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SILK CULTURIST?S
MANUAL:

| A POPULAR TREATISE

ON THE PLANTING AND CULTIVATION OF MULBERRY TREES,
THE REARING AND PROPAGATING OF SILK WORMS,
AND THE PREPARATION OF THE RAW
MATERIAL FOR EXPORTATION:

ADDRESSED TO THE

FARMERS AND PLANTERS

OF THE UNITED STATES:

BY JOHN D°HOMERGUE.

**\ little worm—the source of countless riches,
Vake care of him, and he ’Il take care of you.”

PHILADELPHIA.

PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY HOGAN & THOMPSON,
NO. 39 NORTH FOURTH STREET.

1839

au

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by
JOHN D’HOMERGUE,

in the Clerk’s office of the District Court of the Eastern District
of Pennsylvania.

J. THOMPSON, PRINTER.

DEDICATION.

TO
PETER S. DU PONCEAU, LLD.

PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

HELD AT PHILADELPHIA,
FOR PROMOTING USEFUL KNOWLEDGE, &C. &C.

THIS WORK,

IS RESPECTFULLY AND GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED BY

THE AUTHOR.

Neri

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

The Author’s Address to the Farmers and Planters of the
United States, - - - - page ix.

RE OO Di 3
PART | de:

¥
Culture of the Mulberry Tree.

Introduction, -

CHAPTER |.

Of the different kinds of Mulberry trees, — - - 7
White Mulberry, (Aforus Alba, L.) - - Sits 38
Black Mulberry, (Morus Nigra,) - - - 10
Morus Broussonetica, (Mulberry of Constantinople,) 11
Morus Rubra, (Red Mulberry,) — - - - - ll
Morus Multicauls, - - - - - 12
Dandeolo or Moretti Mulberry, - - - - 20

CHAPTER 2.
Peculiar substance in the Mulberry leaf, and the anal-

ogy ofits constituent elements with silk, - 22
CHAPTER 3.
Of the Cultivation of Mulberry trees, — - - - 26

This chapter embraces the following heads :—
ist. The manner of gathering and preserving the

seed, DO ee ee oe
2d. The soil proper for the raising and plantation —

of Mulberry trees, - - - - - 30
3d. ‘The various modes of propagating the Mulber-

ry trees, - - - - - 31, 35, 38
4th. ‘The planting out of the young Mulberry trees, 42
Sth. The grafting and budding Mulberry trees, 45

A*

Vi. TABLE OF CONTENTS.

6th. The culture, ae and management of the
trees, ka = - - page
7th. The geese of the Malbeney trees, —s -

PART II.
Of the Silk Worms.
CHAPTER IL.
Of the rearing of the Silk Worms,

CHAPTER 2.

Method of Hatching the Silk Worms, - - -
CHAPTER 3.

Of the rearing of Silk Worms during their first ages,

CHAPTER 4.

Rearing of thé ols Worms in the fourth age, = -
CHAPTER 5.

Of the Fifth age—First period, - - - -
CHAPTER 6.

Second period of the Fifth ‘eee soe: of the
cocoons, - - é e

CHAPTER 7.

Of the gathering of the cocoons, and their manage-

ment for sale or reproduction, - : 5
CHAPTER 8.

Of the changes of the Silk Worm, the coupling of the
moth, and the gathering and preservation of the
eggs, 5 s si a Fi ; 5

CHAPTER 9.

Remarks on different varieties of Silk Worms, - =
CHAPTER 10.

Of the Diseases of Silk Worms, - : =
CHAPTER IT.

Of Cocooneries, - - : = 4
CHAPTER 12.

Extract from the work of Count Dandolo, on the sub-

50
53

58

61

66

79

86

103

113

ject of the preceding chapter, - - - - 159

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

CHAPTER 13.

ceau, - - - Be ae - 5 :

Vil.

Miscellaneous Observations, - - - page 177
PART III.
Of the Preparation of Raw Silk for Exportation.
CHAPTER 1.
Preliminary Observations, = - - . - - 193
CHAPTER 2.
Of the difficulty and importance of the art of Reeling, 214
CHAPTER 3. )
Of the Filature system and its introduction into this
country, - - - - : - - 242
CHAPTER 4.
Of Filatures, their exterior form and internal arrange-
ments, and other matters relating to them, - 271
CHAPTER 9.
Of the Preparations for Reeling, - ee - - 279
: CHAPTER 6.
Of the different qualities of raw silk, - - 286
CHAPTER 7.
Of the Reel and other apparatus, - - - - 294
_ Explanation of the plate, figure 1, - - - 302
Do do do. 2, - - - 307
CHAPTER 8.
Of reeling and preparing the raw material for exporta-
tion, - - - - - - se ol@
CHAPTER 9.
Of the progress of raw silk until it comes to the hands
of the manufacturer, - - - - - 325
CHAPTER 10.
Piedmontese Ordinance, concerning Filatures and silk
reels, of the 8th of April, 1724, - - - $329
APPENDIX.
A. Mr. Boucher’s Correspondence with Mr. Du Pon-

339

TABLE OF CONTENTS. vill.
B. History of the Silk Bill, - - - page 350
C. Additional Documents concerning the Silk Bill, - 365
D. Proceedings in the Legislature of Pennsylvania,
on the presentation of a flag made of American
Silk, bearing the colors of the United States, 401

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS

TO THE

FARMERS AND PLANTERS
OF THE UNITED STATES.

GENTLEMEN—

Permit a stranger who has resided ten years
in your country, who admires its liberal insti-
tutions and wholesome laws, and above all, the
spirit of activity and enterprise by which
your people is animated, which in the short
period of fifty years, with the aid of intelligence
and knowledge widely diffused, has raised these
United States, from obscure colonies, to an em-
inent and highly dignified station among the
nations of the earth, to address to you these
fruits of his labor and experience in a branch
of industry intimately connected with your
agricultural pursuits; an industry peculiarly
suited to your soil and to your climate, and
which nature herself seems to point out to you
as the source from which you are to derive
immense riches. |

Various attempts have been made from the

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. Xe

first settlement of these colonies to introduce
among you the culture of silk, all of which,
for reasons which need not be stated here, have
successively failed, and no trace of them re-
mains, except a domestic manufacture of infe-
rior sewing silk, which, during a period of
near eighty years, has Janguished in one of your
states, without producing the least benefit to
the country at large, or even to the district of
country in which it has been so long pursued,
which has remained poor, in the midst of a rich
produce, while at the foot of the Alps, that pro-
duce has been to the little Duchy of Piedmont,
hardly equal in extent to some of your counties,
and hardly visible on the map of Europe, the ne-
ver failing source of immense wealth, so that the
sovereign who rules over those mountains, by
the title of king of Sardinia, from an insignifi-
cant island, which he also possesses, is number-
ed among the principal potentates of Europe.

Within the last ten or twelve years, this
country has been awakened to this her most
important interest. The national and state
governments have done all in their power to
give it their support. But their measures have
been either vacillating, or directed into wrong

xis THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

‘channels. ‘They have hitherto had no success,
and sometimes have produced effects different
from those that were intended. At last the
people have taken the matter into their own
hands. Conventions have been called to discuss
the best course to be pursued, and in expecta-
tion of something more effectual being done,
mulberry trees have been imported and are now
importing in large quantities, and command
enormous prices; manuals and other works,
for the instruction of the people in the cultiva-
tion of mulberry trees and the rearing of silk
worms, are everywhere issuing from the press,
so that, yielding to the general impulse, I ven-
ture to contribute my mite towards this impor-
tant object.

The two first parts of this Treatise are ex-
clusively devoted to the subjects above men-
tioned, to wit: the cultivation of mulberry
trees and the rearing of silk worms. On these
topics, you cannot expect much that is new.
They have been exhausted by the European
writers, and by your own; so that the multi-
plicity of books is become an inconvenience,
from the difficulty of making a choice from
among them. Some of them are filled with mi-

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. Xe

first settlement of these colonies to introduce:
among you the culture of silk, all of which,,
for reasons which need not be stated here, have:
successively failed, and no trace of them re--
mains, except a domestic manufacture of infe-
rior sewing silk, which, during a period of i
near eighty years, has languished in one of your’
states, without producing the least benefit to:
the country at large, or even to the district of’
country in which it has been so long pursued, ,
which has remained poor, in the midst of a-rich
produce, while at the foot of the Alps, that pro- _
duce has been to the little Duchy of Piedmont,
hardly equal in extent to some of your counties,
and hardly visible on the map of Europe, the ne- |
ver failing source of immense wealth, so that the —
sovereign who rules over those mountains, by
the title of king of Sardinia, from an insignifi-
cant island, which he also possesses, is number-
ed among the principal potentates of Europe.

Within the last ten or twelve years, this
country has been awakened to this her most
important interest. The national and state
governments have done all in their power to
give it theirsupport. But their measures have
been either vacillating, or directed into wrong

xl. THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

channels. ‘They have hitherto had no success,
and sometimes have produced effects different
from those that were intended. At last the
people have taken the matter into their own
hands. Conventions have been called to discuss
the best course to be pursued, and in expecta-
tion of something more effectual being done,
mulberry trees have been imported and are now
importing in large quantities, and command
enormous prices; manuals and other works,
for the instruction of the people in the cultiva-
tion of mulberry trees and the rearing of silk
worms, are everywhere issuing from the press,
so that, yielding to the general impulse, | ven-
ture to contribute my mite towards this impor-
tant object.

The two first parts of this Treatise are ex-
clusively devoted to the subjects above men-
tioned, to wit: the cultivation of mulberry
trees and the rearing of silk worms. On these
topics, you cannot expect much that is new.
They have been exhausted by the European
writers, and by your own; so that the multi-
plicity of books is become an inconvenience,
from the difficulty of making a choice from
among them. Some of them are filled with mi-

Xl. THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

nute details, of no real use in practice, others |

are too summary, and not a few are obscure and |

not easy to be understood. It is difficult for a
writer to avoid every fault and to combine every —

advantage; I do not pretend to have done that.
I have tried to say all that is necessary to be

known and nothing more. I have aimed at.

a good method and arrangement of my subject,

and above all, I have endeavored to express —

myself clearly, and to be understood by all. |

This is all the merit which a work of this kind

can lay claim to, and I have done all in my |

power to entitle myself to it. Ihave made no
display of useless learning 5 I have not wan-
dered into the fields of history; my simple
precepts are not accompanied by philosophical
reflections; I have always kept in mind that I
was speaking to practical farmers, and not to
the members of an Historical or Philosophical
Society. You will judge whether the end
which I proposed to myself has been sufficiently
attained.

The third part of this book relates to the art
of reeling the silk from the cocoons, and pre-
paring the rich material for exportation; for I
must confess that I believe that this country is

reyar cc wae 73 7

oo Bos 4 - = Se eeeses—_a=mme*—_

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. ‘xiii:
not yet ripe for the manufacture of silk. You
have tried it in Connecticut in the humble man-
ufacture of sewing silk. During eighty years
you have made no progress in it, and your silk
is yet unsaleable in our great markets. Hight
years ago Congress laid a duty of 40 per cent.
on foreign sewing silks, whichif your domestic
article had been merchantable, would have
amounted to a prohibition; the consequence
has been that forezgn raw silk has been imported
in large quantities from China and Bengal, and
only fisted into sewing silk in your country.
You purchase it every day as American silk ;
but you are deceived, it isnot American. Con-
gress, by passing this law, meant to encourage
- your agriculture, considering the making of
sewing silk as connected with it, (which in fact
itis not) and they have only encouraged the
silk culturists of other countries, while your
domestic industry has remained stationary ; and
has made no progress whatever. You will find
all that fully explained in the third part of this
work. Inconsequence of this duty of 40 percent.
on foreign sewing silk, interests have arisen in
different parts of this country which may require
to be attended to. It might perhaps be the cause
® |

xiv. THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

of much injury to those who have embarked
in twisting establishments under it, if it were
taken off too suddenly. This however is a
matter which I have no doubt, will be pro-
perly considered.

The reason of this, gentlemen, (for I must
speak eandidly to you) is that you are not sufli-
ciently skilled in the art of winding off the silk
from the cocoons, and converting it inte what
is called raw silk. You have been told that it is
a very easy thing, that every woman may do it
with little or no instruction; some have said
that a proper machine, (say the Piedmont reel)
is all that is wanted, as if the machine could
work without hands; but there are others, even
men in high authority, who have gone farther
and have told you that American ingenuity has
improved on'the Piedmont reel, and that a ma-
chine has been invented so perfect and so
simple, that even a child by means of it can
without the least difficulty, reel silk admirably
well. This, gentlemen, is an illusion greatly to
be lamented. I shall be the last man to deny, or
in theleast to qnestion the ingenuity of the coun-
trymen of Franklin and of Fulton; but I have
undertaken to prove, and I hope I have clearly

‘THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. — Xv.

proved, that what you are said to have per-
formed, is beyond the power of man.

However extraordinary it may appear to you,
it is not the less true, that the art of reeling
silk from the cocoons is nice and difficult, that
itfrequires instruction as well as experience,
and that it is only to be learned by seeing it
well performed. It is not so with the rearing
of silk worms; that is a sczence, which may be
learned from books, but reeling is an art, which
no books can teach. Franklin might become
a natural philosopher, and Bowditch an astrono-
mer, with only the aid af heoks and of native
genius, but no bocks ever made a cabinet maker,
a watch maker, or a jeweller, nor a_skil-
ful performer on a musical instrument. Arts
are only to be taught by ocular and manual
demonstration, and by practice for some time
under the eye of a master. I have tried in the
third part of this work to describe as well as I
could, the whole process of the art of reeling;
but, at the same time, I have acknowledged that
all I have said is not sufficient to make you per-
fect in it, while, with the aid only of my two
first books, you may learn to cultivate mulberry
trees and to rear silk worms, in the most econo-

XV1.- THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

mical and most profitable, and consequently, in
the most perfect manner.

I endeavor to prove in the third part of this
book, and I hope I shall be able to convince
you, that there is but one way of making the
silk culture profitable to this country, and that
is by adopting the European system of large —
filatures, which are establishments in which —
raw silk is prepared for exportation or manufac-
ture, and that the making of sewing silk is no
part of this business, but belongs to a separate
profession, which is that of certain mechanics,
called s2lk thromsters. Their business is to
twist raw silk, as it comes from the reel into
sening silk, or into other forms, to be employed |
in different manufactures. |

In those large filatures, young females are
taught the art of reeling; some of them remain
attached to the establishment, while others,
after being sufficiently instructed, return to
their homes, where they reel silk for them-
selves, and those are called domestic filatures.

By means of these establishments, the art
of reeling silk in the perfection required for
the European manufactures, is disseminated
throughout the country, and raw silk, thus

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. XVil.

prepared, becomes a valuable article for sale at
home, or exportation abroad.

But this is not all, these establishments afford
regular and constant markets for cocoons, and
encourage the farmers to produce them in
great quantities, by attending to the rearing of
silk worms; otherwise they will neglect this
occupation, or their cocoons will lie useless
upon their hands.

It may be said, and it has a said, that
there is not yet a sufliciency of cocoons in this
country, to begin with large filatures; but un-
less we so begin, there never will be, because
there will not be sufficient encouragement to
produce them. On the contrary, as soon as a
filature is established, and a regular market
opened, cocoons will appear in abundance, be-
cause it will be the interest of the farmers to
produce them. When Georgia was first settled,
with only a handful of inhabitants, in the midst
of a wilderness, the british began by establish-
ing a filature at the town (then village,) of Sa-
vannah; cocoons immediately appeared as it were
by enchantment, and raw silk was-sent to Eng-
land in large quantities, considering the then

situation of that infant colony, and so continued to
Bx

XVill. THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

be sent until the revolution, which put an end to

that promising establishment. In the year 1769, |

(a few years before the Revolution,) your illus-

trious Franklin, who was then in England, but |
constantly watching over the interests of his |

beloved country, suggested to the American

Philosophical Society, then lately instituted, —
_and of which, though residing abroad, he had |
been elected the first president, the patriotic |

idea of introducing the culture of silk into |

Pennsylvania, and recommended beginning by |

establishing a filature. ‘That learned body took |

up the subject warmly, application was made to
the Legislature, but, as 1t appears, without suc-
cess; a private subscription was then recurred
to, which had the desired effect.

Now mind, gentlemen, what the Society did
on that occasion. They did not employ writers
to compile manuals on the cultivation of mul-
berry trees, and the rearing of silk worms, much
less on the various modes of manufacturing silk;
they did not attempt to invent new machinery,
nor offer premiums for emproved reels; they did
not give ear tothe schemes of the quacks and pre-
tenders of that day, but they determined at once
upon the rational plan of a fi/ature in this city.

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. xix.

They knew that it would produce mulberry
trees, and silk worms, and cocoons, and manuals
in sufficient abundance.

The filature was established; the building was
in Seventh street between Market and Arch
streets, which was then out of the city: no
trace of it now remains. I have been told that
a skilful Frenchman was placed at the head of it;
but the record from which these facts are taken,
only says, that “the Society procured the ne-
cessary machine (no doubt the Piedmont reel,)
to wind the cocoons.”’ It adds that the silk reel-
ed at that filature was “not inferior in goodness
to the best from France or Italy.”’ This sounds
like exaggeration, even if Dandolo himself had
been placed at the head of the filature. Be
that as it may, the fact to which I wish to draw
your attention is, that from the 25th of June
to the 15th of August, 1771, (less than two
| months,) 2,300 pounds of cocoons were brought
to the filature to be reeled, or were bought by
the managers. *

Two thousand three hundred pounds of co-
coons! where did these come from? Why,
gentlemen, from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and
Delaware, not an ounce from any other place.

* Hazard’s Register of Pennsylvania, vol. i., p. 64.

XX. THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

This is almost miraculous; but it is not the less
true, and shows what filatures can produce, and
how superior this system is to any other that
can be devised.

The revolution also put an end to this noble
establishment. :

-I shall only add a recent example to complete
this proof. When in 1830 and 1831, an experi-
mental filature under my direction, was estab-
lished at Philadelphia, cocoons were brought to
us in abundance, from all parts of the Union, and
they continued to come for a long time after-
wards, (for the market had acquired a reputa-
tion) but then they could find no purchasers.

You see, gentlemen, that all that is required
to insure the production of cocoons, is a good
market, and that no such market can be estab-
lished but by means of a filature.

I shall now proceed to speak to you of the
last attempt which has been made to introduce
the filature system into this country; but which
has unfortunately failed. I shall be obliged to
dwell at some Iength unon this subject. :

In the year 1829, I published, in conjunc-
tion with Mr. Du Ponceau, a series of Essays,
in which these principles were for the first

'
)

| |
;

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. XXi.

time presented to the consideration of the Ame-
rican public. I had, then, just arrived from
Marseilles, in France, where I made my resi-
dence, having abandoned the silk business, to
which I had been brought up, and taken to
other pursuits. I was induced to come to this
country by the agent of a society established
in this city for promoting the culture and
manufacture of silk. I had no idea of these
promoting societies. From the brilliant pros-
pects held out to me by their agent, I saw the
mines of Peru open before me; he showed me
® paper written im an unknown tongue, of
which I could only make out the words ‘“ Pre-
sident,” ‘Vice President,’ “ Secretary,”’
‘¢ Treasurer 3” the word TREASURER struck
me particularly. I expected no less than to be
placed at the head of a large filature, to which,
perhaps, a throwing establishment might be at-
tached. On my arrival, instead of a company
of capitalists, I found an association of about
thirty excellent patriots, intent on promoting
the culture, and even the manufacture of silk,
but whose annual income did not exceed two
or three hundred dollars. I was, therefore,
completely disappointed.

XXil. : THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

In this situation, it was my good fortune to —
become acquainted with John Vaughan, Esq., _
the stranger's friend, and one of the most ac- |
tive and efficient members of the American —
Philosophical Society. He introduced me to |
the President of that learned institution.

I had found great difficulty in making my-
self understood of my patriotic friends, (per-
haps, because I did not speak their language,) |
I found none with that gentleman; he had ne-
ver turned his attention before to the business
of silk; but the explanations that I gave him
snon made him familiar with it, at least, suffiet-
ently to make him understand the difficulty
and the importance of the art of reeling silk
from the cocoons. He became convinced that
the filature system was the only means by which
the culture of silk could be made a source of
profit to this country; he proposed to me to
write a series of Essays to be published in
the newspapers, in which the advantages of

this system should be clearly explained to the
American nation, and offered to give me his
assistance. |

The Essays were written, not without diffi-
culty. Some errors crept in them, and it is

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. XXili.

astonishing there were not more, when it is
considered that I did not know one word of the
language, and that my kind assistant had not
yet become sufliciently familiar with the de-
tails of this intricate subject. They were writ-
ten in great haste, and successively appeared
in the National Gazette, from which they were
copied into almost all the newspapers of the
union. This great popularity induced us to
reprint them in a pamphlet, which went off ra-
pidly. It attracted the attention of Congress,
who referred it to their Committee on Agricul-
ture, with power to enter fully upon the sub-
ject, and report on the best course to be pur-
sued. The committee immediately perceived
the importance, as well as the difficulty of the
art of reeling, and how necessary it was that it
should be brought to perfection in this coun-
try. They unanimously determined to estab-
lish a normal filature for the instruction of the
people, and to place me at the head of it. By
their Chairman, who was then the venerable
Ambrose Spencer, of New York, they wrote to
Mr. Du Ponceau, and desired him to ask of me
on what terms I would accept that employment.
They proposed a plan which Mr. Du Ponceau

XXIV. THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

thought could not be carried into execution with- |
out too much expense, and which was besides lia~
ble to many difficulties. He suggested another
on a more moderate scale, to which I agreed,
on the terms that he thought proper to dictate,
and he was not disposed to throw away the mo-.
ney of the United States. This plan was adopted |
by the committee, and a bill, embracing all its.
details, was reported to Congress. It remained
pending there during three sessions, and on the |
22d of May, 1832, was finally rejected. |
I have thought proper, gentlemen, to insert |
in the appendix to this work, a history of this
bill, which has become generally known un-
der the name of the sz/k dill, accompanied |
with authentic documents in confirmation of
it. Several reasons have induced me to do}
this. In the first place, I believe that the |
silk biil will be considered as an important
part of the history of silk in this country, and
therefore, it seems necessary that it should be
known with all the circumstances that attend-
ed it. But there is another reason which is
personal to me, and which, in justice to myself,
makes it necessary that it should be known in |
all its details. It has been reported in the |

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. XKVE

newspapers and elsewhere, that I had applied
to Congress for employment, and it has even
been said in the debates upon the bill, that its
only object was to set me up in my line of busi-
ness. 1 owe to myself, not only to contradict
these assertions, but to prove their falsity, in the
clearest manner. I have a reputation to pre-
serve as well as others, and I hope the time will
come when it will be acknowledged that my fee-
ble efforts to promote the true interest of this
country, as far as they are connected with the
silk culture, have not been entirely useless. It
will appear from the documents that I publish,
that I never made any application to Congress
for aid or assistance of any kind, and that I
only accepted the propositions that were made
to me without any solicitation on my part.

I must own that the ill success of this bill as-
tonished me greatly. I had every reason to
believe that it would pass into a law, otherwise
I would not have sacrificed three years of my
life in the hope of its success. It was in fact
offered to me. The unanimous report of the
Committee on Agriculture and the favor with
which it appeared to be received by Congress,
completely deceived me. Other business had

c

XXVi. THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

prevented its being acted upon during the two
first sessions, but I had reason to believe that it
was intended that it should pass. I would, how-
ever, have left this country, had it not been
for the efforts that were made to induce me to
remain; as you will see in the appendix, p. 362.
- At the session of 1831 and 1832, a new Com-
mittee on Agriculture was appointed, of which
the honorable Erastus Root of New York, was
the chairman; that committee, I was informed,
was opposed to the bill. Mr. Du Ponceau and
I went to Washington, and appeared before
them. The chairman, Mr. Root, and most of
the members were decidedly hostile. We were
examined, cross examined, and re-examined be-
fore that committee, and the result was that at
least a majority of them changed their opinion
entirely. The chairman, from an enemy, be-
came a zealous friend to the bill, and support-
ed it with eloquence in the debates upon it in
Congress. The opinion of that body did not |
appear at that time to be so generally in favor
of the measure as in the two preceding years.
Some symptoms of hostility appeared, but still
we expected that the friends to the bill would
prevail. It had many powerful friends in and
out of the House.

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. XXVii.

"The late President, General Jackson, was in”
favor of it. “I hope,’’ said he to Mr. Du Pon-
ceau, “‘that you wiil succeed.”” His name was
made use of in Congress against the bill, on the
last day of the discussion; but I am convinced
that it was entirely without the knowledge or
participation of the venerable chief. 7

The present Vice President, Richard M.
Johnson, was in favor of it, as may be seen by
the paper in the appendix B, p. 362, to which
his name is subscribed, with many others.

The then Secretary of State, Mr. Livingston,
was in favor of it, and so was the honorable
Andrew Stevenson, the Speaker of the House,
although his situation obliged him to use more
circumspection than he would otherwise have
done.

Many others whom I might name were or
expressed themselves of the same opinion. I[
do not speak of the eminent men who were
amongst the respectable minority that voted
for the bill, such as the venerable ex-President
John Quincy Adams, Governor Everett of Mas-
sachusetts, Governor White of Louisiana, and
other distinguished characters. In short, the
bill had a host of friends at Washington, so that

XXVili. THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

I was truly astonished when I saw it rejected by
a small majority the very day after its having
reported to the House, by themselves sitting
as a Committee of the Whcle. To the last mo-
ment I thought that the result would be other-
wise. Some of my too zealous friends have
thought that Congress had done me wrong by
coquetting with me during three sessions and
at last suddenly letting me go. I am too well
acquainted with the course of human affairs, to
join in that opinion. The fact is, that Mr.
Du Ponceau pressed Congress for a final deci-
sion at a time when the highest degree of agi-
tation prevailed in it. There was the tariff,
nullification, and the Bank of the United States,
more than suflicient to distract the mind of ma-
ny a wise politician. It is no wonder there-
fore, that in the midst of such a storm, my
little bark was shipwrecked. I have no com-
plaint to make of Congress, I ought to have
known, that great political bodies are not
always of the same mind; in future, I shall take
care to follow the advice of the inspired writer:
* Put not your trust in Princes!”

Some persons have thought that by endeavor-
ing to introduce the filature system into this

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. xxix.

country, I was acting to the prejudice of France,
which you know to be the greatest silk manufac-
turing country in the world. The late French
Ambassador, Mr. Serurier, who resided at
Washington while the silk bill was pending,
was of that opinion, and expressed it publicly
and withoutreserve. lam,gentlemen,a French-
man, and nothing shail ever tempt me to be-
tray the interest of my native Country. But I
am of a different opinion, from that Minister.
I was encouraged by the silk manufacturers of
France, who are the most interested in the ques-
tion. France wants raw silk,and I thought, and
still think, that she may as well purchase it from
the United States, as from Italy and other coun-
tries for her manufactures; as the time is far
distant when America will rival her admirable
tissues, which no other nation has yet succeed-
ed to imitate. With the utmost respect for
Mr. Serurier’s opinion, I think he was, in
this case, under a wrong impression, in which
I cannot participate.

But whether he was right or wrong, I have
reason to be astonished that his opposition,
which was well known at Washington, in and
out of Congress, did not ensure the passage of _
the silk bill. for it showed that he well un- —

c*

XXX. - THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

derstood that the plan I proposed, if adopted
by the nation, could not fail to succeed. Iam,
therefore, right in ascribing its failure to the
agitated state of the public mind at that time.
A bill, the mere proposal of which, excited
the jealousy of foreign nations, would in other
times, have passed unanimously. But fate had
decided it otherwise. |

After the lapse of six years, I have been
much gratified to find that when the silk bill,
as I thought, was almost forgotten, a third com-
mittee on agriculture, at the head of which
is the honorable J. F. Randolph, of New Jersey,
expressed their approbation of its principles,
as suited to the time when it was proposed,
though it was at present useless, for a reason
which you will see explained in the following
extracts from their report of the 20th of
April, 1838. They express themselves in these
words:

‘‘Thus perished the first zmportant mea-
sure proposed by the nation to promote the
production of silk in this country ; a measure
which the committee believe, with the lights
then in existence, was wzse, prudent, and im-
portant, but which the subsequent ingenuity
and experience of our countrymen now render

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. eek

unnecessary; believing, as they do, that the
recent improvements in reeling will do more
in a few weeks than the establishment of many
normal schools upon the old plan would do in
many years.’’—(Report, p. 6.)

In another part of the same report it is said,
that, “the dull, tedious method of reeling by
hand, which required a regular apprenticeship
to learn, and years to acquire facility in the
use of, has given way to the new patent reel,
by which a person (even a child) may learn in
a few hours to reel, with great ease and expe-
dition, a much more even thread than by the
old process.’’—(p. 5.)

Then, gentlemen, the whole of this great
question is reduced to a single point, which 1s
a matter of fact, which any mechanician, with
the light that this work throws upon the sub-
ject, may in a moment decide. If your coun-
try is really possessed of that wonderful ma-
chine, that Aladdin’s lamp so loudly proclaim-
ed, then all I have written must go for nothing,
and I shall rejoice with you at the prospect of
immense wealth that it opens to view ; if on the
contrary it should be found, as I have attempt-
‘ed to demonstrate, that no machinery whatever

XXX. THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

can produce the effects that are pretended ;
then the system which I recommend, that is
the filature system, which was the basis of the
silk bill, must be now as mise, as prudent and
as zmportant as when it was first proposed, and
you have in its favour not only the opinion of
the two committees of Congress on agriculture
of 1830 and 1832, but also that of the commit-
tee of 1838, which, (saving the wonderful ma-
chine, ) agrees entirely with the former ones.
Since this last report was made, I observe
that the public opinion, on the subject of silk,
has undergone a great change, and that it is
now well understood that it is not a safe method
to ‘improve first and learn afterwards.”’ Con-
ventions of the friends of the silk culture have
already been held in different States. At those
which were held at Baltimore, Philadelphia,
and Harrisburg, I find that the Piedmontese
reel has now obtained the general favor, and
that zmproved reels are no longer talked of. I
have read with great pleasure in the Farmers’
Register, an excellent periodical, printed at.
Petersburg in Virginia, an eloquent speech, de-
livered by a gentleman who distinguished him-
self by his opposition to the filature system, and

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. XXXill.

who was himself the inventor of an zmproved
reel,* in which he passesa high and well me-
rited eulogium upon that of Piedmont, which he
says is superior to all others, and the general use
of which he recommends to his fellow citizens.
‘‘ All ve want,’’ says he, ‘‘to secure the pre-
eedence over the very factories of Italy herself,
is the uniformity and excellence of reeling. By
it we will kill every silk worm in Europe.
The Italians themselves, to say nothing of
France and England, will give us twenty or
thirty per cent. more for our raw silk than
they will for any produced in Europe.’’+

This seems rather exaggerated, besides that
Italy exports and does not import raw silk, but
it shows the opinion of the orator very different
from what it was ten years ago, when he so
gallantly attacked in a learned series of news-
paper publications, the essays which I had then
published, and in which I tried to inculcate
precisely the same principles. He then pro-
ceeds to eulogise the Piedmont reel in warm
energetic language, and in much stronger terms
than any I have used in the present work.

* Gideon B. Smith, Esq, of Baltimore.
+ Farmers’ Register, vol. 7, No. 2, February, 1839, p. 86.

XXXIV. THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

The learned gentleman, however, does not
appear to have abandoned with his improved
reel all his former prejudices; for he seems to
think that the Piedmont reel works alone, in-
dependently of the skill of the reeler, and that
the uniformity of the machine will, of course,
produce uniformity of silk; in. short, that it
will produce of itself the excellent raw silk
which he agrees with me in saying, that it is
the only thing you want. I have no doubt that
after reading this book, and particularly the
Piedmontese Ordinance, he will sacrifice this
last mistaken opinion, as he has generously done
so many others.

The system of exportation, also, is gaining
great favor; it has been recommended in the
conventions of which I have just spoken; with
what success I know nots; but I have no doubt
that its advantages will be ultimately apprecia-
ted. .

