THE MORE IMPORTANT PLANT PRODUCTS ^^ 



produces silk, but there are certain well-defined areas in which 

 the industry is famous — for example, Kiating Fu, Chengtu 

 Fu, and Paoning Fu. Hosie ^ estimates the annual production 

 of raw silk at lbs. 5,439,500, valued at Tls. 15,025,230. This 

 industry has been exhaustively dealt with by Hosie (loc. cit.) 

 and others, and I propose here only to mention briefly certain 

 trees, the leaves of which the silkworms are fed upon. The 

 overwhelming proportion of Szechuan silk is produced by the 

 " worm " of Bomhyx mori, the common domesticated species, 

 which is fed principally on the leaves of the White Mulberry 

 {Morus alba), known as the " Sang shu." The Mulberry tree 

 is abundantly cultivated up to 3000 feet altitude, and in the 

 more populous parts of the province a traveller is seldom out 

 of sight of groves of this tree. The trees are kept low by 

 pollarding to admit of the leaves being easily gathered, but 

 little attention is otherwise given them. Since the sup- 

 pression of opium cultivation the officials have turned their 

 attention to improving and extending the sericulture industry. 

 The finest Chinese silk is produced in the neighbourhood of 

 Hanchou in the Chekiang province, where a broad-leaved and 

 particularly fine Mulberry is cultivated {M. alba, var. latifolia) , 

 for the purpose of feeding the silkworms. The recently 

 established Bureau of Agriculture at Chengtu Fu, and magis- 

 trates in charge of certain districts, have introduced the 

 Hanchou Mulberry in the hope of improving the local product. 

 During the last two or three years there has been a consider- 

 able increase in the area devoted to sericulture, and there is 

 a possible danger of over-production. More attention might 

 well be paid to the spinning of the yarn in order to produce a 

 more even thread, which would result in a smoother and finer 

 woven fabric. 



Around Kiating Fu the infant silkworms are fed for the 

 first 22 days of their lives on the finely chopped leaves of 

 Cudrania tricuspidata, the "Tsa" or "Cha shu," a low-growing 

 tree (very often only a bush), closely allied to the Mulberry, 

 with thorny branches and dark green, tough leaves. For the 

 succeeding and final 26 days they are fed on the Mulberry. 

 By feeding first on the Cudrania leaves, it is claimed that the 

 ^ Report on Province of Ssuch'uan, p. 5i, 



