142 
Supplement  to  the  “ Tropical  Agriculturist^ 
[Aufi.  1,  1896. 
flee  of  eitlier  their  iiulepetuleiice  or  the  neglect 
of  their  holdings,  however  insigniticant  these  m ly 
be.  They  must  be  encouraged  to  depetid  on  the  n- 
selves  and  work  for  themselves  and  not  to  wo.  k 
for  others  to  the  neglect  of  their  laud  ; and  they 
must  not  be  encouraged  to  cotigregato  iti  manu- 
facturing centres,  where  witli  bu.<y  surroundings, 
keen  competition  and  undesirable  associations 
they  begin  to  feel  discontented,  a condition  which 
generally  leads  to  much  trouble.  Under  these  cir- 
cumstances the  importance  of  lioine  industries  can- 
not be  over-valued.  Sericulture  or  the  rearing  of 
silkworms  may  prove  to  be  one  of  the  industi  ies 
adai)ted  to  the  peculiar  circumstance  of  the  villa- 
gers. We  say  “ may,”  becau.se  there  are  industries 
which  though  they  ajipear  likely  to  be  suitabh-, 
will  eventually  be  found  to  contain  some  ele- 
ment which  makes  it  impossible  for  the  people 
to  carry  it  on  with  success.  This  point  can  only 
be  satisfactorily  settled  by  one  or  more  e.vperi- 
ments,  and  there  is  no  reason  why  .«uch  trials 
should  not  be  undertaken  in  Ueylon. 
Broadly  speaking  th'-r  ■ ,i  i.*  two  kiud.s  of  silk, 
worms,  the  domesti'^  ted  or  tlie,  mulberry  silk- 
worm, and  the  wild  or  the  uncultivated  silk-worm. 
The  domesticated  silk-worm  feeds  only  on  the 
leaves  of  the  mulberry  tree  and  hence  for  its  rearing 
the  cultivation  of  the  mulberr  y ])lant  is  neces.si'  y 
to  give  the  insects  a proper  supply  of  food.  The 
mulberry  grows  well  even  in  the  lowcountry 
here,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  would  thrive 
well  when  grown  on  a large  scale.  Hence,  in  any 
e.yperiment  in  sericulture  it  might  be  as  well  to 
first  find  out  what  amount  of  succe.ss  can  be  ob- 
tained with  the  wild  silk-worms. 
We  find  in  Ceylon  a few  species  of  moths  that 
produce  cocoons  of  a more  or  less  coarse  te.vture, 
but  so  far  none  of  these  have  been  found  to  be 
of  much  jn-actical  use.  In  India,  out  of  a large 
number  of  species  of  wild  silk  worms,  three  have 
come  to  prominent  notice  as  being  more  or  less  suc- 
cessful producers  of  cocoons.  These,  as  will  be  seen, 
are  likely  to  prove  successful  in  Ceylon,  especially 
as  the  leaves  on  which  they  feed,  or  on  which  they 
could  be  fed,  are  derived  from  plants  and  trees  that 
w’e  commonly  meet  with  in  the  Island.  The  three 
important  varieties  of  wild  silks  are  known  as  the 
Tusser,  the  Muga  and  the  Eri  Silks. 
It  may  be  mentioned  here  in  passing  that  the 
life  of  a silk-producing  moth  has  four  stages.  The 
egg,  otherwise  called  the  “ seed  ” by  silk  raisers  is 
the  first  stage.  An  ounce  of  eggs  will  contain  from 
30  to  50  thousand.  A single  female  moth  produces 
from  three  to  five  hundred  eggs  on  an  average. 
The  second  stage  is  that  of  the  larva  or  the 
worm.  The  worm  goes  through  getierally  about 
four  stages  of  moults,  or  it  may  be  said  in  its 
growth  to  cast  its  skin  at  four  periods.  The  first 
moult  generally  takes  place  in  five  to  six  days,  the 
second  four  to  five  days  from  the  first,  the  third 
and  the  fourth  each  about  four  to  five  day.s;  after 
the  finnl  moulting  the  worm  turns  into  the  chry- 
salis sta»e  in  about  nine  days.  As  a matter  of 
course  these  periods  vary  greatly  according  to 
climate  and  species,  but  the  above  will  furnish 
some  an  idea  of  the  life  history  of  the  insect. 