I understand that other conventions, on the
subject of the silk culture, are tobe held. One
is announced to take place at Hartford in Con-
necticut, some time in the course of next month.
J] am very glad to see that the intelligent silk
culturists of that state are to take that subject

THE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS. XXXV.

into their serious consideration. Their coun-
try abounds in mulberry trees, and they pro-
duce annually an immense quantity of cocoons;
it isin that neighborhood that it is particularly
desirable to see a filature established. If their
funds are not sufficient, they have at their door
the great State of New York, so distinguished
for its wealth and enterprise. But wherever
the thing may be begun, I venture to predict
that the first filature that will be established in
the United States will, by quickening and en-
couraging the silk culture throughout the coun-
try, be able to supply itself with cocoons in
sufficient quantity for its purpose, and in the
end will prove to you an abundant source of
riches, and lead you to that high degree of
prosperity to which you are destined.
Although I have kept silence during the last
eight years, I have not been inattentive to the
progress of the silk culture in this country. I
have remained faithful to the filature system,
which I first recommended to you in the year
1829. The silk bill was only a development of
that system, and a means to carry it into exe-—
cution. I did notask for that legislative favors
it was offered to me, and I am thankful for it,

XXXVl. TILE AUTHOR’S ADDRESS.

though it ultimately failed. The renewed at-
tention which has been lately paid to the sub-
ject of silk, and the great zeal which it has pro-
duced for the promotion of that object, has in-
duced me, with the aid of the same kind friend
who in 1829 assisted me in the composition
of the essays, again to appear before you, and to
communicate to you the knowledge that I pos-
sess of many important facts which I have ac-
quired from practice and experience, and which
you had not before the opportunity of knowing,
because silk is yet, as it were, an exotic pro-
duction in your country. I ask nothing of you
but your good will, and if I have contributed
in some degree to the further advancement of
your hitherto unexampled prosperity, I shall
have obtained the highest reward which I could
ever have expected for these feeble efforts.

Accept, gentlemen, the assurance of my pro-
found respect,

J. DHOMERGUE.
Philadelphia, April 20th, 1839.

THE
SILK CULTURIST’S

MANUAL.

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INTRODUCTION.

To MAKE known the different species of the
Mu perry tree, and point out those which are
the most proper for the food of the SiLk Worm ;
to exhibit, circumstantially, the best manner of
raising these worms, of selecting the Cocoons,
and of winding off the SiLk, especially at the
time when there is a fair prospect of introdu-
cing the culture of this valuable article into the
United States, are the principal motives of my
engaging again on this subject.

To write upon any thing which is the imme-
diate object of practice, is by no means so use-
less as the bulk of practitioners imagine. Ag-
riculture and all parts of husbandry have long
been arts of common practice, and yet will be
subjects proper to be treated of, so long as they
are capable of improvement; and even though
they were not capable of being further im-

4. INTRODUCTION.

proved, yet, it would be necessary to make
public what was already known, that persons
who have not the opportunity of being instruct-
ed, might be encouraged to begin their journey
by having some directions of the road. In
France and Italy, though the culture of silk has
long been a practical art, yet, books are still
written upon that subject, which have, without
doubt, this good consequence, that they engage
many in that business who would otherwise
never have thought of it, because they had no
rule to set out by.

The several publications which have been
printed on this subject, have not explained even
the present practice in such a manner as to
extricate persons from the difficulties they
would meet in their first trials, much less have
they attempted to lay any foundation for future
improvements; they were too concise to take in
the various incidents that might embarrass a
young practitioner, and, in many difficult parts,
so obscure, that they seem to be only verbal trans-
lations, without any knowledge of the subject.
As an instance of this, let any one read the de-

INTRODUCTION. 5

scription given of the different reels invented;
there is either a total neglect, or a total igno-
rance of its most essential movements. We need
not mention the many material circumstances
which are omitted in the hatching, feeding, and
obtaining the breed of silk worms.

In the following treatise we have attempted to
bring together the best information, and the
most material facts which have been published
by different authors, and, having ourselves many
times gone through the practice of the different
parts into which we have divided the subject, we
have taken occasion to mention such improve-
ments as we had actually tried, and also to sub-
mit such as we had reason to think would, on
trial, be found useful: by these means attempt-
ing to impart what we already knew, and direct-
ing to such trials as might discover more than we
knew, and striving to enter so far into the rea-
sons of things, as might give some light to future
discoverers.

If some should think we have treated the sub-
ject too minutely, we can only say, that this was

owing to our observing that brevity in rules
2%

6 INTRODUGTION.

which were to be put in practice was often the
cause of obscurity and error. |

In short, it may happen that this treatise
may be speedily censured, and slowly found
useful; or it may, without either praise or cen-
sure sleep in obscurity. But, while we are con-
scious of the intention with which it has been
written, and are of opinion that it can, at least,
do no injury to the cause which produces it,
we shall not add solicitude about its credit, to
the trouble it has already cost us.

PART I.

CULTURE OF THE MULBERRY TREE.

—e

CHAPTER I.

OF THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF MULBERRY
TREES.

Tue mulberry tree is the foundation of the
silk culture, its leaves being the only food
so peculiarly adapted to the worm which affords
us its rich materials, that no other can be sub-
stituted for it, with any advantage, whatever
authors may have stated to the contrary at va-
rious periods; experience has not only shown
that the silk worm has no other aliment proper
to its nature than the mulberry leaf, but it is
also ascertained to be extremely hurtful to this
delicate insect to change the quality of the leaf,

as inexperienced persons in rearing them are

too apt to do. ‘The cocoons produced by
worms uniformly fed with the same kind of leaf
are always more beautiful, finer, richer in silk,
and of a more delicate texture. ,

The first silk worms reared in Europe were

_ fed on the black mulberry leaves, the only spe-

8 SILK CULTURIST’S. MANUAL.

cies then cultivated there, as would appear,.
although it was well known that the white mul-
berry was cultivated in Greece.

But the white mulberry, (Morus Alba, L.)
was soon after introduced into all the temperate
regions of Europe.

This mulberry tree offers three advantages:
the leaf is earlier, and thus the care of the silk
worm is not protracted too much into the hot
season. It also gives a much greater abundance
of leaves in a shorter period, and their quality
produces the sort of silk most approved of by
the manufacturers. But there is a considera-
ble difference in the quality of the white mul-
berry trees. Count Dandolo, the great silk cul-
turist of Italy, considers those as the best which
grow in Lombardy, under the name of Fogha

Giazzola, of a middle sized leaf, dark green,
and Foglia Doppia, of small leaf, of a dark |

colour, rather thick, more difficult to pick, and
well calculated for the nutriment of silk worms,
the leaf of which contains five different substan-
ces: Ist, the solid, or fibrous substance; 2d, the

coloring matter; 3d, water; 4th, the saccharine

substance 3 5th, the resinous substance.

The solid or fibrous substance, the coloring |
matter, and the water, excepting what in part |

composes the body of the silk worm, cannot
be said to be nutritive to that insect; the

\

- . SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 9

saccharine matter is, therefore, the only part
which nourishes it, promotes its growth, and
forms its animal substance; the more the leaves
contain of it, in comparison with the other ele-
ments which compose it, the better is the tree
adapted to the purposes of the silk culture.

The resinous substance is that, which, sepa-
rating itself gradually from the leaf, and, attract-
ed by the animal organization, accumulates,
clears itself, and insensibly fills the two reser-
voirs, or silk vessels, which form the integral. .
parts of the silk worm. According to the dif-
ferent proportion of the elements which com-
pose the leaf, it follows that cases may occur in
which a greater weight of leaf may yield less
that is useful to the silk worm, as well for its
nourishment, as with respect to the quantity of
silk obtained from the animal. )

Thus the leaf of the black mulberry, hard,
harsh, and tough, with which the worm is fed
in some parts of Spain, Sicily, Calabria and
Greece, produces abundant silk, the thread of
which is very strong, but coarse.

The white mulberry leaf of the tree planted
in high lands, exposed to cold dry winds, and
in light soil, produces, generally, a large quanti-
ty of strong silk, of the purest and finest quality.
_ The leaf of the same tree, planted in damp
situations, in low grounds, and in a stiff soil, pro-

10 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

duces less silk, and of a quality less pure an.
fine. The less of the nutritive substance the
leaf contains, the more leaves must the silk worm
consume to complete their development.

The result must therefore be, that the silk
worm which consumes a large quantity of leaves
less nutritive, must be more fatigued, and more
liable to disease, than the silk worm which eats a
smaller proportion of more nutritive leaves.

The same may be said of those leaves, which,
containing a sufficiency of nutritive matter, con-
tain little resinous substance, in that case, the:
insects would thrive and grow, but probably
would not produce either a thick or strong’
cocoon, proportionate to the weight of the:
worm, as sometimes occurs in unfavorable sea-
sons. |

The black mulberry is the least advantageous |
for silk worms, because it produces a coarse silk,
and much litter and moisture, which proceeds |
from its fruit; for these reasons, therefore, it.
ought not be used as a food for silk worms. |
The Spanish mulberry would have the same |
effect, if the silk worm were fed a long while:
with its thick and fat leaf. Persons skilled in |
the care of silk worms, do not touch this leaf’
before the moment of the greatest consumption, —
and at the time when they need to be filled
with substantial nourishment.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. ‘ei

The mulberry of Constantinople, (Morus
Broussonetica, from the name of Mr Brous-
sonet, a distinguished professor,) with a low and
stunted trunk, very short branches, and leaves
much clustered together; this species is difii-
cult to be got, and yet more so to be propagated.

The red mulberry, (Morus Rubra,) which
is indigenous to North America, and bears very
large, numerous, wrinkled leaves, would also
afford an excellent food for silk worms, if care
were taken to engraft, or better yet, to inocu-
late it with rings of bark taken from the best
white mulberry ; it is small, not very succulent,
of a dark green, shining, and contains little
water, which may be easily ascertained by dry-
ing some of its leaves; otherwise we cannot
recommend it as food for the worms.

There is another species of white mulberry
which bears a middle-sized leaf, thick, and of
a dark green color. When the trees are not
exposed to a dry atmosphere, and are not in
light soils, they bear a large quantity of leaves,
but they are not then of such a nature as to afford
much silk. It appears that nature more easily
produces leaves abounding in nutritive matter,
than those which produce resinous or silky sub-
stances.

Besides the varieties of the mulberry tree
above mentioned, there is one, which, if we may

12 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

believe the high commendations of it, is su-
perior to all others for the silk worm. We mean
the mulberry of the Philippine Islands, (Morus
Multicaulis,) thus called by M. Perottet, and
often confounded by amateurs in general with

the ordinary mulberry of China, (Morus Alba —

Sinensis,) which, though resembling it a little
in exterior appearance, differs materially from
it in essential qualities.

This is a new and most valuable species of
mulberry, which has been of late, the object of
very great observation and experiment among
cultivators in Europe, as well as in the United
States. It is represented as possessing such
decided superiority over all others, as to be
speedily substituted for them in every part of
the globe. 7

This tree was brought from Manilla, the
capital of the Philippine Islands, to France in
1820, by M. Samuel Perottet, a celebrated
naturalist employed by the French government.
The Chinese inhabitants assured him that, to
this tree, the disciples of Confucius are indebt-
ed for the prosperity and solidity of their em-
pire, and that it is the only species used by them
in the production of the finest silks, such as they
weave into stufis exclusively for their own use.

The Morus Multicauls is already propa-

gating in many parts of Europe and the United -

|

!

|
|
|

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 13

States, and probably will be substituted for, and
preferred to all other varieties. It is gen-
erally known in Europe, by a name derived
from its origin, that is, the “‘ Mulberry of
the Phihppine Islands. In botanical language
M. Perottet has called it Morus Multicauls,
on account of its roots having the property of
putting forth many branches. Another eminent
agriculturist, (Matthew Bonafous,) has thought
it a better designation to call it Morus Cucul-
lata, because the leaves have a concave form,
inasmuch as the botanic description marks it by
the following characteristics, Morus folis cor-
dates, bast wniquahbus, viz lobatis, dentatts,
amplissimis, cucullatis; mulberry with leaves
heart-shaped, unequal at the base, scarcely
divided into lobes, indented, very large and
concave. Among the other qualities of this
tree, it is affirmed that a less quantity of its fo-
liage is required for the precious insect than
of other species.

- The lower branches of the Morus Multicau-
hs, are ordinarily straight and small, so that they
bend easily under the weight of the leaves in
the manner of a weeping willow, (Salyz Baby-
lontensis,) but those which grow from the
crown of the roots attain often a height of six
feet perpendicular. The fruit, which was
unknown in Europe till 1830, consists of a

3

14 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. |
small number of black pulpy grains, of which)
only a few arrive at maturity. It is said that!
these grains used as seed, seldom give a tree:
resembling the one upon which they grew. To:
obtain one precisely similar, it is usual to re-
sort either to inoculation or to cuttings; this:
last method is the best for the rapid propaga-:
tion of this tree, because the cuttings take root!
in a very short time and grow quickly. This
species having its origin in the most northern
part of the Philippine Islands, where the cli-:
mate is much cooler than farther south, it would
seem easy to naturalize it in all those countries
where the white mulberry is cultivated. In fact,
the experiment has already justified this hope.,
In the dreadful winter of 1829-30, in the coldest
districts of Italy, where this mulberry had been
introduced, only the smaller extremities of the
limbs perished. It also withstood the hard win-
ter of 1828, in the field of M. A. Eyries, at Havre.
We are also informed that it has resisted the rig-
ors of several winters uninjured and unprotected
on the plantation of Madame Parmentier, of
Brooklyn, L. 1. Prussia, Bavaria, and Sweden
are in possession of this very useful tree, and we
are informed that it grows in those countries per-
fectly well. ‘he experiments made in France,
by Messrs. Audibert, of Tarascon, Barthere, of
Toulouse, and Deslong-champs, of Paris, and
those made by Messrs. Bonafous and others in

|
|
;
|

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 15

Italy, on this interesting question, have con-
firmed all that has been previously asserted re-
specting the quality of silk produced by that
plant. They have further proved, that the
cocoons made by the worms fed with this quali-
ty of leaves, are rather heavier and produce
silks comparatively finer, more elastic, and in
greater quantity than those fed with the leaf of
the common tree.

It has been ascertained,

ist. That the Morus Multicaulis, does not
require any particular soil, as exclusively suit-
able to its growth, but prospers even in a wet
soil, which it seems to prefer.

2d. That it yields very little fruit, so that
the leaves are more easily cleaned, and less mat-
ter of a fermenting nature is introduced into
the body of the silk worm.

3d. Thatit does not rise too high, and yields
a greater quantity of leaves which can easily be
gathered by women or children.

4th. That it puts forth its thin, tender and
soft leaves earlier than other mulberries, which
permits the period of hatching of the silk worms
to be anticipated some days.
_ 5th. That the roots possess the remarkable
. property of throwing up numerous small flexi-
ble stalks, without forming properly a principal
trunk.

16 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

6th. That these stalks assume in a very short
time a great length. |

7th. That the leaves speedily acquire a re--
markable development, and are promptly re- |
newed. — |

Sth. That these stalks or branches strike root.
as cuttings, with extraordinary facility, without
particular care, even before they have acquir-
ed a ligneous or woody consistence.

It may be proper here to give place to some |
remarks on the culture and uses of the Morus
Multicaulis, by M. Perottet himself, which
will be found very interesting.

‘The Morus Multicaulis, which we noti-
ced for the first time in the Annals of the
Linnean Society of Paris, appears to have ori-
ginated in the elevated regions of China; from
whence it has been disseminated throughout the
low plains near the sea shore. It is believed
that it is cultivated in all parts of that vast em-
pire where the raising of silk worms is an ob-
ject of commercial importance. From Canton
it was introduced into Manilla and all the islands
of the Asiatic Archipelago, where it was only
cultivated for ornamenting gardens. The Chi-
nese are entitled to the credit of this introduc-
tion, who, in emigrating from their country,
have from motives of industry, endeavored to
multiply it, that they might render it useful to
themselves in the new country of their adoption.

‘¢The fortunate discovery of this precious

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 17

plant, occurred in the garden of a Chinese at
Manilla, who, after having informed us of its
properties, and the important purpose for which
it was used in his own country, yielded to our
solicitations and sold us two bushes for ten Span-
ish dollars, assuring us that he had introduced
it into Manilla, where it has been considerably
extended.

‘‘In August we brought it from Manilla,
and first introduced it into the Isle of Bourbon,
from thence into Cayenne and France. Ata
later period, it was sent from Cayenne to Mar-
tinique, and from France to Guadeloupe, and
also to Senegal, where it has considerably multi-
plied. The numerous plants which are already
disseminated in the various climates of Africa,
America and Europe, have been all produced

from the two bushes we procured at Ma-
nulla.

_ & Amongst the number of mulberry trees now
cultivated by the Chinese, for the rearing of silk
worms, the Morus Multicaulis appears to be
_ the most esteemed of all, not only for the facility
with which it is propagated and grows, but still
| more for the essentially nutritive property which
| the leaves possess. We have been enabled to
| verify this important fact during the five years
| which we passed in Senegal.

| ‘Besides the advantages which we have al-
| ready named, we may still add, that these trees
} are admirably calculated for forming regular
) plantations. They do not naturally grow tall, or
| form any trunk properly so called; they can be

18 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

placed very near each other without any injuri-
ous effect, and, by heading down the stalks an-
nually, near the ground, a rich vegetation is
produced, with a complete development of
vigorous branches and leaves. And, finally, it
is easy to multiply them by thousands from the
roots in the course of the first year, and to form
vast and regular plantations of them the second.
A few years, then, are sufficient to obtain con-
siderable fields of them in full vigor, and to
support an immense quantity of silk worms
with the greatest facility, as they are repro-
duced in a manner almost indefinite. Regular
plantations of it can be formed without difli-
culty by planting the scions at a distance of
six or eight feet from each other, a space suf-
ficient for the extension of the branches, to
facilitate the culture and for collecting the
leaves; this last operation is so much facilitated
by the flexibility of the stalks, that a child is
sufficient for gathering leaves to feed a large
establishment of silk worms.

‘‘This species will be readily acclimated
in Europe; because it originated in an analo-
gous region as to climate, to that which we in-
habit. It appears not to suffer from the ex-
cessive cold of the northern, nor the intense
heat of the intertropical regions; for the plants
deposited in the gardens of the government at
Cayenne, acquired in the space of eight months
a truly remarkable development, and at the
time of our departure from that colony, in June,

1821, they were clothed with leaves of an ex- -

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 19

traordinary size. Those, also, which we culti-
vated at Senegal, although situated under a dry
and scorching sky, and planted in an arid soil,
afford an appearance sufliciently satisfactory,
but they had acquired less development in all
respects than those which had vegetated under
the damp climate of Guiana. It appears ex-
pedient then, that plantations of this mulberry
should be made upon a humid rather than a dry
soil, to obtain in all respects, a satisfactory re-
sult.

‘Besides, this mulberry stands the most
rigorous winters. We saw on our arrival at
Havre, in July last, in the field of Mr. A.
Eyries, plants, which had withstood in the open
ground, the winter of 1828, and which appear-
ed vigorous and beautiful.”’

Thus much M. Perottet. Let us now hear
the testimony of Mr. Poiteau, on the same tree,
in the Annales @ horticulture, 1830.

_ By the information which we receive from
all quarters, it appears that this mulberry is
destined to replace the common white mulberry
every where for feeding silk worms; its pro-
perty of continuing low and bushy, so that the
leaves can always be gathered without a ladder;
and the large size, abundance, and tenderness
of the leaves, cannot fail to give it a decided
preference. It has been sufficiently ascertained,
that they are eaten with avidity by the silk
worms, and that the silk which they form is of
the first quality. This mulberry has not suffer-

20 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. |

ed in the least, from the rigors of the last severe |
winter. |

‘The zealous traveller, who has given to
France, America, and Africa this precious plant,
has acquired a just claim to public gratitude,
and it is not only easy, but proper, to give him |
at this time a proof of it, by aflixing his name |
to the tree which has given him celebrity, and
which will contribute so much to the prosperity
of Freneh industry.”

Dandolo, or Morettt Mulberry.—This is a
new and most valuable species of mulberry |
tree. It was first discovered by M. Moretti, |
Professor in the University of Pavia, and from
a single scion he had, in 1826, multiplied them.
to one hundred and twenty thousand. The.
tree is presumed to be strong. The fruit which
is at first purple, becomes at maturity, perfectly |
black. The leaf is oval, sharp pointed, entire,
cordate at the base. It is thin, smooth on the
under, and especially on the upper surface, |
which is of a beautiful and rather deep shining -
green; it is not near so thick as that of the
large white mulberry called in France “The
Admirable,”’ in consequence of its remarkable —
beauty and qualities, and is thinner than those
of the Spanish mulberry. It is neither wrin-
kled nor plaited. It is in general nearly
eight inches wide, and ten inches long. This
species will be most profitably cultivated in’

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 21

the form of a hedge, and from the great size
of the leaves, they are gathered with the great-
est facility. Its superior quality has been
proved by the experiments of Messrs. Gera and
Count Dandolo, who assert that they produce
silk of a more beautiful gloss and of a finer
quality. This last species of mulberry tree 1s,
we believe, not much known in this country.
We should like to see its introduction, but it is
probable that the Morus Multicauls will pre-
vent it.

CHAPTER II.

PECULIAR SUBSTANCE IN THE MULBERRY
LEAF, AND THE ANALOGY OF ITS CON-
STITUENT ELEMENTS WITH SILK.

THERE is no doubt, some peculiar substance ©
in. the mulberry leaf, which is not to be found
in any other vegetable production. Experience |
has shown that the leaves of all the different —
kinds of mulberry which nourish the silk worm,
have a granulous surface covered with a great
number of minute tubercles resembling glands,
which seem to contain the odour which the leaves
exhale, This observation very early formed the -
subject of some examinations by several chem-
ists, and they have been enabled to ascertain the
existence of a matter altogether peculiar to the
leaves of the mulberry, having no relation to the
general principles of other vegetable produc-
tions. |

Thus, then, if merely by the substance of
this neutral matter, the leaves of the mulberry
are distinguished from all other vegetables, if
it be a fact that the silk worm feeds exclu-
sively on these leaves, and that no other food
enables it to make cocoons of good quality, there

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 23

seems, then, reason to believe that silk is only
a metamorphosis of the matter in question.

In our last voyage to France, in the summer
of 1837, a friend of ours communicated to us
the observations on the species of mulberry, re-
cently discovered by Professor Bafrau Delille of
Montpellier, which he calls Morus Nervosa:
it is said, in fact, that the transparent edges are
formed by the extravasated gummy and resinous
matter of which the silk is constituted, and that
the worm fed with this sort of leaf gives a silk
of finer quality and greater quantity. No doubt
that an immense service could be rendered to
the culture of silk, if it could be ascertained by
an exact and thorough analysis, what is its actual
composition. Unfortunately, this precise know-
ledge is yet wanting. Messrs. Berthollet, Four-
_croy and Chaptal, have declared that silk has
| much analogy with the tissue of horn, and that
_ by distillation they have obtained from it car-
| bonate of ammonia, and a large portion of oil.
| Roard, in his excellent memoir addressed on the
_ subject, to the National Institute of France,

(see vol. 22, Decreusage des soves—ungumm-
ing silk,) gives an analysis conformable to the
| observations of the three celebrated chemists
| abovenamed. He demonstrates that the yellow
| silk contains of gum, from twenty-four to twen-
| ty-five per cent.; of coloring matter, which 1s

24 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

a resinous substance, nearly solid at twelve de-
grees of the centigrade thermometer, and en-
tirely liquid at thirty degrees, its proportion is
fifty-five to sixty per cent.; of wax, which melts
at between seventy-five and eighty degrees, it
is insoluble in water, and dissolved easily in the
alkali or in soap; this part is no doubt what
forms the exterior brilliancy of the silk; this
matter is found in the yellow as well as the
white, and forms from 1.200 to 1.250 of their
weight; and a volatile oil having a strong and
disagreeable odour, and which, by itself, resem-
bles the essential oil of anise, or of any other
vegetable matter.

By these characteristics, we may conclude

that silk is of an intermediate nature, between —

vegetable and animal, which will correspond —
with the qualities discovered by the above —

chemists.

Another proof that the quality of the leaf has

an important influence on the quality of the silk,
is found in the observations lately made on the
leaf of the Morus Multicauhs. Any one can
satisfy himself that these leaves are more abun-
dantly and entirely covered with those little
glands than any other quality of mulberry, and
consequently they contain a larger gpently of
that nutritive substance spoken of.

After having treated of the different species |

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 25

of mulberry bearing leaves, proper as food for
the silk worm, we will treat of the culture of
that plant. Here we must acquaint the reader
that a great part of the method which follows
for raising mulberry trees is drawn from some
of the best authors who have written on that
subject, for the climate of Europe, to which
_ every thing found in the writers of this country,
which seemed useful, has been added, and some
things which were deduced from our own expe-
rience; nor have we omitted giving hints of such
improvements as, though we have not had time
_and opportunity to try them all, seem to us rea-
sonable, and will, perhaps, upon experiment,
be found useful.

CHAPTER III.

OF THE CULTIVATION OF MULBERRY TREES.
This Ghapter embraces the following heads :—

Ist. The manner of gathering and preserving the seed.
2d. The soil proper for the raising and plantation of
Mulberry trees.

3d. The various modes of propagating the Mulberry
trees.

4th. The planting out of the young Mulberry trees.

5th. The grafting and budding Mulberry trees. |

6th. The culture, pruning, and management of the trees.

7th. The diseases of the Mulberry trees.

Our principal objects in adopting the above
distribution and arrangement has been to show,
first, the manner of obtaining the greatest possi-
ble quantity of leaves during the proper season
for raising silk worms; second, of securing the
vigor and the health of that insect, on which
depends the richness of the crop; both tasks to
be accomplished with the least expenditure of
time and money.

We have adopted the above plan as the most
eligible for condensing the directions which ap-
pertain to this part of our subject, being con-
vinced that one part of them only is necessary

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 2a

ow

and unchangeable in any climate or latitude
where the plant can grow. But the task must
ultimately be left to the discernment of the
agriculturist himself to judge, what circumstan-
ces and practical means are necessary, by the
nature of their own soil, in the order of seasons,
and with their adopted modes of tillage. ‘There-
fore we could not select a better model than the
method of the Count de Verry, in his treatise
on the mulberry, and that of the celebrated
Doctor Antoine Pitaro on the same subject.
We have borrowed at least, those precepts,

which we thought must be strictly observed.
On the other hand, not mistrusting our own
knowledge and experience, acquired in one of
the richest silk districts in France, we have
attended to such selections and comments as

we believe to be interesting, and may prove
useful.

lst. Of the manner of gathering and preserv-
ing the Seed.

The mulberries whose seed you intend to
keep, should be gathered perfectly ripe, this
you may know by their beginning to fall from
_ the trees, by their softness, and, if you examine

nicely, by the kernel being completely ripened
- in the small shell which enclosesit. You should
not choose the fruit of those trees which have
}) been stripped of their leaves that year, or even

28 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

the year before, if you can avoid its the
berries of the white mulberry which incline
most to a dark color are the best. It is a good
method to shake the tree moderately every day
from the time that the fruit begins to ripen,
for mulberries do not all ripen together.

These mulberries should be laid thin on a
clean table, in some airy place, for four or five
days, in order that they may attain their full
ripeness, and should be removed and stirred
every day for fear of heating or rotting, espe-
cially if they lie thick upon one another; after
this let them be soaked in water until they can be
easily bruised with your hand, and thus dissolve
and separate the grain from the pulp; separate
the seeds afterwards by washing the mixture
with several waters; stir it briskly, the seed
will sink, in three or four hours, to the bottom,
and the pulp swimming at the top, may be
poured off with the water. The seed should
then be taken out, spread on cloths, and dried
an the shade or in some airy place, stirring
it often for fear of the heat injuring it. When
perfectly dry it should be put into a tight ves-
sel and kept in a dry place.

This and other processes in relation to a
provision of seed, should never be neglected by
good culturists, to guard against the chance _
of employing old or poor seeds: which danger |

ee

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 29

is obvious, unless they can trust to horticul-
turists and gardeners who follow that business
with diligence and reputation.

In the more temperate climates of Europe,
it has been found necessary to select good trees,
well manured, and hardy, in order to have
sound and well-ripened seeds and in any cli-
mate, it would be useful to have a few trees of
the best growth peculiarly set apart for seed.
But, if, for want of better, you are obliged to
make use of the seed from trees whose leaves
have been pulled for the worms, let it be from
those trees which were last used, viz: when
the worms are in their last age, at that time
they have their fruit pretty well grown before
having been stripped, for the mulberries do

not fill when the leaves are pulled too early.

If the berries are ripe on any tree whose leaves
you have occasion for, it will be convenient to
shake the tree moderately every time before
you pull the leaves; thus you will both save the

fruit for the seed, and prevent it from mixing

with the food of the silk worms 3; and on this last
account you should preserve for seed those
trees which are so greatly loaded with fruit as
to have but few leaves, since it would be almost
lost time to pull the leaves; and they would be

so mixed with the mulberries as to occasion a
great deal of litter among the worms; and if

A*

SOU ii SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

they were so ripe as to shed their juice on the
leaves, it would make them unwholesome food.

2d. Of the Sow proper for raising Mulberry
trees.

The ground for raising mulberry trees either
from seed, layers, or cuttings, should be a
rich, loose soil, mixed with much mould, and
inclining to sandy, in order that the tender new
formed roots may be the better enabled to ex-
tend init. A small depth of soil will be suf-
ficient for these, especially those raised from
seed, but it ought rather to have gravel under
it than any sort of stiff clay, which might pre-
serve humidity, and chill the young plants.

Though a small depth of soil 1s suflicient for
raising trees which are to be transplanted, yet,
when they are raised where they are to stand, (as
will be shown under the head of raising mulber- |
ry hedges,) or when they are transplanted where |
they are to remain, a deep soil is best, because
mulberry trees shoot downward, with very long
tap-roots; it is true, indeed, that when they |
have taken root they will live, and throw out |
abundance of leaves, even ina bad soil, but then |
those leaves are not so good to feed the worms, |
especially, when the trees are planted in low |
watery grounds, they then afford but bad leaves, |
though they may have a greater quantity; for,

- SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 31

as they abound too much with moisture, their
leaves approach to the nature of those which
grow on the suckers of the mulberry trees, and
endanger the silk worms which feed on them,
especially if they had been used to better

_ leaves before.

3d. Of the various modes of propagating the
. Mulberry trees.
There are three principal methods of raising
mulberry trees: 1st, by sowing the seed of the

berry; 2d, by layers depending upon the
- mother trees, till they have taken root; 3d, by
_ branches separated from the mother tree, and
_ therefore called cuttings. We shall begin with
_ the method of raising them from seed, as it is

both the surest and most effectual way to pro-

cure great numbers; and numbers of small trees
_ will answer the end of a few large ones.

st. To raise Mulberry trees from the seed ;

_ choose some part of an inclosed garden which
_ has a good exposure to the sun, and is protected
from the north wind; the ground should be

ploughed the preceding fall, and again plough-

ed two or three times in the spring and made

light and friable, two or three dressings of dung,

_ not too much decomposed, and well ploughed in,

Oe SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

would be of essential service; then lay out the

ground in beds, a little raised above the surface

of the earth, of what length you may think |

proper, but not above four feet broad, that they |

may be conveniently weeded.

The best time for sowing the seed is in Feb-

ruary, March, April, May, even in June, for ;

it depends upon the climate. ‘The sooner it is
done in spring, when frosts of any continuance
are no longer to be feared, it will be so much

|
|
|
|

the better, as the plants by coming up early,

will have time to get strength, and be the bet-
ter able to bear the ensuing winter. As the

plants require, according to the difference of

climate, twelve to fifteen days, with sound seed
and good weather before they begin to rise, we
think it is a good rule to sow the seed about
twelve or fifteen days before the time the mul-
berry bud begins to open, (which may be a sort
of general direction for any climate,) although
no alarm need be felt if it should be later, as
was the case in France, in 1825, when three
weeks elapsed before the plants appeared.
Take, therefore, the seed which you have
kept, and if it is too dry, or if the season
is too warm, steep it for one night in water,
in order to induce the germination, then place
two seeds at most in each drill made in the beds
prepared as above, one inch and a half deep in

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 33

_a heavy soil, and two inches deep in a light
one, and five or six inches asunder, and cover-
_ ed with earth; should the weather be dry du-
ring, or shortly after the sowing, the beds
should be watered immediately after the seed
has been sown, and at least once every two days
in dry weather, particularly towards the time
_ when you expect the seed to spring up.
_ While the earth appears moist you need not
water them, since it is very apt to thicken
the surface of the ground, and make a crust
gather on it, which prevents the springing of
the young plants, and therefore when you water
them, it should be with a watering-pan whose
-rose-has very fine holes, or else you should have
two or three light bundles of osier, straw, or
rushes, which you should lay upon the several
parts of the beds as you water them. If any
frost happens, or the weather be very hot when
you sow the seed, it is proper to cover the
beds with some straw for four or five days; this
will protect it from either cold or drought, ac-
cording as the season is, and also, from being
scratched up, and picked by birds; above all,
it is requisite, often and with the greatest care
and gentleness, to stir up the earth, clearing
it from all weeds, which would impede the
growth of the young trees. For this and other
reasons, we would advise to make the drills run

3o4 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

across the bed, and not Jengthways, because the:|
weeds can be more easily seen and destroyed.,

If the seed has been preserved with some of iil
the pulp about it, you may sow it in a drill ini
the following manner: first steep it in water’
till it becomes a soft pulp, then make drills)
across your beds as before directed, only some- |
what deeper; then, having some small ropes of!
hay, about as thick as bulrush, fix them with.
two pegs directly over each drill; take now the:
moist pulp, and rub it along the rope, so that.
the seed may stick here and there upon it, then:
thrust the pegs down, so that the rope may he)
in the bottom of the drill, and cover it with,
earth, after which, you may draw out the pegs. .
This, although a very easy method, is not so)
good as that above described, because if the
seeds are too close, they will not germinate well,
or oblige you to pull up some of the trees if
they rise too thick. You may also sow the
seed at its maturity, well cleaned, free from
any animal or vegetable substance, and mixed
with so much fine sand as may serve to separate
the grains; thus you will gain almost a year in
the growth of the trees; but, as this is done in
the summer, the beds should be duly watered,
and the plants, when winter comes on, should
be protected against frost with straw or some
other covering, which should not he too close

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 35

for fear of suffocating them, and in mild weather
should be taken off; dry leaves are best for
such purpose.
If the nursery ground has been well attended
to, during the first year, the little mulberry
trees may be taken up the next spring, to be
re-planted either in another nursery, in order
to become large trees, or in the field, to make
hedges of low stature. But if it is preferred to
leave them longer than the spring, in order
that they may gain greater strength, it is useful
to cut those stems close off to the ground, by the
means of such a sharp and well-edged nipper,
as will not shake nor disturb the roots. The new
growth will acquire additional vigor from this
operation, and there will be obtained the second
year, a mulberry tree four or five feet high,
and sometimes even more.

