THE TECHNOLOGIST. [March 1, 1864. 



362 SERICULTURE IN OUDH. 



Cashmere eggs ; silk from eggs acclimatised at Lahore ; and silk from 

 eggs acclimatised at Seetapore. The remainder, twelve skeins, weighing 

 thirteen and a half chittacks, I send loose, and from it you will be able 

 to judge of the quality of the silk. That from Cashmere eggs I con- 

 sider very fine, especially in colour ; in that quality it is superior to the 

 other two samples, both of which are very much alike, and both appear 

 to me very good silk. The thread is finer than the Cashmere, it being 

 of that quality called 5-6, while the Cashmere is 6-7, or one cocoon 

 coarser. 



" I also forward a few small skeins of silk reeled by men of this 

 district. The white skein was reeled by the head Mallee of the Public 

 Garden, and is really very good silk, and, with a little more teaching 

 the man would be a good reeler. The other skeins are about as 

 good as the silk commonly reeled in the native Filatures of Bengal. 

 Two men sent by the Oel Eajah reeled a little silk, and the Rajah has 

 promised to send them back when there is any more silk reeled here. 

 He has taken much interest in the experiment, and the worms he reared 

 turned out ,very well. Two men from Fyzabad also reeled off a few 

 cocoons. I also send one seer, twelve chittacks of chassum, or refuse 

 silk. It is the outer floss of the cocoons, and from it a great deal of 

 the common silkcloth is made in England. Its value is about forty 

 rupees per maund. There is, in addition, about half a maund of cocoons 

 which would not reel off properly, and from which a coarse kind of silk 

 can be made. It is from this silk the cloth commonly known as 

 Bhaugulpore silk, is made. Its value is about five rupees a seer. 



"I have received from Bengal a supply of the Bengal monthly 

 worm. These eggs hatched on the 24th instant, and I made over the 

 worms to the Bengalese. They are thriving very well, and I believe 

 the rains will be found a very favourable season for rearing silkworms 

 in Oiulh. 



" I am sorry to report that the out-turn of silk has not been nearly 

 so large as I expected. The silk reelers did not arrive till late in the 

 season. As you are aware a delay of a month was caused by Mr. Pal- 

 mer not forwarding the money for the reelers to Mr. Turnbull. When 

 the men did arrive, there was another delay for the reasons before 

 stated. In the meantime the cocoons had been kept for a long time, 

 and when the damp weather set in, a great portion of them became in- 

 jured by the chrysalis inside rotting, and rendering the cocoon unfit to 

 reel off. Besides when cocoons are kept for any length of time, the 

 produce suffers very much. The cocoons spun after the hot weather set 

 in, were of rather inferior quality too. It is to these reasons I attribute 

 the falling off in the quantity of silk. In future, however, things pro- 

 mise a very different result, as the reelers are on the spot, and all the 

 necessary apparatus ready for reeling off the cocoons as soon as they are 

 spun. I would also venture to hope that the quality of the silk will be 

 found to make some amends for the sniallness of the quantity. 