Before  each  moult  the  worm  generally  fasts 
for  a day  or  two,  but  in  the  interval  it  eats 
voraciously,  and  especially  during  the  last  period 
of  its  existence,  and  hence  a silk  raiser  must 
be  piepared  to  supply  the  necessary  food  to 
the  insects  at  these  stages.  The  spinning  of  the 
cocoon  usually  occupies  from  three  to  five  daj’.a, 
and  finally  the  ia.-'ect  turns  into  the  chrjvalis. 
iJnring  the  chry.salis  stag!  there  is  a suspension 
of  animation.  The  chrysals  bursts  in  from  two  to 
three  weeks  and  the  moth  emerges.  The  last  stage 
is  that  of  the  moth.  The  male  moth  has  broader 
antenme  or  feelers  and  is  more  active  than  the  fe- 
male. Some  hours  after  emerging  out  of  the 
cocoon  the  female  moth  begins  to  deposit  its 
eggs.  The  life  of  a moth  usually  extend  to  four 
or  five  days,  but  frequently  to  a fortnight  or 
even  longer. 
W.  A.  D.  S. 
{To  be  continued.) 

IIOMCO  MANURB. 
We  have  been  favoured  with  samples  of  this 
manure  prepared  by  the  Hull  Oil  Manufacturing 
Co.,  Ld.  The  two  samples  sent  us  are  guaranteed 
to  contain  OJ  to  7%  ammonia,  for  which  the  present 
ciuotatiou  is  I;3  os.  per  ton  in  double  bags  f.o.b, 
London,  for  either  the  rough  or  finely-ground  qua- 
lity. To  quote  from  the  booklet  which  accom- 
panied the  samples:  Homcois  a vegetable  manure 
meal  manufactured  from  rape  and  other  oil  seeds 
by  a patent  process  whereby  the  oil  is  thoroughly 
extracted  leaving  a soluble  meal  rich  in  ammonia. 
It  is  manufactured  in  three  qualities,  containing 
5f %,  6i%  and  7|%  of  ammonia  respectively ; these 
percentages  being  always  guaranteed.  Among 
other  advantages,  it  is  claimed  that  it  does  not 
force  the  growth  of  plants  to  an  undue  and  harm- 
lul  extent,  tliat  it  opens  and  lightens  stiff  lands 
and  increases  the  retentive  properties  of  sandy 
soils  for  manures  and  water,  while  at  the  same 
time  it  is  not  washed  out  by  rain.  As  rape  seed 
is  one  of  its  ingredients,  it  is  said  to  be  a pre- 
ventive .against  wire  worm  and  possibly  of  other 
ground  pests.  The  analyses  given  of  the  manure 
have  been  made  by  Dr.  Bernard  Dyer,  who  remarks 
on  one  of  the  .samples : “ This  is  an  e.xcellent  rape 
meal  for  raanurial  purposes.  It  is  e.xceptionally 
rich  i?i  nitrogen  (equal  to  over  7^  of  ammonia) 
and  has  the  manurial  advantage  of  having  had 
nearly  all  its  oil  extracted,  so  that  it  will  the 
more  readily  decompo.se  in  the  soil.  ” 
MILK  AND  MILK  PRODUCTS. 
(By  Mr.  James  Mollison,  Supei-intendent, 
Government  Farms,  Bombay.) 
The  milk  of  neat  cattle  varies  considerably  in 
composition.  Certain  breeds  yield  richer  milk 
than  others.  Excepting  Channel  Island  cattle,  all 
milk  breeds  of  Europe  yield  milk  which  is  poor  in 
quality  than  the  average  of  Indian  cows.  The 
average  yield  of  selected  Indian  cows  is  much  less 
than  that  of  good  specimens  of  any  imported  milch 
breed.  Choice  specimens  of  Jersey  or  Guernsey 
cows  yield  30  lb.  or  more  per  day  of  rich  milk, 
whilst  Holstein  and  Shortham  cows  have  each  a 
record  of  over  70  lb.  ]>er  day,  though  in  quality 
the  milk  is  poor.  The  yield  of  Indian  cowssurelj' 
exceeds  20  to  25  lb.  j)erdaj’. * Twelve  to  10  Ih. 
* In  reckoning  qn.antity  from  weight  of  milk, 
the  weight  of  one  imperial  (piart  (40  oz. ) is 
taken  as  2^  lb.,  thu.s  20  lb.,  25  lb.  and  IG  lb. 
will  respectively  correspond  with  8,  10  and  GJ 
qu.arts  or  again  with  12)3,  15? 3 and  9)1  Ceylon 
bottles  of  2G  oz,  respectively.— Ed,  A.M, 