2d. By Layers.—Though the mode of rais-
) ing mulberry trees from seed, is the most advan-
tageous, yet, where large plantations are to be
suddenly raised, all other methods may be at the
same time used. Layers may be made from low
trees, and from shoots, which are sometimes pro-
duced plentifully from the roots; but the me-
thod of making layers being generally known,
needs notbe particularly insisted on; the branch-
es now are bent and pinned down in the earth,

36 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

with crotchets of wood, leaving only their ex-:
tremities above ground, and in this situation:
they subsist on the mother tree, until the parts:
which are under the earth have formed roots:
suflicient to maintain themselves, and then they’
are to be separated from the trees and planted
out.

These layers are more certain of growth than
cuttings, and do not require such watering
while they depend on the old tree; but then,
this dependance makes them lazy in putting
forth roots, with which they often appear but
moderately furnished, when you come to sepa-
rate them from the old tree; therefore some
agriculturists recommend to twist a piece of
brass wire about the parts laid under ground.
The theory upon which they built their im-
provement, is, that as the branches of trees are
produced generally at acute angles from the
stem, and tend upwards, so that the roots are
produced at acute angles, but in an opposite di-
rection, downward. The ligature, therefore,
checks the motion of the sap, and turns it into
that direction which is proper to produce roots, —
and experience seems to have convinced them
of the truth of this theory. We should think
that a ligature of lead or of cord, may be found
fitter for that purpose than brass wire, as they
will give way to the growth of the branch, .

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 7

and not cut through the bark, as the other ap-
pears to us apt to do. The spring is the
most suitable season for making layers, and in
two years they will be fit to transplant. It
might, however, be of use, if, at the end of the
first year, you should begin to wean them from
the mother tree, by cutting them off four inches
from it; and putting tar upon the cut, this
might force them to put forth roots for their
subsistence.
_ Shoots often spring from the ground, about
the roots of trees, which have their heads torn
by winds, or many of their principal branches
lopped off, this may be promoted by digging -
and opening the ground about the roots of such
trees, but, though such suckers spring out of the
| ground, it is needful to their well rooting, that
\ they should be bent down, and have good mould
laid on their lower parts, in the same manner as
has been described for branches laid down.
Besides the foregoing methods, we think
') proper to mention, that mulberry trees may be
propagated from parts of the root taken up, the
' more length they have will be the better; these
may be laid horizontally, about two or three
inches under ground, in a loose fine mould, and
placed in lines to produce hedges, as is general-
Y\ly done with cuttings; they may be planted
early in the spring, and will soon shoot forth
5

38 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

plants, which, being at first sufficiently rooted,
are less liable to failure. The ground, how-
ever, should be watered in dry weather, both
before and after they have sprung, because the
roots lie near the surface, being so placed in
order that they may put forth plants above
ground earlier.

3d. By Cuttengs.—The next most easy and
quick method of raising mulberry trees, is from
cuttings; and in this method, though you can-
not so readily raise the same number as from
seed, yet you have the advantage in the quick-
ness and strength of their growth. The mul-
berry is more easily propagated from cuttings
in moist and temperate climates, (particularly
the species called Morus Multicaulss, as we have.
already said, ) than in those which are extremely,
hot and dry; for the branches which are sepa-
rated from the mother trees having no roots ta)
subsist upon, require to be plentifully supplied
with moisture, in order to keep them alive
till the roots are formed, and where the cli;|
mate denies this, the defect must be made. uF}
with watering. |

The soil chosen to receive the slips or cuttings |
of the mulberry tree, should be prepared much),
in the same way already described for the seed,
A two year old branch of a sey a

/
|

| SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 39

_ which has wood of four or five years at one end,
_ must be selected, and the extremity of the old
_ wood must be interred to the depth of about ten
_inches. The branches must be taken off from
sound and well grown trees; and in order to fa-
cilitate the shooting of the roots, two or three
_ incisions must be made in the joints or knots of
_ the old wood, from which the roots always put
_ forth. 3
_ The best time for planting cuttings, is as soon
| as the leaves have fallen in autumn, so that the
| parts which lie under ground may be prepared
_ to put forth roots the spring following; for, if
they are planted in the spring, they will mostly
fail for want of roots to supply the large quan-
tity of nourishment which the leaves will soon
require. The soil in which the cuttings are to
be set,- should have been dug, broken and
weeded some weeks before; and if there was
a necessity, enriched with some good loam,
dung, sand, or other manure, so as to make a
fine loose mould proper for the young fibres of
the roots to shoot into. In this make furrows
of about one foot in depth and two in breadth,
sloping from the edge to the bottom of the fur-
row, and of the length which you design for your
hedges; the distance between each furrow need
not be above four feet, if you design future plan-
tations, by taking away and transplanting one or

40 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

more of the intermediate hedges; but if no more |
hedges are planted than you intend to stand in |
the same places, then the trenches should be four |
or five yards distant. The ground between the |
trenches may be cultivated with any low vegeta- |

ble that will not overshade the young mulberry
plants. ‘The trenches should run from north to
south, for reasons given in speaking of the form
of a mulberry plantation.

When you would plant the cuttings, first fill
the trenches about one third with some of the
fine mould taken out of them; then begin to
lay in the cuttings, by placing their main stem
as flat as you can on the bottom of the trench,
and turning up the small branches on each side
so that their ends may stand above ground from
three inches to a foot, as they can be convenient-
ly bent and turned up; for which purpose place
that side of the main branch undermost which
has less twigs growing out of it; you may bend
the small branches, and make them yield as
much as you please, they will not grow the worse.

The cuttings must then be covered with a

well manured and friable earth, and the end of
the branch which rises from the soil must be
cut off at the third bud from the surface. If
~ rains should not frequently occur after the
plantation is finished, it would be necessary to
water the plants often.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. Al

These cuttings, thus managed, will in the
first summer put forth shoots of about eight or

_ ten inches in length, more or less, according as
_ they have thriven; and at the same time they
_will strengthen themselves with roots, so that

if they have made shoots, and preserved their

_ leaves till fall you need not doubt of their growth.

In the ensuing spring and summer, although

| they will then be more out of danger, yet you
should continue to water them in very dry

weather, and they will this year put out shoots,
often a yard in length, and furnish themselves
completely with roots, so as to be fit for trans-
planting in the fall. This method therefore,
of raising mulberry trees, we take to be as ad-
vantageous and expeditious as any that can be

pursued, and if cuttings thus managed fail to

grow, at least in a temperate climate, it will be
owing either to want of watering, weeding, or

a good soil.

We would recommend, before the cuttings

are put into the ground, as above directed, to
dip the part that is cut in tar or melted pitch;

because when moisture insinuates itself where a
branch is cut, especially in the mulberry tree,
it generally makes the bark part from the wood
and grow rotten; besides, the tarring over of

the cut will, as we think, prevent it from tak-
ing in a large quantity of crude and improper

5*

42 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

juices, which will now be forced to strain
through the bark, and prepare the shoot to put —

forth roots.

The method here given for raising mulberry
trees from cuttings, may perhaps be advanta-
geously applied to the producing of nurseries
from many other trees, as well as from the mul-
berry. All that seems necessary for producing
trees from cuttings, is, that the part which is

|

under ground should, as soon as may be, acquire ©

the nature of a root, so as to feed the branches.
Wherefore the less any particular tree is apt to
strike root from cuttings, the more of the branch
must lie under ground to make up the defect,
and the more should such other artzfices be
used as will make it put out roots; for other-
wise, though a branch may bud and keep alive
during the beginning of the summer, yet when
the leaves are expanded by the advance of the
season, they require a greater supply of sap.
and the braneh will often, for want of due
nourishment, decline by degrees, and at last

die.

Ath. Of planting out young Mulberry trees.

Mulberry trees raised from seed, or from
parts of the roots laid in the ground, may be
transplanted after having acquired the thick-
ness of an inch and a half indiameter. ‘Though

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 43

someauthors mention that mulberry trees may be
transplanted in the spring, yet the surest season
for doing it, is just after the leaves have fallen in
the autumn; for the dry weather,which often hap-
pens in spring, before the roots have settled and
begin to draw nourishment, will much endanger
and often kill the plants; but, when planted in
the fall, this is avoided, and there is then nothing
to be feared, except a severe frost soon after
planting, but this may be prevented from doing
any harm by laying some fresh litter, straw, or
the like on the ground, over the roots.

The pits for setting out should be prepared
and always left open beforehand, in order to fer-
tilize the soil by the airing or contact of the am-
bient atmosphere, which, as is very properly
supposed, has its share of influence upon the
vegetative property of such layers or strata of
earth as have thus been mellowed. It is in this
view, also, that a judicious horticulturist will
take care to set apart the upper and best vege-
table earth, and Jay it on the roots of the sapling.

There are two methods of planting out the
young mulberry trees, or of forming plantations,
viz: Ist, in hedges, or 2d, as standard trees.

1st, The planting in hedges affords three im-
portant objects: supplying food for silk worms;
keeping the trees low, so that the leaves may

be gathered from the ground by children; and

44 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

furnishing a good and almost never ending fence
for gardens, meadows, &c. In transplanting
young trees for hedges, they should not be
pruned till the second year, or at least the
third, the tops should be cut off and the side
branches trained laterally with the hedge, by
interweaving them. ‘The white mulberry forms
an excellent live fence, and, when once estab-
lished, is probably the most permanent of any
other. : :

2d, As standard trees. This operation, as
well as the one already spoken of, requires con-
siderable diligence, both in taking up the trees,
so as not to spoil or damage the stem, and also
in re-planting them. Itis necessary to cut care-
fully, with a sharp and well-edged nipper, all
the branches of the young tree close to the stem,
without, in so doing, inflicting any serious
wound upon the tree; all the injured roots must
be cut off. The trenches to receive these trees
vary from four to five feet in diameter, accord-
ing as the soil is more or less strong. In stiff
and argillaceous ground the trench ought to be
larger. The depth should not exceed two feet,
in order that the roots, not being too deeply
buried, may feel the influence of the sun’s rays;
horse dung, not too dry, and sheep dung make
the best manure and may be put in the bottom
of the holes, or some fresh mould. It would be

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 45

desirable to ascertain the exposition that the
plants had in the nursery, which may be easily
discovered by the size and the number of
its roots, which are generally more conside-
rable on the south side of the tree, as well as
by the size and the distance of the rings or cir-
cles which form at the forks of the branches,
Directed by these signs, one may give to the
tree the same exposition which it had before its
removal, by attentively turning to the south the
largest roots and circles.

It will be a good precaution to put a stake,
firmly driven into the ground, by the side of
each tree recently planted, and tying the tree
to it. The wind will thus have less power to
disturb the tree and draw the roots out of their
proper position. ‘Three or four dressings a year
with a hoe, might be of essential benefit. Fresh-
ness and strength are communicated to the tree
and to its roots by this attentive tillage, and the
benefit is so visible, that even an unpractised
eye will at once distinguish the plantation of
the industrious from that of the negligent pro-
‘prietor.

(5th. Of grafting and budding Mulberry trees.

_ Bonafous observes that there is a difference
of opinion in regard to this method, as some
)think it advisable to graft the young trees,

46 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

whilst others prefer to leave them in their natu-
ral state. Count Dandolo appears to be of the
latter opinion; let us hear him on this last point.

‘¢T have fed, though with difficulty, a num-
ber of silk worms on the leaf of the wild mul-
berry tree alone. This leaf is scarce, because
even the hedge mulberry trees are grafted.

‘‘The cultivator, finding that the grafted
mulberry yields more leaves, is always anxious
to graft as soon as possible, which has prevent-
ed my making the experiment on a large scale.
I have however, ascertained the following facts.

6©1, That 142 Ibs. of wild mulberry leaves,
weighed when just gathered, without sorting,
will produce a pound and a half of cocoons,
while it requires 203 lbs. of the leaves of the
grafted mulberry to make’ the same quantity.

6¢2, That 74 Ibs. of cocoons, proceeding from
worms fed on the leaves of the wild mulber-
ry gives about fourteen ounces of exceedingly -
fine silk; whilst generally, the same weight of
cocoons, managed exactly in a similar manner,
but of which the worms have been fed with
leaves of the grafted mulberry, yields only ele-
ven or twelve ounces of silk.

«3, That the silk worms fed on the wild
leaves are always brisker and have better appe-__
tites.”’ |
The celebrated Doctor Antoine Pitaro is of

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. AT

_ thesame opinionon this subject. ‘¢ The black or

white mulberry transplanted from the nursery,’

_ says he, *‘is the true and natural mulberry, and
it is for that reason that it is called wild mul-
_ berry; yet it is in our opinion preferable to the
grafted mulberry, because its leaf, compared to
_the grafted mulberry, yields, at equal weight, a

greater portion of nutritious and resinous sub-
stance, and less of the fibrous substance.”

It would appear from what we have stated, that
we prefer the culture of the wild mulberry ; how-
ever, before coming toa conclusion the agricultu-
rist should weigh the following observations at-
tentively.

1. In the vast class of the wild mulberry
plant, there are varieties of an indifferent qual-
ity, which yield few leaves, those leaves much
indented, and the branches thorny.

2. Some give a great quantity of fine sound

leaves, scarcely distinguishable eon the graft-

ed mulberry leaf.

3. The wild mulberry tree with sound leaves
and of a good quality, may be grafted on the
wild mulberry tree of the inferior sort, with
indented leaves. /

4, As it is the nature of the wild mulberry
to have a great quantity of small branches, and

grow bushy, it should be well pruned and thin-

ned, which will also strengthen the tree.

48 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

5. The hedge rows of wild mulberry trees |
should all be grafted with the best sorts of the
wild mulberry, and they should be planted in |
every spot where they are not likely to injure |
any other production.

We may have enlarged too much on this sub- |
ject, and we must conclude that before the cul- |
ture of the wild mulberry tree shall supersede |
the grafted tree, experiments must be made for |
many years, from which alone exact calculations —
and unerring practical comparisons can be de-
duced ; therefore we will proceed to give the
best method of grafting mulberry trees.

We are sorry to be in opposition with one of
the most illustrious writers of Lombardy, the
Count Verri, who recommends very highly the
engrafting by the shoot as the surest and most
advantageous mode. Experience has, however,
proved that the branches proceeding from such
a graft will never acquire much strength, and
moreover, the smallest storm of north wind will
suffice to break them. The engrafting by rings
is better adapted to the tree, and gives to its
branches more strength to support the force of
the wind. Scions of the preceding year are
the best adapted either to inoculate or to graft
the trees, and the time most suitable is the
month of May, ona dry and calm day, for rains
and high winds are injurious,

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 49

The branches from which the rings are to be
taken should be cut from the tree in the first
fortnight of April; when the sap has ascended
to the limbs, to the very extremities of the
branches. After having cut them off, it is the
custom to bury them in the sand, a little moist-
ened, for fifteen days, in order to render the
bark more flexible and easier to be removed.
The operation of inoculation is very easy, and
may be learned in three hours’ exercise, after
seeing it done by an able inoculator.

During the whole year in which the inoeula-
tion has been performed, care must be taken
not to suffer any other shoots to grow than those
which are inoculated, and which are intended
to form the crown of the tree. In the spring
of the following year the engrafted branches
should be trimmed, leaving three eyes between
the place of inoculation and the extremity.
This operation surprisingly concentrates the
strength of the tree, which, the same spring,
puts forth very flourishing branches,

Generally, only three branches are left,
which form, with their shoots, a fine crown
or top tothe tree. It is always useful to cut
off the branches that have taken an ill direc-
tion or become thorny, or when they weaken
the plant too much. This ought however, to
be done only before the sap has recommenced

6

50 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

its circulation; at the same time all the little:
branches or extremities should be lopped off

that have perished by the cold or any other
accident.

6th. Of the culture, pruning and management
of the trees.

Few persons bestow much trouble on the:
mulberry trees designed for silk worms; and yet
it is certain, that the leaves will be more whole--
some and the trees thrive better by culture.

In some countries of Europe which produce:
silk, the grown up mulberry trees are leit to)
themseives; in others they are more or less:
pruned. Both these methods are more found-
ed upon custom than upon sound principles of
rural economy. Three things ought to be kept
in view :

Ist. The quality and the quantity of the leaves.

2d. The duration of the tree.

3d. The facility and the certainty of the
gathering of the leaves.

Any method adopted, without regard to
these primary conditions, is dangerous, or use-
less. The clipping of the trees contributes
undoubtedly to render the leaves more numer-
ous, and larger; but if practised without judg-
ment and necessity, or done at an improper
time, or imperfectly, the leaf not only becomes

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 51

less nutritious, but diminishes in quantity ;
it fills the tree with wounds and scars, and
weakens it; much caution is therefore recom-
mended in pruning, in the first year that the
leaves are plucked; and the pruning must be
so executed, that by an equal distribution of
the sap, there may be a perfect equilibrium in
all parts of the tree. Consequently, ten days
at least after the fall of the leaves, or after they
have been pulled off, all the branches damaged
in that operation, and all the dead ones, ought
to be lopped off, as well as those the vegeta-
tion of which seems too low ; and those which,
) on the contrary, are too luxuriant, ought to be
restrained in that propensity, or turned up in
a different direction, to diminish the sap; the
tree ought not to be left to grow to an excessive
height, nor to spread too far; the branches
which obstruct the development of the head,
or hang tco much down, should be shortened ;
and lastly, those that have been thrust out of
their natural direction, during the gathering of
the leaves, ought to be set right again; and
with regard to the rest, the good sense of every
cultivator will direct him how to form trees the
most beautifu] as well as the most productive.
In regard to the preservation of mulberry
trees and mulberry hedges, much depends on
» the method of gathering their leaves. It should

52 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

be done with the greatest care, with the view of
causing as little injury as possible to the plant, of
preserving itin good condition and proper vigor,

so as to satisfy the voracity of our precious in-

sect. It is essential that all the leaves should

be pulled off; for, if any remain on some

branches, they attract the sap, whilst the naked

branches are incompletely nourished. Begin

by pulling the leaves of the hedges, if you have

any, then proceed to the young trees, whereby

the latter gain time to come into fresh leaf, and

the sooner, in proportion as the leaves of the old-

er trees are more fully grown, more nutritious,

and more suitable to the worms in their progress

and advanced ages. The stripping of the leaves

_ should not be begun before the disappearance of
the dew, and ought to be ended before the

setting of the sun. The hand should move from

below upwards, in order to avoid pulling off the

- buds, and an inverted force and direction that

might pull off the eyes and break and mutilate —
many parts.

It is never proper to climb upon a tree which
is not strong enough by age or by nature;
for the motion is more injurious than the ad-
ditional weight; the best way is to use the
double wheelbarrow, or step ladder.

The bags employed to contain the leaves
should have a hoop at the mouth to keep them

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 53

open, and be furnished with a hook, that they
might be hung on the branches; when filled
another should be at hand, and care taken to
keep them sheltered from the sun.

Mulberry leaves are frequently much soiled
in summer with what is called honey-dew, a
viscous matter. This is a phenomenon not yet
accounted for; it results from insects, from the
plant or from the clouds. Sauvage, Bonafous,
Count Verri, Dandolo, Pitaro, and other eminent
agriculturists, have said much about it; what-
ever it may be, the honey-dew is poisonous to the
silk worms, and leaves, thus stained, should be -
thrown away. Rusty or partly dried leaves
have not this inconvenience, because the worms
either refuse them or they eat only the healthy
portion; if wet by rain, they induce disease,
and you have to dry them by spreading them
in parcels on a clean linen cloth, in a dry and
airy room, stir them often with a wooden fork,
shake the cloth, and the leaves will soon dry ;

dusty leaves must be also cleansed before feed-

ing the worms.

7th. OF the diseases of the mulberry trees.

Every species of tree is liable to some pecu-
har malady; and when the interest of the pro-
| prietor is awakened by the value of the object,
_ he applies the means of cure already known, or
| 6x

54 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

has recourse to some remedy of his own, which
he thinks the nature of the case requires. It
would be too long to relate here every thing
which has been published on the diseases of
mulberry trees, we will only expose those most
fatal to them, and particularly one which has
been observed epidemically ruinous to planta-
tions. The following literal translation of a
case and cure of that kind, by Count Verri, will
at once indicate the nature, the danger, and the
treatment; observing, however, at the same
time, that the same’ disease may originate from
carious or gangrenous spots at the extremities of
branches instead of being only confined to the
root, as in the following instance.

é¢A mulberry which i had planted and taken
care of during twenty years, offered all at once,
alarming symptoms; the leaves grew small, and
the greater part of them withered; others were
yellow, and dropped off long before the autum-
nal period. ‘There not appearing any local de-
fect, 1 ordered the ground to be opened, and —
the roots to be searched. I found that a few —
had been gnawed by moles, and others were dis-
eased. lLhad them all taken off, I renewed the
earth, mixed it with manure, and curtailed a
little the sound ones. But this was not all, I had ©
all the branches pruned off except the principal’
ones, which were shortened only, and I made, —

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 55

with a very sharp knife, several deep, longi-
tudinal incisions, to the places from whence a
thick fluid oozed out, taking care to detach all
the black parts. ‘This operation, by facilitating
the flowing of that humor, saved the tree from
gangrenous ulcers, which would have been sub-
sequently formed. All this was done in the
month of September, the next year the tree
still kept in a hopeful condition, although very
weak; but in the next it perfectly recovered
its vigor and luxuriant vegetation. I had oc-
casion to repeat the same method with several
other trees, and always very successfully, al-
though this last was done in the month of May.
My neighbors, being advised by me, have ex-
perienced the same success. Itis unfortunate-
ly but too true, that if, in a row of fine trees,
one alone be attacked, the next one will soon
follow, show the same disease, and die; in
which case, having dug up the dead tree, it
will be necessary to open a large and deep ditch
between that and the next trees, (to intercept
contagion,) and all the rest will be preserved.’’
—Verri, pp. 81-2.

The malady that attacks the trunk of the tree
is soon perceived, and agriculturists have been
often alarmed at its progress and its destructive
effects. It is a sort of ulcer which breaks forth
almost always in the middle of the trunk; rare- _

56 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

ly on the north side, still more uncommonly on |

the east, but usually on the south, or the west

side. When the moisture flowing from the ul-

cer increases sufficiently to reach, and actually

'

|

attains the roots, the mulberry tree soon per-—
ishes. This disease is attributed to the setting ©

of plants more than four years old ; for the stem

becomes hard and dry in proportion to its age,.

and, taken from its native soil, at a more ad-
vanced age, is more affected by drought and
heat, and thus losing part of its original moisture,
receives the seed of future disease. This evil
may be obviated by applying the knife, and
taking out a circular piece of the bark, sufficient-
ly distant from the diseased part, and cleaning
the wood by scraping it where it is found neces-
sary. A coat of bees wax and turpentine must
immediately be spread over the incision, extend-
ing it a little beyond the edge of the wound,
and, in two growing seasons, the cut will be
closed, and the tree will recover its vigor and
hardy vegetation.

Of the vermin which occasionally infest
the mulberry trees, much might be said, but
their enumeration would not be here of any use.
‘Bonafous speaks of only two sorts, the Lamia
Curculio, and the Lamia Lugubris, the grubs of
which settle themselves beneath the bark and
the lgneous or woody substance, and which

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 5a

ought to be carefully removed or destroyed.
Pitaro speaks of the Scarabeus Melolontha of
Linnzus, or the Melolontha of Fabricius. These
insects, it appears, live several years under the
earth, and the roots of the trees are so carefully
gnawed by them, that although you take all the
precaution to destroy these larve by all and
every necessary means in your power, the mul--
berry trees are so damaged that they cannot
live any length of time, and must die.

These attentions are of vital consequence;
for a mulberry plantation contributes largely to
the comforts of its proprietor, and when well
managed, becomes to him a source of wealth.
He will soon feel the all important difference
between a healthy and vigorous tree, producing
abundantly, and one that is sickly and ae
a poor crop.

PART II.

CHAPTER IT.

OF THE REARING OF SILK WORMS.

Without going into the natural history of cat-
erpillars generally, amongst which is comprised
the silk worm ; and as the rearing of silk worms
must be in this country a source of industry
to a class of people who more particularly need
instruction on this subject, it has been thought
proper to present at once, to that class, a con-
densed view of that mode of raising silk worms,
which would best secure the reward of their —
labor.

The publications on this subject, in this coun-
try, appear to be either too voluminous, and
too full of details, for the most part of minor
importance, or too much condensed to con-
tain the principal directions necessary to be
attended to. This by no means pretends to
ba e perfect or complete work. To endea-
vour to convey, in plain and perspicuous lan-
guage, the practical knowledge which the au-
thor has acquired by experience, so as to en-
able the American farmers to undertake the

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 59

rearing of silk worms, and the production of
x00d saleable cocoons, with : a reasonable hope of
success, is his only aim.

The way to be certain of having good eggs
of your own breed, will be hereafter shown,
but if you are only beginning to raise silk
worms, and are obliged to buy your eggs, you
must, in a great measure, depend on the hones-
ty of the seller, especially if you send for them
to a distant country 3 the principal rule to be
depended on in this case is, for the buyer to
choose the small and bright seed, of a grey co-
lour, more or less dark ; "hoe that are white or
yellow have been laid by the female without
coupling with the male, at least have not been
fecundated, and are of course good for nothing ;
and those that are brown, shrunken, and very
flat are decayed. If you are near the place
: where the eggs were bred, you can best dis-
\cover their size and goodness, before they are
‘taken from the materials on which they were
aid by the moth. Besides the choice of good
eggs, some regard is to be had to the climate in
which they were produced, so as to buy your
veggs from a country which enjoys nearly the
‘same degree of heat, or if any difference is to .
‘be made, they ought to be bought in a country
a small degree colder than the one to which
Aihey are brought.

i

60 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

Being provided with eggs, the next thing to
be considered is the time of hatching them, and
the best and surest rule for this is, to do it when
you observe that the mulberry buds begin to
open and spread into small leaves; and it will
not be sufiicient to observe this in one or two
trees, which may chance to stand in a warm and
sheltered situation, but it must appear through
the bulk of all your trees, otherwise, though you
may have a great number of them, you may be
distressed for want of food.

Having fixed upon your time of hatching, ob-
serve that all the directions which follow, con-
cerning the manner of doing it should be atten-
tively pursued; experience has demonstrated
that the harvest of cocoons depends entirely
upon well a managed hatching.

CHAPTER II.

METHOD OF HATCHING THE SILK WORM.

Tue nature of silk worm’s eggs is such,
that, like those of other insects, they will, as
the weather advances in warmth, hatch of them-
selves; but as, in this manner, there would be
a great distance of time between those that hatch
first, and those that hatch last, insomuch that,
as some would every minute be hatching, it
would be impossible to attend to collect them
together, or afterwards to feed them, on account
of their being sick at different times; therefore
it is necessary to make use of a heat properly
graduated, by means of stoves, in order that
numbers may be hatched at one time, and that
your whole quantity of eggs may come out at
least in two or three days. You will keep sepa-
rate the worms of each days’ hatching, and if
you can, you will collect them two or three
times a day, and feed them by themselves; this
is a thing so absolutely necessary, that, without
it, there would be no possibility of feeding any
quantity of silk worms to advantage, as will be
shown hereafter.

v4

62 SILK GULTURIST’S MANUAL.

Various methods of making the eggs hatch,
may be used according to the convenience of the
breeders; but whatever method is used should
aim principally at this end, viz: of making them
hatch, as nearly as may be, together, on account
of their moulting or casting off skin, and, as the
only thing that will most effectually do this, is
an equal degree of warmth, as near as can be
attained, and constantly applied till they are
hatched, a very simple and easy process to ob-
tain such result, will be given.

The eggs are spread upon white paper, placed
on a clean table, separating each ounce of eggs,
and leaving a space of six or eight inches all
round each parcel, for the reception of small
leaves of the mulberry, which the silk worm ea-
eerly seizes on assoonas itishatched. Thistable,
of a size proportioned to the quantity of eggs in-
tended to bespread uponit, ought to be placed in
a room seven or eight feet square, and seven or
eight in height, closely wainscotted or plastered
on all sides, having a glazed window on the east
side, with a fire place, or (still better,) a stove,
for the maintenance of a proper temperature.
Three tiers of shelves, two feet long and eigh-
teen inches wide, with a distance of two feet
between the lower and the middle, and between
the middle and upper tiers, must be fixed along
the extent of two of the side walls. A fire must

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 63

be made in the little room early in the morning,
at noon, and at ten in the evening, for three
days before the eggs be placed in it, in order
that the air and the walls should be made dry
and warm. ‘The temperature of the air, during
the first twenty-four hours after spreading the
eges, must be maintained at from 77 to 78° of
Fahrenheit, and each succeeding day the heat
must be increased two degrees, till it shall arrive
on the seventh dav, at 92 or 93 degrees, and
never higher, when the worms will probably
begin to make their appearance. ‘This room
should be furnished with two large dishes in
which water may be poured, so as to offer a sur-
face of four inches in diameter, at least; the
moisture, which rises very slowly, moderates
the dryness which might occur in the stove
room. Very dry air is not favorable to the de-
velopment of silk worms. Exposed to this
graduated heat, the shell of the eggs on the sixth
day appears much whiter. It is then that we
must be unremitting in our care, turning the
eggs every four or five hours, and preserving
an equal temperature. Those which put forth
before the seventh, or after the tenth day, are
delicate and sickly, they should be set aside,
and raised by themselves. The heat therefore,
_ ought to be graduated with due reference to
the climate of the region where the worms are
bred, and the temperature in which they have

64 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

been preserved during the winter. This is so
true, and so worthy of remark, that if, in the
winter the eggs have been kept in an atmos-
phere of 55 or 59°, or heaped together, they
come forth without the aid of the stove, sponta-
neously, when the room is but slightly warmed,
and before the mulberry tree has given any sign
of vegetation. This circumstance is, therefore,
of essential consequence, and should be noted
to prevent its occurrence ; to preserve the eggs
in an even and gentle temperature, is there-
fore recommended.

The following are the signs of the speedy vi-
vification of the silk worms:

The dull brownish slate color of the eggs
grows bluish, then purplish, and then gray, with
acast of yellow, and finally ofa dingy white, then
the worm is already formed, and with a glass
may be seen within the shell. To collect the
worms, small twigs of mulberry, with a few
leaves on them should be laid on the paper, and
they should be increased as fast as the worms
come out upon them. Care must be taken not
to injure the worms with the small twigs by
’ pressing too much upon them.

The worms which may have been managed
according to the method here stated, will always
be healthy and strong. They will neither be
red nor black, but of a dark hazel or chesnut co-
lor, which is the proper color they should have.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 65

Itis impossible to express the practical advan-
tage of this method, thus ensuring the constant
production of well constituted animals.

The appearance of the newly hatched worm
is that of a woolly substance, of a dark chesnut
hue, in which is perceptible a general stirring
of minute animals, raising up their heads and
presenting a black and shining speck or head.
Their bodies are covered with regular lines of
hair, or down, of various lengths. ‘Their brown
color is caused by this hair, the skin being
whitish, which appears as they grow larger and
the hair thinner. The whiteness of the skin is
perceptible the moment the worm casts its shell
and stretches its head. When seen through a
glass, it appears to have a white collar; the tail
is also bristled with hair.

When carefully following the precepts here
given, there will invariably result the certainty
of obtaining silk worms, healthy and strongly
constituted.

_ More particular attention has been bestowed
on this circumstance of hatching the eggs, as it
is one of the most necessary points in rearing
silk worms, yet, notwithstanding the many and
minute things which are set down, the prac-
tice will be found sufficiently easy. The man-
agement of the worms when they begin to hatch,
will next be considered.
7%

CHAPTER III.

—

OF THE REARING OF SILK WORMS DURING
THEIR FIRST AGES.

THE worms, as they hatch, seek and cling to
the mulberry leaves; they should be removed
as soon as possible, and laid, with the twigs on
which they are feeding, on wicker hurdles,
covered with paper. In laying the twigs on
the paper, care must be had to allow space
enough for mulberry leaves to be put over the
twigs, and between them, that the insects may
have room to stretch and properly distribute
themselves. It should be noted here, that the
silk worms produced from one ounce of eggs,
thus disposed, should occupy a space of nine
and a half square feet, taking care to lay the
-worms in smali squares of ten inches, which
will exactly allow them the space they need
until after their first moulting, but those who
have the means of extending these allotted
spaces may do so, because it is certain that the
more room silk worms are allowed, the better
they eat, digest, breathe and rest.

The first day after coming forth, and the dis- |
tribution of the silk worms proceeding from
one ounce of eggs, they should be given, in four

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 67

meals, thirteen ounces of single, tender young
leaves, chopped very small; dividing the time,
so as to allow six hours between each meal, giv-
ing the smallest quantity for the first feeding,
and gradually increasing that of each meal. Be
careful that the leaves be always perfectly dry
before you give them to the worms, which
may be easily obtained by putting them under
cover on a brick pavement, or gravelled floor,
turning them over and placing them further
where it is not damp, (for they always leave a
dampness where they lie,) three or four times a
day; you may thus keep leaves three or four
days, provided there is no draught of air.
Leaves cleansed and chopped very small are
more suitable at this age. In this state they
bite the leaf quickly, and it is consumed before
it can be withered. }

If care be not taken to chop the leaves small,
and to give the young worms space when they
are little, a great number must perish, as they
will contract diseases, and lose their equality.
The worm that cannot eat, dwindles, becomes
extenuated, weak, sickly, and perishes under
the leaf. This object, which appears trifling
in itself, is however, of great amportance, and
deserves unceasing attention.

In feeding the worms regularly four times a
day, you must manage so as never to give the

68 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

whole quantity at once, as we stated above, be-
cause after the distribution of each meal, it is
better to observe if some food should not be ad-
ded in different spots. As they advance in this
early age of their existence, if they consume
their food readily and appear eager, it is well
to give them a little food at intermediate times.

Thus, by much care, and all these appropri-
ate and indispensable attentions, we lead this
profitable little animal, at the end of five days,
exclusive of the two days employed in its com-
_ing forth, and being removed and properly dis-
tributed, to its first dormant state, which results
in the change of its skin. The signs by which
it is known that worms are sick and about to
change their skins, are these: they hold their .
heads up, are motionless, and appear to sleep;
this should be noticed.

As it is from this age that depends the
harvest of cocoons, it is then useful to wait the
revivification of the greatest number of the silk
worms before they are fed, particularly as these
insects, when they cast their skins, need free
air and gentle heat more than food.

In this first stage, the silk worms proceeding
from one ounce of eggs, have consumed six
pounds of picked leaves, well sorted and chop-
ped very small, viz:

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 69

Ibs. ounces.

First day, 13
Second day, Lacs
Third day, 3

Fourth day, ) 8
Fifth day, 4

In this first age the temperature-of the room
should be kept at 75° and the air be renewed
only by opening the door; nothing further is
necessary for the thriving of the worms, and
their healthy continuance.

Second age of the silk worm.

Fourteen feet eight inches square of table or
wicker hurdles are needed for the accommoda-
tion of the worms, proceeding from one ounce
of eggs, until the accomplishment of their se-
cond casting or moulting.

These tables or wicker hurdles, as before men-
tioned, should always be covered with strong
paper. The temperature in this age should be
about 73°. You must take care not to lift them
from their litter until they are nearly all re-
vived. There is no harm in waiting till they
are all well awake and stirring, even should it be
for twenty or thirty hours from the time when
the few first began to revive.

When a great number of worms issue from
the sheets of paper where they were placed, it

70 © SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

is a sign that they should be removed from
their litter, and removing them a little sooner,

the others will soon revive also. There are |

always good opportunities of taking them up
by means of twigs, to which they attach them-
selves. If the worms are laid on a newspaper, it

is easy to take out the newspaper, lay it ona —

table, and transport the worms, which general-
ly adhere to the leaves and branches, to ano-
ther newspaper, which is put on the shelf after
sweeping it. The litter on the former may then
be thrown away. Instead of forming small
squares, as was done for disposing of the newly
hatched worms, long strips should be laid down
the middle of the wicker hurdles, so prepared,
that by widening them on each side when arri-
ved at the consummation of the second age, the
whole space of fourteen feet cight inches of the
hurdle should be entirely covered by the silk
worms, ‘These means for removing the silk

worms are the best, and suited to all the differ-

ent ages, and the worms thus removed upon

clean shelves with fresh boughs, get strong

and revived.

An hour or two after the worms have been
placed upon hurdles, they should be given a meal
of one pound of leaves chopped small. In the re-
mainder of this day you should give them 2 lb.
8 oz. of chopped leaves, in two meals, with an

|
|
\)

|

|

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 71

interval of six hours between each, or according
to the hours of the day which remain. The
second day they will require about 8 lb. of
chopped leaves, in four meals, with intervals
of six hours, the two first meals less plentiful
than the remaining. It is very necessary gra-_ .
dually to widen on both sides the strips in
which the worms are distributed, that at the
close of this day two-thirds of the allotted space
should be covered.

The body of the worm now acquires a clear
hue; the head enlarges and becomes whiter.
Should some places be thinly covered with
worms, by placing small boughs where the
worms lie thick, they will fasten on them, and
may then be removed to fill up the places which
were not sufficiently covered: the equality of
the worms being very desirable, it should be
carefully attended to, and those means above
stated practiced through all the moultings, and
whenever circumstances seem to require them.

The third day of this age they will require
8 lb. and 11 oz. of chopped leaves well picked,
observing that the two first meals should be
the largest. Now the leaves should be distri-
buted in proportion as they are wanted, dis-
tributing them with attention, because the vo-
racity of the silk worm abates towards evening ;
and many worms show, by raising up their

72 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

heads, and not eating, that they are approach-
ing the period of torpor, and some already are
become torpid.

The strips should now be widened, so that at
least four-fifths of the hurdle should be covered.

The fourth day they will require only 2 ib.
5 oz. of picked leaves distributed in the same
manner as before, as may be wanted, lightly
and carefully scattered over the worms.

This day the silk worms sink into torpor, so
that the next day they will have cast their skins,
and will be roused, and thus will the second
age be accomplished.

The color of the worm is become of a light
grey, the hair is hardly to be perceived by the
naked eye, and is become shorter; the muzzle,
which in the first age was very black, hard,
and scaly, becomes immediately, upon moulting,
white and soft, but afterwards again grows
black, shining, and shelly as before, the length
of its body is now rather more than six lines,
and in four days its weight has increased four-
fold.

As the insect grows, it breathes more freely,
its excrements are more plentiful, which, as the
number of hurdles also increases in the room,
makes it necessary that the room should be bet-
ter aired.

Should there be no wind or cold in the at-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 7O

mosphere, the door and window may be left open
for a little while. In this second age they have
consumed 22 Ib. 8 oz. of leaves, viz: first day,
3 lb. 8 0z.3 second, 8 lb.; third, 8 Ib. 11 02.3
fourth day, 2 Ib. 5 oz. |

Third age of the Silk Worm.

On the first day of this age, 3 Ib. of the
small shoots and 33 Ib. of picked leaves chopped
rather coarser than formerly, will be necessary.

At this age the worms of one ounce of eggs
should occupy nearly forty-six square feet of
space, on the hurdles or tables which should
always be covered with paper. The tempera-
ture may be now lowered and is not to be raised
above 73°, but should it be higher externally,
it may be checked by creating a current of air.

Particular care must be taken not to remove
the worms from the wicker hurdles, until they
have been all nearly roused from their torpid
state ; there would be no harm if those first
revived should wait twenty-four hours, till the
rest are all roused.

The following are the most certain signs that
the worms are roused: They issue from their
old skin with so different an aspect, that any
one may distinguish them without the aid of
description ; they make an undulating motion

8.

74 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

with, their heads when horizontally blown upon,
which is a never-failing sign that they are
roused, then a gentle motion of the air through
the room does them good, provided the renew-
ed air is not colder than their usual atmos-
phere.

You should allow to the worms in this third
age forty-six feet square of space, as has al-
ready been observed, disposed in a strip down
the centre of the wicker hurdle, so as to leave
rather more than a quarter’s width down each
side of the strip. The space to be occu-
pied by the silk worms, in their different ages,
being well ascertained, there will be nothing
more easy, more useful, and more economical
than to remove, cleanse, and place them in the
manner above described.

Until their casting is accomplished, you need
not touch the worms. Once plased upon the |
wicker hurdles, they feed well without inter-
fering with one another, and without requiring
to cleanse the intervals on the sheet of paper.
Their litter does not become mouldy, unless
there should be a very unusual and continued
dampness of weather, but is of a fresh green
color, thinly scattered, nearly dry, and com-
posed of the fibres of the leaf, and little por-
tions of the leaf fallen from the mouth of the
animal.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 75

The 3 Ib. of young shoots afford the silk |
worms their first meal, as in the preceding age;
but when they have eaten the leaves upon the
shoots, they should havea second meal of about
13 |b. of leaves, carefully filling with them the
space between the shoots, in order to equalize -
the distribution of the worms upon strips; the
last meal to be given this eo will be of 13 Ib.
again of leaves.

At the end of the second or the third meals,
there will be a very sensible change in the silk
worms. They are much larger, their muzzle
is grown longer, and their color clearer.

On the second day they will require 17 lb. of
picked and chopped leaves, the smallest quanti-
ty given during the two first meals, because,
near the end of the day, they grow voracious-
ly hungry. Care must be taken to widen the
strips when they are fed, in order to allow them
room.

The third day they will eat 19% Ib. of pick-
ed leaves, chopped, and divided in four meals,
the two first being the most plentiful. Towards

evening their hunger decreases, consequently,

the last should be the least meal.

This day the silk worms grow fast, their skins
whiten, the bodies are nearly transparent, and —
the heads are longer.

The contortions they begin to make with their

76 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

heads, show that their change approaches.

The fourth day they will eat 103 Ib. only, of
chopped leaves. The decrease of food is con-
sequent upon the diminution of appetite al-
ready mentioned; many of the worms are alrea-
dy torpid.

They should be given four meals, the largest
first, and the last the least, those only that
seem to require it, should be fed. Should a
great number of silk worms on one table be tor-
pid, whilst others continue to require food, you
must not wait for the regular hours of their feed-
ing, but give them a slight meal one or two
hours after, in order to satisfy them, and that they
may sink quickly into torpor; this care is of con-
sequence, and these intermediate meals are very
beneficial. :

On the fifth day of this age the worms will
require 54 Ib. of picked leaves, chopped, and
distributed as they are needed, this will be
about the quantity, if it is not enough, more
may be added, if too much, less can be given.

These two last days the silk worms begin to
cast about some silk down. ‘The insect seeks
free space to slumber in, dry and solitary spots,
rearing its head upwards, which is known by
finding it on the edges of the paper, where any
stalks stick up, upon which it retires. All of
them not being able thus to separate from each

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. TT

other, are obliged to remain upon their litter,
but testify uneasiness by rearing up their heads.

When on the point of sinking into torpor,
they completely void all excremental matter,
and there remains in their intestinal tube, a
yellowish lymph alone; rather transparent, and
which supplies almost all the animal fluid in
them. It isthat which, before the surface of
the skin they are going to cast, becomes wrink-
led and dry, causes them to appear of a yel-
lowish white color like amber, and semi-trans-
parent.

When the worms prepare for the third, and
even fourth moulting, the air of the labora-
tory should be gently agitated, but the tempe-
rature should not be much varied.

On the sixth day the silk worms begin to
rouse, and thus accomplish their third age.

The general view of this age presents the fol-
lowing results.

ist. They have consumed nearly sixty pounds

_ of leaves and young shoots.

2d. Their average length, which was six
lines after the second moulting, has become, in
less than seven days, above twelve lines.

3d. Their weight has increased fourfold in

the same period, and their bodies are more

wrinkled, particularly about the head, having

no appearance of hairiness.

8x*

78 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

It has been sufficient during this age to open
the door and the windows, when the weather
was still and fine, so as to lower the temperature
by a degree only.

CHAPTER IV.

REARING OF THE SILK WORMS IN THE
FOURTH AGE.

Your worms being recovered from their
third moulting, will be pretty large, as we have
already said, they should, therefore, occupy a
space of 109 square feet, and having now arrived
to a state of vigor, the temperature of the room
should be diminished, by keeping constantly a
draught of air, and if the temperature should be
rising from 71 to 80°, and the air stagnant, it is
recommended to burn some faggot wood in
the fire-place, which should be, if possible, sit-
uated in an angle of the room, to create a
complete current of air, and thus change the
air of all the room thoroughly. If, instead
of thus acting, when the heat of the sea-
son rises suddenly, (which augments the fer-
mentation of the litter,) we should exclude the
exterior air from the room, we may expose our-
selves to lose the whole brood, because, as the
worms grow, the mass of leaves and litter in-
creasing, the dampness proceeding from it will
more quickly produce fermentation, the heat

80 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

would also increase, and the air would soon be
not only damp, but pestilential.

As has already been said, you should not
remove the silk worms, from the hurdles on
which they have accomplished their third age,
until they are nearly all well roused, because,
though the first roused should remain a day ora
day anda half before being removed, it will not
hurt them ; you will put the early roused in the
coolest part of the room, and the hurdles of the
late roused in the warmest part. If you do not
wish to take so much trouble, it may suffice to
give the latest roused worms more space, by
keeping them farther asunder; by proceeding
thus, they will soon come up to the others.

It will be easy to ascertain by the thermome-
ter, which parts of the room are constantly the
hottest ; this knowledge will serve to render
all the silk worms even sized, particularly if
those who attend them have any practical skill.
Those precautions are indispensable if you wish
the worms to begin to spin at the same period,
inasmuch as there arises great evils, when some
of the silk worms begin too long before the
others.

We must here repeat how advantageous to
the art of rearing silk worms is the practice of
distributing them in regular strips and squares
which are filled with these insects gradually,

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 8l

and only when they have accomplished their
various ages.

Ist. Because you need not clean the hurdles
in the fourth age, the litter which spreads by
degrees, not heating or contracting any eflluvia,
and not rising much.

2d. Because the leaf, distributed upon even-
ly portioned spaces is entirely eaten before it
is withered and spoilt.

3d. Because, by this practice the worms can
feed with facility, move with ease, perspire
and breathe more freely; all decisive advanta-
zes for these insects.

These advantages cannot be obtained ohew
the worms lie too thick ; in that condition they
cover the surface too closely, the leaveson which
they lie are wasted, as they cannot possibly eat
them; while, on the contrary, when they have
plenty of room, they seek, in moving, every
atom of the leaf and eatit up. Besides, when
straightened, the action of their breathing and
perspiring tubes is hindered and confined by
the pressure, either superior or lateral, of one
worm against the other; whereas, if they have
full space, the action of these organs, which is
so necessary to their health, is very free.

The first day of this age they will require
about 7 Ib. of shoots with leaves, and 42 lb, of
picked leaves coarsely chopped.

82 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

When the moment for removing the worms
from the hurdles comes, one or two hurdles on-
ly at a time should be covered over with young
shoots, which, when loaded with worms are re-
moved, as in the first moultings; but, as in this
age the worms are heavier, it is recommended
to put the shoots loaded with them upon some
portable trays; thus the worms will be bet-
ter removed, and carried with less inconven-
ience.

The strips on which the worms are laid upon
hurdles, should occupy about half the space
allowed them, or 544 square feet. After hav-
ing removed all the early roused, if they
have eaten all the leaves on the shoots, and
should remain without food upon the hur-
dies; you will give them 6 1b. of leaves chop-
ped a little; with these leaves the intervals be-
tween the young shoots should be filled, and
form the strips into regular order, by sweeping
into their place any boughs or leaves that are
scattered irregularly, with a broom made for
that purpose; after this second meal, the worms
formerly heaped up together, will be seen
stretching out evenly.

The other 6 Ib. of leaves should not be given
until the Second meal has been entirely con-
sumed.

Although it is not the general custom to chop

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 83

or cut the leaves for silk worms in this fourth
age, it has been, however, found very beneficial
to give them, coarsely cut up, not only the
first day, but also the second and third. The
reason is, that when the silk worms are just is-
suing from the cast skins, they are weak, and
not very hungry; therefore fresh leaves, slight- —
ly cut up, by exhaling a stronger smell, stimu-
late their hunger, and the cut edges are more
easy to bite.

The late roused silk worms should be placed
on hurdles distinct from the earliest. |

At the end of this day, the worms begin to
show some vigor; they move quickly to the
leaves, they grow perceptibly, they lose their
ugly colors, become slightly white, unless they
are of that spotted species which the French

call tzgrés, and assume more decided animal
action.

The second day they will consume 33 Ib. of
sorted leaves, slightly cut up. The two first
meals should be the lightest, and the last the

most copious. In giving the meals, the space

occupied by the worms should be widened.
The third day there will be needed 45 Ib. of

sorted leaves, a little cut. The two first meals

ought to be the most plentiful, the last meal the

| lightest.

The fourth day you should give them 51 Ib.

————— es —C—

84 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

of cut leaves, the three first meals should be the
most copious, and the fourth the lightest... The
worms become still whiter, and at this period
are more than an inch and a half Jong.

No more than 26 Ib. of picked leaves will be
needed the fifth day, because the hunger of the
insect diminishes much; the first meal should be
the most copious. A great number of the worms
become torpid on this day. You will distribute
the leaves as they will be wanted, and only on the
hurdles where the worms are perceived not to
be torpid; they will be this day an inch and
three quarters long.

The sixth day seven pounds of picked leaves
will be enough. It is easy to see where and in
what quantities the worms need food.

Since the preceding day the silk worms be-
gin to decrease in size, as they have cleansed and
cleared themselves of all nutritive substances,
before they sink into their torpor. The green-
ish color of the rings has disappeared, and
their skin seems quite wrinkled.

On the seventh day of this age, they rouse,
cast their skins, and accomplish their fourth
age, having consumed, in that period, 173 Ib.
of sorted leaves, and 7 Ib. of shoots with leaves,
and occupied 109 square feet of space, gradual-
ly allowed to them.

On that day the worms, which were before

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. | 85

about one inch long, have grown half an inch
in length, and their weight has augmented four
fold.

In order to renew and lighten the air of the
room, without particularly heating it, dry straw
or shavings of wood should be burnt in the fire-
places, three or four times a day, having, at the
same time, the door and windows opened for the
circulation of air; and if the exterior tempera-
ture be not cold, and without wind, they may re-
main so, ’till the interior temperature is lowered
half a degree; thusthe silk worms will breathe
continually a pure and dry air, which makes
them most healthy.

Chobe bys:

OF THE FIFTH AGE—FIRST PERIOD.

Tuts period embraces the management of the
silk worms from their recovery out of their
fourth moulting, until they are ready to spin
their cocoons.

As the fifth age of the silk worms is the:‘long-
est, and most decisive, a few practical observa-
tions will be given, before resuming the descrip-
tion of their daily progress in this age. It is
not intended here to give scientific lectures, but
to endeavor to make some truths obvious, which
the intelligent cultivator may easily put into
practice, to protect himself in all cases from
those losses to which even a man of experience
may be exposed, not knowing those truths.

Should the worms die in the first age, the
loss is trifling, because the expense is not pro-
longed, while, on the contrary, should they
perish in the fifth age, the loss is considerable.
It is, therefore, very important to know the con-
dition of the worms in this age, to learn how to
manage them, so as to insure their health and
‘strength against the effects of the atmosphere or
other evils that may assail them.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 87

It is mostly in this age that you will find the
advantage of keeping the worms’ on hurdles;
for as they will now eat during nine or ten days
before they are ready to spin, and will grow
very large, making a prodigious deal of litter,
they would, if they were kept upon shelves
made of boards, require to be cleaned every
day, which would be a considerable trouble;
but on hurdles made of small reeds which are
very dry and light materials, and have vacant
spaces between them, the air will have free ac-
cess to the litter which sticks and remains among
the fibres and shreds of the leaves, and it will
not so suddenly become putrid, moist, and
mouldy, as it would do if the whole quantity of
litter and fibres should he on boards or shelves,
which did not admit the air underneath.

Any one will appreciate the above recom-
mendation, particularly when he knows that as
the silk worms grow in the fifth age, they are
liable to three evils, which injure them accord-
ing to their strength, and to their distribution
in the reom, and may weaken them so as to
cause their speedy destruction.

Those enemies are :—

ist. The incredible quantity of fluid disenga- -
ged every day from their bodies by the transpira-
tion and evaporation of the leaves given to them.

2d. The deadly and mephitic emanations

88 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

emitted every day from the insects, from their
excrements, from the leaves and their remains.

3d. The damp hot atmospheric air, as well as -
the smothering heat of the coneaneny during
the fifth age.

These evils injure the silk worms in three
ways:

ist. The moist exhalations produced by the
leaves and the perspiration of the insect, accu-
mulate in the room, and tend to relax the skin of
the worms; this organ thus loses its elasticity,
puts the animal into a state of languor, decreases _
its appetite, alters its secretions, and makes it
liable to various diseases, and even to death.

2d. The mephitic emanations issuing from the
body of the insect, and from the leaves, render
the silk worm’s breathing difficult, destroy its
excitability, and produce disease and death.

3d. The dampness and stagnation of atmos-
pherie air, increased by the moisture of the
room, create a great fermentation in the dung,
and consequently, disengagement of heat, which,
by destroying the elasticity of the air, renders
it so deadly, as, in the course of a few hours, to
destroy the silk worms entirely.

To these causes of sudden disorders we often
have to add another, which proceeds from the
silk worms being too closely distributed on the
hurdles, particularly in this age. This in-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 89

sect, as people generally seem to think, does
not breathe by the mouth, but by small aper-
tures, which are placed near its legs, and which
are called stzgmata. ‘These breathing vessels
are almost all stopped up and covered when the
worms are heaped together, which makes their
breathing difficult, and the perspiration also
ceases, much to the detriment of the insect.

It will be easy to avoid the above diseases,
Ist, by evenly distributing the worms in spaces
proportioned to their numbers, as has been fre-
quently repeated; 2d, by renewing the air, and
keeping the cocooneries dry and lightsome by
the means already indicated; 3d, by taking
care to gather the leaves some time before they
are wanted, and when they are wet, to have
them thoroughly dried before they are given
to the worms; 4th, by keeping the hurdles on
which the worms are placed free of all excre-.
mental matter; 5th, and lastly, by avoiding
or preventing smoke, which may occasion the
instant suffocation and death of the silk worms
of a cocoonery, particularly should there be
any dampness in it, which is unluckily too often
the case.

These few observations containing all the in-
structions needed to put any one on his guard,
itis now time to bring the worms to the period
when they prepare to rise, and when they re-

Ox

90 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

ject the food they had lately so voraciously de-
voured.

The silk worm comes out from its last moult-
ing with a larger head and body, the first wrink-
led and the other rather shrunken; the room
should have uniformly 68 or 694° of heat, and
at the termination of their fifth age, the silk
worms should occupy 239 square feet of hur-
dles. They will consume in this age 1098 Ib.
of sorted picked leaves.

On the first day of this age the worms should
fill a space of about 994 square feet of hurdles,
they will eat a prodigious quantity of leaves,
which should now be of the best sort you can
procure for them, because it is now that they
collect and digest the matter out of which they
afterwards form their silk. If you were to open
a worm before the fourth moulting, you would
find nothing but a watery humour mixed with .
the green mucilage of the leaves which they
feed on; but when they are somewhat advanc-
ed in this last age, you will find in their silk
vessels a pale or yellow gum, out of which they
form their cocoons.

The goodness, therefore,-of their silk de-
pending in a great measure upon their being
properly fed at this time, care must be taken
that their food be, in all respects, as good as
can be got; not the soft, tender leaves of shoots

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL, 91

or suckers, or of a very young tree, but the
firmest dark green leaves from your oldest trees,
always free from dew or moisture and damp-
ness, which would now make the worms drop-
sical and kill them.

They must this day be fed, first on thirty-
six pounds of twigs with leaves, or bunches of
leaves, and as soon as these are loaded with
worms, they must be taken off, put upon the
little portable trays already spoken of, and the
litter immediately removed. The hurdles must
be cleaned every two days during this period.

It must be so managed, that the worms should
cover rather more than half the space which is
allotted to them this day, (994 square feet,) and
that there should be a void space in the middle
of each hurdle of about half its width.

If after cleaning the hurdles any worms
should be found awake on the litter, by putting
some leaves they may be taken off like the
others. Should some after this, remain still in
torpor, they must be cast away.

The fresh leaves should now be disposed in
a longitudinal band, with a vacant space to
be occupied by brushwood: arches in ten or
eleven days from this, as will be hereafter ex-
plained. :

The thirty-six pounds of twigs and leaves on
which the silk worms have been first removed,

92 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

furnished them with an abundant meals; and
you should now divide eighteen pounds of
leaves more into two meals, which should be
given them at the interval of six hours. In
giving the first meal, care must be taken to
regulate the strips on the hurdles, by sweeping
any straggling leaves or worms into regular or-
der with the little broom.

At the third meal, that is to say, when you
distribute to the worms the remaining nine
pounds, you may widen again the strings a
little more, and should there be too many worms
in some parts, they should be removed instant-
ly, and placed on the least crowded parts of the
hurdles.

This day the worms appear tolerably strong.

Attend to the temperature, which, if too high
might exhaust their vigor, and diminish the
quantity of silk. Wiuth rare exceptions the
season now Calls often for a pure, cool, and re-
freshing air to relieve and comfort all kinds of
animated beings. Silk culturists agree, that if
the dryness of the atmosphere should be such as
to affect our own feelings, the floor of the co-
coonery should be sprinkled with water, and
buckets of water be kept there, which will af-
ford a salutary moisture by exhalation. Let us
not, however, expose the worms to an opposite
extreme, which would, no doubt, retard their

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 93

last urgent task, or prevent them from filling
well their cocoons.

The second day the worms will consume
fifty-four pounds of sorted leaves, divided into
four meals; the first should be the least, and
the last the most plentiful.

In distributing the food the strips should be
widened gradually; at the close of this day the
worms are much whiter, and considerably de-
veloped.

The third day they will require about eighty-
four pounds of sorted leaves. The first feed
should be about fifteen pounds, the second and
third of twenty each, and the last of about thir-
ty pounds. ‘They continue to whiten and many
appear upwards of two inches long ; they could
eat, on this day a larger quantity than here speci-
fied; but it is most beneficial not to add to this
quantity, that they may thoroughly digest it; be-
sides which, it strengthens their constitution,
and makes them livelier. The strips they oc-
cupy should be widened whenever they are fed.

The fourth day they will want one hundred
and eight pounds of sorted leaves, the first feed
should be the smallest and the last the largest;
their voraciousness seems to increase; they grow
larger and stronger; some are two inches and

_ahalf long.
_ The fifth day they will consume one hundred
| :

|
|
}

94 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

and sixty-two pounds of picked leaves, you will
distribute to them in the same proportions as
the preceeding day, the last meal always the
most copious, and if necessary you must not con-
fine them to four meals, but must take care
that they get some intermediate food; when the
regular distribution of leaves is devoured in less
than an hour and a half, the worms must not
be suffered to fast four hours, but have some
leaves in the interim, particularly if there should
be any hurdles on which the worms had not
been at first as well fed as the others ; for. al-
though the quantity of food has been fixed for
this day, it is always HS to be regulated
by experience.

In the course of this day the hurdles should be
cleaned. — If the litter isdry and fresh, the worms
should not be shifted till the evening, or the be-
ginning of thenext day. The following manner
is employed to clean the worms at this period.

You will place a line of fresh leaves the
whole length of the hurdles near the worms, to
which they will immediately attach themselves ;
and as soon as they get on the new leaves, the
litter they have left can be swept away, and re-
moved from the room. During this operation, if
the exterior air be damp, which would indicate
that of the laboratory being still more so, there
should be burnt light blazing fires, and if this

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. | 95

should raise the temperature too much, it may
easily be lowered by opening the doors and
windows.

On the sixth day the silk worms should have
195 lb. of picked leaves, which you will divide
in five meals, the last of which should be the
most plentiful. ‘The worms now eat most vora-
ciously, and some even attack the mulberries
which are amongst the leaves.

If, after having distributed the leaves, the
quantity appears insuflicient upon some hurdles,
or if it has all been devoured in an hour, you
should add an intermediate meal.

Knowing the quantity of leaves to be given
in this day, it is easy to distribute them either
into four or five meals, as may best appear to
suit the worms.

The shelly black shining proboscis placed at
the extremity of the muzzle is become stronger;
it is in this proboscis that are placed the small
saws which tear and separate the hard leaves,
and even the fibrous parts of the leaf.

Some of the worms are now three inches long,
they are whiter, they present to the touch a
soft velvety surface, and are strong and healthy.
Take care to give more food to those which
have been last removed, and allow them more
space, and they will soon equal the earliest in
sige.

They will require on the seventh day,.one

96 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

hundred and eighty pounds of well sorted leaves.
The first meal should be the largest, and the
others should diminish; should there be any in-
termediate meals wanted, they must be given
as before. )

~ Some worms will now ab seen upwards of
three inches long, the extremity of the insect
_ begins to grow shining and yellowish, which
shows they are approaching to maturity. Some
of them begin to eat with less voracity. They
have now attained their utmost growth, being
upwards of three inches long, and an inch and
a half round, nearly.

Towards the close of this day they begin to
lose size and weight, because from this time
they take less food in proportion to the quantity
of excrement and steamy vapor which their
bodies discharge.

We shall continue to observe them as they
decrease, as we have done while they were in-
creasing. They are at present in their highest
condition.

They must have on the eighth day, one hun-
dred and thirty-two pounds of well sorted leaves.
The proportion of leaves must diminish, as the
appetite of the worms decreases much. The
leaves, as usual, should be divided into four
meals, the first being the largest, and gradually
diminishing.

In order to bring on backward worms to ma-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 97

turity, some intermediate food should be Sabie
according to their wants.

‘They now advance towards maturity, which
may be perceived by their yellow color, which
increases from ring toring. Their backs begin
to shine, and the rings lose the dark green color
that marked them. The advance to maturity
is also denoted, in some of them, by the diminu-
tion of their bulk in the course of this day; and
by their trying to fix themselves to the edges of
the hurdles, to void the substance with which
they are filled.

This day, and as speedily as possible, accord-
ing as the signs of maturity increase, and as
the litter gets moist, the hurdles should be
cleaned in the manner before described, being
very careful not to bruise the worms. It is
now that light fires, and the purification of air
are more essential than on any former change,
_ particularly in a large laboratory.

On theninth day distribute to the worms nine-
ty-nine pounds of leaves,as may be wanted. On.
this day their yellow hue grows deeper, their bo~
dies will be of an ivory color and polish, somewhat
transparent towards their necks with a little of
a golden appearance. The muzzle is become of
_ abrighterred than it wasin the beginning. From
_ time to time a gentle fire should be lighted, parti-
_ cularly in the night, and the air entirely renewed.
10

98 SILK-CULTURIST’S -MANUAL.

Most of the worms will leave off eating, and
before they are ready to spin, they will somewhat
lessen in size; but their bodies will feel:more
firm and consistent than before.

They will begin to desist from eating, and to
wander about, stretching out their heads in
quest of a place proper to fix in and spin their
cocoons. Now although, on account of pre-
serving some little order and method, the in-
structions for accommodating them at their spin-
ning time, are not given till the next chapter,
yet it is necessary that you should have looked
into that part, in order to have made the suit-
able preparations for them some time before-
hand; for you would find yourself greatly em-
-barrassed to do it when numbers of the worms
were to be accommodated, if you had not made
some provision before.

