HINTS ON SILKWORM-REARING 

 IN THE PUNJAB. 



PART I. THE CULTIVATION AND CARE OF 

 MULBERRY TREES. 



1. So far as is known, all the local varieties of mul- varieties 

 berry are suitable for feeding silkworms in the Punjab. ^ a ^ for 

 Plants of the common black or white small-fruited country 

 varieties, with large leaves, not serrated at the edges or deeply 



lobed, are best. The Phillipine mulberry (morus multi- 

 caulis) is useful for producing leaf early in the season. It 

 bursts into leaf one or two weeks before the ordinary varie- 

 ties, and it thus allows of worms being hatched out earlier 

 than usual. The same object can be attained by cultivating 

 the local mulberry as a bush. The leaves of the Phillipine 

 mulberry or bush mulberry are only suitable for young silk- 

 worms up to the second moult. 



2. The mulberry can be propagated from either seed Methods of 

 or cuttings, but as seedlings, when small, are very liable to P r P a s ation 

 be destroyed by excessive drought, sun or moisture, it is not 

 advisable to follow this method of propagation. Propaga- 

 tion by cuttings is the simplest method ; these should be 



made from strong shoots of the current year's growth re- _ 

 moved from the parent tree as soon as the leaves have fallen 

 in the autumn. The sets sLould be cut in lengths of one 

 foot, all those smaller than an ordinary lead pencil being 

 discarded, and only strong well-ripened lengths being retained 

 for planting. In making cuttings, great care must be taken 

 to see that both ends are cut as near to a bud as possible 

 without injuring it. This remark specially refers to the 

 lower end which is put into the ground. As the cuttings 

 are made, they should be laid one way (namely, all the buds 

 facing in one direction) and tied up in bundles of 100 each, 

 and as each bundle is completed, it should be buried under 

 a few inches of moist earth in a shady place : this will keep 

 them fresh until they can be planted, and by laying the cut- 

 tings one way in the bundle, the planter has not to examine , 

 each one before planting to see that he has it the right end 

 up. 



