Calcutta.] 



ORIENTAL COMMERCE, 



301 



The waste land is opened with the spade in the month of April ; good soil 

 is brought, and enough is thrown on to raise it one cubit The ground is 

 well broken with the plough, and levelled with an implement which in form 

 resembles a ladder, but which supplies the place of a harrow. The mul- 

 berry is planted in October ; the slips are cut a span long, thrown into a 

 hole, covered from the sun, and are continually watered until at the end of 

 a fortnight they begin to vegetate. They are then transplanted into the 

 field, in holes distant a span from each other, and nearly one span deep ; 

 four or five cuttings are placed obliquely in each hole, which is then filled 

 up, so as to cover the slips with a finger of earth closely pressed down. As 

 soon as the plants appear, in December or January, the field is weeded. In 

 April, when they are grown to the height of a cubit, they are topped, so as 

 to leave a stem one hand high ; otherwise it is thought that the leaves would 

 be bitter and hard, and that the worms would refuse them. A hand-hoeing 

 is now given, and a fortnight afterwards the leaves are ready for use. The 

 plant is then cut down a little above the root, and the silkworms are fed 

 with the leaves ; the field is weeded, if necessary, and another crop is ob- 

 tained in June, and a third in July ; but the leaves of this last crop only are 

 gathered without cutting the stem, because that operation at so late a season 

 would, it is apprehended, injure the plant. The field is again weeded, and 

 a fourth crop is ready in September ; after gathering it, the ground is 

 ploughed several times, and levelled with the implement above mentioned. 

 In November a hand-hoeing assists vegetation, and accelerates the best crop, 

 which is cut in December ; this is followed by a hand-hoeing and weeding, 

 and is succeeded by another crop in March. The same course recommences, 

 and the field, if sufficiently attended and cultivated, will continue to be 

 productive during many years. 



Bengal raw silk is divided into two classes ; that reeled according to 

 the old method, commonly called country wound, and that reeled according 

 to the new or Italian method. The places where the former is manufactured 

 are Comercolly, Jungypore, llungpore, and Bauleah ; and those where the 

 latter is prepared, are Comercolly, Malda, Kadnagore, Jungypore, Rung- 

 pore, Bauleah, Cossimbuzar, and Gonatea : these are also distinguished by 

 the manufacturers' names, as Beecher, Frushard, CoIIinson, kc. 



The leading point which determines the value of Bengal raw silk, is 

 cleanness, or, being free from knibs or knots known amopgst the manufac- 

 turers by the appellation of " foul evenness of thread is also most essential, 

 but silk free from foul, will very rarely be uneven, and if foul, cannot be 

 «ven ; indeed, the terras foul and uneven in this case may be considered 

 synonymous. 



