ii4 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[August i, 1882. 



33. 6d. per yard. For the manufacture of this sen! 

 cloth, yarn spun from the waste and from damaged 

 cocoons is used. In December 1879, I gave over to 

 Government nearly 50 lb. of this yarn manufactured 

 in Bombay by the Alliance Spinning and Weaving 

 Company from cocoons collected in this Presidency. 

 In describing the various purposes for which Tasar 

 silk yarn can be used, Mr. Wardle states, in weaving 

 it into silk carpets he finds that for very m.any rea- 

 sons it is superior to Mulberry silk, being lustrous, 

 strong and peculiarly suitable for embroidery, 



7. Aa usual I have sent seed to Mr. Stormont, of 

 the Government Experimental Farm, BtiAdgaon, and to 

 Mr. George Baird, at Udepur, for the MahAr.ina's 

 plantation, and expect to hear some particulars from 

 them soon. 



8. I have now laid out one-sixth of an aero as a 

 plantation on one uniform system, and as this seems 

 to answer well, I take this opportunity of describing 

 it for public information. " Lagerstrosmia Indica " 

 Qui Mcndhi or Daiyeli is the best shrub in Poena 

 for the purpose, and I have now planted 90(i feet of 

 it in hedges, besides having struck enough cuttings 

 to mnke nearly as much more. The land is laid out 

 in ridges 7 feet wide with a gutter of 1 foot between. 

 The shrubs are put into a trench of good soil mixed 

 with manure in the middle of each ridge at one foot 

 apait. On each sid« of these, on the ridges, veget- 

 ables of all sorts are being cultivated where the ground 

 is not occupied with the cages, care having been taken 



■ to lay out the grounds in the way most suitable for 

 irrigation, and to ensure the most being made of it 

 at all times. The cages are made of rectangular pieces 

 of split bamboo screen work tarred — a very cheap, 

 light material, and when thus protected it is neither 

 liable to be hurt by the weather nor gnawed by rats. 

 In constructing the cages I tie these screens toge- 

 ther, making the sides 3 feet high and the ends 6 

 feet wide. The cage can be put up the whole length 

 of the hedge, and is divided into 12 feet partitions. 

 From side to side, arched over the top of the hedge, 

 ai'e pieces of rattan fastened down .at their extrem- 

 ities to the screens, and in the middle to a light ridge 

 pole which rests on triangular screens, stretching across 

 the cage at intervals. Over the hoops thus made 

 coarse open cotton is spread, thus nothing touches 

 the shrubs, for they are uniformly cut to a height 

 of 4 feet and the worms have no inducement to leave 

 their food. The screens under the triangles at the 

 end consist of three, the middle one of which is fixed 

 and the two smaller on either side are fitted with 

 string hinges, thus allowing boys to go in and clean 

 up on both sides of the hedges witliout injuring the 

 shrubs. The worms are, when h.atching, put upon 

 the plants near the door, and they eat away steadily 

 crawling on to the next when their own twig has 

 been stript. As fast as th s takes place the bare 

 twigs are cut off .and fresh spring forth. In a few 

 weeks' time the hedge is as thick a mass of verdure 

 as it was when the caterpillars were put upon it, 

 and this process goes on as long as the rearing of 

 the worms is continued. As partition after partition 

 gets stript it can be tiken down and shifted on fur- 

 ther down the hedge or to a new place. An oc- 

 casional watering is necessary if the weather is not 

 fnvoralile, but as a rule very little irrigation is necess- 

 ary ; still it is as well to hnvo the power at hand if 

 required. 



9. I have now spent the E500 placed at my dis- 

 posal by Government in March 1880; indeed I have 

 spent RG7-10 over and above that sum, and I hope 

 that Government will now pli'ce another sum of E500 

 at my disposal, the account of which will be as usual 

 submitted to the Accountant-General. 



SILK-PRODUCING BOMBYCES AND OTHER 

 LEPIDOPTERA BEARED IN 1881. 



