886 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[JVJfSB 2y 1884. 



by flavouring alcohol with it ; while the pure gum, care- 

 fully cleaused, is selected for exportation, chiefly for the 

 mauufacture of varnish. A large portion of the crop is 

 consumed in Turkey and Egypt, where the women are in 

 the habit of chewing this gum to sweeten their breath. 

 The crop of Ohios averages 4,500 to 5,000 quintals a year, 

 but the portion of the crop exported does not exceed 

 £1.600 to £2,000 yearly in value. 



ScAMaioNY. — This drug, a very powderful acid, much 

 prized iu some European pliarmacopceis, is the juice of a 

 creeping plant (Convolvulus scammouia), somewhat resembl- 

 ing the Jasmine, but bearing a pale blue flower. The juice 

 is obtained by gashing the stem and catching the juice in 

 a shell, which after two or three weeks is found to be 

 white, resembling milk, which in time turns a greyish- 

 black. Tiiis juice, when buiK'd to inspissation, forms a 

 paste which is the scammony of commerce. It is very 

 valuable, and consequently is frequently adulterated by the 

 peasantry before it reaches Smyrna, The first quality or 

 " lacryma " is worth at Smyrna about 25s. per pound, the 

 second about 17s. It is packed in boxes of various sizes, 

 lined with tin. The average value of tbis export for the 

 five years in question did not reach £5,200. The demand 

 for scammony has declined of late years. It was formerly 

 worth £S or more per oke (2| lb.), now it never fetches 

 more than £3 10s,, the depreciation being owing to the 

 shipment from Syria of the root itself, instead of the 

 inspissated sap. England takes the larger half of this ex- 

 port; the rest is taken by France, Italy and Austria. — 

 Gardeners^ Chronicle. 



SILK-OULTUKE IN THE PUNJAB. 



The Government of the Punjab, through Lieutenant- 

 Colonel E. G. "Wace, Commissioner of Settlements and 

 Agriculture, Punjab, has collected a quantity of interesting 

 information rRgarding silk culture iu the province. Colo- 

 nel Wace sent a Circular to the Commissioners of Gurdas- 

 pur. Kangra, Hoshiarpur, Umballa, Simla, Amritsar, Pesha- 

 war, Baunu, Mooltan, Lahore, and Ludhiana, asking for 

 information on the progress of the industry in the various 

 districts and also specimens of the ripe cocoons and eggs, 

 as well as samples of the manufacture of Silk, The result of 

 bis enquiries is given below. Colonel "Wace says: — 



It will be seen from the report of Mr. Kennedy, Assist- 

 ant Commissioner of Lahore, that sericulture is not practised 

 in that district, but that the raw silk used in the manufact- 

 ure is imported chiefly from Bokhara, Yarkand, Ladakh 

 and Boml>ay, and that the industry gives employment to a 

 large number of persons in Lahore. The silks manufactured 

 are broadly known by the names of Darzai (plain) and 

 Gulbatlao (striped), but there are distinct varieties in these 

 according to the degree of skein and texture. Purses, rib- 

 bons, waistbands, turbans, &c., are also manufactured. The 

 silk trade is not now in the flourishing state it was formerly, 

 having to contend with mixed fabrics of silk and cotton 

 imported from England, which find favour with those, who, 

 as Mr. Kennedy remarks, prefer cheapness and show to 

 durability and intrinsic excellence. Mr, Kennedy has for- 

 warded seven specimens of silks, which are detailed at the 

 end of his letter, to which I have added their selling price 

 at Lahore. 



The Deputy Commissioner of Gurdaspur forwards a re- 

 port on sericulture as practised in the Gurdaspur district, 

 furnished by Mr. E. F, Keighley, agent for Messrs. Lister k 

 Oo.'s Filature at Mailhopur; which contains information 

 both as regards the domesticated and the wild silkworms. Mr. 

 Keighley has very little hopes of the silk industry improving 

 among the natives, owing to repeated failures among the 

 cottagers in cocoon-rearing and disease among their silk- 

 worms. The people will insist on breeding their own eggs, 

 which is in itself very precarious, and keeping them in the 

 plains in the hot weather, instead of sending them to a cool 

 climate. It seems the industry was first introduced into the 

 district in 1854, and appeared to thrive till 1873-1 S74, when 

 disease broke out amongst the stock and caused great havoc, 

 so that now little or none of the old stock is left. In ISSl 

 and 1882, Messrs. Lister h Co, imported and distributed 

 eggs freely amongst the people. These at first were suc- 

 cessful, and a fair crop of cocoons was obtained, but sub- 

 sequently, owing to neglect and other causes, iliseases broke 

 out and the crops were a failure, a third distribution Iu bs^ii 



has met with the same result, and Messrs. Lister & Co . 

 have lost confidence iu cottage cultivation ; and in conse- 

 quence started mulberry plantations of their own. At Madho- 

 pur, only the silk is taken 01 otf the cocoon by the firm, 

 the silk fabrics being manufactured at their mills iu Eng- 

 land. Mr. Keighley has kindly supplied specimens of the 

 Bombyx Mori cocoon {i.e.^ country and Japan) and also 

 samples of the raw matenal, a list of which I have added. 

 The Deputy Commissioner has also sent a small case con- 

 taining cocoons, silk and eggs of native workers, of which 

 he gives a list. 



The Deputy Commissioner of Kangra has furnished no 

 report on sericulture in his district, but has asked me to 

 accept the report from Mr, Keighley as representing the 

 subject for his district as well as for Gurdaspur. 



In the Ludhiana district, the Deputy Commissioner states, 

 an experiment in sericulture was started in 1854 but did 

 not succeed, and that now raw silk is procured from Am- 

 ritsar and JuUundur, into which districts it is imported 

 from Bokhara and Kashmir. It is manufactured intoLungis, 

 Turbans, Gulbadan (Pejjammas) &c., of which the Deputy 

 Commissioner has sent a very complete collection. The ex- 

 hibits are for sale, and their return is required if they are 

 not sold. The silk industry is not of importance in this 

 district, and is iu the hands of four native firms. The chief 

 deuaaud is for turbaus which are much sought after by 

 native regiments. 



Mr. Roe, the Deputy Commissioner of Hoshiarpur, re- 

 presents, that in his district sericulture on a small scale is 

 practised by only one native, who commenced it in the 

 beginning of 1SS2. The venture, so far as it went, was 

 profitable, but from some cause unknown, the worms and 

 eggs died and the business is at present closed. Mr. Roe 

 sends a specimen of manufactured reel silk obtained from 

 the native who started the above undertaking. A full and 

 interesting account of the rearing of Tasar worms and of 

 the artificial propagation of Tasar cocoons is given in a 

 memorandum and letter by a former Deputy Commissioner 

 of the district, Mr. Coldstream, and published in the journal 

 of the Agri- Horticultural Society of India, Volume 

 yi. Part 4, New series. The Tasar cocoon is met with in 

 its wild state extensively in the Hoshiarpur district. Much 

 success attended Mr. Coldstream's efforts to bring the 

 Tasar worm into a state of semi-domestication ; but his 

 experience goes to prove that the species will not fully 

 domesticate. The worms he attempted to bring up by 

 band as in the case of the ordinary silkworm gradually 

 died away, "Whereas, those fed at large iu the open air 

 on the her tree (Zizyphus Jujuba) throve and produced 

 cocoons in abundance. 



The report of the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar is 

 to the effect that sericulture is not carried on in his dis- 

 trict, and that an attempt made by amateurs ended iu failure. 

 There are no wild silkworms in the district. The Deputy 

 Commissioner has sent specimens of raw and manufactured 

 silk to the exhibition, through the Pmijab Committee of 

 the Bengal Exhibition, His instructions were to send them 

 to me, and 1 trust that no inconvenience will result from 

 this miscarriage. 



The Deputy Commissioner oF Mooltan states that no silk- 

 worms are reared in his district, but that large quantities 

 of raw silk are imported from Bokhara, and are manufact- 

 ured. For a description of the manufacture, the Deputy 

 Commissioner refers to that given in Powells' Punjab 

 Manufactures, Volume II, beginning at page 57. I regret 

 I have not been able to procure specimens of the fabrics 

 manufactured in this district. 



I am indebted to the AVazir of the Bahawalpur State 

 for specimens of " Luugis and Sufis " and reel silk n.anufact- 

 ured from the raw silk procured from Mooltan, which dis- 

 trict imports it from Bokhara. It appears there are about 

 100 looms at work in this State. — Civil an-i Military Gazette. 



Thk Internatioxal Health Exuibitiox. — The Fruits of 

 all Cuviitries is the title of one of the handbooks now being 

 written for the Health E.>;hibition authorities. The autlior 

 is Mr. AV. T. Thiselton Dyer, of Kew. — Gardeners' Chronicle. 



The GEitsiw^ Society of AxALYTrcAL Chemists offers 

 two prizes, of about $l2o and s75 respectively, for the tiest 

 and second best treatises on cocoa and cocoa-manufactures, 

 with especial reference to couimeroial and nutritive value. — ■ 

 I'opidar Science IVcws. 



