xiv 



REPORT ON 



Report. unfavorable season, could produce ; that the 

 coarse silks could not be much improved ; that 

 it was the finer sizes that required reformation, 

 which if accomplished, the Company would view 

 with astonishment the advanced price, and eager 

 demand for it." The report proceeds, in speaking 

 of certain silk which had for some time been 

 received from Pudapore, that its quality was so 

 vastly superior to any other Bengal silk, that it 

 was supposed to be reared from the produce of 

 worms from Valencia, Fossembrone, Messina, &c., 

 which might suggest a hint to try some European 

 eggs, together with a new method of cultivating 

 the mulberry-tree. So luxuriant a soil, with so 

 happy a climate for vegetation as Bengal was 

 described to be, might possibly make the leaves 

 of the mulberry-tree too fibrous, or the fibres too 

 tough ; it was therefore suggested to adopt the 

 practice as in Italy, by sawing off the tap-root of 

 the tree, which being thus deprived would draw 

 less juices from the earth." 



It must be obvious, that the introduction of the 

 Italian worms into India could not have been 

 effected without great difficulty, on account of the 

 length of the voyage, and the danger of the worms 

 perishing from being deprived of food during the 



passage. 



