192 CULTURE OF ‘FLAX IN THE PUNJAB. 
May about Rs.12 8 per Factory seer. The specimens sent to 
the India House were submitted to the Messrs. Durant, who 
gave a most carefully drawn up report, and pronounced them 
excellent specimens of Bengal Silk, but requiring a little 
more care; and worth from 14s. to 15s. a pound in London. 
Vigorous measures have in consequence been adopted for the 
prosecution of the culture by plantations of different kinds of 
Mulberry, besides the kind which is already common in the 
country, which, in the opinion of Mr. de Verinne, is almost 
equal to the Bengal Mulberry. It is probable that some 
difficulties may be experienced from the dryness of the climate 
in the plains of the Punjab; but there can be none in the 
hilly districts, where the Tea plant is flourishing. Some of the 
native Wools also having been highly approved of, twenty-five 
Merino Rams have been imported by the Government from 
Australia, for the further improvement of the breed of Sheep. 
That some parts of the district are well adapted for the 
production of fibres, is evident from the Kote Kangra Hemp, 
to be afterwards described, proving one of the strongest of 
known fibres. The Agri-Horticultural Society of the Punjab, 
therefore, have begun their experimental cultures in a very 
favorable locality, from the great variety of soil and of climate 
within the command of their members. If the Geography of 
Plants and of Animals is attended to, as well as the Principles 
of Culture in new situations, little doubt need be entertained 
respecting the success of the above cultures as well as of 
Flax. 
Though Linseed is so extensively produced throughout 
India, we hear nowhere of the fibre being valued and sepa- 
rated. But when we get to the confines of cotton-producing 
districts—that is, into the Punjab—we find that some Flax, 
prepared by the natives on their own account, is separated in 
the neighbourhood of Lahore. For we are told that the stalks 
of the Linseed plant yield a fibre, which is made into twine, 
and used for the network of their charpaes or native beds. 
This information was elicited in consequence of inquiries origi- 
nated by Mr. Frere, the distinguished Commissioner of Sindh 
from his desire to promote the culture of Linseed in the 
province under his charge. The fibre, however, of the Linseed 
plant is separated in still more northern parts, as some seed 
