SILK IN ASSAM. 215 



is imposed upon the muga breeder during the period that his 

 worms are on the trees. The muga, indeed, yields the finer silk, 

 but as it is only in the roughest shape that Assam silk can 

 hope to become an article of demand in the English market, 

 the difi'erence in quality will, perhaps, prove to be a matter of 

 secondar}^ importance. 



Form of Silk Trade ijossible between Assam and England. — 

 There are two forms in which a silk trade is conceivable between 

 Assam and England. We may export the thread, or we may 

 export the cocoons. It may be said at once that the export of 

 thread would never pay. Muga thread is now selling at about 

 Es. 8 and eri at about Rs. 5 the seer (6s. 8d. and 4s. 2d. the lb.); 

 and, when it is remembered that the reeling is of the rudest 

 character possible, that the thread is coarse and uneven, and 

 that no two skeins as a rule will be found to correspond in 

 quality, it will easily be understood why mnga is incapable of 

 competing with the finer and not more expensive silks of Bengal; 

 and, indeed, in Bengal itself the silk reeling business has for 

 some time been in a stationary or decaying condition. E7'i 

 thread is still more " uneven, gouty, and knibby," and would 

 probably be regarded by the English manufacturer as unfit for 

 employment for any purpose. From the export of cocoons, on 

 the other hand, there may possibly be something to hope. The 

 manufacture of silk plushes and similar fabrics out of waste 

 cocoons imported from India or China is a flourishing branch of 

 the silk industry in England, and although China has hitherto 

 been the principal source of supply there is no reason why 

 Assam should not contribute large quantities of an article which 

 is produced with so much ease in the valley of the Brahmaputra. 



Now, in comparison with other parts of India, Assam seems 

 to possess superior capabilities for supplying a demand of this 

 nature. The conditions of tusser cultivation in Bengal, as 

 described by the Commissioner of Chota Nagpur (Supplement to 

 'Calcutta Gazette' of 3 1st Oct., 1883) appear much less favour- 

 able than the conditions of muga cultivation in this Province. 

 He calculates that a man can tend fifteen trees, yielding 450 

 cocoons in an ordinary year and 1500 in a bumper year such as 

 occurs occasionally ; and the selling price of the cocoons is 160 

 the rupee. The muga cultivator in Assam would obtain more 

 than 3000 cocoons from an equal number of full-growji swii- 



