March 1, 1901.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTUPJST. 
617 
says, " a 'arge export trade is done, consider- 
able quantities being sent to Kashmir and 
other parts of India." I should wish to know 
if you or any of your readers have any ex- 
perience of the process of " rearing," and if 
it is done to any extent in this island. I 
have received also a pamphlet in Turkish 
explaining bow the silk-worms are to be 
1 eared from the eggs or seed; but as the langu- 
age is tiot familiar here, it will be useless to 
give extracts. — Yours faithfully, 
M. L. M. ZAINU BEEN. 
[For a concise accounc of what has hitherto 
been done in "silk" experiments in Ceylon, 
see page 129 of our review in last " Handbook 
and Directory." The Northern Province is 
expected to be best suited for the silk-worm 
and nnilberry tree, being so dry. Major 
Gordon Reeves of Madulkele and Father 
Palla of the R. C. Mission, Galle, were 
amongst the most recent experimentalists, 
and they might be ghid to have some of the 
"seed." We add the following information 
for the benefit of our correspondent : — 
The eggs of the silkworm, called graine (aeed) are 
hatched oat by artificial heat at the period when 
the mulberry leaves are ready for the feeding of the 
larvae. These eggs are very rainnte — about one 
hundred weighing a grain ; and a vast number of 
hatched worms may at first be kept in a small space ; 
but the rapid growth and voracious appetite of the 
caterpillars demand quickFy increasing and ample 
space. Pieces of paper punctured with small holes 
are placed over the trays in which the hatching goes 
on ; and the worms, immediately they burst their 
shells, creep throcgh these openings to the light, and 
thereby scrape off any fragments of shell which, ad- 
hering to their skin, would kill them by construction. 
The reariug-house in •which the worms are fed (Fr. 
magnanerie) must be a spacious, well-lighted, and well- 
ventilated apartment, in which scrupulous cleanliness 
and sweetness of air are essential, and in which the 
temperature may to a certain extent be under control. 
The worms are more hardy than is commonly sup- 
posed, and endure variations of temperature from 62° 
to 78° F without any injury ; the higher temperature 
is very detrimental. The lower the temperature 
at which the worms are maintained the slower is 
their growth and development ; but their health and 
vigour are increased, and the cocoon they spin is 
proportionately bigger. The worms increase in size 
with astonishing rapidity, and no less remarkable is 
their growing voracity. Certain races moult or cast 
their skin three times during their larval existence, 
but for the most part the silkworm moults four times 
— about the sixth, tenth, fifteenth, and twenty-third 
days after hatching. As these moulting periods ap- 
proach, the worms lose their appetite and cease eating, 
and at each period of change they are left undisturbed 
and free from noise. The worms from 1 oz. of graine 
— numbering, say, 40,000 — consume in their first stage 
about 6 lb. of picked leaf, in the second 18 lb., in the 
third 60,1b., In the fourth 180 lb., and in their final stage 
1,098 lb.,— in all 1,362 lb., of mulberry leaf ; but from 
that is to be deducted about 590 lb. of unconsumed 
fragments removed in the litter, giving of leaf really 
consumed 772 lb. An ounce of graine so treated may 
yield from 80 to 1201b. of cocoons, 8a per cent, of 
which consists of the weight of chrysalides and 15 
per cent, of pure cocoon. 
—Ed. T.A.] 
KURUNEGALA, Feb. 18.— The weather is hot 
and dry. We had some most we'come rain on 
Saturday night — the showers were heavy and 
lasted some time. Sunday evening looked threaten- 
ing, but no raiu fell. The mornings are misty, 
pcognosticating a sultry day, 
PKODUCE AND PLANTING. 
Important to Manufactukeks of Sugar MACHiNEBy. 
British Central Africa will soon occupy a prominent 
position as a sugar-producing country. In the rich, 
fertile district around the Lower Zambesi and the 
Shire rivers t)ie sugar industry already promises to 
become very important wiihin the next few years. 
One company alone has 1,100 acres under cultivation 
at the present time, and shortly intends to bring in 
a further tract of 2,500 acres, while several other com- 
panies and private planters are either making pre- 
parations for plantins sugar or have already started 
plantations. The land "according to reports re- 
cently to hand," is highly suited to the growth of 
Bugar-cane, and there seems to be an ample supply 
of labour, while the sugar grown is said to be 
superior to that from Egypt. Sugar-cane growing 
is an industry, moreover, that gives a good return 
for a compaiatively small outlay of capita', and, 
with the experience gained in Natal, the district 
round Chinde " should speedily become one of the 
great cane-sugar-produoiug centres of the world." 
A hope is expressed that British manufacturers 
of machinery and agricultural implements will 
not fail to grasp the opportunity which presents 
itself. As the country is staked out and divided up 
into plantations the demand for tools and imple- 
ments will steadily increase, and as the canes grow 
mills for crushing and refining will become necessary. 
Kice-Cleaning Machineey.— The British Com- 
mercial Agent in Russia has received an inquiry 
from Samarkand (Turkestan) asking for names of 
British firms supplying rice-cleaning machinery of 
newest type of construction, and, if possible, such 
as have received prizes and awards at the Paris 
Exhibition. The catalogues would probably be more 
serviceable if well illustrated, and it would be of ad- 
Tantage if the technical descriptions were in the 
Kussian or German language. Further information 
may be obtained from Mr. Henry Cooke, British 
Commercial Agent, 88, Petrovski Bouleward, Moscow, 
to whom all communications should be addressed. 
The Zanzibar Clove Trade.— The " 1899 " crop of 
Zanzibar cloves was the heaviest on record, and was 
570,600 frazils, or 7,061,250 lb above that in the pre- 
vious year ; but whether this excessive outturn will 
be equalled in the future is a question which is 
beginning to exercise the minds of the trade generally. 
No reliable estimates of the total crops for 19U0 
have yet been published, and it is doubtful if the 
yield of cloves for the coming season will again be 
of similarly large dimensions. The grounds for enter- 
taining this supposition are that circumstances in 
connection with the systematic cultivation of cloves 
in Zanzibar have considerably altered within the last 
few years, it being no longer carried on by compulsory 
slave labour as formerly, and time has not been 
afforded tha planters to recover from the disastrous 
effects of the severe drought that existed during 
1899-1900. Since the importation of slaves was nro- 
hibited, and the blacks were granted their freedom 
in 1897, the scarcity of labour in Zanzibar has been 
keenly felt. Prospects of a continued abundance of 
Zanzibar cloves are, therefore, not particularly cheer- 
ful, and as this condiment is in universal demand, 
any serious diminution in supplies would have an 
instantaneous effect in forcing prices up to a higher 
point. Speculators have already been busy enough to 
send quotations in Mincing Lane up to -l^d and 4Jd, 
which is Id per lb beyond what was paid on the spot 
in January last, and judging from the extensive pur- 
chases of Zanzibar cloves to arrive, made from time 
to time, it is reasonable to anticipate a further im- 
provesaent in value as the season advances.— //0|(i6 
and Colonial Mail, Jan. 25, - 
