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168
Section

168 PRODUCTS AND MANUFACTURES

money into their pockets every summer, and are consequently now clamouring to be given seed. The mulberry trees are carefully watched by the State, and an inspector of mulberry trees goes round the valley, seeing that the trees are not damaged and are properly pruned. Young mul- berry trees are distributed by the State to the villagers to the number of from 80,000 to 40,000 B year.

Fruit is another of Kashmir’s important pro- ducts which may be expected largely to increase in the future. Kashmir apples are renowned all over India. They are large, red, and attractive looking, and sell well as far down as Calcutta and Bombay. But they are not of really good flavour, and the apples from European stock now being grown are sure to have a large sale in the future. In the autumn months thousands of cart-loads are carried down the roads to the railway at Rawal Pindi. The apple grows wild in Kashmir, and the villagers uproot the wild trees and plant them in their orchards. But the State also now supplies them with young trees. Near Srinagar there are large State nurseries stocked with the best kinds from Europe, and every year thousands of young