It may be proper, before we end this chapter,
to insert here a table of the rearing of silk worms
from one ounce of eggs, taken from the work of
M. Bonafous,..a distinguished pupil of Count
Dandolo. The only difference between the pu-
piland his great master is in the spaces prescribed
by Monsieur Bonafous, which are greater than
those marked by Count Dandolo.

We must here inform our readers that the
measures and weights in the following table, as
well as those which we have made use of in the

SILK CULTURIST’S: MANUAL. 99.

progress of our own work, are French, the first,
when reduced to American measure, are as
follow, fractions omitted :

French Feet. Inches. Am. Feet.

9 6 10
19 21
46 02

109 124
239 272

And the quantity of leaves when reduced to
American weights, are as follow, omitting frac-

tions: :
French lbs. Am. lbs. OZ.
vt a 12
21 23 4
69 76 9
210 229 8
1,281 1,400

The French foot is divided into twelve inches,
and the inch into twelve lines, It is longer by
nine lines than the American foot, or one foot
7.100 American, nearly. ‘hose who intend to
regulate the spaces by the rules of either Dan-
dolo, (which we have followed,) or by those of
Bonafous, may easily do so, by noting the di- |
mensions of each hurdle or feeding frame. The
dimensions of Count Dandolo may be considered
as a minimum, or the least that can be allowed,
to secure the health of silk worms. It cannot
be too often repeated, that the constant rule to
be attended to, is to give the worms ample
space, and never to permit them to be crowded.

100 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

Table of the rearing of silk worms to

iin ole Temp’ ture ; Quantity of Total of
AGES. — | orm: on|h™'Seale. | leaven. | deen ager
frames or
hurdles.
Ft. in. lb. oz. Ib.
(1st day) 60 14
2d do ia ny oH
First Age< Sd.ido -| 9 6 {75° ES Sh AN Oats ”
4th do | ee ccs |
sth do J LO. 6)
(Ast day) ( 4 “
Sec. ge< 2d do > 19 73 to 75° |< 6 12 > 9
3 | 3d do Le Sil
\4thdo J Lis aA)
ist day (uot
[2a do | 21 q
3d de 22 8
Th'd Ages finde pj 45 [71to78° 4 39 8 + 69
| 5thdo | LG. Sl
6th do /) , (rence)
Ist day) | G23 a ta
2d do 39
3d do o | 52 eS |
th Age< 4thdo +109 68 to 71 Ge) Zh
Sie lish do 29.4 4 f 210
6th do 6:19
L7thdo J y)
(1st day | (420)
2d do 6 10
3d do LR @)
4th do 1301's
A 1 5thdo | }185 8!
Fifth Ages Gthdo 7.239 , 168 to 69° | 293 OF} 4,987
7th do 214. 0
8thdo 150 0
Sthdo | 120 14

(10th do) L 56 4)

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 101

the sixth age, from one ounce of eggs.

OBSERVATIONS.

Tender young leaves chopped fine ; four meals, progressively increased.
do - do do the first the largest, the last the smallest.
do do . do four meals.

The first meal of 9 oz., the others less, if the leaves have not been eaten.

Tender leaves, chopped finee Worms casting their first skins.

Half tender branehes and half leaves, cut fine; the first meal twelve ounces, the
other leaves in two meals.

Tender leaves, four meals; the two first less than the two last. Enlarge the spaces.
do do the two first the largest.
do do distributed as wanted. Worms casting their second skins.

Half tender branches, half leaves a little chopped; second meal 1 Ib. 14 oz.
Chopped leaves four meals ; the two first less than the two last. Enlarge the spaces.

do do the two first the largest.

do do do do the last, least.

do do distributed as required. The third casting of their skins.
de do do do Worms are roused.

® lb. of branches, 14 Ib. of leaves, cut coarsely; give the branches first.

Leaves coarsely cut, four meals; the two first the smallest. Enlarge the spaces.
do do three meals ; the three first the least, the last-17 Ib. 4 oz,

Whole leaves, four meals; the three first 16 lb. 4 oz. the Jast 10 1-2 Jb.

Picked leaves distributed as wanted ; the first meal the largest.
do do do do Worms prepared to cast their skins,

Leaves 2s wanted. Worms are roused.

Half branches half leaves. EnJarge the spaces.
Pieked leaves, four meals; the first the smallest, 12 Ib. the last 22 Jb,

do the first meal 22 Ib. the last 27 Ib. 12 oz.

do do -—. 27 Ib. 12 02, the last 37 1-2 Ib..

do do 37 1-2 Ib. the second 46 lb. 14 oz

do fuur meals, the last the most abundant.

da do the first meal the largest, the rest to lessen gradually.
do four or five meals, the first the largest, 46 Ib. 14 oz.

de distributed as wanted, Worms approaching maturity.

do do do if not enough give more.

10*

102 _ SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

The general result of what we have stated is
that in the course of about thirty days, in which
the silk worms have attained their greatest
development and heaviest weight, we may ob-
serve the following facts :—

Ist. That in their growth they have become
forty times larger than they were when first
hatched, being then about the size of one line.

2d. That in thirty days their weight has be-
come nine thousand times greater, since it re-
quired 54,525 young hatched silk worms to
form an ounce, (vide Dandolo, chap. v, § 3,)
whereas six silk worms, when full grown, are
‘now sufficient.

From the ninth day of the fifth age, and the
thirty-first of the life of the silk worm, until the
completion of its maturity, we shall see, that
although they need little food, they will re-
quire great care, of which we shall speak in the
following chapter.

CHAPTER VI.

SECOND PERIOD OF THE FIFTH AGE—THE
SPINNING OF THE COCOONS.

Let us for a while leave the silk worms on
the hurdles, to mention some things relative to
them, and to show the preparations we should
make‘for the accomplishment of their fifth, and
in the shape of worms, their last age.

This age can only be looked on as terminated
when the cocoon is perfect. When the worm
has poured out all its silk, and formed its cocoon,
it casts its envelope, and becomes a chrysalis.
But to form the cocoon, it must attain to this
point, viz: of becoming a compound of only two
remaining substances, the silky substance and the
animal substance. It must then have discharged
all the excremental matter contained in its in-
testinal tube.

It is not only requisite to know the last de-
gree of perfection of the worm in order to fa-
cilitate the means of forming its cocoons, but
also to know all the other operations necessary
to insure the cocoons being of a very good
quality.

The cleanliness of the hurdles in these last

104 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

days of the fifth age, requires great attention to
preserve the health of the silk worms.

It is with these insects as with all other ani-
mals, some are quick in all their operations,
others more slow; and it is important to form
just observations on these facts.

We have seen, in the foregoing chapters, how
the worms begin and continue to show signs of
maturity. ‘This last day they attain perfection,
which may be ascertained by the following in-
dications: They crawl on the leaves without
eating them, they rear their heads as if in search
of something to climb on; their rings draw in;
the skin of their necks becomes wrinkled, and
their bodies have more softness to the touch than
heretofore, and feel hike soft dough. Their
color also changes, and the whole body assumes
the transparency of a ripe yellow plum. When
_ these signs appear in any of the insects, every
thing should he prepared for their rising, that
those worms that are ready to rise may not lose
their strength and silk, in seeking for the sup-
port they require.

We have now brought the worms to that pe-
riod of their lives, at which your labor of feed-
ing them ends, for, from the time they are quite
ready to spin, they take no more food of any kind,
though their lives in different forms last near a
month longer, and in cold climates a good deal

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 105 —

more. Yet, though you will be eased of the
trouble of feeding those which are come to their
spinning time, you must, for a few days, till
they are all settled in their work, give them a
diligent attention.

To avoid the loss that aout accrue from de-
lay, there should be bunches ready made of
small twigs, or common broom, or of clean
bean stalks, or, in short, of any bush, or brush
wood, free from leaves, dirt, moisture, mouldi-
ness, or offensive smell. With these twigs you
are to form several long arbours, arched at top,
quite across each shelf; the distance between
the sides of these arbours, should leave the arch
open quite through, so that there may be room
to put in your arm, and feed those worms
which are not yet quite ready to spin.

You should form these arbours so as to have
a sort of bushy appearance without being too
thick or too thin. But if the making of them
be thought too troublesome, it may sufficiently
answer the same purpose to place between the
shelves branches of broom a little aslant, so that
the worms that climb up may run no chance of
dropping off, taking care to spread out the
branches like fans, that the air may penetrate
through all parts, and the worms may work
with ease, When the worms are too near each

406. SILK’ CULTURIST’S MANUAL. |

other they do not work so well, and form dou-.
ble cocoons, whose silk is of an inferior quality.

It would be endless to give all the methods:
which might be contrived for this purpose, but
whatever mode may be adopted, it is always
_ desirable that the bushes should be well plac-
ed, well arched, clean and light, and not too
thick; that as we have already said, the air
may circulate freely, and that the worms may
work with ease. ;

While the silk worms are seeking places
to spin their cocoons in, some of them will
often wander about the middle of the hurdles,
wasting their silk in useless floss. Indeed, if
the hurdles are furnished with arched arbours,
as recommended, the silk worms will scarcely
miss a place where they may readily spin their
cocoons; but in large hurdles, that have the
twigs only placed round them, you must often
look, and whatever worms you find wandering un-
der the hurdles, or far from the arched arbours,
you must take and place them near the twigs,
provided they are ready to spin, and their wan-
dering from their food is a sign that they are
so; you need not fear hurting them by taking
them in your hands; but observe to take them
up with whatever sticks to their claws, without
tearing it away, for fear of blunting the claws
by which they are now to climb.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 107

As many of the worms will continue to eat
for some time after others have begun to spin,
you must constantly supply them with the
best kind of leaves, sprinkling them very thinly
over them, and feeding them often, and this
even at night just before you go to bed, and.as
early as you can in the morning; for fice quan-
tity of silk, and their strength and activity in
spinning it, depends now upon their being pro-
perly and fully supplied as long as they conti-
nue to eat; for which reason, you must give
them leaves often, but few at a time, because if
they lie under the arbours it is not easy to clear
away their litter, which, however, must be
done.

This operation, although tedious, is easy
enough, with the aid of the portable trays; and
by carefully putting the silk worms upon them.
This done, the litter should be cleansed and the
worm gently slided down upon it by slanting
the tray. They should, strictly, only be given
the quantity of food a may want, and that
very sparingly.

In sliding the silk worms upon hurdles, they
should be placed in squares of about two feet,
beginning on the side upon which the arched
arbours are already placed, and forming the
‘squares close to them, so that the silk worms

108 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

may find no difficulty in rising upon the bushes ;
a distance of eight or ten inches must be left
between the squares. In the centre of these
squares should be fixed bushes of broom, or
small dry boughs, to afford the worms room to
spin, and not leave the vacuities amongst the
branches too large, because they would waste
a great deal of their silk, before they can fix on
a proper place ; the size of their cocoons, which
is that of pigeons’ eggs, will direct you in this
matter.

If you find that as many worms have got
amongst the branches as can conveniently spin
there, then take away those which have not yet
mounted, and place them upon another hurdle,
with worms which will spin nearly at the same
time; for if the worms are too much crowded
in the arbours, they will be more apt to spin
double cocoons, which having two worms in one,
cannot be easily reeled off: therefore, as you
look over the arbours, wherever you see two
worms begin one common cocoon, take one of
them away, and place it in some other part of
the twigs.

A little before the worms on any stand are
ready to spin, you must clean away their litter
from all the hurdles, that the stands may be
sweet and airy at the time of spinning, and that

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 109

you may not at that time disturb or shake the
arbours where they are spinning ; for this would
stop and interrupt their work, so that some
would desist from making any more silk and the
cocoons of others would be ill-formed, and dif-
ficult to reel off; therefore you must take care
to shake or sin them as little as you can.

As you were directed, in feeding the worms,
to keep those of the same age on the same hur-
dle, so you should also in distributing them as
they grow large, always keep them on the same
stands, that they may spin at the same time.
It is supposed that you have many stands of
hurdles.

When most of the worms on any hurdles have
climbed the branches in order to spin their co-
coons, you will generally find some on each
hurdle, which are weak and lazy, which do not
eat, and do not seem of the disposition of those
that have risen, but remain motionless on the
leaves, without giving any sign of rising ; these
should be collected from all the several hurdles
where they lie, and should be put in a dry
clean room of at least 73° of heat, where there
are twigs or branches prepared for them.

As soon as they are thus placed, some will
- rise directly, others will eat, and then rise, and
so on until all shall have risen. ‘These worms

11

110 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

will soon acquire the vigour and stimulus they
want, by being put in a warmer and much
drier apartment.

Cold and damp weather david the time of
their spinning is extremely hurtful; in very cold
weather the worms desist from their work; you
may see them, while their cocoonsare yet thin,
either moving very slowly, or quite inactive ;
if you remove one of the cocoons to a warm
place, the worm immediately begins to work
with activity, and desists again when put in the
cold, where, if it continues, the worm at length
totally leaves off its spinning, and is changed
into a beetle or chrysalis, which is its state in
the cocoon before it becomes a butterfly. This
interruption, though the worm should resume
its spinning, makes the cocoon diflicult to wind
off, the thread often breaking; therefore, if
this kind of weather should happen, you must
‘make fire in the room, and if the temperature
becomes too high, admit fresh air for a little
whiie.

‘This inconvenience of cold and moisture will
happen chiefly in cold and changeable climates ;
but in hot climates you will oftener have occa-
sion to guard against sultry and suffocating
heat, which can easily be done by leaving the.
current of air free on the side where it blows
coolest.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 1ll

In large laboratories the great mass of silk
worms in evacuating themselves, often soil one
another with excremental matter. ‘Moisture,
as we have frequently observed, is very perni-
cious to these insects, and, if once wet, it checks
their transpiration: that alone will destroy their
vigour, and indispose them to rise. As fast as
the hedges and clumps are formed, the worms
that rise on them shed a liquid matter upon the
litter and paper, where lie the later silk worms,
which increases their languor and listlessness,
even supposing the air to be pure; if it were
damp, they would be slower and lazier still, so
the best is to remove them at once ta a tole-
rably warm spot, provided with branches and
a few fresh leaves.

With this assistance, the lazy worms will dis-
tribute themselves in the branches, na:
and begin to spin their cocoons.

As soon as all the worms are off the hurdles,
or have either risen, or been carried away, no
time should be lost in cleaning the hurdles,
which will be the last time of performing this
operation. It is beneficial to carry off, as quick-
ly as possible, every thing that tends to corrupt
the air, or make it damp.

The fifth age is accomplished when the silk
worm pours out its silk, and forms the cocoon.

112 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

The cocoon is perfected when it has attained
a firm consistence, which is known by pressing
it gently with the fingers, the silk worm then
casts its envelope and has become a chrysalis ;
here ends its fifth and last age. The foreign
writers reckon as many as seven ages ending
with the dropping of the eggs by the butterfly ;
as naturalists, they may be right; as agricultu-
rists we think this division unnecessary, and
reckon only the ages of the worm while it con-
tinues such.

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE GATHERING OF THE COCOONS,
AND THEIR MANAGEMENT FOR SALE
OR REPRODUCTION

THERE is scarcely any thing, amongst the va-
rious wonders which the animal creation affords,
more admirable than the variety of changes
which the silk worm undergoes; but the curious
texture of that silken covering with which it sur-
rounds itself before it arrives at the perfection
of its animal life, vastly surpasses what is made
by other animals of thisclass. All the caterpil-
lar kind do indeed undergo changes like those of
the silk worm, and the beauty of many of them
in their butterfly state greatly exceeds theirs ;
_ but the covering which they put on, before this
change into a fly, is poor and mean, when com-
pared to that golden tissue in which the silk

worm wraps itself. They indeed come forth
in a variety of colours, their wings glittering
with scarlet and gold, yet they are but the
_ beings of a summer’s day, both their life and
_ beauty quickly vanish, and they leave no re-
membrance after them; but the silk worm
leaves behind it such beautiful, such beneficial
11%

114 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

monuments, as at once record both the wisdom
of the Creator, and his bounty to man.

The matter out of which the silk is formed
is, while in the silk worm, only a fine yellow
transparent gum, contained in two vessels as
-thick asa large knitting needle; these vessels
Jie close to one another, and communicate with
‘two small orifices below its mouth; on which
account it is, that though the silk thread as it
is, spun seems only single, yet it is in reality
two threads sticking slightly together by their
sides from beginning to end, and they may be
easily seen and drawn asunder by the help of
a microscope, or even Without one. This gum
is of a particular species, neither dissolvable
in water nor spirit of wine, though they will
a little soften it, and it receives its firmness
and tenacity immediately upon the silk worm’s
drawing it out ina thread, from the air which
dries its moisture. ,

We take this gum to be of the nature of horn
melted into the state of a jelly; for the silk
vessel, being taken out of the worm and hung up,
will, in one day, become quite dry and hard,
not differing in appearance from a piece of tough
yellow horn, and having the same smell when
burned: thus silk is only an excessively fine
hair, with some small portion of gum on its
surface, such as water can dissolve, and which

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 115

causes several of these hairs to adhere together
when reeled out of warm water, and it is this
part of the gum which, by its dissolution, oc-
casions the waste suffered by the silk in boil-
ing; but there is much greater waste than
this would occasion when the silk is artificially
gummed, as 1s sometimes fraudulently done, to
increase its weight, or to make it lie smooth, in
order to conceal what has been ill reeled.

The silk worm can fix and form its cocoon in
any angle, or hollow place that is nearly of the
‘same size with the cocoon; it generally roams
about for some time amongst the branches, till,
having got a fit place, it begins to work by first
spinning thin and irregular threads which are
to support its future structure; upon these he
forms on the first day, a sort of oval of a loose
texture, which is called the floss or tow silk;
within this, on the subsequent three days, it
will complete the cocoon, remaining always on
the inside of the sphere which it is forming;
‘during its work it rests on its hind part, and
with its mouth and fore legs fastens and directs
the thread. This thread is not directed in con-
tinued rounds on the inside of the ball, but is
spun in spots forward and backward, in a sort
of wavy figure ; and this is the cause why a co-
coon, in winding off its silk, will perhaps not
turn once round while ten or twelve yards of

116 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

silk are drawn out. This movement has been
admirably imitated in the Piedmont reel, as we
shall show in its place.

At the end of four days at farthest, reckon-
ing from the moment when they first begin
casting the floss, the worms have finished their
cocoons, whose inside is generally besmeared
with a sort of gum, of the same nature with
that out of which the silk is formed, and
which seems designed, where they work in
Open air, to protect them from the rain, for
the coccon resists the wet so well, assisted by
the silk which is around it, that those balls,
when first put into hot water to be reeled off,
swim on the top like small bladders, not admit-
ting the water inside unless they are imperfect-
ly formed, or the silk almost.reeled off. When
the cocoon is finished, the silk worm being now
much shortened and wrinkled, so that the rings
of its body appear very deep, it rests a while, and
then throws off its skins this may be called the
fifth moulting, though not mentioned amongst
its others, because it does not interfere with
your management: and now, upon Opening a
cocoon, you would see the worm in the form of
a beetle or chrysalis, in shape somewhat like a
kidney bean, but pointed at one end, having a
brown smooth skin, with rings, and its skin
which it throws off lies in the cocoon with it.

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SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 117

In this form it continues according to the dif-
ferent heat of the climate. It then throws off
the chrysalis skin, which may be called the sixth
moulting, and has now the complete form of a
white butterfly, with four wings, two black
eyes, and two horns or antlers branching side-
ways, like two very small black feathers. It
then pours from its mouth a tasteless liquid,
nearly like that which moistens and softens the
envelope which wraps it, and also the strong
web of the cocoon in which it is enclosed. You
will know the formation of the moth, and its
disposition to come out, by seeing one of the ex-
tremities of the cocoon being wet; some hours
after these signs have appeared, and some-
times even in one hour after, the moth will pierce
through the cocoon, and come out; therefore,
lest you should lose your cocoons in this way,
it is necessary that you gather them and that
the chrysalis should be killed in those which
you have not leisure to reel off before the
time of the moth’s piercing them, after hav-
ing first made choice of a sufficient number to
breed from.

The time in which the silk worms finish their
cocoons varies according to the weather; ex-
perience teaches that strong, healthy and well
managed silk worms, will complete their work
in three and a half or four days at farthest,

118 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

reckoning from the moment when they first, be-
gin casting floss, as we have already said.
You may know whether they have finished by
shaking gently the cocoons in your hands, for if
the chrysalis is loose and rattles in it, it is a sign
that they have done spinning, that is to say, all
that began to spin at or near the same time with
the one on which you make the trial; but in
order to be perfectly sure, you may not gather
them until the seventh or eighth days are elaps-
ed; then begin with those shelves where they
spun first, taking the branches and twigs down
regularly, and pulling the cocoons from amongst
them successively.
_ In gathering the cocoons, you should make
four different assortments of them, for which
purpose you must have four baskets: in one of
these, place gently those which are designed for
breed; in another put all those that are double, |
having two worms in them; in the third put
the firmest and hardest of those which are to
be reeled; and in the fourth those which are of ©
a looser texture. Those which are very thin,
unfinished, or spotted, may make a fifth sort.
Let your choice of those which are for breed,
be always from those shelves or arbours where
they begin to spin earliest. Choose from these
the hardest, particularly when the two extremi-
ties are hard, and the web fine; those that are

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“SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 119

a ‘little depressed in the middle, as if tightened
by a ring or circle, and not the largest, that

vour breed may be strong and healthy. For if

you make use of soft and imperfect cocoons,
which are the produce, generally, of weak
worms, your future broods will degenerate, ‘both
in size and vigor, and give you vastly more
trouble, and less profit than strong and healthy
ones. :

In order that the farmer may judge of the
quantity of cocoons that it will be proper or ad-
visable for him to put aside and preserve for
eggs, it is right that he should be told that six-
teen ounces of cocoons will produce about one
ounce of eggs, and one ounce of eggs, well
managed, will produce from 112 to 127 pounds
of cocoons of the very best quality—Dandolo.

Whether the laboratory be large or small,
the produce will always be exactly in the above
proportion, and will not diminish, let the season
be ever so unfavorable, if the rules we have pre-
scribed, are strictly adhered to.

To return to the cocoons destined for breed, it
may be said with full confidence, that if they are
taken from a well managed laboratory, it is need-
less to give one’s self much trouble in choosing
and sorting them. Several experiments have
proved the above fact.

If this choice is to be made, it is recommend-.

120 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

ed to select the white ones in preference, and
keep the colored ones either for sale or to reel,
because the white silk commands always a
higher price than the yellow; if you have no
white cocoons, then choose the straw-colored
ones. Attention should be paid to having an
equal uumber of males and females, though
there are no certain signs to distinguish the
cocoons which are to produce the male moth
from those that contain the female; the follow-
ing are the least erroneous and best known.

The male cocoons, that is to say those which
generally contain the male insects, are smaller,
sharper at one or both ends, and depressed in
the middle, as it were with a rings; the round
full cocoons, without ring or depression in the
middle, usually contain the female.

After the cocoons have been taken down from
the bush, those which are intended for eggs
should be stripped of any down or floss that
may still hang about them, so that the moth may
find no difficulty in coming out. Then, as far
as you can distinguish them, put the males on
one table, and the females on another, that
they may not copulate too soon, and before they
have discharged a viscid humor of a yellow red-
dish color, which prevents their fecundity;
they generally discharge this humor in one hour
after coming out of the cocoon. Of this opera-

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SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 121

tion, we will speak more at length in the direc-
tions about breeding, which will form the sub-
ject of the next chapter.

The rest of your: cocoons which are to be
reeled, must either be reeled off directly, or,
must be proceeded with so as to prevent the
moth’s piercing them, as you will see present-
ly ; for though the silk of those cocoons which
are reeled off immediately is said to appear
somewhat more bright and glossy, yet there
will be no difference in the goodness of their
silk from those in which the chrysalis is killed
in order to preserve them, provided you kill
them in a proper manner; besides, where you
have a great quantity of cocoons, it cannot be
expected that you should be able to reel off
many before the time of the moth’s piercing ;
therefore you must be careful in preventing
this, which, if it should happen, would be an
irreparable loss; and thus, by having all the
cocoons in a condition to wind them off at your
leisure, you will be able to go the more regu-
larly about it, and to reel off their silk to great-
er advantage and perfection.

Most persons in Europe, where silk worms
are bred, do not reel off their cocoons, but sell
them to those who make this their business ;
and there is no doubt but that all manufactures
are the more expeditiously carried on, the more

12

122 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

branches they are divided into; yet where
persons who raise silk worms have leisure and
conveniency, they will considerably increase
the profit if they know how to reel their silk
themselves.

The sorting and separating of the strong,
hard, and thick cocoons, from the thin and soft
ones, as above directed, will be of some service
when you intend to kill the chrysalis within
them, in order to prevent their piercing, for
as this is done by the means of heat, the thick
and hard cocoons will require to be placed
where the degree of heat is greatest, that it
may penetrate more effectually through their
thick and hard substance. There are three
methods of suffocating the chrysalis in the co-
coon : first, by the ardent heat of the mid-day
sun; second, by the heat of ovens, such as they
have after the bread has been drawn; and last-
ly, by the steam proceeding from boiling water ;
in the first and third of these methods, there is
no danger of the heat injuring the silk, fand
therefore they are to be preferred when con-
venience permits.

In order to kill the chrysalis by the heat of
the sun, lay the cocoons on a linen or cotton
sheet, but not too close, or one upon another,
and expose them thus to the heat of the sun in
open air, when it is perfectly dry, from 11, A.

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SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 123

M. to 4, P. M., wrap them up carefully in the
linen in order that the heat may the better pro-
duce the intended effect, and put them for the
night in a very warm place; renew the same
operation during four days, in that time there
is no doubt that the moths will ne killed, par-
ticularly in warm climates.

The heat of an oven, such as it is after the
bread has been drawn, will generally kill them ;
but this requires nicety and attendance, for if
it is too hot, or if they remain there too long,
it will scorch and injure the silk, and if too
cool the chrysalis will recover; the cocoons
should be put in long flat baskets, lined with
coarse paper, in order that they may not be
burned by touching the sides of the oven; the
oven’s mouth should be well stopped, and in
about an hour after they have been there, it
will be time to take them out, and sooner, if
upon listening you hear a small crackling noise
come from them; after taking them out cover
them up in blankets made hot, and when they
are entirely cooled, expose them to the air or
to the sun, because the heat of the oven will
make some moisture ooze out of the chrysalides
which are killed, which should thus be dried
up, lest it rot or injure the silk; it is neces-
sary to pick out the cocoons spotted by the burst-
ing of the chrysalis, which would communicate

124 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

their infection to all those that may be near
them. |

The third method of killing the chrysalis,
which is by the steam of boiling water, is pre-
ferable to either of the others, as 1t performs |
the work without any injury to the silk, and
also with certainty and expedition; it may be
done in the following manner.

Have a broad but shallow wicker basket
not made too tight, and of such a size as will
fit and go into a kettle or boiler; it should be
of such a depth as you find by experience that
the steam can penetrate through the heap of
cocoons; it should also have a wicker cover,
to shut over the cocoons which are put into it.
Having filled it with cocoons, shut the cover
and let it down to within an inch of the hot
water, then cover it with a blanket in order to
concentrate more of the vapour, and by thus
increasing the heat bring the operation sooner
and more effectually to a close. After it has
remained in this situation five or six minutes,
which is sufficient to kill the chrysalides at the
bottom of the basket, take it out, and turning it
upside down, fix it in the same manner as be-
fore, over the steam; five or six minutes more
will be sufficient to kill the chrysalides of those
cocoons which were before uppermost, but now
next to the water. Thus, when they are sufli-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 125

ciently steamed, pour them out in a heap on a
blanket, made very hot, and wrap them up close-
ly (but not so as to crush or flatten them, which
is of the greatest importance,) that by this con-
tinued heat you may be more certain of having
killed the chrysalides; then fill the basket again
and proceed in the same manner until all your -
cocoons are steamed.

When the cocoons are cold in the blankets
in which they are wrapped, they should be
spread in the sun, or in an airy place to dry
any moisture which they may have gotten from
the steam of the boiling water. Ifthe weather
is not favourable for drying them out of doors,
you may do it by spreading them on the wicker
hurdles, where the worms were fed, at the
same time opening the windows, that the air
may have a free passage; when thoroughly
dried, they may be conveyed in baskets to send
them to market, or deposited in a place protect-
ed from dust, and filth of flies, or rats and mice, .
which will gnaw and destroy a great many for
the sake of the chrysalis.

Having thus brought your cocoons into such
a state that you need not be anxious about any
mischief happening to them, it is time to give
some attention to those which were separated
for breed, the method of managing which we
shall now proceed to explain.

12*

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE CHANGES OF THE SILK WORM, THE
COUPLING OF THE MOTH AND THE GATH-
ERING AND PRESERVATION OF THE EGGS.
Enclosed in the new habitation which nature

has taught him to provide for himself, the silk

worm undergoes various changes. His first
metamorphosis is into a chafer or beetle, a kind
of scarabeus, to which naturalists have given
the Greek name of chrysais, and in the plural
number chrysalides. His next change is into

a little white butterfly which we call the moth,

and is sometimes called by silk culturists the

muller, from its color. In this last shape, after

a longer or a shorter time, he breaks through

his silken prison, again breathes the external air,

couples with his female and dies; the female
also dies soon after laying her eggs, which may
be preserved for a long time without perishing,
and at last being hatched by natural or artificial
heat, the little animal comes out, not in the bril-
liant form of its parents, but in their original
shape of a silk worm, destined to go through the
same labor and the same changes. ‘This is one of
the most wonderful works of the Almighty; the

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 127

same creature is successively a worm, a beetle,
and a butterfly, in appearance different species
and yet the same animated being. We shall
- not follow here the learned: philosophers, who
have attempted to explain these operations of
the divine will, by chemical affinities and other
scientific notions. ‘This work is merely prac-
tical, and we leave it to others to penetrate in-
to secrets which we believe inaccessible to the
limited powers of the human mind.

Having thus briefly noticed the various chan-
ges of the silk worm, we shall now follow the
dear little butterflies through the short period
of their lives, and show the manner in which
they ought to be managed, and their valuable
eggs gathered and preserved for reproduc-
tion.

There is nothing of greater importance in
the management of silk worms than that of ob-
taining a strong healthy breed, whether you re-
gard the trouble which it will save you in feed-
ing, or the advantage of their silk. Every
method therefore, which improves the breed is
carefully to be attended to; for when you have
once got a good kind, you may easily keep it
such, but if you let your worms degenerate and
breed promiscuously, the weak with the strong,
in a short time you will have-none fit to raise
a good breed from.

128 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

We have already given directions how to
make choice of such cocoons as are proper to
breed from, the next thing you must expect to
see is the coming forth of the moth. The time
of its coming out is various, according to the
warmth of the season and climate. If the co-
coons selected to produce eggs are kept in a
temperature of 66°, the moths begin to be
hatched after fifteen days; if they are kept in
a heat between 71 and 73° degrees they begin
to come forth after eleven or twelve days.

This law is for the most part general, though
there are some exceptions 5 it is however a sign
that the moths are about to come forth when the
cocoons are humid or wet at one end, which is
that where the head of the moth is situated.

The room in which the moths are produced
should be dark, or at least there ought to be
only sufficient light to enable one to distinguish
objects. ‘This is an important rule, and must
be carefully attended to.

The moths do not come forth in a great num-
ber the Ist nor the 2d day; they are hatched
chiefly on the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th days,
according to the degree of heat of the place in
which the cocoons are kept.

The moths generally come out in the morn-
ing, and cling with their feet to the outside
of the cocoons.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 129

When you choose the cocoons for breed,
we advise putting the males and females on
separate tables, because if they were on the
same, they would begin to flutter about and
couple as soon as they came out, and would
hinder that regularity which you should observe
in putting them together. You may chance
indeed to mistake some males for females, and
the contrary, while they are in the cocoons;
but this is of no consequence, for when the
moths come out they are easily distinguished,
the female having its body nearly double the
size of that of the male, its color somewhat
whiter, and horns not so black, nor so large
as those of the male; besides the difference of
shape, which in the body of the male is more
slender and sharp at the end, you will observe
him fluttering his wings with great quickness,
and moving about with activity ; whereas the
female remains very quiet, and moves her wings
very little.

When the moths have had leisure to get rid
of the humid and earthy matters that load
them, take them gently from off the cocoons
and place them by pairs, a male and female
together, on a piece of smooth woollen stuff,
no matter how old or ordinary, about a couple
of yards broad every way, or in proportion
to your number of moths, and take care to
darken the room.

130 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

You may, in thus pairing them, put the strong-
est together, and you may quite reject those
that are weak, or some way injured, by which
means you will further meliorate the breed.

Separation of the moths, and laying of the Eggs.