BY ALFRED \V.\ILLT. 



{ Membre-Laur(5at de la Socit5t(5 d'Acclimatation de France. ) 

 By referring to my reports for the years 1879 and 



1880, whicli apiieared in the Journal of the Society of 

 Arts, February 1.3th and March 5th, "l8S0, February 

 25th and March 4th, 1881, it will be seen that the 

 bad weather prevented the successful rearing in the 

 open air of most species of silk-producing larva;. In 



1881, the weather was extremely favourable up to the 

 end of .July, but the incessant and heavy rains of the 

 month of August, and beginning of September, proved 

 fatal to most of the larvaj when they were in their 

 last stages. However, in spite of my many difficluties, 

 I had the satisfaction of seeing them to theii- last stage. 

 Larva; of all the silk-producmg Bombyces were preserved 

 in theii' different stages, and can be seen in the Bethnal- 

 green Mnseinn. In July, when the weather was 

 magnificent, the little trees in my garden were literally 

 covered with larvie of more species than I ever had 

 before, and two or three more weeks of fair weather 

 would have given me a good crop of cocoons, instead 

 of which I only obtained a very small number. The 

 sparrows, as usual, also destroyed a quantity of worms, 

 in spite of wire or fish-netting placed over some of 

 the trees. 



On the trees were to be seen — Attacus cynthia (the 

 Ailanthus silkworm), the rearing of which was, as 

 usual, most successful ; Samia cecropia and Samia 

 Olovcri, from America ; also hybrids of Glovcricccropia 

 and Cecropia-Gloveri ; Samia promethea and Teleapoly- 

 phenms ; Attacus pernyi, and a new hybrid, which I 

 obtained this last season by the crossing of Pernyi 

 Hoylei. For the first time I reared Actios sclene from 

 India, on a nut tree in the garden, and Attacus atla^, 

 on the ailanthus. The Selene larva; reached their 5th 

 and last stage. The Atlas larva; only reached the 

 3rd stage, and were destroyed by the heavy 

 rains ; only two remained on the tree till about the 

 8th or 9tli of September, when they had to be removed. 

 I shall now reproduce the notes I took on some of 

 the various species I reared. 



Actios Selene. — With 60 cocoons I only obtained one 

 pairing. The moths emerged from the beginning of 

 March till the 13th of August, at intervals of some 

 duration, or in batches of males or females. I obtained 

 a pairing of Selene on the 30th of .June, 1881, and 

 the worms commenced to hatcli on the 13th of July. 

 The larvre in first stage are of a fine bi'own-red, with . 

 a broad black band in the middle of the body. The 

 second stage commenced on the 20th of July, lame 

 of a lighter reddish colour, without the black band ; 

 tubercles black. Thh'd stage commenced on the 28th 

 of .July ; larvoa green ; the first four tubercles yellow, 

 w-itli a black ring at the base ; other tubercles, orange- 

 yellow. Fourth stage commenced on the 6tli of August ; 

 larvic gi-eeu ; first four tubercles golden-yellow, the 

 others orange-red. Fifth stage commenced on the 

 19th of August ; first four tubercles yellow with a 

 black ring at the base ; other tubercles yellow, slightly 

 tinged with orange-red ; lateral band brown and greenish- 

 yellow ; head and forelegs dark browTi. As stated 

 before, the larv.T; were reared on a nut-tree in the 

 garden, till the last stage. Selene feeds on various 

 trees — walnut, wild cherry, wild pear, &o. In Ceylon 

 (at Kandy), it is found on the wild olive-tree. As 

 far as I am informed by correspondents in Ceylon, 

 this species is not found — or is seldom found — on the 

 coasts, but Attacus atlas and Mylitta are connnonly found 

 thei'e. 



Altac-us (antheraa) Eoylci (with 60 cocoons) ; three 

 pairings only were obtained, and this species I found 

 the most difficult to pair in cajjtivity. Two moths 

 emerged on the 5th of March, a male and a female, 



