ALARMING SPREAD OF SILKWORM DISEASES IN CHINA.

Waikato Times, Volume XXII, Issue 1845, 3 May 1884, Page 4

ALARMING SPREAD OF SILKWORM DISEASES IN CHINA.

No sooner have the efforts of Pasteur in France, Roland iv Switzerland, Griffittin Asia Minor, and others interested in the subjugation of the various maladies which afflict and destroy the silkworm proved successful, than a cry of despair over the i a vages of the same diseases conies from China. In that country the two principal scouiges are known as Fooitg-hnh, arising fioin flatulence ; and Tt>ak fooiiff, caused by undue exposure to draughts of cold air. These ailments correspond fail ly well with the symptoms of Pibruw and Flufih'ue, unfortunately so well known in Europe and parts of Turkey in Asia dining the past thiity years, llithei to the enormous extent of China, united to the conservative and secretive habits of the people, have in a great meaMiie prevented the spread of those maladies becoming known to foreigners, so that it is only lately, when concealment had become impossible, that something of the extent of the injury has been acknowledged. Suspicions weie aroused years ago that all was not well with the Chinese silk fanneis, as the expoits had e\en then begun to diminish at a rate altogether inconsistent with such Kite as was due to fluctuations of trade ■ or mutations of weather. Statistics showed that between 1575 and 18S0 the annual consignments of Chinese iaw silk to Kui ope \aned between 63,000 and S.yjOO bale-., it had fallen during 1881 and ISB2 to 55,000 bales, and last year the total quantity was under 35.000 bales, the pioduction in certain localities having been only 25 per cent of the noimal ciop. As bilk, next to tea, is piobably the most impoitant aiticle of expott that China pioduces, it will teadily be seen liow such a continued and rapid diminution in quantity will affect the futuie when it is stated that last \ oai 's loss fi om this item to hci mci chants and ie\enue amounted to £4, .'540,000. Impiesst-d with these ciicumstancs, M. Paul Ktunat, of Shanghai, has lecently communicated to a ]ouinal of Lyons a copj of a letter addiessed by him on the 12th July, ISS3, to Li-Uung-Chang, Yieeioy of Tientsin, on the subject of the silkworm diseases, which are chiefly blamed for the great falling off in the expoits lie points out that lecent micioscopic researches in China enabled tlie liiquiieis to identify a local malady as> I'obn/H, and biands it as being nearly of as bad a type as that which some yeais ago almost ruined the sericultural distnots cf Fiance and Italy. It now appeal s that this disease lias long been known in China, but had laid comparati\ ely latent ; and it is believed that the mheicnt vigoui of the Chinese worm and tiie faxouiable climate had delajed the dangerous outbreak ot distemper which has lattei ly ncciuicd. Unfoi tunately, it is one tliin» to point out a gt eat and growing owl, a& well as its antidote or cuie, to an eminent Chinese statesman, such as Ins Excellency Li-Hunc-Chang, but another mattir to ha\c the advice acted upon. If M. Jirunat anticipates that the savants of China will take to the u&eof the micioscope foi the in\estigation of silkworm diseases upon the stiength of lepiesontations to the Viceioyof Tientsin, we fear his expectations will not be soon fulfilled. Meanwhile there is e\idently a lesson in tins fiesh nnsfoitune which had overtaken Chinese silk-farmers for our colonial authoiitios, paiticulaily the Go's eminent of New Zealand, to lay to lieait. It will likely be many years eie Fiance and Italy, even with all the resources of science, capital, ."nd exponcnce, can hope to achieve a leturn to the splendid silk crop of 1553, and still longer befoie China will again be able to expoit 85,000 bales per annum. Why, in the intci val, should not the mdustiy j be piomotcd and libeially eucouiaged m such pi ounces as Auckland and elsewheie in New Zealand, and in Ceylon, wheio both mulbeiiy and tea plants ha\e aheady been found to tlnive! If one yen's los*> to China through a partial f.iiluic of her silk crop is reckoned at £4,340,000, it haidly seems unreasonable to infer that such might have be^n the gain to our New Zealand and other colonists had they been at present in a position — as has been utged upon them foi the last fifteen yems — to supply the deficiency. — Glasgow Herald. 400 sheep sheep sold at Toowoomba for a shilling a head. Yktormn ic\enue improved by £175 3'J7 dining the past nine months. Floods Inn e followed the di ought in New South Wale*. I\ni\x v Unhci&ity has dtopoed Greek and Latin. Ni w d'rixj v natives are busy cutting each otliei's tin oats. Svmuil, ]\Uciv\y, of New South Wale*, has a fai m of 5,C00,030 acres. Tin, Tieasuiy benefits to t!ie extent of £70,000 by the death of Mr Hollow ay. Bv imbuing a cat's back iv the dark you can see the eluctiicity fly, and when the c.it claws yom hand you can feel the shock. AuoßiNf; one (in lavender ki<ls and a blue seaif) : ' Oh, how I wish I were that booic you clasp so lovingly !"' Slie : "How I w isli >on were, so that I could .shut you up " Win > Claia wai asked what sho would do if a nice young gentleman should ask h'-i hand in maiiiage, she naively leplied, I don't think I'll no." A London physician recom>nei.ds as a cure for a cokl iv the head a huge pinch of stiong snuff. Then let the sufferer wiap his coat about him and snee/e, the of toner and hardci the better. This, he r>ays, is Natm c's own remedy for a chill. 1 In JSS'2 over 233,00011>s of ostrich fcntheis. vicic exported fioin the Cape of Good Hope, the \alne being C 1,093,959. This is seven-fold w hat it was ten years a g°-