136 



EAW-SILK. 



(K.) after the first two or three years. The time, how- 

 ^ResTdenT ^ver, which one set of cuttings will produce the 

 at Bauieah. ^,-^}^ uutrition, depends much on the quality 



of the soil and the attention paid to render it fer- 

 tile. Some fields will not last more than four or 

 five years. The plant ot* shrub is used when it has 

 obtained its proper growth according to the sea- 

 son, and whilst the leaf is fresh and nutritious. 

 The height to which it grows before it is cut varies, 

 as the weather may be favourable or otherwise : it 

 may be stated from two to four feet. The plant, 

 when required, is cut three or four inches from the 

 ground ; excepting the rainy season, when the 

 stumps are allowed to be eight or ten inches in 

 length. 



After the plant has been used for the worm in 

 July, it is allowed to grow to waste, in order that 

 the rains or inundations may not destroy or injure 

 it. The rains having subsided, the plant is cut 

 down, the land ploughed and dressed, as may be 

 requisite for the grand bund of the year, called the 

 November bund. But the worm (composed of the 

 dessy description) does not come to maturity 

 before the end of December and the beginning of 

 January. 



The next bund, which is called the March bund, 

 rears both the annual and dessy cocoons, as may 

 be taken up by the villagers. The annual worm 

 on the Bauieah side of the Ganges has not been so 

 extensively matured as on the island of Cossim- 



buzar, 



