Prologue

Unravelled Dreams

“…For example, while high humidity is an asset for mulberries' growth, warm and rainy days are more likely to generate disease in silkworms and have repercussions for stored cocoons, which become vulnerable to attack by fungus beyond 70 per cent humidity. 61 Any given region adapted to sericulture had had to overcome these difficulties, finding ways to offset variations in species, genetic hardiness, soils, and environments, and to survive the inevitable blips associated with shorter-term weather patterns and diseases.…”