10 MULBERRY DISEASE. 
are less liable to injury from this cause than the latter. The reverse 
is likely to be the case. The great increase in the demand for food 
for the worms in the past few years has greatly improved the pros- 
pects of the parasite finding wounds through which it may gain an 
entry into the trees. Hence there is a decided possibility that 
the disease is on the increase, and it would seem advisable to attempt 
to diminish the annual moderate loss and the risk of periodical 
heavy losses. 
The first requirement is an improvement in the manner of 
obtaining the crop. As already mentioned, branches, not individ- 
ual leaves, are gathered. I could not discover any real reason 
why this is done except that the worms are fed on the floors of the 
houses instead of on frames, and the presence cf branches ensures 
a certain amount of ventilation from below and enables the worms 
to mount when about to form cocoons. From the point of view 
of diminishing risk of infection by Corynewm Mori leaf- plucking 
would be preferable. Frames would not be expensive and the 
capacity of the rooms would be increased. The relative advantages 
of the two systems under the conditions prevailing in Kashmur 
might be more fully inquired into and the change gradually intro- 
duced if found suitable. 
A good cheap knife for cutting the branches is much needed. 
Several patterns of pruning implements are used in J’rance and 
Italy, each with its own advantages. Some are described and 
figured in Maillot and Lambert’s book referred to above. here 
would be no difficulty in making the simpler forms in Srinagar, 
probably very cheaply. The cutting implements used in Kashmir 
in gathering the branches are primitive to a degree and incapable 
of producing a clean cut. 
Every opportunity should be taken of instructing the silk-worm 
rearers regarding the necessity of removing the branches in as clean 
4 manner as possible, and of trimming the wound where necessary 
so as to avoid leaving splinters attached to the tree. Clean wounds 
will heal naturally aud rapidly and the danger of infection will be 
reduced. At the same time the injurious results of over-plucking 
should be explained. 
