THE EAST INDIA COMPANY 



of cpooons. llw HickUost of won,,* and under Ihs most usjfarsurshfa aaaaue 

 possible, rhij ..'.1 bo i,-, .,,..,,., ,. , . : ... .-...,, 



mill thr mulberry, and a 



Kox ,uu.'h \Valhch and !.(, , whloh culminated to ths attstnpt 



to adopt th.- Italian standard . 



I.U-ll MNM.MII. 



The great difficult) in conveying Uva sgos from lu , aw*iw to liav* 



-U-d t uo altemath . : Ut, to got luKan cgK* faun St. llrlnu* M ImK 



IK! Ln.i. t.i obtain China Mock. In 1771 eggs wi- CMa* ste. 



cured tmm China, un.l at th,. HUM,,, t,,,,. 

 In.li.i. In 1771 it wu* report. 



M. i.ir successfully h d in a rMMaljl< 



ull expect. nt ,o,,s. \\ w a^ 



"I'lpuny t,, .i ,. I (,y whi.-h In* VTM enabl. 



\alucd advice t<> tli- manufactararl in India. It w..ul.| .-,- . -h ipo^e 



i.. follow th<- course of even to farther. The purpose in view ha* bsea ssrrsd, 

 iniinoly to exemplify the tmlu,'ht. India Company and 



tin- far reaching efforts which th. I m their <-nd<<vouni to improve 



anil extend tho Indian nilk production. It NI-.-I .-iily. tlnTff.,n. mlckxltruit 

 ih.- Hnanl of Trade in Calcutta <>Ntul>lixlii-i in 1K32 an i>X|wrinirntal filature 

 in ll.purah for the purport of iiiHtitiitin IKUUH and experiment*, with rniunT 



u view to iiuj)ro\L- the luauulacturc ,,l raw Mlk. I hi . u.i iitie 



the operations of tho Compan 



Under the fostering care, th.-tcforr. of th, ,m 



silk trade prospered greatly. Durin- ih.- .-.irl\ \.'.ir ..f it exictoae* M had 

 only Turkey, China and Japan to contend again --ver. the 



efforts to acclimatise the silkworm in Italy and Kium-.-. and to engraft aoriculiuro 

 among the regular industries of these coiuitriea, were crowned with uooeM. and 

 India had thereby to face formidable rivals. The East India Company gradually 

 also found new and more immediate outlets for their enterprise, and nlk. in 

 quence, passed into the hands of private persons. Discouraged by the Ins 

 demand for Indian raw silk, the industry fell U-hind and degenerated until it 

 was held that Indian silk could not compete with that of Europe. 



Many writers had reported that the cocoons of the Bilkwonn that feed* on Carding of 

 the leaves of the castor-oil plant could not be reeled, but that tho Nativm of Silk. 

 Assam carded these and spun them like cotton (see pp. 1011. 1013; abo 

 Roxburgh, Trans. Linn. Soc., 1804, vii., 45). Up to 1858 no advantage wa 

 taken of that fact in Europe, but in the year mentioned, the discovery was at 

 last made in England that the silk waste and wild silks of India might be utilised 

 in the manner mentioned. A new demand arofm for these materials, and, in 

 consequence, a complete change took place in tho nature and location of the 

 Indian silk trade. The waste silk of the village reeling business found a ready 

 sale. A market was created for wild silks, and an export trade made its appear* 

 ance in official returns under the heading of waste silk. Moreover, the reeled 

 silk of India, about the period indicated, was recognised as possessing special 

 features of its own for which a distinct demand existed. To Sir Thomas Wardla 

 is due the credit of having urged, and successfully accomplished, the renewal of 

 the efforts to improve the methods of reeling. He pressed for the introduction 

 of better reeling machinery, even although M. Gallois liad pointed out that he 

 had some time previously introduced the TavaUttf contono machine, and found 

 that the silk made by the ordinary process was quite as good. It has, however, 

 been freely admitted that great improvements might be carried out by more 

 care in reeling on the lines advocated by Wardle. 



FOREIGN TRADE. Milburu (Rise and Prog, of 0* Silk Trade, in BxporU. 

 Or. Comm., ii., 244-60) gives tho early returns of India. The first consign- 

 ments of wound silk from India to England were made in 1772, and during 

 the five succeeding years the returns of that nature averaged 180,000 Ib. 

 In 1785 they came to 324,307 Ib. ; in 1795, to 380,352 Ib. About this 

 time the Company's purchases were made by contract, and it is recorded 

 that a loss of 884,744 had been sustained. The total imports of Great vm 

 Britain in raw and thrown silk were in 1773 returned as 777,373 Ib., of 

 which, under the heading of raw silk, were 145,777 Ib. from Bengal ; 

 203,401 Ib. from China ; 187,099 Ib. from Italy and Turkey ; and 6,18 



1021 