In what we have said above, we have sup-
posed, when speaking of the coupling of the
moths, that the number of males was equal to
that of the females; if that were the case, it
would only be necessary at the time of their
separation, to keep the females, and throw away
the males; that, however, is never the case, as
there is alwaysan excess either of males or fe-
males; in the first instance, you must preserve
the females in a spare box kept in darkness,
and males which you have separated from their
females, must be put to them; in the second in-
stance, if there are more males than females, the
surplus must be thrown away.

When the moths have remained thus coupled
about six hours at most, you take them by
the wings and the body, and separate them
gently, which is easily done; the males may
be thrown away as of no further use, unless
you happen to have a superfluity of females, in
which case you may keep a few of the males,
which remain most vigorous to pair with them,
having had the precaution to have allowed

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SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 131

them to remain with the females, the first time,
five hours only instead of six.

To preserve the males ina state of vigour
till the moment of coupling comes, they must
not be allowed to flutter with their wings,
but be put in a small box. Before separat-
ing the two sexes you must prepare, in a cool,
dry, and airy chamber, the cloth on which the
female is to deposit her eggs. “Twenty-two
square inches of cloth are sufficient to contain
on its surface six or seven ounces of eggs.

The reason for separating the males and fe-
males, and not waiting till they uncouple of
themselves, is because the vigor and the life of
the females being now of short duration, they
should have time to lay their eggs while they re-
mainin strength, whereas, if you have left them
to uncouple of themselves, they would freqnently
not do it in less than two days, especially in the

more temperate climates,

You should visit the moths at times, while
| they are paired, and should bring together those
_ that wander out of the way, and those which
| uncouple too soon, that is to say, in an hour or
| two, that they may pair a second time.

]

_ Before the moths are unpaired, whether they
| do it of themselves, or by your means, you
: should have in readiness proper materials for
, the females to lay their eggs on. The fittest
|

\
1
i
i

132 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

things for this purpose as has been said before,
are pieces of the smoothest sort of woollen stuff,
this is better than paper or linen; for to these
the eggs will stick so fast, that it will give you
vast trouble to get them off, which cannot be
done without bruising many of them.

When every thing has been thus arranged,
recollecting that the room should be dry, and
all light excluded from it, except what 1s
necessary to see what you are about; the
moths that have been paired six hours are to
be gently separated, the females to be placed
on the pieces of the described stuff, one after
the other, beginning at the top, and going
downwards. This operation must be continued
without intermission, as long as you find females
that have been paired during the necessary
time. . The time must be noted at which the
moths are placed on the cloth to couple, taking
care to keep those which are placed afterwards
separate, to avoid confusion.

As we have already said, the time when the
greatest number of moths comes out, begins
about six or seven o’clock in the morning.
Consequently the coupling takes place about
nine o’clock, and at three in the afternoon the
males ought to be detached, and the females de-
posited in the place above described, and left
on the pieces of cloth thirty-six or forty hours,
without being touched.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 133

By attending to the above directions, the
three following qualities of eggs may be obtain-
ed on separate pieces of cloth.

Ist. The eggs of the females that have
coupled with virgin males.

2d. The eggs of females that have coupled
with males who had already coupled with other
females.

3d. Those of females, which after thirty-six
or forty hours, continue to drop their eggs.

On these smoothest pieces of woollen cloth,
the moths will lay their eggs, but there is a

great difference in the time employed in so
doing; and according to their strength and
fecundity, the number of eggs is more or
less. The eggs stick, to whatever the moth
lays them on, by a natural gum with which they
are smeared; they are first of a pale yellow
color, then greenish, afterwards they grow
somewhat red, and in about twelve or fifteen
days after being laid, they attain a blueish-
grey color sooner or later, as the weather is
favourable; and of this color they always re-
| main, unless they afterwards happen to be da-
maged by too much cold, heat, or moisture in
keeping them. Those which do not get this
_blueish-grey color, but remain reddish or yel-
| low are either unimpregnated or imperfectly
, 13

134 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAI..

so, therefore are good for nothing, as general-
ly they do not produce worms.

When the season, or the temperature of the
room is too hot, that is to say, when it rises
to 78° or 80°, or when it is too cold, as for in-
stance, 64° or 66°, you will find more or less of
yellow unimpregnated eggs, or of a reddish
color imperfectly impregnated, the tempera-
ture of the room must therefore be kept be-
tween these extremes.

Whether the eggs be or be not impregnated,
or only imperfectly so, they are always of a
lenticular form. A little time after their pro-
duction, there takes place, in the centre of both
surfaces, a depression, which proves thata por-
tion of the aqueous part of the egg has been dis-
engaged, and that a kind of drying process has
been effected.

In twelve or fifteen days, according to the
different degrees of temperature of the rooms,
the eggs undergo almost all the gradations of
color mentioned above, and then possess the
character of impregnated eggs. All these
changes of color come from the fluid of the
eggs, and not from the shell, which is almost
transparent.—(Dandolo, chap. v.)

When all these operations are finished, there
is nothing else to attend to, except the pre-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL 135

servation of the eggs. We conclude this sub-
ject. by observing that at this time, the im-
pregnated female, which weighed about thirty
grains, in three or four days after having de-
posited its eggs, weighs only about twelve
grains. When dead and dried up, its weight
is only three grains and a half.

Preservation of the Eggs.

When the eggs have acquired the color pro-
per to them in the perfect state, and the
cloths are quite dry, it is time to think of the
means of preserving them. From the pieces
of cloth you can with great ease separate the
eggs, in order to preserve them until they are
to be hatched in the ensuing spring, or. the
cloths may be folded and placed on a net work
and attached to the vault or ceiling of a cool
and dry place. In this manner the cloths have
air on all sides, the mice cannot get at the eggs, ©
and they are well preserved. ‘They must be
inspected nearly every month in the winter,
and every ten or fifteen days in warm weather.

In all cases the eggs are to be placed in cool,
and perfectly dry places, the temperature of
which, should not much exceed 65°, nor de-
scend below 32°; for moisture rots many of
the eggs, and sometimes destroys entire broods;
on this account, therefore, those who let them

136 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

be laid on paper or linen, and keep them so
all the winter, will have many decayed ones,
for paper and linen are both apt to attract
moisture. Heat is to be avoided, because it
might bring the eggs to hatch before their
time; and great cold would be as hurtful to
them as moisture. A bedchamber therefore,
is a proper place to keep them in, but not near
the fire; and if the weather grows warm before
the mulberry leaves open in the spring, they
should be removed into a cooler place, to re-
tard them until there is food for the worms.
Observe also, that if the weather is cold or
moist when the moths are put to couple or to
lay their eggs, it should be done in a place with
a fire in it, otherwise a will not lay so
many nor so good.

If you are afraid that it should freeze
where the eggs are stored, a thermometer must
be put there, or a little water in a bowl. If
the water does not freeze, the cloths may be
safely left there. If it is feared that the
place is not dry, it may be ascertained by using
a barometer, or by putting common salt in a
dish.

CHAPTER IX.

REMARKS ON DIFFERENT VARIETIES OF
SILK WORMS.

As there exist several varieties of silk worms,
and as the term of life of these various species is
not the same, and their silk is of different value,
it isnecessary to explain those differences, and to
examine the advantage or perhans the loss that
might arise from rearing any particular sort of
silk worms, the result of which may be of some
importance.

To state this clearly, we shall speak,

1st, Of the small silk worm of three casts, or
moultings.

2d, Of the large silk worm of four casts.

3d, Of the common white silk worm of four
casts.

4th, Of the common yellowish silk worm of
_ four casts.

1st, Of the small silk worm of three casts.

The eggs of this species weigh one-cleventh
| less than those of the common silk worm, for
_ 39,168 of the latter make an ounce, while 42,620
_ of the former are required to make that weight 5
1 | 13* |

138 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

the silk worms and cocoons of this cast are two-
fifths smaller than those of the common sort.
Experience has shown that these worms con-
sume, for each pound of cocoons, nearly as great
a quantity of leaves as that eaten by the com-
mon sort, and, although smaller when they have
reached their highest growth, they devour
more fragments of leaves, than the latter, so
that in cultivating the common sort, we lose
fewer leaves.

The cocoons of the small silk worm furnish

finer and more beautiful silk than the common °

cocoon, as 506 feet of the single thread or fibre
of silk from worms of this species, weigh one
grain, while 458 feet only of silk from a cocoon
of a worm of four casts, make the same weight.
It would appear, therefore, that in these silk
worms the silk-drawing tubes are finer. The
cocoons of this variety are better formed, and
to this is owing the greater quantity of silk
which, at equal weight, is drawn from these
cocoons, in proportion to that afforded by the
common cocoons. |

It is evident therefore, that what has been
said, tends to show that this variety of the silk
worm ought to be cultivated, because those who
buy silk, knowing its superior quality, will give
a higher price for it. Thus will trade be
benefited, and the industry of the cultivator

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 139

encouraged. Besides these advantages there
are some others equally important.

Ist. These silk worms require four days less
of care than the common silk worm.

2d. Therefore, the mulberry trees may be
stripped sooner; they shoot faster and resist
the cold weather hetter.

3d. They afford a saving in time, labor and
money.

4th. They are not so long exposed to acci-
dents or contingencies, their life being shorter.

Some imagine that as 600 cocoons of this
species weigh a pound and a half, and 360 of
the common cocoons make the same weight,
they eat more than the latter, but experience
shows this to be erroneous.

The eggs of this species may be found in
several parts of France, particularly in the
south. -

2. Of the large silk worm of four casts.

I reared, says Dandolo, many of these silk
worms of a very large quality; these eggs pro-
duce larger worms and larger cocoons than the
common species; they are only one-fiftieth more
in weight ; 37,440 eggs weigh an ounce, whilst
39,168 eggs of the common sort make the same
| weight.

The worms proceeding from those eggs,

140 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

weigh, when they have attained their utmost
size, nearly twice and a half as much as the
common worm. ‘The cocoons are in the same
proportions 150 of the largest sort weigh a
pound and a half, while it requires 360 of the
common cocoon to weigh as much.

The only advantage they may offer, is that

183 lb. of leaves will produce 14 |b. of cocoons,
whilst 203 lb. of leaves are required, to produce
12 lb. of the common cocoon. But this advan-
tage is greatly diminished because:
1. The silk of these cocoons is coarser and
not so pure 5 this explains the reason why the
worms consume fewer leaves; 421 feet eight
inches of the silk from the great cocoon, of
large worms of four casts, weigh a grain, whilst
we have seen that 506 feet of silk from worms
of three casts weigh as much, and that it re-
quires 458 feet of silk from a common cocoon
of four casts, to give the same weight.

2. These worms are five or six days later,
in attaining their utmost growth, and in rising,
than the common silk worm.

3. Thecultivator runs the chance of stripping
the mulberry trees later, and injuring them.

4. The labourers must be kept on longer,
which incurs expense.

5. The insects are exposed to more danger
and risk, as their life is longer.

)
{

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 141

Consequently, this variety and species does
not suit climates and regions similar to those
of the Eastern States; but they may possibly
answer better in warmer States, and in different
circumstances.

3. oy. the common white Silk Worm of four

casts.

This species of silk worms may be reared
with advantages; they are in all respects equal
to the common silk worms of four casts, but
their silk is more valuable than the yellow silk.
The whitest cocoons should be carefully selected
for the production of eggs.

The silk worms that spin white silk deserve
the observation and attention of the cultivator.
We would particularly recommend to those
who rear silk worms for the purpose of reeling -
the silk themselves, to cultivate only the small
silk worms of three casts, and the silk worms
that spin white silk, as preferable to all others,
and consequently to choose every year the very
whitest and finest cocoons for eggs, to pre-
vent the d degeneration of the species.

Of the common yellonish Silk Worm of four
casts or moultings.

This species, though not the best, is the most
generally cultivated. Of this kind, however,

142 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

the best are those that form a pale straw-color-
ed cocoon, which is preferable to the deep
yellow. Although it requires 203 Ibs. of leaves
of the mulberry tree to obtain a pound and
a half of these cocoons, the cultivator prefers
them, for the convenience of always having his
own eggs, more from habit, than any thing
else.

|

|
|
|
!

|

Ht

)

CHAPTER X.

OF THE DISEASES OF SILK WORMS.

Without reckoning those accidents, already
mentioned, by which the eggs become decayed
before they are put to hatch, the silk worm
during the time of its formation in the egg, that
is, during the time of hatching, is subject to
accidents and mortality: these have been partly
guarded against in the directions given for
making the eggs hatch.

The silk worm being a robust animal by na-
ture, although its life lasts but a few days, it
would appear impossible that there should have
been written hundreds of works upon the sub-
ject of its diseases. If we would cxplain why
so much has been said upon this matter, we
should find strong evidence that it is because
the disorders have been looked upon as consti-
tutional, and that it has not been considered
that most of them arose from the ill management
in rearing they have undergone.

This, however, is the real case, want of at-
tention and sufficient care is the cause of most
of those diseases on which so much has been
said and written. If we only manage them

144 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

properly, and do not neglect them, we may be
almost certain of never seeing them attacked by
disease during the short time they require be-
fore they attain the period when they pour out
their silk. This precious produce, may be-
come one of the most abundant sources of
wealth to the United States.

The directions we have given in the prece-
ding pages should suflice tu preserve the in-
sects from almost all the disorders incident to
them. This chapter, is particularly devoted to
demonstrate the truth and usefulness of the
system we recommend. We must here repeat,
that whenever our rules are strictly observed,
‘the worms will hardly ever, we would almost
venture to say never, experience disease; and
thaton the contrary, whenever those are depart- |
ed from, they will be exposed to the attacks
of those disorders we are going to describe.

Too much precaution cannot be taken in or-
der to prevent the ill consequence which may
arise from an unskilful method of hatching eggs ;
for moisture may hurt them as much as an im-
proper degree of heat or cold.

Some few worms are liable also to die in
hatching by not readily getting out of the shell,
which, as it is not fixed to any thing, is apt
to be dragged after them in their efforts to get
out, till growing tired they are not able to ex-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 145

tricate themselves ; this however, happens to
but a few, and those, perhaps, weak worms.
But the method in which the eggs must be
hatched makes this unavoidable, neither is it of
great consequence.

It is likely that eggs often are hurt by not
being washed, for then many of them will re-
main smeared over with that moist substance
which the moths cast out a little before they
lay their eggs, and this would stop their pores
as has been said. It might be well to wash
them as soon as they have got their grey color, |
before they are laid up.

The diseases incident to silk worms after they
are hatched, proceed generally, either from
their food or the temperature of the air in
which they live. Anerror may be made either
in the quantity or the quality of their food.
We have formerly mentioned the manner of
regulating the quantity to be used; to avoid
giving them too much, it will be a good and.
sure rule if after they have eaten all their
leaves, they are left without any food for ten or
twenty minutes. But if by any accident they
have fasted too long, it is safest to give them
sparingly and often for sometime after, and then
ef the wholesomest and best leaves. And if
they are surfeited by over-eating, let them fast

7 14

146 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

a longer time, and afterwards feed them also
sparingly.

Silk worms are much more liable to suffer
from the bad quality of leaves, than the quantity.
The leaves of trees which grow in moist
grounds, or in places shaded from the sun, are
unwholesome; and those which grow on
suckers produced from the trunk, or root,
being full of sap and moisture, crude and imma-
ture, will produce a most dangerous and fatal
disease in silk worms: even by only giving
them one feeding, they grow immediately sur-
feited, and throw out of their mouths a green-
ish liquor, and a clear humour out of the pores
of their skin, particularly out of the little point
which grows near their tail. This viscous
moisture by their rubbing against one another
closes up the vents by which they breathe,
which are those black specks that appear down
each sides and they seldom recover from this
disorder, so as to make cocoons worth any thing.
It is therefore much better to avoid this dis-
ease than to attempt curing it ; however, as all
may not be alike infected, pick out those which
are in the worst conditions, and if you have a
mind to make experiments on them you may.
Then make the hurdles of those that remain,
clean and dry, and letting them fast two. or
three hours, give them afterwards some of the

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 147

best leaves you can select, but few at a time,
and gathered a good while before. The mois--
tened leaves, would also be hurtful.

Mulberry trees may also have peculiar dis-
eases in themselves, which may make their
leaves unwholesome for silk worms, but this
will be best discerned in the growth of the tree
and of its leaves, and the diseases incident to
the silk worms, more easily avoided by not using
them. Air isthe next thing to be considered,
and a number of cases have shown how air af-
fects animals, and how, by a variety of incom-
parable contrivances, it may best be turned
and tempered to the use of life.

Silk worms are more liable to be affected by
the air, which is perpetually necessary to
animals, than by any other circumstance of their
lives; sudden changes from heat to cold, and
from cold to heat, are very prejudicial to them,
and such climates as are much subject to such
variations, dangerous to them. These changes,
however, can be tempered by art and contri-
vances, because silk worms are kept within
doors; but putrified air occasioned by the
worms being either kept too close, or not having
their hurdles cleaned, is apt to destroy great
numbers; yet the cause of such distemper is |
easily seen; forthe abundance of their litter,
and the smell which it spreads over the room

148 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

are sufficient indications that the hurdles want
cleaning, and that the room wants a supply of
more wholesome air. Indeed, very little con-
trivance would keep the room constantly
supplied with fresh air, which being a thing of
the utmost importance, we shall here mention
an easy method of effecting it, founded upon
that remarkable property of the air, that when
purest, it is always most heavy; and when
mixed with vapour, either putrid, aromatic,
or watery, or indeed with almost any thing that
affects the sense of smelling, it is lighest.

Now, in any room where silk worms are fed,
if an aperture, about nine inches square, be
made in that angle of the ceiling which is far-
thest from the door, then will the putrid
vapours, occasioned by the litter and the mul-
titude of worms, constantly ascend through
this aperture, and the pure air will succeed by
the door in its place; or rather, if an aperture
is made towards the bottom of the door, of
the same size with that in the ceiling with a
small shutter to open and close as occasion may
require; then will the fresh air come into the
room with greater advantage, by raising up,
and carrying off the foul air above it. .

It would. be better if several of these aper-
tures were made in the opposite walls of a
room, near to the floor and in the ceiling open-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 149

ing into the external air, they would have this
convenience, that you can take the advantage
of opening the apertures, which are on the
windward side, when the room wants to be
suddenly and thoroughly cleared of the foul
air.

Thus, if the proper cleaning of the worms,
and the due admission of fresh air be practised,
the diseases arising from dirt and putrefaction
will be prevented, so far as they arise from the
manner in which people are obliged to keep
silk worms in houses; and, unless such cleanli-
ness and airing of the rooms be observed, there
will be always complaints, (as there are at pre-
sent, in the countries which breed silk worms,)
of an unaccountable mortality amongst the
worms of some persons, while those of others re-
main healthy. But the smell of the room will
give warning of the danger, and point out the
best cure, which is prevention.

It is true, indeed, that diseases of the same
kind may arise from some peculiar putrified
state, or malignancy in the atmosphere, as in hot
and moist summers, or in places abounding with
mineral exhalations. But then the disease will
appear more universal, and will more or less
affect all the silk worms in adjacent places; in
this case, often clearing the litter away will con-
tribute to preserve the worms, as also not keep-

14%

150 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

ing them too much thronged and crowded to-
gether. The malignancy of the air may be
purified in the following manner.

Of all the methods employed for purifying
the internal air of the room, and of neutralizing
and destroying, in some degree its deleterious
qualities, the following is the surest and the
cheapest. 7

Take six ounces of common salt, mix it well
with three ounces of powder of black oxide of
manganese ; put this mixture in a strong bottle,
with two ounces of water, cork it well with a
common cork. Keep this bottle in any part of
the room farthest from the stove or fire place.
In a vial, put a pound and a half of sulphuric
acid, (oil of vitriol) and keep this vial near
the other bottle, with a small cordial glass, and
an iron spoon; this is the manner of using it:
Put into the small liquor glass, two thirds of a
spoonful of oil of vitrol, pour it into the large
bottle, and there will issue a white vapour.
The bottle should be moved about through the ~
room, holding it high up, that the vapour may
be well spread in the air.

When the vapour ceases the bottle may be
corked, and replaced ; even should there be no
perceptible difference between the interior and
exterior air, during the fifth age of the worms
it is good to repeat this fumigation, three or.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 151

four times a day, in the manner just explained.
Whien repeating the fumigation, the quantity
of oil of vitriol poured into the large bottle
may be diminished. ‘The bottle may be left
open an hour or two in the last days of the fifth
age of the worms, and placed here and there

in the laboratory, and even on the corners of
the wicker hurdles, to diffuse the vapour tho-
roughly.

This easy method may be employed when-
ever on going into the laboratory the air appears
to have unpleasant effluvia, and there is any
closeness or difficulty of breathing; it is more
powerful than all the perfumes commonly used,
and produces five advantages in the laboratory.

‘Ist. The vapour, in spreading immediately,
destroys all unpleasant efiluvia.

2d. It diminishes the fermentation of the
litter, and driés it up.

3d. It neutralizes the effect of all the mias-
mata, and deleterious emanations that might af-
fect the health of the silk worms.

4th. It revives the silk worms, gently stimu-
lating them, because it is composed in a great
measure, of pure vital air.

5th. This vapour is not alone favourable to
the health of silk worms, but has some effect
on the goodness of the cocoon.

Care should be taken not to drop any of the

152 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

vitriol either on the skin or the clothes, as
it burns, and to hold the bottle above the height
of the eyes and nose, when it is open, because
the vapour is very searching, and would be
dangerous and unpleasant.—(Dandolo, chap. 7.)

If you cannot get manganese, nor procure it
well pounded, then put ten ounces of nitrate of
potash, (common nitre of the shops,) into a bot-
tle, instead of the common salt and manganese,
used in the former composition, and follow
up the other parts of the recipe. The nitre
should be quite damp, and a smaller quantity of
the vitriol than has been indicated may be pour-
ed into the bottle to make the fumigation.

The gas proceeding from this last composi-
tion, is very similar to the other; it is less
subtile, and not so dangerous. It is composed
of vital air and nitrous vapour; it quickly de-
stroys all animal exhalations which may exist in
the atmospheric air. |

When silk worms become sick and languish
by a continuance of moist weather, it is difficult
to relieve them, it being as yet a desideratum
amongst inventions, to supply quantities of dry
air from a moist atmosphere. Fires may indeed
warm the air, and so hinder the bad effect of
its dampness 5 but still the air which is constant-
ly drawn into a room where there is a fire must
be supplied by the atmosphere, and thus bring

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 153

its moisture along with it. Itis best in this
case to admit no more external air than is ne-
cessary to keep that within fresh. It may also.
be of use before you feed the worms, to scatter
over them some very dry straw or hay, so thin
that they can pass through it, and upon this to
strew their leaves, this may imbibe part of the
moisture which is in their litter, or on the sur-
face of their bodies, and at least it will keep
them from lying upon their litter when there
is a good deal on the hurdles, and you have not
leisure to cleanse them immediately.

Silk worms sometimes die during their spin-
ning, or after they have finished their cocoons,
before they change into chrysalides. The pro-
per regulation of heat, cold and fresh air in this
case, is all that is in your power by way of pre-
vention, and this has been mentioned in its pro-
per place. When the worm dies before it has
finished its cocoon, it never rattles in it, upon
shaking the coccon; therefore such cocoons
must never be chosen for breed.

Such diseases of the moths as are within
your reach, are only janguor in coupling, or
in laying their eggs, occasioned by the coldness
or moisture of the weather, which indicate
warmth and a dry place as the proper cure.

Thus a great number of diseases will never

appear,

154 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

Ist. If the silk worms are kept thinly spread
on the wickers, that they may breathe and per-
spire freely.

2d. If the interior air of the room is constant-
ly and evenly maintained at the temperature we
have recommended.

3d. When the air isnever allowed to stagnate
in the room, and it is kept in a gentle, slow
motion.

4th. By constantly burning blazes when the
exterior air is damp and stagnant, and the inte-
rior evaporation superabundant.

5th. When the room is kept light; light
being the most powerful excitement to living
nature.

6th. By never having the litter liable to fer-
mentation longer on the wickers than has been
prescribed.

7th. By being careful never to distribute
leaves that have not been thoroughly dried.

8th. By using the fumigating bottle when
needful, the vapor of which destroys the most
noxious animal emanations.

These things will be sufficient to prevent the
occurrence of any of those diseases.

CHAPTER XI.

OF COCOONERIES.

_ As it may happen that some persons will be -
disposed to pursue the silk culture upon a large
scale, we will give, hereafter, the description
of a building on the model of Count Dandolo,
But, as we have already said, we mean princi-
pally, to speak of the popular pursuit of it, as
the incidental occupation of females of all ages,
of children, and of old and poor people; and
which, nevertheless, produces great results, as
well in regard to the number of worms in-
tended to be reared, as to the raw silk to be
produced.

This popular pursuit requires no special
buildings or establishment, which never fail to
be expensive. We speak of the culture of silk
as an incidental occupation, which can be fol-
lowed in any convenient rooms; and we have
raised many thousands of excellent cocoons in
an upper room in the city of Philadelphia.

The rooms ought to be dry, and sheltered
from the extremes of cold and heat; as the
worms dislike dark rooms, they ought to be suf-
ficiently lofty and light. The temperature of

156 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

the climate is therefore to be regarded, so as in
hot climates to avoid violent heats, and in tem-
perate ones severe colds, and dampness in all.
The windows of the rooms in which the worms
are kept should be left open, when the weather
is fine, (but never when it is windy or when it
rains,) so that the air may freely circulate, in
order to refresh and clear the place of bad air
or smell. ‘These windows, provided they shut
close, may be made either of thin canvass,
which is best in warm climates, or of glass,
oiled paper, transparent membranes, or any
other material which will exclude the cold and
admit light. No bad smells, such as those of
smoke, sewers, or the like, should approach
their habitation. Air holes, of twelve inches
square, with moveable slides, will be very ser-
viceable, and they ought to be made near the
ceilings, or under the windows, or at the door,
near the floor. The exterior air penetrates
- through the lower holes, and carries off through
the upper opening, the air which before filled
the rooms; the number of these holes must be
proportioned to the size of the rooms. Expe- |
rience shows that this is the best means of ren-
ovating the air of an enclosed place; and in or-
der to keep it in general as pure as possible,
there ought not to be too many worms ina sin-
gle room; their perspiration being very great,

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 157

and consequently, the medium in which they
live, is soon affected by this cause.

While silk worms are very young, they take
up but very little room, and during the first
week at least, may be kept in shallow broad
drawers, boxes and such like, and that in great
number; for a foot square may contain above
five thousand of those newly hatched, but as
they grow larger, so must also the space that .
contains them. Those therefore who have large
nurseries of silk worms, should provide a place
large enough to hold them when at their full
size; a foot square will not contain above
one hundred worms conveniently, when they
are full grown.

With the foregoing conditions, it is no mat-
ter what sort of buildings the silk worms are
kept in; the barns and other out houses of
farmers may be used for this purpose; orin hot
countries, occasional sheds may be made, which,
in such climates as some of the southern states
enjoy, will sufficiently answer the end; for the
reader must here take notice, that several cir-
cumstances which have been mentioned in the
course of these instructions, are rather conve-
niences for those that would do things in the
neatest manner, than absolutely necessary, and
that many of the precautions against cold and
wet, will be useless in some climates. Those

15

158 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

circumstances which are absolutely necessary |
to be observed, the practitioner will, from his
own experience, soon distinguish from those
- which are not so material, or which the nature
and conveniences of the country determine
him to make choice of; and the course of his
practice will also make him supply what may
happen to have been forgotten amongst a num-
ber of minute and various details.

CHAPTER XII.

EXTRACT FROM THE WORK OF COUNT
DANDOLO, ON THE SUBJECT OF
THE PRECEDING CHAPTER.

‘It is difficult to imagine how, in the lapse
of some centuries, the practice of the useful
and precious art of rearing silk worms should
have remained in the hands of the ignorant and
illiterate.

‘¢ While it is evident that the abundance and
certainty of the annual produce of the cocoons
rests entirely upon the perfect cultivation of
the silk worm during the various periods of its
existence, and as it is generally known that
these insects are not natives of our climate, and
only exist by the care bestowed on them in
their domestic state, it can scarcely be credited
that there should not yet bea code of sure rules
to form habitations suited to their wants, and
favorable to their progress, and that silk worms
are to be exposed to every circumstance most
injurious to their health and well being.

‘‘Tt seems never to have been imagined that
four or five ounces of eggs would produce
150,000, or even 200,000 silk worms, that would

160 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

all require room to breathe freely the pure air,
and to secrete the substances necessary to life.

“A building wisely constructed, upon the fix-
ed principles of art, where the air may circu-
late at all times, and in all cases, and preserve
its dryness, would alone powerfully contribute
to the constant prosperity of the animal, and, in
course of time, to the abundant production of
cocoons of the finest quality.

‘¢When the habitation of the silk worm has
been well prepared, an unspeakable advantage
has been obtained, and all will probably advance
favorably. ’

‘¢ As we must suppose that many proprietors
will have laboratories constructed, so as to in-
sure an abundance of cocoons, I will here give
a short detail of the construction of a laboratory,
and point out a few indispensable alterations and
reforms that may be made in the laboratories of
tenants and cultivators, which are already built;
and these reforms are infinitely to the advan-
tage of the proprietors and cultivators.

‘In speaking of these two classes of labora-
tories, I must also mention one of the most neces-
sary appendages to such establishments, the
places required for preserving the mulberry
- leaves fresh and good during two or three days,

by which means the loss which might occur from
being obliged to feed the worms upon wet,

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 161

withered, or fermented leaves, will be entirely
avoided.

‘Tf the construction of the building which
is to be occupied by the silk worms during
their lives is of importance, it may not be use-
less. to give a description of the utensils and
tools most likely to facilitate all necessary ope-
rations which are to be executed.

“We shall, therefore, in this chapter, speak :

ist. Of the laboratory of the proprietor.

2d. Of the laboratory of the cultivator, or
tenant.

3d. Of the proper place for the preservation
of the leaves.

Ath. Of the utensils.

Ist. Of the laboratory of the proprietor.

‘Tt is a certain fact, that men scarcely ever
employ capital excepting in the manner most
likely to bring in rent, or interest in money,
pointed out by habit and local circumstances,
with the further exception of the expenses of
luxury, &c.

‘‘For instance, if a proprietor purchase fif-
teen or twenty acres of-land, which cost him
three or four thousand francs, (8600, or 800, )
it is with the view of drawing one hundred and —
fifty or two hundred francs from it, (30 or 40.)
_ Admitting this position, it is clearly evident,
| 15%

162 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

that if we can prove to the proprietor that in
employing capital to the amount of three thou-
sand francs in constructing a laboratory of silk
worms, he would derive more than five per
centum, we cannot doubt that he would endea-
vor to do so.

‘“To be able to say with assurance, that it
is profitable to construct a laboratory for silk
worms, I shall make only one observation, which
is, that to draw 150 francs from 3000 francs
capital employed in erecting a laboratory, it
would be sufficient, that the proprietor receiv-
ed 90 pounds of cocoons more than he annually
obtains in the common manner ef managing silk
worms, |

‘‘Are there not, besides, many proprietors,
who might arrange, with very trifling expense,
such places as garrets, warehouses, &c., so as
to be on a good plan for the rearing of silk
worms?

‘‘Can any hberai proprietor, who has in-
formed himself upon the improvements I have
suggested in the art of rearing silk worms, state
whether he does not think that from ten ounces
of good, well-preserved eggs we may easily
draw 150 anid even 300 pounds of cocoons be-
yond what may be procured in the bad and or-
dinary manner of managing silk worms? |

‘* This interest, derived from such an amount

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 163

of capital, is still very trifling, when compared
with the other manifold advantages which the
proprietor will derive from the erection of a la-
boratory. To be convinced of this, it is neces-
sary to observe:

‘‘1st. That the erection of laboratories tends
to increase the value of the lands in which they
are erected, and from which the leaves are pro-
cured, because they afford a greater produce in
cocoons, as land which, when well worked
and dressed, gives eight for one, is more valu-
able than land which will only yield six.

662d, ‘Vhat in uniting in the same establish-
ment all the operations relating to silk worms,
there is a vast saving in leaves, in fuel, and in
labor.

‘3d. That the common cultivators very soon
get into the proper manner of managing a la-
boratory, when they see the favorable results
produced by the prescribed rules, and because
they find themselves compelled to act in obedi-
ence to the directions of the enlightened per-
sons at the head of the establishment.

‘‘4th ‘That as some of the inequalities in the
advantages obtained among the common cultiva-
tors disappear sooner than others, they will
soon adopt the same means that are invariably
secure.

‘‘5th. That the proprietor and cultivator as-

164 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

sured of success, will not neglect the culture
of the mulberry tree, nor destroy them, as is
often done in those parts where the proprietor
strips his trees to sell the leaf, in the persuasion
that this is more profitable than employing it
himself. :

‘6. In short, that the space allotted to the
worms is sooner clear and free of them, and may
be made use of for other domestic uses.

