A. You must be familiar with the following nursery rhymes:
1. ‘Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool.’
2. ‘Mary had a little lamb, whose fleece was white as snow.’
Answer the following questions:
(i) Which parts of the black sheep have wool?
(ii) What is meant by the white fleece of the lamb?
B. Tick (œ“) the correct option:
1. The silkworm is (a) a caterpillar, (b) a larva.
(a) a
(b) b
(c) Both a and b
(d) Neither a nor b
2. Which of the following does not yield wool?
(a) Yak
(b) Camel
(c) Goat
(d) Woolly dog
3. …………… is the part of the body of sheep that yields wool.
(a) Skin
(b) Fibre
(c) Fleece
(d) None of these
4. Silkworm is reared through:
(a) apiculture
(b) sericulture
(c) agriculture
(d) none of these
5. A non-mulberry silk product is:
(a) muga silk
(b) eri silk
(c) tusar silk
(d) all of these
C. Answer the following questions in short:
1. What is meant by the following terms:
(i) Rearing:
(ii) Shearing:
(iii) Sericulture:
2. Given below is a sequence of steps in the processing of wool. Which are the missing steps? Add them.
shearing, ……………….., sorting, ……………….. , …………….. , …………….. .
3. Make sketches of the two stages in the life history of the silk moth which are directly related to the production of silk.
4. Out of the following, which are the two terms related to silk production?
sericulture, floriculture, moriculture, apiculture and silviculture.
Hints:
(i) Silk production involves cultivation of mulberry leaves and rearing silkworms.
(ii) Scientific name of mulberry is Morus alba.
5. Which are the leading wool yielding states of India?
6. Do you know why these animals have a thick coat of hair?
7. Did it smell like burning of artificial silk or that of pure silk? Can you explain why?
8. What is meant by the term ‘Reeling the silk’? How is it done?
9. Why it hurts when someone pulls his hair but not when he goes for haircut?
10. Why a cotton garment cannot keep us as warm in winter as a woollen sweater does?
D. Match the following:
| ‘A’ | ‘B’ |
| 1. Scouring | a. Yields silk fibres |
| 2. Mulberry leaves | b. Wool yielding animal |
| 3. Yak | c. Food of silkworm |
| 4. Cocoon | d. Reeling |
| e. Cleaning sheared skin |
E. Fill in the blanks:
1. Silk and wool are ………………. products.
2. The world’s finest wool is extracted from ……………….. sheep.
3. During the process of shearing ………………… is removed.
4. Silk is known as ……………. .
5. ……………. hatches from egg of moth.
F. State ‘True’ or ‘False’:
1. Cotton and jute are natural fibres. …………….
2. Angora goat is found in Tibet. ……………
3. Australia is one of the leading producers of silk. ………………..
4. The life cycle of silkworm consists of four stages. ………………
5. Nylon is a natural fibre. ……………….
G. Given below is a crossword puzzle based on this lesson. Use hints to fill in the blank spaces with letters that complete the words:
Down (†“)
(D)
1. Thorough washing
2. Animal fibre
3. Long thread like structure
Across (†’)
(A)
1. Keeps warm
2. Its leaves are eaten by silkworms
3. Hatches from egg of moth
H. Paheli wants to know the maximum length of continuous silk thread that can be obtained from a cocoon. Find out for her.
I. Boojho wants to know why caterpillars need to shed their skin when they grow bigger but we humans do not. Do you have any idea?
J. Boojho wants to know why caterpillars should not be collected with bare hands. Can you help him?
K. Paheli wanted to buy a silk frock and went to the market with her mother. There they found that the artificial (synthetic) silk was much cheaper and wanted to know why. Do you know why? Find out.
L. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words:
