6i6 



f HE -rROPf'CAL AGRlCULTURfSf* [Marck i, iSSp 



difficult and invidious enough under any circumstances, 

 was, we believe, complicated at the outset by unavoidable 

 obstructions, i'he emigrants chosen later on v?ere 

 adapted to the duties awaiting them, and have given 

 universal satisfaction. Accordingly we find that at the 

 last annual meeting ot the Planters' Labour and supply 

 Association, the following resolution was adopted : — 

 " That we heartily approve the acts of our Govecnment 

 aud what they have accomplished since our last annual 

 meeting in bringing and permitting labourers to come 

 to these Islands, and that we urge upon our Govern- 

 ment, by this resolution and otherwise, that they put 

 forth like exertions for supplying labourers during the 

 coming twelve months, not only in bringing in Portu- 

 guese and Japanese as heretofore, but permit the 

 influx of free labour from all countries so far as 

 it can be done without injury to other national 

 interests." So far as the Japanese are concerned, 

 despite the resolute attempts made some months ago 

 to scare intending emigrants by fabricated or grossly 

 exaggerated pictures of the hardships and cruelties 

 their predeces£oi-s had undergone, we learn that when 

 a notice inviting applications was recently issued in 

 the prefectures of Yamaguchi and Hiroshima, no less 

 than 1,400 applicants presented themselves during the 

 course of the first two days. Nor is this to be wondered 

 at. For certainly from a financial point of view, the 

 record of the emigrants is well calculated to tempt 

 their countrymen. The total number now in Hawaii 

 is 1,780, of whom 845 arrived at the plantations on 

 March 1st of this year, and 935 on August 1st. The 

 savings of these people up to November Isfc had ex- 

 ceeded S50,000, being an average of about $8'62 each 

 per month, and this after paying for food, clothes, 

 and other necessaries. They are apparently quite con- 

 tented with their lot, and the nature of the letters 

 they send to their friends in Japan may be gathered 

 from the eagerness shown to follow their example. 

 VT e learn that another batch will be sent to Hawai 

 by the •' City of Peking," on Janury 28th, aud that it 

 will consist of 650 men and 275 women. They will 

 be accompanied by nine Japanese inspectors and inter- 

 preters, aud hy seven Japanese physicians, all of whom 

 have been selected by Dr. Nagayo Sensai, Chief 

 Director of the JSanitary Bureau. The salaries of the 

 inspectors and interpreters vary from $lbO to S33 per 

 month, and the physicians will receive S108. These 

 officials will also be furnished not only with passages 

 to Honolulu, but also with return passages after three 

 years. The Inspectors, who will be Hawaiian Govern- 

 ment officials, are to be under the direction of Mr. 

 Nahayama Jogo, who will be in direct communication 

 with the Hawaiian Minister of the interior. The 

 interpreters will also act officially in the Hawaiian 

 courts in all cases where Japanese are concerned. 

 — Japan Weekly Mail. 



SERICULTUBE IN INDIA. 



At Calcutta, on the 18th December, there was 

 a large gathering of ladies and gentlemen at the 

 Dalhousie Institute, they having been invited by the 

 Honorary Secretary to see a splendid collection of 

 insects made by Mr. Mowis in Sikkim. The cases 

 containicg the collection had been laid out in the 

 institute, and almost formed an exhibition of them- 

 selves, though they are intended for the Indo-Oolonial 

 Exhibition in Loudon. Every class of insects was 

 represented, and the gorgeous colours of some of the 

 butterflies and beetles baffle description. Shortly after 

 9 o'clock, the Honorary Secretary introduced Mr. 

 Mowis to the audience, aud the lecture which followed 

 was listened to with the utmost attention. Free from 

 all technicalities and abounding in amusing stories 

 out of the history of insect life, Mr. Mowis's 

 comparisons of the different powers and faculties only 

 to be met with in insects, made up a concise and 

 able disquisition that kept his audience thoroughly in- 

 terested. In addition to its interest as a lecture, 

 there were facts made known of real importance aud 

 great practical value. We quote the part relating to 

 silk and sericulture of India, and only wish we could 

 give it in extenso. Describing the three greai silk- 



producing families of moths, the lecturer said that. 

 I he first family contained all those cultivated and 

 domesticated by men : secondly, those that are left 

 to themselves to weave their silk in the jungle, and 

 are called wild silk-worms; and thirdly, those silk- 

 worms which spin a cocoon, but have no commercial 

 value at present. In former years, he said, India 

 had a very large silk industry, but owing to prevailing 

 diseases of the silk-worms and years of drought, it is 

 now scarcely one-hundredth part of what it ouce was. 

 Government had made many efforts to revive it. and 

 tried hard and incurred heavy expense to give a new 

 impulse to this industry, but though land and labour 

 is cheaper here than in any other part of the world, 

 the lecturer was doubtful whether the mulberry silk 

 will ever regain its former footing in India. It takes, 

 we learn, three years to make a plantation fit to 

 feed the worms to make good marketable silk, 

 so that it is impo.ssible to attempt any large scheme ; 

 but as the lecturer remarked, if we are uuable to 

 obtain the best silk except at a loss, get the next 

 best that pays — and pays well. Therefore every 

 encouragement should be given to the tusser industry 

 in this country. Mr. Thomas Wardle has just reached 

 this country, having been sent out by the Home 

 Government to investigate our silk industries. He 

 was the British delegate at the late Paris Exhibition, 

 and has demonstrated the fact that tusser silk can 

 now be reeled and spun, bleached, and dyed, in splen- 

 did colours, aud be used in almost any material where 

 formerly the best silks only were employed. A demand 

 "has, therefore, sprung up where there is at present 

 but a limited supply. The tusser cocoons are found 

 in every part of India, aud the worms feed on almost 

 every plant. They are very hardy, and little liable 

 to disease, and if Government would only take the 

 matter earnestly in hand, we should have a most 

 extensive industry in the space of a very few years. 

 This new industrj' would almost equal the waning 

 cotton one, and prove much more remunerative, 

 while giving employment to thousands of the poorer 

 classes to whom this work would be particularly well 

 suited, thus adding already to our revenues. Lakhs of 

 rupees' worth of these cocoons are shipped home 

 every year, taking up great space on board ship. 

 These cocoons have to be reeled at home on spindles 

 which cost £75 each, and by labourers who demand 

 20^'. a week. The same result could be obtained here 

 with labour at 5 rupees per month. The great draw- 

 back in all native-reeled silk has always been the 

 uuevenuess and lumpiness of the thread, but with 

 very little trouble, an improved reel could be intro- 

 duced here, which would give all the desired evenness. 

 The lecturer exhibited a model reel, which has been 

 constructed by him, and which combined to a certain 

 extent both the European and native methods, and 

 still remained simple enough to suit unskilled labour. 

 The cost of this reel is so low as to be within the 

 reach of the poorest coolie of the country, and by 

 a general adoption of such a reel or a similar one, 

 Indian-reeled tusser silks could be laid down in the 

 European markets at about 10s. per pound, and thus 

 give 100 per cent profit on the outlay ! In explaining 

 this reel, it was shown that it reeled evenly, and 

 distributed the silk regularly on the real, from which 

 it can be removed by a very simple contrivance, 

 without distributing the layers of the silk, which is 

 very essential. It could be worked by hand or foot, 

 and also be adapted to machinery ; and any child 

 could learn to work it in a short time. A case of 

 sample silk was exhibited, which had been reeled on 

 this model, and a small quantity was also reeled 

 before the audience in the lecture hall. — Statesman. 



PLANT-BEDS. 



It is usual at this period of the year for planters 

 of tobacco to be contemplating their arrangements 

 for a supply of plants for the next crop. These 

 arrangements must be conclu.led on, and the actual 

 work done, between the 15th December and the 16th 

 March. About a year ago we asked the attention 

 of the readers of the Planter to the old and new 