‘¢ What I have said here will demonstrate the
profit resulting from proprietors erecting large
laboratories.

“My laboratory is constructed on principles
which I shall describe, and can contain the pro-
duce of twenty ounces of eggs of silk worms,
that is to say, might yield 20 cwt. of cocoons,
It is about 30 feet wide, 77 feet long, about
12 feet high, and, to the top of the roof, 21
feet. Six rows of tables, or wicker trays, of
about two feet six inches in width, may be
placed in the breadth of the room, two and
two, leaving four passages or avenues between
these three rows, two next the two side walls,
and two between the wickers. ‘These pass-
ages are useful in giving free access to the wick-
ers, and for placing the steps in feeding the
worms.

‘There should be posts driven in between
the wicker trays. which, as I said before, form

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 165

an avenue. On these posts should be fastened
little bars of wood, horizontally placed, which
support the wicker hurdles; there is, between
the two wicker hurdles a space of about five
inches and a half, to allow the air to pass
freely, and this space corresponds to the size
of the vertical posts, which form a line at mi
distances down the laboratory.

“There are in the building thirteen unglazed
windows, with Venetian shutters outside, and
with paper window-frames inside ; under each
window near the floor, ventilators, or square
apertures of about 13 inches, which may be
closed by a neatly-fitted sliding pannel, so as to
enable you, at will, to make the air circulate,
which, entering and issuing, will blow over the
whole floor.

** When the air of the windows is not wanted,
the paper frames may be kept closed, the Vene-
tian shutters, may be opened or shut, according
to circumstances. When the air is stil), and
the temperature of the interior and exterior are
nearly equal, all the window frames may be
opened, and the Venetian shutters must be

closed, at least the greatest part of them.

_. “I made eight ventilators on two lines im the
fioor, and im the eciling, placed perpendicu-
larly opposite cach other, in the centre of the

|" passages between the wicker hurdles. These

166 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAI..

ventilators had sliding pannels, made of thick
glass, to close them and admit light from above,
and may also on some occasions be covered
with white Jinen; they may ‘be opened or
closed, according to circumstances. |

+“ As the air of the floor ventilators ascends,
und that of the ceiling ventilators descends, ac-
cording to the variations of temperature, 1t must
necessarily pass through the three rows of
wicker trays.

‘«¢ T have also had six ventilators made in the
floor, besides those under the windows, to com-
municate with the rooms beneath.

‘¢ All these ventilators should open easily
when wanted, as they can alone maintain a
constant renewal of the exterior air, without the
necessity of ever opening the paper window
frames, which are within the Venetian shutters.

‘¢] here use thirteen windows, three of
which are placed at one end of the laboratory,
while at the opposite end there are three doors
constructed so as to admit more or less air as may
be required. By these doors we are admitted
into another hall about thirty-six feet long, and
thirty. feet wide, which forms a continuation of
the large laboratory, and which also contains
wicker tray stands sufliciently raised above the
floor to facilitate the necessary care of the
worms in the laboratory. There are in this

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 167

hall six windows, and six ventilators under the
windows, nearly on a level with the floor, as
well as four ventilators in the ceiling. There
are six fire-places in the great laboratory,
one in each angle, and one on each side of the
centre.

“JT had a large round stove of about three
feet eight inches in diameter, and nine feet two
inches high, placed in the middle of the labo-
ratory ; it divides the large row of the wicker
hurdle stands.

“JT use small glass oil burners or lamps that
yield no smoke, to light the laboratory in the
night.

‘¢ The floor of the laboratory is the only one
that is covered with Italian cement (ghzarone,)
or stucco; that in the hall is made of bricks, ©
that in case of necessity the leaves may be
dried on it when they are wet with rain, and
the eggs after they have been washed in the
first process.

“‘ Between the hall and the great laboratory,
there is a small room having two large doors;
the one communicating with the great labo-
ratory, the other with the hall. In the centre
of the floor there is a large square opening,
which communicates with the lower part of the
building. This is closed with a wooden fold-
ing door, which may be removed at pleasure:

168 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

this aperture is used for throwing down the
litter and rubbish of the laboratory, and is also
useful for admitting the leaves of the mulberry
which can easily be drawn up with a hand
pulley ; this same aperture keeps up the circu-
lation of air, when the three window frames at
the end of the laboratory are open.

‘¢Such is the construction of my great la-
boratory, in which I place the si!k worms after
the fourth casting or moulting.

“Tt is impossible that the air should remain
stagnant in it, or that it should ever be damp 5
as this building stands alone, the ventilators
must by their different exposure keep the air
in the utmost equilibrium, and maintain a mild
temperature. Should it, notwithstanding all
this, have a tendency to stagnation, the air may
be instantly put in motion by establishing great
currents and burning blazing light fires in the
six fire-places; when fires are not needed,
nor the chimneys wanted as ventilators, they
may be closed with chimney-boards.
~ ‘Should there be too much draught, the
sliding panels on the ventilators that are un-
der the windows, may be closed, so as to
regulate the air as it is required. The same is
applicable to the ceiling ventilators, with this’
advantage, that having a glazed window panel
they may be closed and yet give light.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 169

‘The stove is only used when the air of the
laboratory wants warming, and the temperature
raising ; in which case, when the stove warms
the laboratory, a column of external air enters
continually into a portion of the stove, which is
separated from the part in which the fires
burn, and from that through which the smoke
issues; in this receptacle, when the air is
heated, it escapes, through holes perforated
on purpose, into the laboratory, and augments
both the quantity of heat and fresh air.

‘In different parts of the laboratory I have
placed four barometers, six thermometers,
and two thermometrographs, to show what is to
be done in case of any accumulation of moisture,
and of augmentation or diminution of tempera-
ture in the laboratory.”

2. Of the Laboratory of cultwators.

In speaking of the establishments of the
tenants, Count Dandolo gives the following dis-
tressing picture :

‘Jn general the rooms appropriated to rear-
ing silk worms among the tenants, farmers, and
common cultivators, have the appearance of
catacombs ; I say in general, for there are some
few who, although they may not have all the
requisites for rearing worms in perfection, yet

16

170 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

have suflicient care to preserve them from any
very severe disease.

‘‘] have found, on entering the rooms in
which these insects were reared, that they
were damp, ill lighted by lamps fed with
rancid oil, the air corrupt and stagnant to a
degree that impeded respiration ; disagreeable
efiluvia, disguised with aromatics ; the wickers
too close together, covered with fermenting
litter upon which the silk worms were pining.
The air was never renewed except by the
breaches which time had worn in the doors
and windows.”

3. Of the proper place to keep the leaves of the
Mulberry tree fresh and good.

It is certain that in this conntry writers ge-
nerally have not sufiiciently calculated the
advantage and damage, which may arise from
the leaf of the mulberry, by its proper preser-
vation or neglect, previous to the distribution
of it to the worms. Let us hear the Count
Tandolo on that important subject.

‘¢The leaves of the mulberry trees, should
be laid on the ground floor, or in cellars,
slightly damp, and which may be closed, so as
only to admit light sufficient to see where to
put it, to stir it about, sort, and pick it tho-

roughly. ‘These circumstances are indispen-
sable:

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 171

‘¢1st. Because the lower rooms are always
cooler than the upper floors.

‘¢2d. Because in damp places the leaf is not
exposed to evaporation, which alters and
withers it. I have kept it three days in such
places as I have described: it diminished but
little in weight and was not faded. When it
is still very succulent, it should be laid in lay-
ers of two or three inches, that it may not alter
or ferment. When quite ripe it will keep
several days, although the layers be above a
foot deep, provided it has been gathered when
thoroughly dry. It should, however, be care-
fully moved and stirred about every day, that
it may receive the contact of the air, and not
get pressed down.

“‘If in the place allotted for placing the
worms, the air ought to be invariably dry, in
that destined to keep the leaves, it should be
cool, damp, and still. It would be a perceptible
loss if the air robbed the leaf of its natural
moisture; not so much because it would
wither it, as that I consider that natural mois-
ture as a necessary vehicle for the various
separations and secretions required for the
health of the silk worms, and for the perfect

deposition of the silk in the reservoirs. Be-
sides, nature has bestowed much less liquid or

watery substance on the mulberry leaf when
ripe, than on any other leaf of any tree.

ie SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

‘¢Tf the allotted space for the preservation
of the leaf is very damp, it will not alter it,
provided it be cool and well closed; it is
heat and accumulation that spoil the leaf. It
should be so managed that these places should be
under or very near the laboratories; there
will be found a great advantage in having a
good provision of leaves at hand, particularly
at the voracious period, called in France (la
grande freze ou brife,) in the fifth age of the
worm; and this advantage will be felt still more,
should there occur any continued rains at that
season.”

A. Of the utensils required in the art of rear-
ing Sik Worms.

é¢To execute the various operations which
form this art, better and with the least possible
expense, ought to be the principal object
which those who practise that art should aim at;
upon this principle I have thought it might not
be without usefulness, to give the names of a
small collection of utensils which are not ex-
pensive, and yet are indispensable in the execu-
tion of the operations which the cultivation of
silk worms requires.

“This art, has hitherto had no appropriate
utensils; each employed whatever came under
the hand indifferently. I here give an explana-
tion of these utensils.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 173

Utensils.

‘¢The Scraper.—A sort of long blunt knife.
It is used to detach, or scrape the eggs from
the wet cloths by introducing it between the
eggs and the cloth, aslant ;

‘¢ The Thermometer.—It is used to fix the
temperature requisite for hatching and rear-
ing silk worms.

‘¢ The Stove.—lIt is intended to warm the la-
boratory. It heats much better when con- —
structed on the principle of receiving external
air, heating it, and then dispersing it in the
laboratory. The rarefied air when it comes
in hot, is a purifier, as it expels the interior
air. The heating the rooms by furnace would
be preferable we think, as it would be more
easily regulated—besides the apertures through
which the rarefied air passes, may be used as
ventilators, to admit cold air, when there is no
fire in the furnace.

“Small boxes or trays for hatching the eggs
of the Silk Worms.—There should be some of
all sizes, that each ounce of eggs may have a
space of seven inches and four lines square.
If small they should be made of thick paste-
board; and if large, and intended to hold ten
or eleven ounces of eggs, of thin board. They
should be numbered with very visible figures
marked on the sides.

* 16

174 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

‘ Hurdles or trays, or table-stands.—They are
used covered with paper—those made with
cane, branches, wicker, wood, or basket work,
so that it be not close, but so interweaved as to
admit of the air being in contact with the paper
underneath, which keeps it dry, are preferabie;
their breadth should be from twenty-nine to
thirty-seven inches, their length from eighteen
to twenty-four feet, and they should be of
equal sizes, that when put above one another,
they may not interfere, or extend out, so as to
be inconvenient.

“¢ Spoon.—It is made of wood, so as to stir the
eggs with care when hatching them.

‘© Hook.—Small instrument made of bent iron,
is very useful to take up neatly and quickly
the small twigs covered with silk worms from
the boxes, to put them on the hurdles covered

with sheets of paner.

_ Knife-—Constructed so as to cut the leaf
easily and small ; when the leaf is cut with the
knife, it should be chopped fine, to multiply
the particles and edges of the leaf. This is
only requisite in the first and second age.

Large Chopper.—Is made something like
straw-cutter; it is useful in chopping the leaf
coarsely, and in great quantity. It is used for
the three first days after the third moulting.

Barometer.—This instrument is used to
aes the Pe CAY of the air in the labora-
tory?

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. iia

We agree with Count Dandolo; we cannot
sufficiently urge the use of this instrument to
those who rear silk worms, which indicates with
so much ease one of the most powerful enemies
of the silk worm in the laboratory. It would
be desirable to have two of them placed within
a certain distance from each other, to ascertain
the various degrees of moisture, in different
parts of the laboratory. We have omitted, in
the above extract, several of the instruments
which the Count recommends—we have men-
tioned only those which we think most neces-
sary.

The above descriptions of a large laboratory,
will be valuable to those who may hereafter
engage in the business upon an extensive scale.
It is easy to perceive that the great objects
aimed at are convenience, the preservation of a
proper temperature, and the free circulation
of air in the laboratory. The American farmer
must consider these as cardinal points, what-
ever may be the dimensions of the building or
apartment in which the worms are reared.

We repeat its; all buildings are good for
rearing silk worms provided there be, in pro-
portion to their size, one or more fire:places,
two or more ventilators in the ceiling, and on a
level with the floor, and one or several win-
dows or apertures, by which light may be ad-
mitted, and sunshine excluded; whichever of

176 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

these methods may be adopted, the rearing
of silk worms will be surely practicable; and
by the aid of the barometer and thermometer,
it will be easy to neutralize or destroy the in-
fluence of cold, heat, wind, stagnant air, a damp
and corrupt atmosphere, and the fermentation
_ of the litter even may be prevented or arrested.

CHAPTER XII.

MISCELLANEOUS OBSERVATIONS.

Before we pass to the reeling of silk
from the cocoons, which will constitute the
third part of this treatise—we think proper to
give here some general view and application of
the facts stated in this work, which are im-
mediately connected with the art of rearing
silk worms.

When an art may become so eminently allied
to individual and national prosperity, an author
should spare no trouble or labor in order to
make the knowledge and practice of every
branch of the art clear, plain, and familiar; be-—
sides that the facts, when presented together,
will make a deeper impression upon the mind,
than when they are offered singly. If some of
our readers think that many of the things which
we are going to state are useless, because they
offer no pecuniary results for individual interest,
we will answer, that when they reflect upon
them they will find that they have more or less
connection with those very results which are the

DD

L7é SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

first aim that the cultivator of silk worms pro-
poses to attain—a pecuniary reward.

In Italy, according to Count Dandolo, it re-
quires, 37,440 eges of the largest breed of
silk worms of four casts or moultings, to make
an ounce, and if all these eggs produced worms,
and each made a cocoon, they would yield three
hundred and seventy-three pounds, because one
hundred and fifty cocoons of this breed weigh
about one pound and a half; on the contrary,
to form an ounce of eggs of common sized
worms of four casts or moultings, 3,168 will
be required, which all producing worms, and
each worm a cocoon, would yield one hundred
and sixty-two pounds of cocoons, becanse about
360 cocoons of this breed weigh a pound and a
half; while to form an ounce of eggs of silk
worms of three casts or moultings, it will re-
quire 42,200 eggs, and if all these eggs pro-
duced each one worm, and all the worms lived,
the ounce of eggs would yield one hundred and
five pounds of cocoons, because 600 cocoons of
this breed weigh abouta pound anda half. We
have already demonstrated the difference which
exists in the quality of silk drawn from the
above different species of silk worms; we leave
to the culturist to choose between them,

It may be easily ascertained from the above

SILK CULTURIS1(’S MANUAL. 179

facts, and by the quantity of cocoons obtained,
how many worms have died in the various ages, or

how many eggs have failed to produce worms;
and then this will serve to form an opinion on the
various methods of rearing the worms, and to
adopt the most favorable to their preservation,

There are some other facts not uscless to be re-
called in this chapter; they are the following:

According to the author above named, it ap-
pears that from the time of the moths laying
the eggs until they are taken off the cloths,
that is to say, in a period of nine months, they
lose only about 1-100 of their weight, and that
from the days that the eggs of the common silk
worms are put into the stove room until they
begin to hatch, they lose, on an average, 47
grains per ounce, which is equivalent to 1-12
of their total weight.

The weight of the shells of the egys, after
the hatching of the worms, amount to 116 grains
per ounce, which is about 1-5th of the total
weight. Therefore, after deducting the loss of
weight of the eggs in the stove room, and the
weight of the shells, 54,625 silk worms, just
hatched, make an ounce, while to make the
same weight, 39,168 eggs were sufficient.

Following the same author, we will now give
some facts relative to the space which should
be occupied by the silk worms, in their differ-

me,

180 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

ent ages, and the quantity of leaves consumed
by them, with some observations on this last
subject. We will show afterwards, the increase
and decrease of silk worms in weight and size,
and make some remarks relative to the cocoons
containing the healthy, the diseased, or dead
chrysalis. Next, we will give some facts rela-
tive to the production of the eggs, and lastly,
some relative to the buildings and utensils.

Facts relative to the extent of space which
should be occupted by the silk worms in their
different ages, and the quantity of leaves
consumed by them, with some observations on
this last sulyect.

As we have already said, the worms proceed-
ing from one ounce of eggs should have space
as follows, viz:

Square Feet. In.

In the first age, of OF
second age, 14 8
third age, A6
fourth age, 109
fifth age, 239

We would here willingly state the weight of
the materials required to form the hedges or
cabins sufficient for receiving the worms of one
ounce of eggs, that is to say, one hundred and

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 181

twenty pounds of cocoons, but the varieties of
brush wood, straw, heath or vegetable sub-
stances used for the purpose, differ so much in
weight, that the calculation would scarcely
be correct, therefore, we will leave this to the
sagacity and experience of the cultivator.

It results from a calculation made with the
greatest exactness, that the quantity of leaves
gathered from the tree, which is really con-
sumed for each ounce of eggs, amounts to 1614
Ib., as we shall presently show, viz:

Ibs. OZ.
First age, sorted leaves, 6
Second age, do. do. ae 8
hired ase, do. * de. 60
Fourth age, do. do. 180

Futh age, odo. . ‘do: 1098

et

Per oz. of eggs, sorted leaves, 1366

GO

(nl

We must here give some explanation, not
having done so in the course of this work, of
what we mean by sorted leaves, that is to say
well sorted.

Great care must be taken in picking and
sorting the leaves for the feeding of the worms
in their first ages, such as picking off all the
twigs, stalks of the leaves, spots, &c. and to clear

them as much as possible from all useless parts.
ap

182 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

This operation is most essential in the two first
ages, when the leaves are to be chopped very
small.

In the third age, the sorting and picking the
leaves is not of so much consequence, and still
less so in the fourth and fifth ages.

The sorting and picking is of importance,
inasmuch as it enables you to put 15 or 20
per cent. less substance upon the wickers than
would otherwise be done, and which the worms
do not eat. This substance increases the lit-
ter and the moisture, without necessity or mo-
tive.

In the fifth age, and even in the fourth, when
the season is favourable, leaves mixed with a
quantity of mulberries, boughs and stalks, may
_ be put on the hurdles, although it is known that
the worms do not eat them, because at that
period it would be too troublesome to sort so
large a quantity perfectly, nor is there the same
motive todo so. ‘These substances being by
this time grown large, hard, and woody, are
less liable to fermentation, although they may
accumulate as litter. If the laboratories are
constantly dry, and well aired, these substances
will do no mischief, but keep the litter light,
and allow the air to circulate more freely
through it.

Let us resume our subject.

The actual quantity of mulberry leaves gath-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 183

ered from the tree, and consumed for each ounce
of eggs, is, as we have already shown,

Ibe 07.
1366 8
But the above quantity of —- —
leaves has lost by sorting so
much weight in the following
proportion, viz: refuse pick-
ed from the leaves,
First age, Ler ties
Second age, 3
Third age, 9
Fourth age, 27
Fifthiage,.. . 102

| co |

Refuse picked off, per oz. of eggs. 142

Total of leaves, 1509
During the whole period of
rearing the silk worms, the
1509 lbs. of the leaves taken
from the tree, will lose by
evaporation, and other causes,
besides sorting and Bike

as above stated, 105

Great total, 1614

Observations on the above facts.

From the above facts it follows:
1. That it requires about 13 lb. 7 oz. of
leaves to obtain a pound of cocoons, and that

184 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

it requires 1614 Ib. to obtain 120 lb. which
an ounce of eggs should yield.

2. That this quantity of leaves gathered from
the tree, deducting 142 Ib. 8 oz. of refuse
and sorting, and 105 pounds of decrease, by
means of evaporation, it only requires 11 |b. ©
6 oz. of pure leaf, per pound of cocoons, or
1366 lb. for 120 of cocoons.

3. That if we deduct from the 1366 Ib.
the residue, such as little branches, stalks,
fruit, and fragments of leaves not eaten by
the silk worms, and taken off the hurdles with
the litter, the quantity of pure leaf necessary
to obtain one pound of cocoons will be still
smaller ; and consequently that there is a great
loss escaped in gas and vapour, in the labora-
tory invisible to the eye, which present
strong evidence of how formidable the enemies
are which assail the silk worms.

_ Although the cultivators in Europe know
not the force of the material cause that pro-
duces death of their silk worms, they, however,
know that in the last period or age, every part
of the laboratory should be opened ; but often
in avoiding one danger, they meet another,
such as exposing the worms to cold and wind,
which may harden them, and cause them to
drop off at the moment they had begun to spin
their cocoons; there is only the gentle and

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 185

continual renewal and motion of the internal
air that can be beneficial and natural to the silk
worms. |

It is considered astonishing, that one single
worm which, when first hatched, only weighs
the hundredth part of a grain, should consume, |
in about thirty days, above an ounce of leaves,
that is to say, that it devours, in vegetable sub-
stance, about 60,000 times its primitive weight.

The result of experience tends to show that
in warm climates, the silk worms consume ra-
ther less leaf than we have here stated, be-
cause it appears that the quality of the leaf is
more nutritive. Count Dandolo says, that in
the favorable regions of Dalmatia, he obtain-
ed one pound and a half of cocoons from fifteen
pounds of leaves, and fifteen pounds of cocoons
yielded one pound and a half of silk, although
he adds that it was not so delicate and fine as
Italian silk.

Facts relative to the increase and decrease of
— sulk worms, in weight and size.

100 worms just hatched, weigh about 1 gr.

‘¢ after the first moulting, iby <*
‘* after the second moulting, 94) )**
‘¢ after the third mouliing, 400 «
‘¢ after the fourth moulting, = 1628 “

On attaining the greatest size & weight 9500 ¢
17*

186 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

Thus they have in thirty days increased
9500 times their primitive weight.
The length of the silk worm when

just hatched is about tf line,
After the first moulting its lengthis 4
After the second moulting a Ow
After the third moulting s PQ e6e
After the fourth moulting a 20% |S
After the fifth moulting many attain

the length of 40 §«

The length of the silk worm is thus increas-
ed forty times in twenty-eight days.

Progressive Decrease.
100 silk worms, when arrived at the
highest state of maturity, size,

and perfection, weigh 7760 grs.
100 chrysalides, weigh 3900 ¢é
100 female moths, weigh ZIQOE #6
100 male moths, weigh 1700: “¢
100 female moths having deposited

their eggs, weigh 980. **

100 female moths dying naturally,

after having laid their eggs, and

nearly quite dried, weigh 350 ¢

In the space of twenty-eight days more, the

silk werm has diminished or lost, thirty times
itsown weight. Its length, from the period of
the largest growth until it changes into chrysa-
lis, diminishes about two-fifths.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 187

During, and immediately after coupling, the
moth appears to augment in weight; 100 female
moths, which before coupling weighed 2990
grains, weigh immediately after, 3200 grains.
The worm diminishes gradually in weight
during the last twenty-eight days of its exist-
ence; that is from the moment of attaining
its perfection as a worm, until its death in the
form of a moth, it eats nothing, is supported by
its own substance, and yet accomplishes in that
period, the most important functions of its life.

The facts we have stated demonstrate the
strong vitality of the silk worm, and what pains
and errors must be adopted to disease and kill it.

Remarks relative to the cocoon containing the
healthy chrysahs, and those containing the
decayed, gangrened or stained chrysahs.

When the cocoons are perfectly formed, they
diminish in the first four days, three quarters
per cent. each day; the other days the dimi-
nution is very trifling.

1000 ounces of perfect cocoons are
composed, of living chrysalides, 842 oz.
Of the remains or envelopes cast by

the worms when they become chry-

salides, Al Ss
Of pure cocoons, 1532 7%

Total, 1000 |

188 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

Each healthy cocoon proceeding from a well
managed laboratory contains the seventh part,
and even 2.13ths of pure cocoon, when com-
pared to the weight of the cocoon containing
the chrysalis.

However, the fact is, that the average quan-
tity of reeled silk obtained from the cocoon is
about 1.12th, that is to say that 140 ounces of
perfect cocoons, with the healthy chrysalides,
which contains about twenty-one ounces of pure
cocoon, will only produce twelve ounces of spun
silk,

Let us now connect the facts we have stated.
About thirteen pounds seven ounces of mul-
berry leaves, will produce one pound of cocoons:
seven and a half pounds of cocoons, containing
the healthy chrysalides, will yield about eighteen
ounces of pure cocoons. and these eighteen
ounces of pure cocoons will give only eight
ounces of spun silk.

The proportion then, between the weight of
the mulberry leaves and that of the pure co-
coon, is something about 89 5-9 to 1, and the
proportion of the weight of the mulberry leaves
and that of the spun silk is as 201i to 1. It is
proper to add that the proportion between the
spun silk drawn from the cococn itself, may
vary according to the ill or good management
of the worms, and the skill of the reelers.

SILK CUL'TURIST’S MANUAL. 189

The proportion between the weight of the
cocoons containing the healthy chrysalis which
can be spun, and that part called the coarse
floss which cannot be spun in the same man-
ner, 1s, On an average-nineteen to one; that
is to say, we find one pound of coarse floss to
nineteen of cocoon that can be spun.

Cocoons containing the decayed, Gene or
stained chrysahdes.

Generally, it is not possible to separate the
chrysalides from those cocoons; the worm or
chrysalides being turned into a corrupt, black,
soapy substance, sticking to the inside of the
cocoon. Sometimes the mummy is exceedingly
black, and now and then detached, but most
frequently it adheres to the cocoon.

Part of these cocoons may be spun; the stain
does not always alter and spoil the silk, but the
Spinners can never be sure of the quantity of
silk they may be able to wind from them, and
they in general, dislike working on them.

The silk drawn from cocoons with diseased
chrysalides, is never so fine as that given by
perfect cocoons with healthy chrysalides; 860
cocoons of the diseased chrysalis weigh only a
pound and a half; thus the cultivator loses two-
thirds, or three-fifths, upon this quality of co-
coon.

190 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

We must here state, in speaking of these sorts
of cocoons, that we have only made our ex-
periments upon such cocoons as were brought
to us from various places; therefore, our calcu-
lations may very possibly differ from those of
other observers.

Facts relative to the production of the eggs.

Three hundred and sixty cocoons of the finest
quality, weigh about 25 ounces. If we suppose
half of these to be females, these will be about
one hundred and eighty.

Each impregnated moth weighs about 32
grains, and altogether 5760 grains, which make
about 10 ounces.

After four, five, or six days, each moth will
have laid, on an average, 510 eggs. This num-
ber of eggs is equivalent to 74 grains, as 68
eggs weigh a grain.

The 180 female moths consequently lay
91,800 eggs, which weigh 1350 grains, or
about two ounces and one-third.

This proportion of two ounces one-third per
pound of cocoons, augments and diminishes, ac-
cording as in the 360 cocoons which form one
pound and a half, females predominate, and vzce
versa. |

When the 180 moths have laid their eggs,
they weigh only 1800 grains, and as it has been

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 191

stated that the eggs weighed 1350 grains, it
will appear that the moths have lost 2,610 grains,
in earthy, liquid, and aeriform substance.

If the 91,800 eggs, obtained from 180 moths,
yielded an equal number of silk worms, and
that, well managed, they each, in time, formed
a cocoon, from the eggs produced by the above
mentioned 1: lb. of cocoons, we should obtain
382 Ib. 8 oz. of cocoons, which the following
year would yield eggs suflicient to produce
97,537 lb. 8 oz. of cocoons.

Facts relative to the buildings and utensils. =

To make the laboratory of the silk worms
similar to their native climate, they must be
enabled to live in it perfectly free from all
moisture; the temperature should neither be
too hot nor too cold, and, above all, they should
never be exposed to sudden transitions from
one state of atmosphere to another; the air
should always circulate gently.

A warehouse, a cellar, or any other low,
shady, close place, is best calculated for the
preservation of the leaves during two or three
days, provided it be cool, damp, and shut from
air and light.

The utensils employed to rear silk worms,
are constructed so as to spare time and expense,
and for the better management of the silk worms

192 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

and the eggs at all times. The interest of the
cultivator, and the progress of the art will soon
make the rules which have been laid down, very

useful,

PART Iii.

OF THE PREPARATION OF RAW SILK FOR
EXPORTATION.

CHAPTER T.

PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS.

Ir is not enough to plant mulberry trees, to
raise silk worms and produce cocoons. The
cocoons must be either disposed of by sale or
employed to some profitable use. They can
only be sold in the country where they are
produced, because they will not bear the ex-
pense of transportation, and they cannot be
exported beyond sea, because in the first
place, they are a bulky article, and cannot
be pressed, like cotton; the freight, therefore,
and other expenses attending such transporta-
tion, would exceed their value, and secondly,
they are subject to rotting in a sea voyage, be-
cause of the dampness of the sea air, and the
decomposition of the chrysalis within. For
these reasons, it is indispensable that the
cocoons should find aready market in the coun-

18

194 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

try where they are produced. ‘These markets:
are filatures, or reeling establishments.

Before silk can be employed in any kind of!
manufacture, it must be subjected to two differ--
ent mechanical processes, which are reeling:
and throning.

Reeling, or as it is also called spennzng, is no-
thing else than extracting and winding off the
silk from the cocoons, in threads of various
thickness made up into skeins so as to fit it for
exportation, or for sale in the markets at home.
When it has undergone this process, it is
called saw silk, and as such is in great demand
among the manufacturers of Europe. It is
performed by means of a cheap machine called
a reel

Throwing is the name given in England, to
what we call here twisting silk. It is performed
like the twisting of cotton, by means of very
complicated and expensive machinery. This
part of the silk business is done in Europe by
men who follow it exclusively as a trade or
profession, they are called sek-throwsters.
Several of them have already migrated from
England into this country, and more will follow
as soon as it will produce a suflicient quantity of
‘yaw silk to give them employment.

As this branch of the business does not be-
long tothe silk culturist, we shall abstain from

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL 195

saying any thing upon it, any more than upon
the operation of dyeing which follows it.
These are trades by themselves, which have
no connection with agriculture, and it is for
agriculturists alone, and not for manufacturers
that this work is designed. ‘The reeling of
silk is a proper employment for farmers’ wives
and daughters, either at home or in large fila-
tures, therefore we think it necessary to give all
the instruction in our power upon this impor-
tant subject, besides that without the art of reel-
ing, it is impossible to draw any profit from the
cocoons, which, as we liave said before, cannot
either be exported or manufactured without
being converted into raw silk, ail the rest may
be considered as more properly belonging to
manufacturing establishments, and therefore is
not within the purvieu of this treatise.

We are well aware that in this country, and
particularly in Connecticut, the labor of silk
culturists is principally, if not exclusively ap-
plied to the manufacturing of sewing silk. Far
from encouraging, we think it our duty to do
all in our power to discourage this species of
industry asit is now pursued, because we are
fally convinced that it will-never be a source
of profit to the United States, but on the con-
trary it will check the progress of the silk
culture. Bad habits, when they have once

196 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

taken root in a country are not easily laid
aside, and we regret to be obliged to say that
agriculturists are of all men the most tenacious
of their old customs, and that it is difficult to
introduce modern improvements among them
either in their implements or in their method
of husbandry. All travellers unite in mak-
ing this observation, and this country, candor
compels us to say, is not exempt from its appli-
cation.

Every where in Europe, the converting of
raw silk into sewing stk, is the business of
throwsters. The farmer confines himself to his
cocoonery and his reel, and leaves the rest to
those mechanics who have acquired a suflicient
skill in their various arts, and employ competent
machinery. In this country, on the contrary,
every thing, spinning, twisting and even dyeing,
is done by the same hands, and with rude in-
struments not at all fitted for the purpose. It
is with the common spinning wheels that silk
is reeled from the cocoons and is twisted into
an inferior sewing silk, which can never stand
a competition with that imported from Europe.
For near eighty years, this method has been
pursued, and the art has not advanced a single
step, yet every body knows that the great pro-
gress made in Europe in the various arts, is
owing to the principle of the diviszon of labor.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 197

But all this dear-bought experience seems to
be disregarded. We have been repeatedly
asked whether the same individual or the same
company, could not plant mulberry trees, raise
silk worms, wind the silk from the cocoons,
throw or twist it, dye it in various colors, and
manufacture it into different articles. Wecan-
not qualify this gigantic scheme otherwise than
by saying that if it should ever be tried, it will
infallibly be found to be the ROAD TO RUIN.
Agriculture and manufactures are professions
so entirely distinct, that they can never be
pursued together with any expectation of suc-
cess. It will be said, perhaps, that even the
reeling of silk is a mechanical operation, and
may be properly classed among the arts which
belong to manufactures. This is undoubtedly
trues nevertheless, it is one of those arts which
the agriculturist may pursue with advantage.
It may be assimilated to the spinning of flax,
cotton and wool, and the weaving of common |
stuffs, the machinery of which is not costly, and
which furnish an agreeable and profitable em-
ployment to the wives and daughters of farmers,
in their leisure hours, and on that account are
called domestic manufactures. But the throw-
ing or twisting, and the dyeing of silk, do not
come under this denomination, and must be left
to those who profess those arts exclusively. It
*18

198 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

is true that reeling cannot be carried on to a
great extent in farm houses, nor to the same ad-
vantage as in large filatures, but it is not on this
account to be discouraged, because it is an use-
ful and a profitable employment to the agricul-
turist, and employs many hands which would
otherwise remain idle.

