SILK 



Kashmir 



Gurdaspur. 



Kashmir. 



Wild Insect. 



Maharaja 

 Rambir Singh. 



Pure Cellular 

 Seed. 



Eecent Results. 



Profit. 



Looms. 



Afghani- 

 stan. 



Baluchi- 

 stan. 



Mustang, Khelit. 



INDIAN SILKS 



Kashmir insect in Amritsar, where an abundant supply of leaves from standard 

 mulberries were to be had. Passing over many other investigators and adven- 

 turers in sericulture, we come to the time when Lister & Co. commenced opera- 

 tions in Gurdaspur and Capt. Bartlett in Kangra. But all this has been already 

 told so fully in the Dictionary that it seems only necessary to refer the reader to 

 that work. [The following publications in sequence of date may assist the 

 inquirer : Liotard, I.e. 34-46 ; Cookson, Monog. on the Silk Indust. Pb., 1886-7 ; 

 Mukerji, Sept. on Sericult., I.e., 1890; Hailey, Monog. Silk Indust. Pb., 1899; 

 Hoahiarpur Dist., Panjab Gaz., 1904, 135-8.] 



KASHMIR. Lawrence ( Valley of Kashmir, 1895, 367-9) says that Mirza Haidar 

 in his history (A.D. 1536) alludes to the abundance of mulberry trees in Kashmir 

 and to the leaves being used for the food of the silkworm. Adams ( Wanderings 

 of a Nat. in Ind. (ed. 1867), 198-9, 269) describes the silkworm industry as seen 

 by him. Drew (Jummoo and Kashmir, 1875, 409) speaks of the silkworms of 

 Gilgit being reared in small quantity and of the worm being smaller than that 

 of Kashmir. Several writers mention a small wild insect seen on the mulberry 

 trees of Kashmir, the cocoons of which were collected and sold. Liotard (Memo, 

 on Silk in India, 1883, 46-55) traces the industry to his time and gives tables of 

 statistics from 1869 to 1881. The effort made in 1869 by the Maharaja Rarnbir 

 Singh to extend and improve the industry is mentioned by most of the writers 

 on this subject. The cocoons raised in 1876 were valued at 1,70,064 (Indian 

 rupees). But disease appeared, and the industry rapidly declined until taken in 

 hand by Lawrence. In his address to the Society of Arts on April 26, 1896, he 

 tells the story of the efforts that had been put forth to resuscitate the industry. 

 This is followed up by a series of reports and official correspondence (Agri. 

 Ledg., 1898, No. 10). In his report, dated September 15, 1900, addressed to Sir 

 Adelbert Talbot, Resident in Kashmir, Mr. C. B. Walton, Director of Sericulture, 

 narrates the work accomplished during the year. The crop attained came to 

 11,019 maunds of cocoons, which when reeled was worth Rs. 7,71,000, which 

 represented 100 per cent, on the cost of production. N. G. Mukerji (Rept. 

 Sericult., I.e. 117) gives many interesting details and practical observations. 

 He mentions that he had procured for the State from Signor Susani of Italy, 

 100 ounces of purely cellular seed of the three best classes of cocoons. Lastly, 

 Sir Thomas Wardle (Kashmir, Its New Silk Industry, 1904) tells in some 

 360 pages the rise and present position of the silk industry of Kashmir. 

 He gives particulars of the supply of eggs personally procured, and of the 

 machinery purchased on behalf of the State and which he had taken out to 

 Kashmir and seen established in working order. He also affords details of the 

 subsequent results attained. In a note written by the officiating superintendent 

 of sericulture, Mr. H. D. Douglas, in 1906, it would appear that in 1903 the crop 

 of cocoons was 10,000 maunds; in 1904, 13,000 maunds; and in 1905, 23,000 

 maunds. The net profit to the State in 1905 came to 1 lakhs of rupees, and in 

 1906 to over 3 lakhs. In the year April 1905 to 1906, 600 bales of silk of 150 Ib. 

 weight were reeled. The price realised at the beginning of the year was about 

 12s. a Ib., whilst later 15s. were obtained. Last year 10 looms were started to 

 produce cloth in competition with Japan, and, these proving successful, 200 more 

 looms had been ordered and arrangements made for these to be in working order 

 by June 19, 1906. Thus the revived industry bids fair to be of the utmost 

 value not to Kashmir alone but to the British Empire. 



SIKKIM, NEPAL AND KUMAON, BALUCHISTAN, ETC. Very little infor- 

 mation exists regarding the attempts that have been made to establish a regular 

 silk industry on the Himalaya except at Dehra Dun, to which reference has already 

 been made. Further to the west in Afghanistan and Baluchistan there has 

 always existed a small industry. Thus Moorcroft (Travels, 1841, ii., 416) mentions 

 that the town of Yang Arekh in Bokhara is supported chiefly by its filatures of 

 raw silk. There are two kinds of silk, white and yellow, exported to Kabul and 

 Peshawar. This is the survival of the early traffic from Central Asia to India 

 (repeatedly alluded to in connection with Khotan) conveyed down the Indus 

 river to Bombay and Surat. 



Speaking of Baluchistan, it may be observed that the present industry is 

 due very largely to Mr. Rogers, who, at his own expense, conducted in 1901 

 experiments at Kirani near Quetta. The silk produced was so favourably 

 spoken of that efforts have been since put forth by Government to extend the 

 adventure, the locality selected being Mustung in Khelat, where many villages 

 were known to possess large numbers of mulberry trees. His Highness the Khan 



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