The guided tour allowed us to discover the extraordinary life of the silkworm, the caterpillar of a butterfly, the mulberry bombyx. The female lays around 500 eggs which hatch after 10 days. After the birth of the worm (the magnan), it must be provided with abundant food of fresh leaves of the white mulberry tree and kept in a calm and temperate environment. After 30 days, it has molted 4 times and multiplied its weight by 10,000 (a 3 kg infant would reach 30 tonnes!). Then, in 48 hours, it weaves a cocoon in which it locks itself and transforms into a chrysalis. If left alone, it will pierce the cocoon and become a butterfly.
But, if we want to recover the silk, we must kill the chrysalis by boiling the cocoon which we can then unwind: each cocoon allows us to unwind a single thread of approximately 1 km, as strong as a steel wire, with equal diameter. This “golden thread” which made the reputation of the Cévennes in the 19th century could not withstand competition from chemical fibers; only a few artisanal silkworm factories remain. Still amazed by this visit, the Elders shared a delicious meal at the Pradet restaurant before heading to Sauve, and its Conservatoire de la Fourche, second stop of the day.
Another disconcerting discovery: this town holds the monopoly on manufacturing wooden forks from the hackberry tree. Ancestral know-how since the 12th century has made it possible to perpetuate the cultivation of the shrub, its particular size to obtain the 3 forks and the technique of bending and heating. Some Elders left with a pitchfork to decorate their interior while sales are made to stud farms, lavender or down producers, and entertainment companies.
