December i, 1888.] THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTURIST. 
4it 
et plenty of rain aud exceas of moisture followed 
y as dry weather afterwards. Ho it would not be 
a mutter lor surprise to bear of the failure of cotton 
in most places where this kind of s>;ed were used. 
The Egyptian, Brazilian aud i'ijiuu cotton would, 1 
think, thrive better in our districts, as they can 
very well stand the extremes of weather. I havo 
found tho Egyptian cotton to stand three weeks of 
dry weather just after planting and as much rain 
alu-r that without any apparent injury, whilst all 
thu Tinuovelly planted along with them suffered a 
sad end. W. A. T). S. 
Oi:i; M ANCIIUKIAN NILKWOKMS : 
Thu Oak-silk Ikdustby : No. I. 
Tho curse of China, as I have soeu it, is the want 
of fuel. Unless, indeed, one go a step further back 
aud say, the true blight is in the apathy of the 
people, who are informed that they have more fui 1 
stored UUdeigiOUlid than any country iu the world, 
and yet mukts n> proper < ft'urt to use it. Aud then 
logic compels as to go further and say, the poor peoplo 
are ground between two curses: seperstition, which 
makes more of luoky influences than of mineral 
wealth ; and certain unfortunate defects of govern- 
ment, whereby magistrates are c. mpelhd to make 
mei chiindiso of their ollices, aud are especially tempted 
to enrich themselves at the expense of new industries, 
it us' d to be In art-breaking to me to see tho utter 
desolation wrought on the hills in Shantung. Nothing 
was safe from tue tuel gatheier : everything breakable 
was brokeu ; everything scrapeable was spraped ; what 
could not he dug out was hacked ; ami a general 
spirit oi destructive recklessness seemed to animate 
young aud old alike, the hereditary transmission of long 
years of over-p ipulatiou. It seemed a relief to come to 
Manchuria, aud to find one's self almost always within 
touch, always within easy travel, of luxurious vegetation 
and wood-clad hills. But alas ! every ten years tells us 
what strides we are making towards the guilty poverty 
of Shantung. We are not making much of our 
mineral wealth, aud we are smashing up our timber. 
Thirty years a«o, the east of the province was one 
unbroken belt of forest. The timber stood everywhere 
in tho settlor's way, Some little of it he got floated 
down the Yalu, or dragged to the cities. But it was 
a drug, and" many a fine beam have I seen rotting 
in the creek where it fell. Then came the doom of 
thu oak scrub. Had the Chinese been Anglo-Saxons 
a few enterprising men would have made fortunes 
out of tho silk industry. They would have done with 
silk what our countrymen have done with wool in 
Au^tialia. The conditions aru most fovourable : a 
lirsf id o.» oak-growing country; n superior climate; 
staple ou 1 lets for commerce. What an opportunity ! 
Tl.i Kind becomes tho inalienable property of the 
settler. The hills and streams are his, the woods and 
forests, the feathered and the tinny tribe; and he has 
Bp over-lord, uouo nearer than the oistant Emperor, 
who i laims tbi paltriest of taxes in name of allegiauce. 
\ I ! nil this glorious opportunity has been thrown 
ow»y. Emigrants bavo come iu like Biits. The very 
kb i rub begins to be eateu up. It is fast disappear- 
ing while it was once the feature of the landscape. 
Iu my own time I have aeon the oak-belt receding 
from the seaport from year to year. It is so far 
removed now that even with/winter roads it barely 
|>a>» to bring it in. Then insted ol tho Bilk merchant, 
iln .lisiulm bus laid his bauds ou it. Ho plants him- 
II 111 reu pte mill y» bj clear pebbly stream, and con- 
verts the ouk-scrtib into fire-water for the million. 
Pqb) is the cry, and the clmuoes of tho province be- 
BOnlng the seal ol a great silk industry are lessening 
>c»rly. What is to bo done? Tho people must live. 
Ami so tie' I iel outter and tho silk grower get to 
wager-heads. One village guild decreet) to use its 
I I ' 1 ' * ' oak ii r silk; it» neighbour villago values it 
OH I] for fuel. These an: bj I'hiliem; law mailers ol thu 
M>i>. uu l htve agreed hitherto to recognise each othor's 
riuht . in the us' - of the <>ak-p»U h. But fuel outUm 
iieiu bou thutilk industry. Strife arises, a law-plea, 
a Ivud | au i thu WCnol the one villapo gather lilsntlj 
at midnight, and burn their enemiea in their houses. 
