CULTURE OF SILKWORMS'. 5 



tlie eggs to the hatching took between six and seven days, the 

 eggs being kept in a cool j^lace. The first change of skin took 

 place on the seventh day, the second on the tenth, the third on 

 the fourteenth, and on the nineteenth day the worms attained 

 maturity and began to spin.* The spinning took from two to 

 three days, so that from the laying of the eggs to the completion 

 of the cocoons takes about 30 days. It may therefore be assumed 

 that two broods could be reared in three months, or eight in the 

 year. 



The silk varies in colour from pale greenish yellow to white. 

 The Chinese, however, bred out the greenish and yellowish 

 varieties, and the strain now in the country is almost pure white. 



CHINESE MULBEEEY CULTURE. 



The mulberries were introduced from China, being brought 

 here as cuttings. They are a big leaved, long fruited variety, 

 and grow into bushes. The jungle was felled and the land was 

 then stumped and dug over to remove roots, made into shallow 

 ridges, and the cuttings planted on top of them at distances of 

 about one foot apart along tlie rows, the rows being three feet 

 apart. The land was all carefully drained by deep ditches and 

 kept free of weeds by constant hoeings, the plants being 

 manured by the refuse leaves, etc., from the rearing of the 

 worms. The plants being so close, it is not possible to allow 

 theni to grow to any size, and they are therefore kept down by 

 periodical severe prunings. As might be expected, by forcing 

 the plants to grow iinder these very artificial conditions, the 

 least neglect or disease tells very seriously on them, particularly 

 when they are being continually stripped of their leaves to feed 

 the worms. 



DISEASE OF THE MULBERRIES. 

 In July of 1891 I went to Ayer Xuning and noticed Iha 

 all the mulberries were affected by a leaf disease much restm 

 bliug in its general appearance the well-known coffee leaf disease 

 . On the young leaves faint yellowish dots were to be seen, and 

 these became larger and more yellow on the older leaves, and 

 reached a diameter of about one-third of an inch. Beneath, 

 these spots were more or less covered with bright yellow spores. 

 The leaves dropped long before, in the natural course of events, 

 they woixld have done, and the bushes looked very bare and 

 miserable in consequence. Almost the entire plantation was 

 affected, but the Chinese said that the worms would eat 

 the diseased leaf, and I saw it being given to them, and they 



* In November and December the worms change their skin once more 

 than hero stated, and are about five days longer in attaining maturity. 



