

HEARING SILKWORMS. 75 



Note 3. 



A farmer of Mitcham, Australia, has discovered 

 that the mulching of fruit trees with eucalyptus 

 leaves is a sure preventive of blight, fungi, and 

 insect pests. He says he has trees so treated, 

 w-hich are entirely free from pests, while others 

 close-by, not so treated, are almost worthless. 

 It might be^well to use some around mulberry 

 trees to prevent any insects. 



Hundreds of years ago, and ever since, the 

 mulberry tree is spoken of as being always free 

 from indigenous pests of all kinds. But experi- 

 ence has shown that if they are in close prox- 

 imity to trees covered with scale, the scale will 

 be carried either by the wind or by insects, and 

 will rest on the mulberry. 



It is best, therefore, not to have scale-breeding 

 trees near the mulberry grove. It is well to 

 have a eucalyptus hedge round each grove. The 

 leaves can then be used for mulching and for 

 fumigating the cocooneries. 



Note 4^ 



WEIGHTED SILKS. 



Sometimes ninety per cent of the material 

 (i. e., silk goods) is of foreign substance. At the 

 present day the practice of "weighting" silks by 

 means of astringent extracts, salts of tin, silicate, 



