LADY DYKE OWNS . ONLY SILK FARM IN ENGLAND NOW

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 7, 23 January 1937, Page 16

LADY DYKE OWNS . ONLY SILK FARM IN ENGLAND NOW

•** The silkrfor the Coronation robes for memhers of- the Royal Family is being spuii':'in Epg'laiid, behiiid'.the aiicient wallsr of Tjulliiigs tone Cas'tle j" Eynsf ord, ' Kenf," ,says aii" English writer. . ••.'Jj'iVe hundred . thousand miies* of. thread are required, , and to' tulfil the order T,{X}d?G0'0 cocoons .will have to t>e;- "ieeled. off." : . .• . . The siHi industry in Britain is at once. on# of. the oldest and newest. After the reign.of Charles the Second it . languished., but in recent limts, thanks to the .vision and enterpiise oi Lady Hart-Dyke^ who auopted silk a? a childhood ' hobby, and. then - saw it? commercial possibilities, the business is flourishing. Her "farm" at LulLngr stone Castle has already achieved fame and is one of the "sights'' of Keut; It is, indeed, the only silk farm in England. Lady Dyke 'is not'the original owner of the castle, but she took over the qld place when the "family" was forced to luove unde'r pressure of heavy taxatiou— a i'ate which has befallen uiany landed gentry since the war. Having . engaged an expeit manager, she co-operated with him iu obtaining the: latest information concerning silk production in China and Italy. Sho then purchased large quantities of silkworm eggs and installed the best machinery. The silk produced on the Lullingstone farm is considered too valuable to be used in the making of even the ropst expensive silk stockings. Already a large area of land' had been planted with about 50,000 , mulberry trees and bushes to provide fodder for future hatches. . Queen iMary inspected the farm recently, and expressed keen intereet