-Ill 



LIVE STOCK. 



Silkworm Cultivation in Galle. 



By E. Ludovici. 



[A paper on the culture of Silkworms in Galle, read before the Galle 

 District Agricultural Association on the 16fch February, 1906. ] 



In this paper I shall endeavour to give a short account of J t-he' cultiva- 

 tion of the silkworm in Galle, the different stages which the worm undergoes, 

 and any other interesting information which I have been able to gather about 

 sericulture. 



About the middle of 1905 I had given to me in Colombo some eggs of* 

 the moth of the Eri silkworm which hatched out into about fifty tiny worms. 

 These worms were fed first on tender Castor leaves and then on more mature 

 leaves. On the 17th day they commenced to leave their tray, and by wandering 

 about attracted a large number of small red ants which attacked and destroyed 

 about thirty of them; of the remainder nineteen spun cocoons and one remained 

 without spinning, and gradually took the shape of a chrysalis but did not develop 

 into a moth. This one I presume was also attacked by the ants and was too 

 weak to spin a cocoon. From these twelve I was soon able toj get a large 

 number of eggs or seeds which hatched out, and I was able to distribute a 

 large number of worms. Every successive crop there was so large an increase 

 in the number of worms that it was impossible to get enough Castor leaves 

 to feed them on. I then had to feed them on Sooriya, Shoeflower, Hick and 

 Eramadu. The worms did not eat any of these leaves as freely as they ate 

 the Castor, and the consequence was that a good number died and others did 

 not grow to the same size as those fed on Castor leaves, and the cocoons also 

 were small and were not of such good quality. 



One gentleman to whom I had given worms, and who afterwards had 

 about ten or twenty thousand, lost every one of them in two days by feeding 

 them on the Waleramudu leaves, as it was impossible to get sufficient Castor 

 leaves. After a time the cultivation of the worm had to be entirely given up, 

 and so far as I know there is nobody in Galle now who has any, although I 

 distributed eggs and worms to hundreds of people including school children. 



The Chinese appear to have been the first to cultivate the silkworm, and to 

 have discovered that the cocoon was so serviceable to man, and China is still 

 the chief silk-producing country in the world. Sericulture was first introduced 

 into Europe in the 6th century, and it was then confined to Constantinople, 

 but soon spread to Greece, Italy and Spain, and much later to England. The 

 worm belongs to the family Bombycidae, the most familiar species being the 

 Bombyx Mori and the Bombyx Ricini commonly called the Eri worm. The 

 Eri worm is the only variety whose cultivation I attempted. It is said to be 

 largely cultivated in Assam. The silk is white, soft and durable, and is said to 

 improve by frequent washing instead of deteriorating. After the cocoon has 

 been spun it takes about seventeen days for the moth to pierce it and come 

 out. The eggs hatch out in about nine or ten days, and the worm after it hatches 

 takes about seventeen days before it commences to spin, so that the cycle of 

 changes in the worm takes place in about forty-three or forty-four days. 



Before undertaking the cultivation of the worm Castor trees will have 

 to be extensively planted, and one must be prepared to devote a good deal of 

 time and attention to be able to cultivate the worm with success, as the trays 

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