THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



No. 78.] JUNE, MDCCCLXX. [Price 6d. 



Silk-culture in Japan, By A. B. Farn, Esq. 



I HAVE just been reading an oflScial Keport (No. 1) by Mr. 

 Adams, Secretary to H.M.'s Legation in Japan, on the "Central 

 Silk Districts of Japan." This Report, although official, is 

 both interesting and, excepting the errors which I purpose 

 pointing out, instructive. I would therefore propose to give 

 a brief outline of the mode of rearing the larvae of the silk- 

 moth — the Bombyx Mori I presume, although nowhere in 

 this Report is the scientific name given — as described in 

 this Report. 



It appears that " the silk districts of Japan are confined 

 to the principal island, and may be divided into three groups 

 — the northern, designated under the general name of Oshin ; 

 the south-western-, including those of Echizen, Sodai, 

 Mashitasea; and the " Central.'" The mountainous districts 

 at a distance from the sea produce most eggs. The principal 

 district from which the ova of the silkworm are derived is 

 Shinshin, and it appears that in this district the culture of 

 the silkworm is carried on principally, if not solely, with the 

 object of obtaining eggs, so as to supply cultivators in other 

 parts who devote their time to the production of silk alone ; 

 for it appears that there are two distinct trades, the one of 

 egg- selling and the other of silk-selling. The mulberry, the 

 food-plant, seems universally cultivated in the central dis- 

 trict, except upon certain high levels : this exception is 

 made apparently from the frequent variations in temperature, 

 which render the cultivation of the leaf and the rearing of the 

 larvae uncertain. The mulberry is, as a rule, kept in a very 

 dwarf state, not being permitted to attain a greater height than 

 some ten to eighteen inches, though sometimes it is allowed 

 to grow to six feet in height. The trees are generally 

 propagated by layers, sometimes by cuttings, and unfrequently 

 by seed. The latter course is but rarely adopted, as it is 



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