CORRESPONDENCE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 236, 5 October 1874, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE.

SERICULTURE. To.thb JBditob of the 'Evening Mail.' Sib — Now that the season is coming on for plantatioDßi"l am anxious to throw ,so pie light on the question that l ubave mentioned through the local newspapers last year. Some time ago, I read tbp cpqat valuable opinions and suggestions of Mr Batchelor, of Nelson, who deserves-great credit. for his exertions, in trying to develope this branch of industry In this colony, and I have the pleasure to see that be has succeeded as much as can be expected, for some trees are already to be seen here and there,' especially in waste ground, and also thousands of young mulberry trees asvjer|l_jed For sale in Christchurch. Tbts.puts me in mind of thirty years ago, when I was a boy in the old country (in Switzerland, on the boundary^of Italy), where very few tf ees were to be. seen. My father bad a few jnst for ornament, and people would look at them only as snch, and a general impression was tbat no good result or benefit would be derived from them, for- many supposed objections, vie. :— That the climate was not ex- ! afcdy the same as in Italy, tbat tbe Ijffi*. "ks not so good, that the snow was lying too long in winter, and many other .uieae which caused the drawback of this I remember when toy .father made tbe first experiment in the district,'*)? keeping a small quantity of silkworms, the result of which gave him anch an opinion, that he soon started planting > trees for speculation, and caused; other, inhabitants to follow his example, aud before I left borne, twenty years ago, the cultivation of tbis industry was going on fast; young trees were 1 planted in every direction, and, I was informed a few years ago, tbat the most of farmers have regularly, every spring- time, the silk harvest, while the other crop is growing. The ,cocoons brought to the market are sold to the merchants at better prices than the silk grown in a warmer climate, being qfj! better quality. The place where -.noame .from, according to tbe map, lies at 46 degrees, and New Zealand standi' from 36 to 46 ; still, some perspns.^ijl form tbeir own opinion, without foundation or experience, throw doubt on the question, and also assert that there 'is nobody here that knows anyihiog abont it ! I disagree entirely witb their suppositions, and I also know -that there is in the country quite a sufficient number of well-trained people to ; go to work, and cause instruction all over -New Zealand in a fe#yeargA : This is a youDg colony, and y the ypnog steins are only now growing;^hichywi 11 bear the fruit in the coarse oi a few years, bnt come of these branches or stems become rather expensive to the Government, perhaps aiso as fraitful in- proportion ; but 'the introduction of skill product is as much or more .important than some of the good enterprises of the Government of New Zealand, which can be introduced with very little expense to the Government. Now, first of all, it requires to grow the treee; if by seed, it is sown oq tbe same principle as turnips, a|qd when tbe trees are about three years /oid transplant them: in tbe same way as frtyt trees, ot a distance of 18 fe_t apart, and if tbe land be wanted to be cultivated for otber crop, say 18 feet io j3O feet, so as to leave sufficient room for ploughing or to prepare the land for setting any crop tbat this farmer may desire. I may state that mblberry trees would shade the crop very little on accountof the leaves being taken off in spring time to feed the 'worms. The advantages derived from mulberry trees are several. . Ist From the trimming of the trees yon get firewood. 2nd. With the leaves yoa fe_d. the worms. Srd. The second leaves when they fall by the frost you gather "tbem dry, aod pat away for tbe ■vtiik&c'to feed the cows and pigs. 4th. The mulberries are good to eat. sth. They are suitable to make jam. 6th. The mulberries distilled make splendid liquor. The cultivation of silkworms is* not so difficult as a large majority of the people in this country imagine it to be, of course this is like anything else, Tvhqniyqa do oot krow, tbey are difficult, but when* people in the old country learn all about it in one season, it must be easy enough for aoy person to learn. To hatch the eggs of silkworms they are placed in a room of about 20 degrees, and in five days they come to life. They are fed for eight days and then they sleep one day; after sixteen days ttiey.sleep two days; after twentyfour days, three days; after thirty-two days, four days; and in a week' after that, if well fed ail tbe time, they start making i their cocoons, in eight days after ibat the cocoon is complete, tbeD gathered, brought to the market and sold for ready cash tbe same as selling gold.. For every ounce of eggs from be ginning td cod it requires about two thousand pounds of leaves to feed them, which will produce about a hundred pounds of silk or cocoons. The average market price is about from three to fonr francs per lb (one franc is tenpence) it will take irom forty to fifty cocoons to weigh ono pound; and an unwound cocoon will measure from 1500 to 1800 yards long. The required quantity of cocoons are picked (the. best ones) to get tbe eggs for the npxt ' iseasoc. These cocoons, after some time, the silkworm inside of them will come through, in the shape of a bo^tf rfly;/ r^hey lay their eggs and then die. A large sized mulberry tree will produce lOOlbs of leaves. The work in the attendance on the worms

for the first fortnight is very little; where the most activity and work is required is only after tbe worms rise from tbe fourth sleep for about eight days. Now, Mr Editor and readers, I bave no more to say on this occasion; any person wishing to have further information or instruction, I will be most happy to oblige, as far as it lies in my power. I thank you, Mr Editor, for the insertion pf the above, and would be moet happy if editors of the principal papers would kindly publish the same, so as to give connoisseurs an opportunity of expressing tbeir opinions. I am, he, Leonard Pozzi. Hokitika, September .15, 1874.

The cattle steamers at Wanganui have had anything but a profitable time of it for the last month ; during ithat time neither the S f .-KUda nor tbe 'Go-ahead have been able to. -make a trip, owing to the severe weather that has prevailed. They 'have put out several times, but on each occasion were obliged. to put back and land their ical tie. The Wellington correspondent of the O'ago Times slates that much of the evidence given before the Ward-Chap-man Committee was of a most extrajj iordinary .character. He says:s— <' Conjspiracies, bribes, female influences, and itreachery, plot and counter-plot, seductions, and even, it is said, something, intbe nature of a double murder iaDd tbe burial of ihe bodies in a back iyard, all find a place. It would be a j highly profitable spec to publish the j evidence in a cheap and popular form. 7 ' "German Mary," one of the oldest l inhabitants of Oamaru, died there last j week. She .had resided there for ten jor twelve years, and was a very active | laborer in the distribution of tracts, i and the coipor tage of Bibles. In the Matter duty she has walked long distances with a burden of Bibles on her | back, journeying sometimes as far as < Otepopo aud back on /oot. On the llth instant, one Neill M'Gowan, who keeps an accommo- • dation house on tbe Canterbnry side of ithe Waitaki, was fined on two informjmations £100 for selling without a '. A man at Blenheim, who is suffering jfrom on attack of larrikioism, advertises iin tbe Express that he wants " to pur1 1 chase an old-fashioned blunderbuss, one tbat will scatter shot well prei ferred." ! Green peas were offered for sale in a jgreen-grocet's shop iv Auckland in tbe i last week of August. They were jgrown at the North Shore.