SECTION II—ANIMAL PRODUCTS.
A.—SILK COCOONS.
Silk culture, although known in India from very
ancient times, was only established on a firm basis
by the energetic patronage and assistance ot the East
India Company. The Company’s trade in silk was
confined to the province of Bengal, and betöre the
middle of the eighteenth Century was mconsiderable;
the silk was moreover inferior in quality, being wound
from thecocoons and reeled into skeins in the rüde
manner immemorially practised by the natives of
India The industries on which the production ot
marketable silk depend are mulberry cultivation,
worm-rearing, and silk-reeling. .
Although the silkworm is undoubtedly a native qt
China yet there are several distinct species indi-
genous in India which yield silk, also quite dis
tinct from those of China.
The worms reared appear to have been ot three
kinds —the bara palu, an anmial worm, introduced
early in the 18th Century, probably front China or
some country bordering thereon ; the desi palu_ or
indigenous worm, a multivoltine; and the nisln, a
species of uncertain origin and apparently less widely
distributed than the other two. All these worms
werefed for the most part onthe leaves of the Morus
indica, the plant being kept down to the size of a
shrub by continual pruning,
In 1769, enegetic and successful efforts were
made by the East India Company, in the improve-
ment and extension of silk culture, by the mtroduc-
tion (1) of the exact mode of winding practised in the
filatures of France and Italy, and (2). of the China
worm and mulberry plant. The cultivation of the
mulberry was also urged upon the Zemmdars, or
landholders, and encouragement given in the Clearing
of lands suited to this purpose. Large exportations,
amounting to nearly twice the weight of the English
importations from France and Italy, were the results o
the improvements in winding; but in consequence ol
the diminished consignments of raw silk in 1<~ ,
further steiis were taken to obtain an increased
supply; experiments attended with more or less
success were instituted at Santipore, in 1826, and
at Howrah in 1831. In 1866, the Agn-Horticul-
tural Society of India, a society which has always
exerted itself vigorously in directmg attention to and
encouraging improvements in the cultivation of the
great Staples of Indian commerce, successfully mtrq-
duced the Japanese silkworm, the silk from which is
stated to be nearly equal to that of the Italian worm.
At the present time the production of mulberry-worm
silk in the lower provinces (excludmg Assam) seems
to be confined to the districts of Rajshahye, Maldali,
Moorshedabad, Midnapore, Beerbhoom, Hooghly,
Burdwan, Bograh, Howrah, Nuddea Jessore, and
the 24 Pergunnahs, the first five are the great silk
producing districts. In the district of Rajshahye
there are 97 filatures, containing 5,760 basms, and
employing between 11,000 and 12,000 hands. O
the 97 filatures, 34 are owned by Europeans, the re-
mainum 63 by natives. The average yield of raw
Silk is estimated at about 400,000 lbs. per annum,
and it is believed thatno less an areathan lo0 square
miles is under mulberry cultivation, while a quarter
of million of people derive their support from the
industry in one or other of its branches in this dis
trict alone. It is worthy of note that the English Im
ports of Bengal silk amounted in 1829 to 1,387,754
lbs.; in 1835, a few years afterthe cessation oftlie East
India Company’s trade with India, 727,535 lbs. only.
For the last thirty years, however, the quantity of
raw silk exported from Bengal has not varied much,
being about 1,500,000 lbs.; on the other hand, the
exports from China and Japan have enormously in
creased. While the exports of Bengal silk have
remained almost stationary, the price has nearly
doubled. The rise is undoubtedly to a great extent
due to the introduction of European improvements
in the System of reeling. Still the prices decidedly
rule below those of China and Japan, and, a fortiori,
below the better Italian and Bruttia silks. The
exports of country-made silk piece goods have greatly
declined. .
In Southern India, silk culture is carned on at
Mysore, a dass of Mahomedans being engaged in the
production ; although of late years the industry has
suffered from the ravages of the silkworm disease.
The cultivation has spread though but slightly to the
neighbouring districts in the Madras Presidency, as
Salem and Coimbatore.
Silk is also produced in Assam, Burmah, and
Cashmere, ehiefly for local use, however.
The occupation of silk culture in British
Burma is a lucrative one, and many parts of the
country are admirably adapted for it. 1 hat under
these circumstances the occupation is not more ex-
tensively followed than it is, is due mainly to the
Buddhistic prejudice against the taking of life, the
manufacture of raw silk of the best quality in-
volving the death of the chrysalis in the cocoon.
Thus, the silk-growers live in villages by themselves,
holding but little social intercourse with their neigh-
bours, for fear of being taunted with allusions to the
wickedness of their calling.
Repeated attempts have been made to introduce
the silk-culture into the Punjab, but with out any
definite success, as yet; the industry has established
itself in Goordaspore, where natives, especially Ma-
hommedans, are engaged in the production.
In Berar, Oudh, Dharwar, and other parts of
India, silk culture seems capable of great extension,
the climate being adapted both to the cultivation of
the mulberry, which abounds in many districts, and
to the rearing and thriving of silk-worms.
Quantity and value of Raw Silk exported from India
in the official year 1871-2.
TVom lbs. Riipoes.
Bengal - - 2,174,344 - 13,229,993
Burmah - 1,260 - 4,050
Madras- - 1,516 - 9,373
Bombay- - 55,945 - 150,833
Sind - - 1,683 - 9,507
2,234,749
13,403,756
Bengal Committee.
8,345. Cocoons of “ Arindi ” moth (Attacus ricini).
From Dinagepore. Not an article of commerce;
cultivated by Mussulman ryots, in small qunn-
tities, near their houses. 2 annas per seer of 2 lbs,
