Live Stock. 



558 



[June, 1909. 



silk-worms, hi reeling silk and preparing 

 it for market. The little farm has 

 answered these purposes admirably. 



Mr. Tata was familiar with Japanese 

 methods. He considered them well suit- 

 ed to India. He got for the supervision 

 of his farm one Japanese Expert of the 

 artisan class and another who knew 

 sufficient English to act as interpreter. 



The fittings and reeling machinery for 

 this small factory were mostly imported 

 from Japan. They are simple, durable, 

 inexpensive and efficient. They were 



Eat up by the Japanese Artisan Expert 

 elped by an Indian mistri and coolies. 

 The Japanese Expert and his wife trained 

 native girls of 10 to 14 years of age 

 to do the reeling. I have repeatedly 

 seen these girls at this work. The work 

 was excellently done. 



I compare in the accompanying tabu- 

 lated statement this work as done by a 

 fieldman of my office after three months' 

 training at Bangalore, and the work 

 done by the most expert reeler in the 

 factory— a young girl. 



Reeler. 



o 



°§ 



occupied 

 reeling. 



occupied 

 re-reeling. 



ikages of 

 ire at time 

 e-reeling- 





o 



H 



g'.S 

 H 



Bre; 



fit 

 ofr 







H. M. 



H. M. 





Girl 



1,500 



G 



2 34 



Nil 



Fieldman 



1,500 



U 30 



1 o 



26 





"o 



Daniers to test silk 





J3 



REELER. 



bfl 



m 



Middle of 

 reel. 



1 End of 

 | reel. 



Average. 



Waste of si 



Pure silk ( 

 tained. 













Ozs. 



Ozs. 



Girl 



Fieldman 



/ 14 

 \ 14 



f i6i 



13 

 14 

 17 

 18 



13 

 14* 



l6 i 

 15? 



13— 33 



14- -I6 



16-33 

 16-66 



j 1-54 

 } 1-86 



3-40 

 2-89 



The motive power for reeling and re- 

 reeling by 12 operators was done easily 

 by a woman slowly working a wooden 

 lever, and this power could have easily 

 done much more work. The 12 gills 

 could, in a day, reel and re-reel about 

 2 lbs. silk, which was worth at the time 

 of my last visit lis. Qd. per pound in 

 England. The value of the refuse silk 

 was a considerable additional item of 

 income, but was not estimated. 



The work of mulberry cultivation, 

 rearing silk-worms, improving varieties 

 of silk-worms by cross-breeding, detect- 

 ing diseases by means of the microscope, 

 preserving cocoons for seed and for 



hanking, pressing and packing the silk 

 for market, was thoroughly done. Ap- 

 prentices were taken in free for instruc- 

 tion. A three months' course was re- 

 quired for this purpose. 



Bush mulberries only were grown. 

 The rainfall, average temperature and 

 soil at Ban galore and generally through- 

 out the Mysore plateau, appear to be 

 well suited for the cultivation of bush 

 mulberries. Those grown were three 

 grafted Japanese varieties, one Italian 

 variety and four others, probably 

 Indian. The Japanese varieties cannot 

 be propagated from cuttings ; the others 

 can, Plants of the Japanese varieties 

 and cuttings of the other varieties can, 

 I understand, be supplied to those in- 

 terested in sericulture. 



The soil of the garden is a good deep 

 dark red loam. Cuttings are first put in 

 a nursery, and when they have rooted, 

 are planted out 5 to feet apart in 

 each direction. In order to maintain a 

 succession of young leaves throughout 

 the year, the various plots are pruned 

 in regular succession and irrigation 

 given when required. Crude sewage 

 and night-soil are used as manure with 

 excellent results. 



Young leaves are required for the 

 larva? when newly hatched. If there is 

 a full supply of these and of more mature 

 leaves when the worms are larger, six 

 or seven broods are reared in 12 months, 



Disease prevails extensively in Mysore. 

 The following results were obtained 

 from seed cocoons obtained locally :— 



(1) 015 moths laid eggs. 



(2) 114 of these moths were diseased as 



determined by miser oscopical ex- 

 amination ; therefore the eggs 

 were destroyed. 



(3) The larva? from 501 batches of eggs 



hatched out. 



(4) These silk-worms ate 3,560 lbs. of 



green leaves. 



(5) The leaves were obtained from 2*41 



acres of bush mulberry in full 

 vigour of growth, 

 (0) 270 lbs, of cocoons were obtained. 



At Bangalore, bush mulberry plan 

 tations get worn out even with care 

 ful pruning and cultivation in a few 

 years. Young plantations to replace old 

 should, therefoie, be foimed from time 

 to time. Rolatkn is desiiable, A ten- 

 acre ai ea should pi cbably have 5 acres 

 under plantain ns 1 ti j.bJnl cd I'm ihue 

 or four ytsis tr hi fell, aid 5 .*cies 

 m dei a Limuy. yciu g ph ntaticrs ai-d 



