October i, 1881.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
365 
introduction into Europe of silkworm eggs in the 
year 551 A. D., the writer in the China Review con- 
tinues : — 
The times arc changed, and to the purpose, when 
we find printed under the auspices of the Chinese 
Government these series of reports on silk, which 
supply, with moro or less fulness of detail, accurate 
and special information from one and all of the pro- 
vinces wherein treaty ports arc located. It is also 
significant of the high standard to which the silk 
industry has now reached, of its importance and 
extent, of its recovery after the misfortunes of the 
Taepiug insurreciion, that M. Rondet, President du 
Jury pour 1' Industrie do la Soie in the Paris Exhibi- 
tion of 1878, should come b;ick to the original "Land 
of Silk '' for fresh information, for fresh guidance. 
These reports originated in a request from this 
gentleman, the greatest authority on silk, addressed 
to Mr. Hart, Inspector General of Customs. Under 
cover of Mr. Roudet's letlor, a scries of queries on 
silk were drawn up by the Chamber of Commerce 
of Lyons and which appear to be the liues on which 
the different Commissioners and Assistants at the 
various port* have worked. That the information is 
not altogether new was not to be expected, and that 
there should be frequent repetition was what only 
wa3 to be looked for under the circumstances. It 
is our opionion that these reports will do much to 
clear up what has been insnffijiently understood in 
the silk trade of China, and as a consequence much 
misapprehension will be removed. Numerous practical 
suggestions to the silk spinner and to the merchant, 
for tbe further development of the trade, will be 
found embodied in their pages. Mr. Kleinwachtcr's 
report, with its illustrations, strikes us as the most 
exhaustive and able oi the series. 
As the reports of the other Commissioners necess- 
arily go pretty much over the same ground, the same 
enquiries having been addressed to all, there is there- 
fore no necessity to allude to any special report. We 
should, however, fancy that the extracts from the 
Chinese Miscellany of 1S49, "On the Growth and 
Treatment of Mulberry Trees, aud tbe Method of 
Breeding and Bearing silkworms," translated from 
the Chinese, gives the sum total of what is known by 
the Chinese on the subject. It was a happy thought 
to append this to a report. Mr. Chalmers, reporting 
from I'akboi, mentions that when the caterpillor of 
tbe enmphonvood tree has attained its full size, it is 
cut open and its silk extracted in a form strongly 
resembling catgut, which makes excellent fishing line. 
We mention this because, that a process almost 
identical is employed by Biscayan and Portuguese 
fUhermen for obtaining fishing line from the ordinary 
Silkworm. Mr. Rochet's report shows how speedily 
the domesticated silkworms revert to the wild state 
in obedience to the well-known natural law. The fact 
he mentions, may also throw light on the origin of 
silk culture in China. He had noticed during his 
investigations that the country people were collecting 
a particular kind of cocoon, which is very little known 
by Chinese, and still less by Foreigners. He explains 
its origin, as follows : — 
"The first place I noticed the existence of this wild 
worm was at Hueh'i-kuang, a barrier situated in the 
province of Chiangsn, at the entrance to tho west 
side of tho l' ai-hu. All the mulberry leaves along 
the river were covered with this kind of gauze, aud 
not a single green leaf was to be seen, each tree, as 
well was us the ground underneath, was covered with 
millions of live cocoons. From there to Honchou I 
bond mulberry trees more or Icsh in the same state. 
As fir as 1 have been able to ascertain, there is no 
doubt that this worm, except that it is smaller in 
DM, 1- a degenerate form of the ordinary silkworm, 
and this may be explained by the fact of tbe country 
92 
left 
I people having been obliged to leave their homes at 
"t the approach of the rebels, just as they were busily 
ngafired in breeding worms, and the butterflies beint' 
themselves, laid their egg, anywhere, so that 
nature. What leads me to believe that the above 
statement is correct is that before the invasion of the 
country by the rebels, this kind of wild worm was 
unknown." 
The paper concludes by showing that tho present 
flourishing condition of the industry is almost entirely 
due to intercourse with foreigners. We are glad to 
learn that tbe eggs reecntly imported by Mr. C 
Powell Jones are good and should batch this 
month. We hope that the enterprize will prove suc- 
cessful in his hands as well as at St. Benedict's 
Institution, where the worms which were exhibited 
at the recent Polytechnic Exhibition were reared. 
Col. R. H. Beddome, the well-known Conservator 
of Forests of tbe Nilgiris, arrived by the B. I. steamer 
" Kthopia " from Tuticorin this morning He is to 
spend about a fortnight in the island with the special 
object of reporting on our cinchona enterprise. 
Tea from thh Yativantota District.— We have 
lately been referring to the superior quality of the 
tea from the Ambegamuwa district, and some we 
have recently tasted made on Dalhousie estate, 
Maskeliya, appears to be very good ; but we have 
now to notice a sample from a comparatively low 
elevation, Mepitiyakauda estate, Yatiyantota. which, 
in flavour and strength, seems to us above the average 
of Ceylon teas. With careful preparation of the 
leaf, there can be no doubt that tea plantations in 
the hot wet districts between the Kelaiii river and 
Gampola ought to pay well. 
" HaPUTALE TO GlVK HALF A ToN AN ACRE 
I All Round when the Railway Reaches it!" (Our 
correspondent's heading.) — Haputalc, Malvern, 5th 
September.— On Saturday we had a nice shower of 
lain, and yesterday a copious shower — in fact, euough 
for this elevation. We expect good blossoms this 
month with fair weather. This last season, I gathered 
about 5 cwt. au acre from this place all round, but 
on two or three acres that bad been well manured, 
with castor-poonac and a little crushed bone, I 
gathered half-a-ton ! Let this fact go Home, and let 
the city men say, if they will have a railway or not. 
The end that was mauured looks now almost as well 
as the other portion of the estate. 
Water Power in India. — In the case of the Eger- 
ton Mills, a prominent charac teristic of the undertak- 
ing is the utilization of the mechanical power which 
is supplied to India in the descent of the water 
brought by the monsoon to the Himalayan ranges ; a 
power which, under the developments of modern 
science now so rapidly progressing in this direction, 
may be expected to afford a motive force to machi- 
nery which will go far to compensate for the absence 
of coal and other fuel in tbe upper regions of the con- 
tinent of India. The Egerton Mills will be worked 
by a turbine set in the chauuel leading out of the 
Bari Doab Canal. The stream conducted through this 
channel will, after performing its duty of providing 
motive power to the machinery, be returned to the 
canal and utilized for its original purpose — namely, 
irrigation. We are glad to know that the co-operation 
of the Punjab Government in affording liberal terms 
fur the utilization of water-falls ou the Punjab canals 
has given an important impetus to the establishment 
ui this undertaking, wbioh "ill no doubt be followed 
bv others of similar character in North India, wher- 
ever this economical supply of motive force is attain- 
able. — Pioneer, 
