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the sericulturist to destruction. Wherever the mulberry is found it is no 

 doubt " capable of giving food to the silkworms"; this is a mere truism, 

 but does it follow as a natural consequence that where the mulberry is 

 capable of growing there the worms must necessarily thrive upon its leaves ? 

 The logic of the argument runs somewhat thus, " John Bull is fond of 

 beef, and in a climate suited to his constitution will thrive upon it," but it 

 does not therefore follow that he will thrive upon it in a climate injurious 

 to his constitution ? It is a well known fact that the food of mankind 

 varies in every climate of the world ; the coldest regions require the most 

 nourishing and stimulating food, but in tropical climes that same nourish- 

 ment would be productive only of disease. Man can exist in every climate, 

 but as a species he does not thrive equally well in all ; and so is it with the 

 mulberry tree ; it will grow, but it does not therefore follow that in every 

 clime it will yield the same quantity and quality of aliment ; to grow is one 

 thing but to thrive is quite another ; the leaves will everywhere be " capable 

 of giving food," because that consists of the fibrous portion of the leaf, but 

 if those substances which go to the production of silk be wanting either 

 wholly or in part, little or none will be furnished for the fabrication of the 

 cocoon. I have already stated above that where the leaves are deficient in 

 silk producing properties the worms will require more frequent supplies, and 

 that the rest of the insect being thus interrupted, and greater labour imposed 

 upon it, the effect must eventually be deterioration. To support my argument 

 I invite the practical sericulturist to look round on nature that he may see 

 with his own eyes how, after feeding, every animal seeks repose. Why is 

 this ? Simply because it is ordained that continued exercise after feeding 

 impedes digestion. This was many years ago well proved by an experiment 

 tried upon a brace of greyhounds ; both were well fed ; then one was chained 

 up and left at home, while the other was taken to the field and coursed. 

 When the coursing ceased both dogs were killed, and it was then found 

 that the sleeping dog had nearly digested his food, while that of the other 

 remained in statu quo. 



Again, we know that every part of India will nourish mulberry trees, but 

 at the same time we at present know positively nothing in regard to the 

 quality of the leaves, except that from the repeated failure of the worms 

 wherever they have been introduced we are entitled to infer that the quality 

 of the nourishment afforded, together with the heat, are alike unsuited to 

 the worms. Even with respect to the indigenous trees, their existence does 

 not prove the districts in which they grow to be suitable to the imported 

 worms ; on the contrary, nature herself, by having placed no indigenous 

 species upon such trees, at once gives warning that she never intended them 

 to exist there. In the Himalaya she has acted on another principle, having 

 furnished the indigenous trees with a species peculiar to them and the 

 climate in which they grow, by which means she has proclaimed these 

 districts to be adapted to the production of silk, and backs the assertion 

 by the further evidence derivable from the existence of eleven other species of 

 the Bombycidse, nourished upon various indigenous trees. What plainer 

 speaking man can desire I am at a loss to conceive. If then nature has 

 placed indigenous species upon the indigenous trees of the Himalaya, while 

 she has placed none upon those of the lowland mulberry, are we not fully 

 justified in declaring that as the book of nature was intended to be man's 

 earliest guide and primer in appropriating to himself the wisdom of his 

 Maker, so it must be mere wilful folly to attempt by artificial means to 

 obtain results which nature plainly tells us are contrary to her plans and the 

 wisdom displayed around us. At the same time, however, although she 

 refuses to introduce the mulberry worms of other climes, she does not leave 

 the lowland provinces a blank, but on the other hand points out that perfect 

 suitableness for the cultivation of those other wild species which she has 

 everywhere bountifully scattered over the length and breadth of this vast 

 and generally neglected Empire. 



