SILK 



BOMBYX 



Mulberry 



Chemistry. 

 Becent Opinion. 



Valuation. 



D.E.P., 

 vi., pt. iii., 

 1-238. 



D.E.F., 



vi., pt. iii., 

 6-22. 

 Mulberry 

 Silk. 



INDIAN SILKS 



added (upon what authority is not shown) that " the retting process is not 

 suitable for it." The ultimate fibres were found to be 1-5-2 mm. in length,, 

 and to be similar to jute in their reactions. It was, however, softer and 

 more uniform. Chemically it showed a high percentage of cellulose (83-0 as 

 compared with jute 75-0). [Cf. Cross, Bevan, King and Watt, Indian Fibres, 

 1887, 41-2 ; Watt, Sel. Rec. Govt. Ind., 1888, 277-82.] The most recent opinion 

 is that given by Mr. Robert S. Finlow (Pusa, July 25, 1907) in a report on experi- 

 ments: " Sida is undoubtedly a fibre of very high class ; it is far superior ta 

 jute ; indeed it probably ranks nearer to flax and rhea. It is a common plant 

 all over India, but it grows especially well in the moist climate of Assam. I have 

 sown plots at Rajshahi this year, which are doing well " (Rept. Agri. Dept. E. 

 Beng. and Assam, 1906-7, app. ii.). Samples were sent to the Imperial Institute, 

 and valuations ranging from 12 to 18 a ton were obtained (Inip. Inst. Tech. 

 Repts., 1903, 59). The opinion given by Just Brothers of Bielefeld seems the- 

 rational one, namely that until a consignment of 400 Ib. to 500 Ib. of the fibre has- 

 been spun and woven, no definite conclusion can be arrived at. 



SILK. In perhaps no other country of the world does the necessity 

 exist so pressingly as in India to treat the subject of silk and the silk 

 industries under two distinct sections, viz. BOMBYCID^E, the Domesticated 

 or Mulberry-feeding Silkworms ; and SATURNIID.E, the Wild or Non- 

 Mulberry-feeding worms. 



/. THE MULBERRY OR DOMESTICATED SILKWORMS. 



The terms mulberry and non-mulberry-feeding are more accurate than 

 domesticated and wild, since certain of the so-called wild insects have 

 existed for centuries, both in India and China, under what must be charac- 

 terised as a degree of domestication ; but, on the other hand, all the silk- 

 worms that live on the mulberry are not necessarily domesticated. " Wild 

 silk " denotes, as a rule, the product of non-mulberry-feeding insects. 



I. Bombyx (Seriearia) mori, Linn. ; Hampson, Fa. Br. Ind. 

 (Moths), i., 32-3 ; Andrew Libavius, Singularia, 1599, i., 426-51 ; Oving- 

 ton, Voij. to Suratt, 1696, 599-606 ; Koyle, Prod. Res. Ind., 1840, 3, 67, 

 115-39; Yates, Text. Antiq., 1843, 160-249; Button, Silk of India, 

 Journ. Agri.-Hort. Soc. Ind., n.s., 1869, i., 331-64 ; 1871, iii., 125-42 ; 

 /Geoghegan, Ace. of Silk in India, 1880, 1-34 ; Wardle, Handbook Wild 

 Silks in India, 1881, 3 ; Louis, Sericult. in Bengal, 1882, 1-33 ; Liotard, 

 Memo, on Silk in India, 1883, 18-24, 79 ; Atkinson, Gaz. N.-W. Him., 

 1884, ii., 188-200 ; Conference on Silk (held in India to meet Sir Thomas 

 Wardle), Jan. 1886 ; Liotard, Causes of Decline of Silk Indust., 1886 ; 

 Finucane, Note on.some Questions connected ^vith Silk Prod, and Trade in 

 Beng., 1887 ; Mukerji, Genesis of the Silkworm, 1889 ; Ind. For., 1880, v., 

 202-21 ; Fisher, Exper. in Silkworm Rearing at Berhampur, in Ind. For., 

 1889, xv., 125-34, 165-73 ; 1898, xxiv., 327-33 ; Cotes, Ind, Mus. Notes, i. T 

 129-56, t. viii., b ; Rein, Indust. of Japan, 1889, 185-211 ; Rept. of Silk 

 Comm., Journ. Agri.-Hort. Soc. Ind., 1891, ix., 83-99 (also many subsequent 

 papers and reports) ; Rept. Dept. Land Rev. and Agri. Beng., 1892-3, app. A ; 

 Hogdson, Silk Comm. Rept. on Seri. Exper. at Alipur, 1891-2; Seri. Exper. 

 Rept. Dept. Land Rev. and Agri. Beng., 1895-6, app. ; Monog. Silk Fabrics 

 in V. Prov. of Agra and Oudh, 1900, 1-4 ; Mukerji, Handbook of Sericult. f 

 21-40, 162-70 ; also Monog. Silk Fabrics of Beng., 1903, 1-21 ; Cordemoy, 

 Le Prod. Colon. d'Orig. Anim., 1903, 74-108 ; Silk Indust. of Burma, 

 The Empress, ..Aug. 1904 ; L'Arbousset, Silk and the Silk-ivorm (Miss E. 

 Wardle, transH), 1905 ; Hanausek, Micro. Tech. Prod. (Winton and 

 Barber, transl), 1907, 144-7. 



992 