Thirteen charred bo ties ware there to tell tho 
ghastly tale, while so bitter was the feud th it the 
district Magistrate dared not approach the scene to 
hold the customary post-mortem. But this incident 
shows also that the people are alive to the value 
of the silk industry. What we suffer from is the 
want of connected action. Silk growing is carried on 
everywhere. Iu some districts it takes the place of a 
staple industry. We have southerners residi ntj 
amongst us who, some ol them, would seem to represent 
capital. 1 hear wherever I travel of a foreigner who 
buys largely and gives wise suggestions, which have 
already led to all increase iu the value of the silk. 
And yet the trade languishes — certainly does not play 
the part it ought. There are now fewer silk houses 
in 1 1 ai-ch'eng than there were five yours ago. Ih,ve 
talked with members of many families who say they have 
been impoverished by the trade. The people's means 
are too limited. I frequently hear of a venture of 
Tls.10. I know such a man last year who lost his 
entire crop in the w.-t season. I ho^r of Tls. 50 
ventures, of partnerships iu which larger sums are 
distributed anions ten or twelve people; but never of 
auy such capital as could possibly create an industry, 
1 fear the common run of things is for a man who has 
a few taels to say to a man who has rights on the 
hill: "Let's club togother — you give the hill audi 
find the worms and do the watching, ami we shall 
halve the proceeds." Or a silk merchant goes round 
and advances small sums — usually without security — 
and trusts to the honour of a number of poor families 
to recoup him iu a good season. This is all very well 
iu agriculture, where there is commonly security 
iu the land. But the humble silk grower rarelyowns 
his oak-patch. He rents it for a trifle from a temple, 
or from a village guild,or from a peasant farmer who 
has had the luck in bis original settlement to be first 
on the bill and to claim it as his own. Foreign mer- 
chants therefore are helplses. In their case nothing 
can be done without capital. For they want a better 
cocoon better reeled. 'To this there must be improved 
knowledge of silkworms iinprovod machiuory, and con- 
centrated effort. Who is to head the movement ? 
Who is to stimulate aud foster it ? Tho 
foreigner cannot, were it only that ho has uo 
security for his money. Iu these circumstances it is 
gratifying to see a most promising move made by the 
Chinese Maritime Customs. It is foreign to be sure 
in its inception. But from the character of the meu 
with whom it has originated, it is bound to work itself 
into the Chinese mind, aud to carry with it the 
sympathies of the highest officials. For this purpose 
questions have been drawn up iu Chinese eliciting 
scientific information as to the varieties of silk-worms 
to bo found iu tho Eightoeu Provinces, Domestic, 
semi domestic, and wild — nothing which can by any 
means claim affinity with the silkworm is to be omitted 
iu these researches. These queries are to bo distributed 
in book form all over the silk-growing districts. They 
are so prepared that there is room beside the query 
for the answer of any silk-grower who may bo largo 
enough minded to givo replies. It fell to me to dis- 
tribute these in our province ; and 1 must coufess there 
was the usual difficulty. It emaualed from foreigners, 
and of course excited tho inevitable low-bom suspicion 
of foreigners. And agaiu it emanate 1 from the Customs, 
and there wero actually fools enough who scorned to 
help in it as deeming it an artful dodge of the govern- 
tuent to put some new tax upon their industry. So 
the work fell to tho missionary ami his Christian eon- 
verts. I would recommend with all defereuce that 
the Customs now apply deliberately to the missionaries 
for help in this matter. As an order thoy are more 
deeply than any associated with tho history of 
silk. They introdurod thu original silkworm «o 
Europe. They have over and aim n the liscoverer- 
of uow varieties. Thoy an> not n ■••> »* in old d.ijs 
located ill seaport i, but are distribute I over the 
interior ; and there is not a proviuee in China whore 
ih y are not re pre sen ted. It would ouly bo to the honor 
of niinMonnrieH to help iu inch a work— to rotutfl 
China's original gift to in with interest !>>' »t iug In i 
