Silk and Tea Culture.
The following letter has been received by Mr A. JT.'.Alloqi, Hod. Secretary of the Thames Sericultural Association, f(om Mr Wilhttm Coehrah, Perthshire, BcQ.tland, whose letter to this journal on the same subject «ras published a few weeks ago :~^, "I observe* tn^at -my last!letter.%bs^ dated 2Sfch June. 1382, and I am now happy to acknowledge receipt, on the sth initent, of your hrot of th« 33yd April,
enclosing and accompanying a short paragraph cat from the Thames Advertiser; three copies of the first annual report of your Silk Association; and a copy of Mr Federli's interesting little pamphlet on •Silkworm Rearing," for,all of which I am much obliged. It must be Tery gratifying to all who haw the interests of New Zealand at heart to learn the progress your .Association for silk-culture is making. You hare commenced well, and I trust that even within a shorter time than you seem to anticipate, the rearisg of silkworms may commence. Perhaps ■ even yet, by planting a few grafted mulberries of fire years' standing^ you might reap an almost immediate silk hirvest on a small scale. There is the great advantage of using the white mulberry grafted on block stocks that you thus obtain a very much more luxuriant th&longerlived shrub or tree than when grown on its own roots, accordingto the experience of China. Of course in a climate like that of the north of New "Zealand grafting may prove unnecessary, but by purchasing five-year old bushes and planting them in early spring or late autumn the leaves may be used the same or following year. With regard to Mi &. B. Federli's success last season I was. also very glad.to ' hear of it, and am in hopes that when the various papers and reports connected with his experiments are published here, that a great impetus will be given to the matter, particularly to the enterprise I have for some years been advocating. A little before the, time.when the steamer conveying Mr Federli's consignment of raw silk, cocoons, and graine to London was expected to arrive, I had a letter with full particulars; from the Agent-GenCrai. : In replyingjlfurnished Sir F. D. Bell with the names of two gentlemen, one in Hampshire and another in the old town of Smyrna, Asia Minor, both' keen lilk farmers, who, I felt sure, would report faithfully upon any part of the consignjnent which might be entrusted to them. I observe with regret that your directors do not take the same favorible view of tea as an ally of-the silk grower that I do. This may be partly, accounted for through one or two little mistakes which have evidently crept into their statistics. The report states that' tea must be produced at a cost of about Is to Is 2d. per lb,' and. that a skilled laborer cannot pull more than 251bs of leaves per day,' producing * sibs of marketable tea, whilst in Assam the average cost of labor is ' about* 3d to 4d a day.' The real facts are these, as set forth in my essay, published in the 14th vol. of transactions-of the "Highland and Agricultural Society of Scot* 1 land," 1882, page 197':-r- V .U', •-" 1 ' - * * »i- *.*.'' s- d% Daily wages paid in tea.and silk districts of China, between Sd and lOd, average, .. 0 9 In Assam average wages (exduKhre of cost to planter of importing labor ''• .. ..0 7 In Kum&on, where labor is very plentiful on the spot, about.. ...,-, .. ■ , >0'" 4? 1 In Darjeeling, at the end of 1879, the- daily / I rate was . .. > '.'„ ■ * "q jq Payment by results and contract yield, an average wage of about .. ,10 Average of those examples shows: about B|d per ,day.- I may mention also that even in:the-island of- Ceylon the rate of wages is; considerably more than yon* Directors "quote for Assam, bo, are ]the Japanese and Java rates. But the rate of wages, considered alone, affords no. trbe criterion from which to judge of the edit of production, as I could find littlo Chinese children of 8 or 10 wears of age who can easily pluck from 40 Jo oOlbs of leaves per day; a.result that no Indian CooUe I ever heard' of conld accomplish. The usual calculation is that for ,e*arr plucking one fourth of the' weight shall turn out finished, marketable tea. Aa might be expected, the actual coat to the planter varies greatly, and ,iB dependent upon too many contingencies to be alluded to here. Here is a specimen taken from my already mentioned essay, page 900 :— 1 COSTJQF PRODUCING "TEA. J ■JU";ChHwik according to Bfcind and * d* y - i Bbifufte, corroborated by writer's > ■^experience ** .. "'..'" " ' ' 0 SJnwJK' In Upper, Aqua, according to Mr Bain-, . In Lower Assam, according to Mr Bain- '* - bridge 2 0 In Kangru, Valloy, according to Dr " Jenkinson, 4d to 6d, say' j. n *n In Kangra..VaU«s^ according to .Maiot " r ■ General Chert; .. - - . -- ■ J^ ' Q ft In Assaalu, according to the Assam Conii " I pany for 1879 ... .. ■> . In the Himalayas and Chittagbrg per " 1 i ,LieUt.-,C(JII Money, in 1878 \ .04? According.M eleven Tea Companies - " given hflpdian Tea, Gdzettai'of' 1879 ' 1 2J Average of, the above Examples, China and India taken together, v »bout lO^d per , Ib. will thus- see, 'sir, .that statistics require to be proved aad "accepted wj,th -the ui'most care whe^ i»ed for the .purposes of comparisoa,i when such .great differences appear ia (he aoeo«uto of such, knowa masters of tea production as those I have quoted. The simple fact is that; the. oost m.oue district or couutry,jifford» vtfry little aid in determining what the cost will.be m alnother;;iirfcere f as in New Zealand, the • surroundings are wholly different. Bvea between Upper and £°f er Assam the difference is 4d per lb on aooauht of imported labor being re* quired in the one, and none in the other • ,to pay for which in ffew Zealand thera . - would be the pregent duty .'larieii/oa toreign tea ot this same amount gether, I think that you wilt ajfHe with me, after noting the above cemarkfc, that there v an opening for tea-growmg to advantage m the north of. New- Zealand, and that one cowndewtfion of iraportaace is that all that; could be |woda£d3S many yevs to come would find a imtket within the colony, and afterwards iTAttt.'*! balia, thus saving the outlay for freight and other heavy charge.. By a reoeot < ■*■ mail J sont you a? eotyTofc Chambers* ■jQuraal of the sth May%li aa aSe of mine io it at page 287, whibhmay, perhaps, prove interesting. The phase of silk culture, therein referred to, seem, xp me ope of great importaoee, and I, tbinl that vast fortunes aro hidden in thT still dormant indicated.. I should strcmglj recommend your experimental? W th«s hue whenever you have time and an opportunity. lam sorry than as yet I can say nothing {'uriher as *to lh> inne. diate establishment of a company in' this wuntij to, e»rry out, my riewt,. My friends and the*capitalisU to *lio»lhave mentioned the matter awtat presentsome^ what disgusted at the tardj a*d"narrow views of your Government. AAr soon as the Executive-shows signs ef liberality, either in kind or in money, towards the proposed enterprise there will be, I have n<r 4oubt,* aa immediate .tosponst; but until.then we can afford torestupon oar oars. Meanwhile I have published several letters is the Jfew Zealand nowspapers oa the subject, which, probably you may have seen. In these, to be foN !? w.ea. .possibly, 'by others, foil particulars have been given."
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Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4542, 26 July 1883, Page 2
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1,250Silk and Tea Culture. Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4542, 26 July 1883, Page 2
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