MM; Mru;i 



MOSCHUS 



MOSCHIPERUS 



Musk-deer 



M. Indlca, Linn. ; tut, nuni, chhota kimbu, mekrap, rinytok, karan, jo-kul, ambor, 

 /ii//// >,,r,ili, pota, etc. A moderate-sized deciduous tree of the 



I.OUIT Himalaya and Sul. Himala\,in tra.-t from Kashmir to Sikkuii, aSOBoding 



tin- lulls to 7,000 feet ; Shan lull- of Hiirmii a .n i \uted elsewhere 



m \ .iili. in India and the Niljni for purposes of sericulture. 



In tin- Mlk di 111. t - of in.; the mulberry is reared on whet is Bosh 



ealled the l.u-li system, not the tree system that prevails, for the roost part, m 

 Kin-op.-. It i ,m apparently be grown on any description ,,i h,-|, ,,, .lined 



land. Inn n i - said to do better on loam than on stiff clay or on saiid> HOI). Deep 

 cult i\ at i. m is absolutely necessary, and in some parts of the country, as, for 

 example, m |;..^ra in Eastern Bengal, where the mulberry is attempted on land 

 annually inundated, the method prevails of raising the land in ridges. S 



<it from the sides and thrown on the top of the ridges, the result being 

 the formation of bands of land (upon which the mulberry is raised) 3 to 6 feet 

 \vid<< and 3 to 4 feet above the rice-growing intervening strips. The follow- 

 ing is the system pursued in the Bardwan district of Bengal, which may be 

 accepted as representative' of that which prevails through the chief districts 

 of Indian mulberry silk-production. When the rains are over, the land is dug 

 to a depth of about 18 inches, from September 15 to November 15. The field 

 is then ploughed twice, levelled and well watered. Propagation takes place Propagation. 

 from November 15 to December 15, and is made by cuttings set in holes 18 

 inches apart, each hole being 18 inches in diameter and 6 inches deep. When 

 an exhausted crop is cut down, the plants are divided into pieces 9 inches long, 

 the tops and all thin, dry stems being rejected. The cuttings are then tied 

 into bundles. A pit is excavated near a tank, and the bundles of cuttings are C u '** n g- 

 sunk in mud at the bottom, to the depth of a few inches. They are kept in that 

 condition for about a month, and watered till the buds have put forth shoots 

 about 2 inches long. When this happens, they are taken out of the mud, planted 

 horizontally in the fields, as above described, one to three in each hole, covered 

 with earth, and watered once a week till they take root. When the plants are 

 about a cubit high, the whole field is flooded, but when they are 2 to 3 cubits 

 high, irrigation is necessary only once every H or 2 months. In February- Irrigation. 

 March the plants are fit for leaf-plucking. After the May plucking the field Leaf-plucking, 

 should be hoed, and at the end of Juno and beginning of July weeds should be 

 smothered by turning up the soil. Before the commencement of leaf-plucking 

 in the second year, the field is top-dressed with pond mud, about 400 maunds 

 per bigha. The plants are thus treated once every 3 years and are kept 

 up for 10 or 12 years, when they are cut down to the ground. By hoeing and 

 manuring, however, new plants spring from the stools, and these may be kept 

 growing for a further period of 5 years, when a new field is regarded as 

 necessary. 



The fruit is edible, and employed in Kashmir in the distillation of spirit ; Fruit and 

 fruit, bark and root are all medicinal. The wood is very similar to that of Spirit. 

 jr. alba, and is used in Assam for boat oars and furniture. Stein mentions that Timber, 

 he found a saddle made of mulberry-wood in ruins explored by him in Khotan, 

 of the third century (see Paper, p. 863"). [Cf. Marco Polo, Travels (ed. Yule), i., 378 ; 

 Buchanan-Hamilton, Stat. Ace. Dinaj., 1833, 210-4 ; Roxburgh, Repta. on 

 Cultivation in Manuf. Cotton-wool, Raw Silk, etc., E.I.C. (ed. 1836), 66 et aeq. ; also 

 Wallich, 130 et aeq. ; Kew Bull., 1889, 27 ; Lawrence, Valley of Kashmir, 1895, 

 82 ; Ind. For., Aug. 1895, xxi., 287-9 ; Max and Bertha Ferrars, Burma, 1900, 99 ; 

 Woodrow, Qard. in Ind., 1903, 78 ; Firminger, Man. Oard. Ind. (ed. Cameron), 

 1904, 211 ; Butler, Mulberry Disease in Kashmir, in Agri. Journ. Ind., 1907, 

 ii., pt. i., 97-8 ; Stein, Ancient Khotan, 1907, 130, 332.] 



MOSCHUS MOSCHIFERUS, Linn. ; Blanford, Fa. Br. Ind. D.E.P., 



(Mammalia), 552-3 ; CERVIDJE. The Musk-deer, kastura, mushk, raos, 

 rous, la-lawa, rib-jo, bena, mussuek-naba, etc. 



A solitary animal, more than two being seldom found together. It frequent* 

 wooded slopes, often very steep. Is very active and sure-footed and pro- 

 gresses by a series of bounds. Is by no means shy, where it has not been miu-h 

 hunted. Is of nocturnal habit and not much larger than a greyhound. Of all 

 ruminants it is reported to eat the least, and although no connection can be 

 traced between the nature of the food and the production of musk, those 

 reared in forest-clad mountains are better than those met with in open 



785 50 



68-62. 

 Musk- 

 deer. 



