IX EXTRA-TROPICAL COUNTRIES. 197 



quality from 3s. to 6s. per Ib. The eggs of the silk-moth sell at a 

 price from 16s. to 2 per ounce, and in 1870 Japan had to provide 

 two millions of ounces of silk ova for Europe, where the worms had 

 extensively fallen victims to disease. Instances have been recorded 

 in Calif ornia, - where 8 tons of leaves were gathered in the first 

 year from the mulberry trees of 1 acre, and 30 tons in the 

 next year. As an example of the profit thus to be realized a 

 Californian fact may be cited, according to which 700 were the 

 clear gain from 3J acres, tfye working expenses having been 93. 

 The Commissioner of Agriculture of the United States has esti- 

 mated that under ordinary circumstances an acre should support 

 from 700 to 1,000 mulberry trees, producing 5,000 Ibs. of leaves fit 

 for food when four years old. On this quantity of leaves can be 

 reared 140,000 worms, from which ova at a net profit ranging from 

 80 to 240 per acre will be obtained by the work of one person. 

 Mr. C. Brady, of Sydney, thinks the likely proceeds of silk culture 

 to be from 60 to 150 for the acre. The discrepancies in 

 calculations of this kind are explained by differences in clime, soil, 

 attention, and treatment. 



The White Mulberry Tree has been very copiously distributed from 

 Melbourne Botanic Gardens for many years. A very palatable 

 fruit is obtained from a variety cultivated in Beloochistan and 

 Afghanistan. Morus Tatarica (L.) resembles M. alba. Its juicy 

 fruit is insipid and small. The leaves are not generally used for 

 silkworms. 



The results of Mr. Brady's experience on the varieties of the Morus 

 alba are as follows : In the normal form the fruits are white with 

 a purplish tinge more or less deep ; the bark is pale ; the leaf is 

 also of a pale hue, not very early nor very tender, nor very 

 abundant. It may be grown on moist ground as long as such is 

 drained, or it will live even on poor, loose, gravelly soil, bordering 

 on running water. The Cevennes variety is a free grower, affords 

 a large quantity of leaves, though of rather thick consistence ; all 

 varieties of the Morus Bombyx like these leaves at all stages of 

 their age. It is also called the Hose-leaved variety. The silk 

 which it yields is substantial in quantity and also good in quality. 

 It does best on rich dry slopes. The bushy Indian variety has a 

 fine leaf of a beautiful green, which, though light in weight, is 

 abundantly produced. It can be cut back to the stem three or four 

 times a year ; the leaves are flat, long, and pointed, possess a fine 

 aroma, and are relished by every variety of the ordinary silk 

 insect, though all do not thrive equally well on it. The silk derived 

 from this variety is excellent, but not always so heavy in quantity 

 as that produced from the rosy variety. It prefers rich, low-lying 

 bottoms, is a greedy feeder, but may thus be made to cover an 

 extraordinary breadth of alluvial or manured land in a marvellous 