It must not be believed, however, that the
art of reeling silk is as easy of acquisition as
that of spinning flax, wool or cotton. It isa
popular error not only in this country, but in
Kurope, that it requires neither instruction nor
experience. This doctrine has been widely
propagated in these United States by bold theo-
rists who have never seen a regular filature,
and with so much success, that the committee
on agriculture ata late session of the Congress
of the United States have reported it as a fact
to the House of Representatives, that the art of
reeling silk was sufiiciently known, and there-
fore expressed it as their opinion that there was
no need of instruction in that branch. This is
a most lamentable error, as we shall show here-
after.

We have said that this false notion prevails not
only in this country, but also in Europe. Mr. |
Pitaro, an eminent writer on the silk culture,
thus expresses himself in his excellent treatise,
entitled, “La Science de la Setifere;”’ (on the

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 199

science of the silk culture:) ‘Every body
in Italy and France, say some ill informed theo-
rists, knows how to reel silk from the cocoons,
but the fact is otherwise;’’ and he proceeds to
show the falsity of this unfounded notion, in
which opinion he is joined by al] those who
have knowingly written upon the subject, as
will be shown in its place, by numerous extracts
from their works.

But the manufacturers, who are sometimes
compelled to employ silk thus badly reeled, are
loud in their complaints. We shall expatiate
more fully on this subject in another chapter.

We do not mean by saying this, to discour-
age the wives and daughters of American far-
mers. They will with proper instruction be-
come perfect in this most important art. We
know by experience that they learn much more
quickly and shew more dexterity in the busi-
ness than the females of Europe, whose hands
are too much hardened by the labors of the
- field in which they are generally employed, and
we think we may say with confidence, that a
steady and sober American girl, who shall have
spent a reasonable time ina regularly established
filature, if she should marry an industrious far-
mer, will prove a treasure to her husband.

The art of reeling alone being so difficult as
to require instruction and experience, we can-

200 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

not but admire the enterprize of those Ameri-
can ladies, who,in their domestic manufacture of
sewing silk, with only rude instruments, attempt
to unite the artof the reeler to those of the throw-
ster,and the silk dyer. We wonder, indeed, that
they have attained such a degree of perfection
in those arts, as they have done, but the per-
fection that is required to make silk a source
of profit to their country, by those means they
never can reach. -

We hope to be permitted to expatiate some-
what at length on this domestic manufacture of
sewing silk, because we consider it as the most
pernicious system that could be introduced into
a silk growing country, and fatal to the silk
culture in the United States, as we shall be able
to show by the consequences which it has al-
ready produced.

The principal seat of this domestic manufac-
ture is the State of Connecticut, where it is
mostly carried on in the counties of Windham
and Tolland. In the year 1830, we took a
journey to those counties, in company with
Mr. Duponceau ; it was in the season when the
worms had finished their work, and the farmers
were gathering their cocoons. We visited

‘several cocooneries, and we must say that we
were not satisfied with their method of silk
culture. One of those silk culturists, who

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 201

had read our essays on American silk, shrewd-
ly observed that the author could not be a
practical man, because he recommended shelter-
ing the silk worm’s eggs from the cold in the
nminter. ‘In this country,” said he, “ we leave
our eggs exposed to the cold, and they never-
theless produce good crops of cocoons.” We |
found the fact of the exposure of the eggs as
he stated its; but we have no doubt, that a
great many perished from cold during the
winter, which would have made a large and
valuable addition to the ‘crop of cocoons.”

Our great object however, was to witness
the process of the sewing silk manufacture, and
to obtain correct information as to the manner
in which that silk was disposed of, and the pro-
fits that arose from it. With that view, we
remained several days in the town of Mansfield,
where that manufacture is principally carried
on. We saw the women at their work, which
we need not describe here, as it is sufficiently ©
known ; we tried to persuade them that there
were better methods of proceeding, but we
found their prejudices too deeply rooted ;
they were well satisfied with what their mothers.
and their grandmothers had done before them.
This is not peculiar to Connecticut; in the silk
growing countries of Europe we have seen,
women who reel their silk after a method

202 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

taught by their great-grandmothers, and who
will not adopt the modern improvements, to
the great dissatisfaction of the silk manufac-
turers, who, of course, pay them an inferior
price for their imperfect silk. But they do
not mind that, and will still go on in their old
way ; human nature is the same all over the
world.

Of this we are going to give a remarkable
example. We found that in the town of Mans-
field, there was an excellent Piedmont reel,
which, it would seem, had been brought there as
an object of curiosity, for no one made use of it.
Desirous of convincing the people of the place
of the advantage of using that instrument, and
at the same time showing them how it might be
employed, we gave notice that we would reel
silk from it on a particular day, before all who
should choose to be present. A room was pre-
pared for the purpose, and a large concourse
of people attended 5 cocoons were produced in
abundance, which we reeled off, and the skeins
were handed round to the company, and seem-
ed to be much admired. Nevertheless, there
did not appear to be any change in the popu-
lar opinion. One young lady alone, who had paid
great attention to our method of proceeding,
sent us in the evening a skein of silk, which
she had reeled herself on the Piedmont reel.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 203

It was not, indeed, perfect, but it was sufficient
to shew what American females can do, if they
would only discard their too long indulged pre-
judices. That young lady with proper instruc-
tion, would have made an excellent reeler.
What has become of the Piedmont reel since
that time, we do not know.

The people, in general, looked upon us with a
suspicious eye. They thought we were specu-
lators who intended to take some advantage of
them, and we found them shy in answering our
questions; nevertheless, there were gentlemen
amongst the most respectable class to whom we
had been recommended, who freely and candid-
ly gave usall the information we wanted. ‘This
is the substance of what we obtained from them,
and from our own observation.

The domestic sewing silk, after being reeled,
twisted and dyed, either by professed dyers or
by the fair manufacturers themselves, is made
up into skeins of certain dimensions, prescribed
by the Legislature of the state, in order to pre-
vent fraud and imposition, and is sent to the
nearest store, where the merchant (as he is call-
ed,) receives it in payment for articles furnish-
ed to the family during the preceding year,
or in advance for future supplies. He after-
wards consigns it to certain hawkers or pedlars,
who travel with itabout the country, and dispose

204 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

of it to the farmers in barter for the produce of!
the land, which finds its way into the merchant’s |
store, who sells it to his neighbors on the credit.
of the next year’s crop. The current price of’
that sewing silk was then four dollars a pound.

It passed as a currency in that part of the

country, the strongest proof that can be given

of its poverty, althongh abounding in the rich-

est production of the whole earth.

We were informed by persons the best ac-
quainted with the business of the place, and
worthy of full credit, that the sales of sew-
ing silk in the two counties of Windham and
Tolland, amounted annually to fifteen thou-
sand or eighteen thousand dollars. That amount
was produced by 8,000 pounds of raw silk, each
made out of twenty pounds of cocoons, which
makes in the whole, 160,000 pounds of those
balls.* Now, we beg to be allowed a few ob-
servations on these important facts.

In the first place, what a small sum 1s $18,000
the highest in the computation, and that nomi-
nal too, for the proceeds of 160,000 pounds of
cocoons, to which is to be added all the labor
and expense put upon that material to convert

* Fhese facts were made public in an elaborate article
on silk, in the American Quarterly Review for Decem-
ber, 1831, and never have been contradicted, that we
know of.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 205

it into sewing silk! Were the farmers to sell
those cocoons at only 20 cents a pound, (the
lowest price for good cocoons that we can think
of,*) they would produce 32,000 dollars, nearly
double the amount above mentioned and that in
ready cash, (for they are a cash article) without
the labor and expense attending the reeling, .
twisting and boiling, and the dyeing in various
colors.

It may be said that since we were in Connec-
ticut, that state has allowed to the reelers a
bounty of fifty cents on every pound of raw silk
reeled onan improved reel, wiich they should
produce. We shall say nothing of the emproved
reel, but we say that even with that bounty,
which on 8,000 pounds of raw silk, which we
have shown above to be their yearly production,
would amount to only 4,000 dollars they would
make less than by the sale of their cocoons; for
4,000 dollars added to 18,000 dollars, the ad-
mitted produce of their cocoons, wrought into
_ sewing silk, make only 22,000 dollars, and their
cocoons, at twenty cents per pound, would pro-
duce 32,000 dollars, difference 10,000 dollars.

If, on the contrary, the cocoons were sold

* At the experimental filature in Philadelphia, in
1830-2, forty cents were paid for every pound of cocoons
that was offered ; but that high price cannot be expected
to continue.

19

206 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

for ready cash, that money would circulate
among the people, stimulate their exertions,
increase the quantity of silk, and enrich the
whole country; filatures would be established
in their neighborhood, and the state of Con-
necticut, now so poor, would experience the
highest degree of prosperity. We hope it is
not too late, and that these fair prospects will
yet come to be realized.

It might, perhaps, be enough to have shown
that this domestic manufacture of sewing silk,
after all the Jabor and expense bestowed upon
it, produces in its results from 30 to 40 per
cent, less than the first raw material (the co-
coons,) would produce, if sold at a moderate
price in anopen market; but we think it will
not be amiss to show here what are the causes
of this enormous difference. We can easily de-
monstrate that it is entirely to be ascribed to
the imperfection of the implements used, and of
the methods pursued, all of which arise from a
lamentable ignorance of the art of reeling and
the mechanism of throwing, by which alone the
raw material can be converted into good and
merchantable sewing silk. A few reflections on
the facts above stated, will be suflicient to con-
vince the reader of the truth of this assertion.

1. Twenty pounds of cocoons employed in
making one pound of raw silk, are double the

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 207

quantity employed in Europe for the same pur-
pose.* Here then is a loss of one hundred per
cent,

2. The sum of 18,000 dollars, which on the
highest calculation is the annual proceeds of all
the sewing silk made in the two counties above
mentioned, at the current price of four dollars —
a pound, represents only 4500 pounds of sew-
ing silk, and that is made, as above stated, out
of 8000 pounds of raw silk; here is again a loss
of near fifty per cent.

This loss is almost entirely produced by the
imperfect reeling of the raw silk; in technical
language it is called waste. We know that
thrown silk loses something of its weight by the
dissolution of the gum in boiling, but that never
exceeds twenty per cent., and we know also
that this loss is more or less compensated by the
dyeing, particularly in black. In Europe, when
sewing silk is dyed in black, the dyer is oblig-
ed to return the same weight of silk that he has
received 5 so that the greatest part, and some-
times the whole of this loss of weight, in Con-
necticut, must be attributed to waste occasioned
by bad reeling.

The loss suffered in Europe on the best raw

* At the filature in Philadelphia, eight pounds of co-
coons and sometimes less, were found sufficient for one
pound of raw silk.

208 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

silk, in the operation of throwing or tnisting,
seldom exceeds four per centum, when thrown
in Italy, and five when thrown in England.
(Badnall’s view of the Silk Trade, page 63.)
That which was sent to England, from the ex-
perimental filature at Philadelphia, to be manu-
factured, suffered only a loss of 3 5.8ths per
cent., which shows the great strength of Ameri-
can silk. It must be acknowledged that it was
thrown with great care by Mr. Edward Moly-
neux, an eminent silk throwster at Manchester,
from whose report we have stated the above fact.

Let this be compared with the immense loss
suffered by the fair manufacturers of sewing
silk in Connecticut. Waste of the cocoons in
reeling, waste of the raw silk in twisting, Can
the nation ever expect to derive profits from
this mode of proceeding ? |

In vain Congress have tried to encourage that
domestic manufacture by a duty, amounting al-
most to a prohibition, but the attempt has com-
pletely failed. In the year 1832, a duty not
less than 40 per cent. was laid, by what is call-
ed the compromise act, on all imported sewing
silk ; the result has only been, nearly to double
the price of Italian silk, and to encourage for-
eign manufacturers, as will be presently ex-
plained. In the year 1830, to which we have
above referred, not an ounce of Connecticut

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAT.. 209

sewing silk was purchased in our great sea
ports. Since that time, notwithstanding the
forty per cent. duty, this state of things has
not changed; on the contrary, we are told,
though we do not vouch for the fact, that the
quantity of that kind of domestic silk has di-
minished ; which shows that no improvements —
have been made in that manufacture. <A few
days ago we called on a respectable merchant
of this city, who deals largely in silk and par-
ticularly in sewing silk, and asked to pur-
chase some of the Connecticut manufacture; he
told us that he had none, that two years ago a
case containing about forty pounds of that arti-
cle had been sent to him to be disposed of, but
he could not sell a single skein, and he was at
last obliged to send back the case with its con-
tents, to the place from whence lie had receiy-
ed it. He told us however, that he had a great
deal of American sewing silk for sale, which
he showed to us and which we found nearly
equal to the imported. Jt was truly American,
all except the material of which it was made,
This requires some explanation, which we are
going to give.

When in the year 1830, the silk bill came
before Congress, and when afterwards American
raw silk was sent from hence to England, it
made a great noise in that country. The silk

Ness

&

210 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

throwsters at that time were dissatisfied with
an act of the British Parliament, which had
considerably lowered the duty on foreign silks.
Expecting to find employment, they came in
shoals to this country. Several of them applied
to us, whom we advised to return home, telling
them that the country did not yet produce raw
silk enough to employ them in throwing. A
number of them, however, remained, and the —
silk bill having failed, they thought of some
mode to turn their industry to account. They
could not teach the art of reeling because they
did not know it, England not being a silk pro-
ducing country; the most of them, before they
come over had never seen a cocoon in their
lives; but they knew that England manufactur:
ed foreign silks, and that it was to her a great
source of profit; they persuaded our capital-
ists to do the same. Those did not consider that
if England had produced the raw material she
would manufacture it in preference to that of
other countries; they therefore imported raw
silks from China and Bengal, and began at once,
with the aid of the new comers, to enter upon
the business of manufacturing silk. Sewing
silk was their first object, it being the easiest
to make, and of the most ready sales; besides
that, it was protected by a duty of 40 per cent.
This is the American sewing silk that was of-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. JT

fered to us by the merchant of whom we have
spoken. It was indeed manufactured in this
country, but of foreign material, and under the
name of American silk, it found a ready sale, at
a price nearly equal to that of Italian silk, which
in consequence of the high duty has now risen
from 6 to 11 dollars per pound; thus what was ~
intended for the benefit of the agriculturists of
the United States, has only turned to the ad-
vantage of the silk growers of Bengal and
China, and the English throwsters who had
made their way into this country. The politi-
cians opposed to the tariff system, who by their
opposition prevented the passage of the silk bill
and who voted for the high duty on imported
sewing silk, showed that their knowledge of the
subject had not yet been improved by experi-
ence.

We consider this duty as a fatal blow to
American agriculture: as long as we do not reel
silk as perfectly as they do in Europe, as long
as raw material shall lose from 30 to 40 per
cent. in the throwing, it is evident that all those
who wish to derive a profit from the silk busi-
ness will prefer employing the foreign rather
than the American material. Thus the farm-
ers may plant mulberry trees, breed silk worms
and produce cocoons, these will find no sale
- and no market any where, and a universal dis-

yy) SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

couragement will put an end to that zeal for the
silk culture which some go so far as to call a ma-
nia, and which is now so prevalent in this coun-
try. Thesame thing happened once in Prussia,
where, after many years of expectation, they
were forced to cut down their mulberry trees,
which they had planted and cultivated with
great care. In Mexico, they make admirable
sewing silk out of the foreign raw material, and
with the aid of foreign manufacturers, and, al-
though aspecies of silk worms isa native of their
country, their government has in vain endeavor-
ed to turn their attention to the silk culture. It
is much to be feared that the Americans at last
will offer another sad example of the bad effects
of giving encouragement to foreign industry in
preference to their own.

There has never. been a more striking exam-
ple of the uncertainty of the protecting system.
We do not wish to enter into the discussion of
this long agitated question, but this we are free
to say, that duties on imported articles have not
seldom produced effects quite different from
those that were intended. So little is the sci-
ence of political economy yet understood. If
we can venture an opinion, we think that the
question will be solved by the general adoption
of FREE TRADE.

What then is to be done under such circum-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 913

stances? We can only repeat what we have
already said several times before, that without
perfection in the art of reeling, no profit can
ever be derived from the silk culture in this
country.

The only preparation required to export silk
to Europe, is the reeling. This, as we have
said before, may be done by agriculturists, as
well as the spinning of flax and other raw ma-
terials. For in fact, it is nothing but spenning,
and is so denominated in Italy and France,
where itis called filer, filare, which literally
means to spin. Hence the word filature, which
is applied to reeling establishments. Every
thing beyond that, including the making of
sewing silk, belongs exclusively to manufactures,
and in no sense to agriculture, and, therefore,
makes no part of this present treatise,

CHAPTER II.

OF THE DIFFCULTY AND IMPORTANCE OF
THE ART OF REELING.

We have said in the preceding chapter that
it is a vulgar error, not only in this country,
but also in Europe, that nothing is so easy as
the reeling of silk from the cocoons, that the
operation may be performed by any woman
without instruction, or very little, like the
spinning of flax or wool.

Nothing is so unfounded as this opinion. The
delicate material which is here to be spun, in
consequence of the extreme fineness of its fibres,
is so difficult to be handled, and is liable in the
handling to so many accidents, so much care
and attention is required to draw and unite
those almost imperceptible fibres into threads
fit to be employed in manufactories, that it is
impossible to learn this art without manual
and ocular instruction, followed by practice
and experience. We will endeavor in another
chapter to describe, as clearly as possible, the
various processes of this difficult art; but we
are well convinced that our descriptions how-
ever minute, will not be sufficient without oc-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 215

ular demonstration, to enable any one to reel
silk with the perfection that is required, and if
a bad method is once fallen upon, it will be found
almost impossible to eradicate it. The example
of Connecticut, where, during a period of near
eighty years, no improvement has taken place
in the rude method which is pursued there, the
glaring defects of which we have, we think,
clearly demonstrated, is of itself sufficient to
prove the truth of our assertion.

What mostly contributes to propagate and
maintain this delusion in Europe, is that the
farmer’s wives and daughters are seen to reel
silk at their farm houses, and having acquired
great dexterity in it by long practice and ex-
perience, appear to perform their work with
great ease. When Commodore Porter was at
Mahon, a few years ago, and saw for the first
time the women at their reels, he wrote to his
friend Mr. Skinner, of Baltimore, that the pro-
cess of reeling was simple and easy; afterwards,
when better informed, he admitted that it re-
quired both skill and experience.

Another circumstance also contributes to
maintain that false opinion, particularly in this
country. Raw silk may appear beautiful to the
unexperienced eye, and yet be full of imper-
fections. These causes have produced the vul-
gar notions that we are speaking of. But the

216 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

manufacturers know better, as. well as the au-
thors who have written with a full knowledge
of the subject. It will be well to quote here
some of their remarks:

In the year 1828, the French government,
with a view to encourage and protect their na-
tive production, had laid a heavy duty on im-
ported raw silk, amounting nearly to a prohi-
tion. The consequence was, that the French
reelers, having no longer any competition to
fear, neglected their work and produced im-
perfect silk. Of this the manufacturers com-
plained bitterly to the government, and success-
fully prayed for a repeal of the luckless duty, *
as our farmers will probably pray, and we hope
with like success, for the repeal of that of 40
per cent., on foreign sewing silk. They repre-
sented, that the imperfections in the reeling of
the raw silk, occasioned a great increase of la-
bor and expense to the manufacturer, and went
so far as to say that their raw silk, not only that
reeled in the farm houses, but in large filatures,
with some honorable exceptions, had become
inferior to that of Piedmont. ‘To remedy this

* Mémoire des Negociants de Lyon, au ministre du
commerce et des manufactures, in the Library of the
American Philosophical Society, Miscellanea, L. No, 384.
It is mentioned in a report of the Committee of Agricul-
- ture, which will be found in the Appendix.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 217

evil, they prayed that the sum of 600,000 francs
($120,000, ) should be appropriated by the go-
vernment to introduce everywhere the most
modern improvements in reeling, and particu-
larly the machine of M. Gensoul, of which we
shall speak in a subsequent chapter; their
prayer was immediately granted, and the money
was distributed amongst the silk growing de-
partments.

It would be too long to quote here all that
those gentlemen say about the causes and con-
sequences of bad reeling, and the loss which it
occasions to the silk trade, it will be sufficient
to cite their concluding sentence, which will
afford to our readers an abundant subject for
reflection: ‘‘ Whatever,” say they, ‘may be
the skill of the French throwsters, it is impos-
sible with raw silk imperfectly reeled, to pro-
duce thrown silk of good quality. The best
method of throwing cannot give to that which
is badly reeled the qualities that it wants, while,
on the other hand, a bad method of throw-
‘ing, does not deprive silk, which, being well
reeled, is neat, equal, and nervous, of those in-
dispensable qualities, for the good and easy fab-
-rication.of silk stuffs.””,—Memorre, p. 285.

Thus the operation of throwing or twisting
silk after it is reeled, is thought to be less im-

; 20

218 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

portant than that of reeling, on which every
thing depends.

All the authors conversant with the subject,
who have treated of the reeling of silk, have
represented it as an art difficult to be acquired
to the degree of perfection which is required
by the manufacturers of Europe, and which is
necessary to make the raw silk sell to advantage,
and also as an art which is not to be learned in”
books, but which requires to be taught by
manual and ocular demonstration. Let us be
allowed to quote here some passages from a few
of those writers:

Mr. Von Turken, an esteemed German writer
on the silk culture, expresses himself thus:
‘¢The reeling of silk is of the highest impor-
tance, for thereupon depends the good quality
and fitness for use of the raw silk, the goodness
of the stuffs manufactured out of it, and the
value of the silk in market. Even at the
present time, from ignorance or negligence in
reeling, great faults are sometimes committed 5
and it is proper to say, that when silk is badly
reeled, it can find no purchaser, or only at
so low a price, that the culture of silk is not
worth the while.”’—On the Silk Culture, p. 96.

The Chevalier Von Heintl, another German
author, speaking on the art of reeling, says: “a

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL 219

mere description of this art, can never supply
the place of ocular and practical instruction,”
—Unterricht im Seidenbaue, p. 141.

Mr. De Teste, a Frenchman, who has writ-
ten a valuable work on the silk trade, after giv-
ing a short description of the process of reel-
ing, expresses himself thus: “After reading this
description, it will certainly be believed that
the management of a filature is a very easy
thing; if the theory is easy, there is nothing so
difficult as the practice.”” And further, he
says: ‘silk is always too dear, when it is not
well reeled.”,—De ‘Teste, pp. 58, 59.

In another part of the same work, he says:
‘Tf it requires knowledge and particular atten-
tion and care to produce a good result from the
rearing of silk worms, it is in the art of filature,
that profound knowledge is required, and yet
that art is too often abandoned to ignorance and
routine.””—p. 12.

Mr. Pitaro, an Italian writer on the silk
culture, of whose excellent work we have made
much use in the foregoing chapters, speaks very
strongly upon this subject, and finds fault even
with the directors of large filatures, for not
paying a proper attention to their business.
‘¢Every body,” says he ‘in Italy and France,
according to some ill-informed theorists, knows
how to reel silk from the cocoons, and yet the

220 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

manufacturers in Italy as every where else, |
continually reproach the directors of filatures
with receiving from them raw silks, which they
can with difliculty make use of, and which they
find difficult to employ in the various tissues re-
quired of them. Besides the irregularity and
inequality of the silk in strength and in size,
their silk is very often crispy. But these di-
rectors, deaf to all observations, o7 wanting the
necessary knowledge, take no notice of what is
said to them; whence it follows, that their fila-
tures can only degenerate, and the silk trade be
destroyed.”’—La Scrence de la Setifere, p. 117.

The celebrated Count Dandolo, whose name
is a host, also gives his testimony in favor of our
position: ‘It is certainly,” says he, not easy
to forsee to what sum the value of exported raw
silk may rise, ¢/ the art of reeling shall become
national, and be the object of the care and at-
tention of ¢ntelligent, scientific, and patriotic
individuals. Hitherto, this most valuable pur-
suit has only presented a mass of various and
different methods, most of which were uncer-
tain, and many of them absurd.”’ He says fur-
ther: “The art of spinning or winding the silk
from the cocoons, is, as yet, entirely in the
hands of people as ignorant as those who for-
merly reared silk worms; for instance, it is a
well known fact, that of two spinners, spinning

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 221

each seven and a half pounds of cocoons of the
same quality, one will extract constantly eight
ounces of silk, whilst the other will only draw
six ounces, and perhaps still less.”,—Dandolo,
Vart @elever les vers a sote, pp. 383, 354.

The English writers do not say much upon
the subject, the art of reeling not being prac-
tised in their country; their opinion however,
on the necessity of good reeling is easily to be
discovered in their works.

Of American writers we cannot quote many,
for they almost all agree in the common preju-
dice that reeling is an art easily acquired; and
some go so far as to say that we possess it in
sufficient perfection in this country. There
are, however some exceptions, and we are
happy to avail ourselves of the testimony of the
late William A. Vernon, Esq., of Rhode Island,
in his excellent translation of M. De Labrousse’s
treatise on the culture of mulberry trees, which
is accompanied with valuable notes by the trans-
—jator.

‘¢It is peculiarly,”’ says Mr. Vernon, * from
the manner of winding the thread from the
cocoons, that depends the profit which the
state derives from the raising of silk worms.
Though we may know how to cultivate the mul-
berry, and to take care of the worms—though
we possess the cocoons—all our cares are lost,

20 *

992 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

if we bungle through the winding process.”’—
On the Cultivation of Mulberry Trees. Boston,
1828. p. 106.

Daniel Stebbins, Esq., of Northampton, in
the state of Massachusetts, in a letter to the
committee on Agriculture of the House of Rep-
resentatives of the United States, dated Feb-
ruary 10th, 1838, says in express terms, that
‘¢the quality and value of silk depend on the
skill and perfection of reeling.”—(Report of
the committee, p. 19.)

We avail ourselves also with pleasure of the
opinion of Mr. Lewis Tinelli, an Italian gen-
tleman, who has been for several years an
inhabitant of this country. In an interesting
little work, entitled ‘* Hints on the Cultivation
of the Mulberry, with some General Observa-
tions on the Production of Silk,’”? which he
published at New York, in 1837, ‘I happen-
ed,” says he, “to have an opportunity to see
some specimens of raw silk and sewing silk,
wrought by the ladies of Windham and Tolland,
which show beyond doubt that the very best
results would be attained if they could only ~
adopt, positively and decisively, different pro-
cesses and systems from those they now follow.”
He then proceeds at length, to show the necessi-
ty of establishing filatures where reelers may be
instructed and their knowledge by this means

SILK CULTURIST’S’ MANUAL. 223

disseminated throughout the country. We shal
have occasion to refer further to what he says
on this subject in a subsequent chapter.

Mr. Tinelli is a refugee from Austrian ty-
rany; he was one of the companions of Pellico,
Maroncelli and Confalomert, in the horrible
dungeons of Spielberg; he has adopted this
country, and resides now, as we understand,
somewhere in the state of New York, we be-
lieve at Newburgh. We have been told that
he was once a director of a filature, and from
the knowledge displayed in thelittle workabove
cited, we are inclined to believe it. We have
not the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with
him.

-In addition to these authorities, we have to
adduce that of Mr. Boucher, an eminent silk
merchant and manufacturer at Paris, with whom
Mr. Duponceau corresponded on this subject
in the year1831. ‘That gentleman is of opinion
that not less than ten years will be required
to make our women perfect in the art of reeling,
in which we differ widely from him. Reeling
is performed in France by ignorant peasant
girls, whose hands have become hardened by
the labors of the field, in which they are con-
stantly employed. Experience has convinced
us that American women will acquire the art in
a much shorter time. This correspondence be-

224 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

ing very interesting and entering largely upom
the subject we have thought it too long to be:
inserted here, but it will be found in the appen--
dix. Mr. Duponceau, not having kept copies:
of his letters, those of Mr. Boucher only willl
be given, with explanatory notes, as published!
in the Baltimore Chronicle of the Times, and af-:
terwards in Hazard’s Register of Pennsylvania.,

To these conclusive authorities many others:
might be added, but we think these will suffice.,
It is now ten years since we first recommended|
the exportation of raw silk to Europe, and yet.
not an ounce has been exported, except that:
that which was sent to England, France and
Mexico, from our experimental filature in this)
city, though its success might well have induced
the experiment. Numerous improvements (so
called) have been made in the reei and none in
reeling. The machine has been improved by
those who did not know how to use it. As to
those pretended improvements our answer to
the inventors has always been the same: “ send
your improved reels to Europe, and your for-.
tune is made.”” But this advice has not yet
been followed, at least that we know of.

The importance of the art of reeling is not
less evident than its difficulty. We may plant
mulberry trees, raise silk worms and produce
cocoons to any extent; but the question still

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 225

recurs, what shall we do with them? They
must be employed in some manner or other,
or else they will rot in the garret rooms of the
farmer, and be a prey to the mice, the cock-
roaches, and innumerable insects. What then
is to be done? Some say we must manufac-
ture; but we cannot do that without knowing
how to prepare the raw material, and the proof
is that,as we have shown, our manufacturers
are obliged to import their raw silk from foreign
countries, because ours cannot be employed
without considerable loss. Our silk, then, must
be exported, until its increase in quantity, and
its improvement in the preparation of it for
the loom shall make it expedient for us to begin
to covert it into stuffs. At any rate, whether
we intend to manufacture or to export, the first
thing to be done is to learn how to reel. With-
out that we must eat our cocoons, as is said to
be done in China, or suffer them to perish.

The necessity of exporting our raw silk is be-
gining to be felt throughout the United States.
It was distinctly admitted at the late great
meeting of the friends of the silk culture in
Baltimore, and at that which followed it at Phil-
adelphia, and no doubt it will be so everywhere
else.

We have said that the exportation which took
place in the year 1830, from our experimental

226 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

filature in this city, was sufficiently encouraging |
to induce others to follow the example, though —
no one has ventured to imitate us. The silk we
sent to England was native American silk, reel-
-ed by American women, in the first year of
their apprenticeship, but under the direction
and inspection of the author of this work; nev-
ertheless, it could not be expected to be per-
fectly reeled, yet it was well received by the
manufacturers of that country. In proof of
this we give here an extract froma letter written
by Edward Molyneux, Esq., of Manchester,
whom we have already spoken of, to Petty
Vaughan, Esq., Mr. Duponceau’s friend and
correspondent in London. It is dated the 21st
ef March, 1831.

‘¢] was prevented by illness from attending
so promptly as I would have wished, to the
samples of American silk which you committed
to me; however, that isnow done. I have put
the silk through the different processes of wind-
ing, throwing and dyeing, and the result of all
is highly satisfactory—so much so that I should
think a fine field is open for the culture of that
article on the other side of the Atlantic. There
is no fault to be found with its quality, which
is superior to India silk, generally, and, in
my opinion, fully equal to that of Frioul or
Trent. J have had it dyed black, the color

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. Peg hf

which most tries the silk, but which it takes
very well. Some improvement, however, must
be made in the reeling.

‘On the whole, I see no impediment to the
growth of silk in America, and of its ready
vent, in course of time, in this country. Of
course a few years must elapse before cur con-
sumers get used to it, but this must eventually
be the case.”

Our silk was not sent to England to be sold,
but to be manufactured, as it in fact was, and
produced beautiful stuffs. Before it was sent
to Manchester to be thrown and manufactured,
and before it had been tried at the throwsting
mill, it was shown by Mr. Vaughan, to an emi-
nent silk broker in London, to be estimated.
The highest price of raw silk in England was
then 22s. sterling, ($4.84) a pound, and the low-
est 9s. equal to $1.98. Ours was estimated
at from 13 to 16s., (from $2.86 to $3.52,) a
very good price, fora beginning. ‘The prices
of raw silk were low at that time; they have
since considerably increased, as will be shown
presently.

Thus encouragement has not been wanting
on the other side of the water. Our underta-
king was much approved of in England, where
raw silk is in constant demand. It was an-
nounced in Parliament by the member from

228 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

Liverpool. Dr. Lardner, in his excellent trea-
tise on the origin, &c. of the Silk Manufacture,
speaks of it in this manner, page 319, note K.
London edition. |

‘The project of rearing silk worms in the
United States of America, has very recently
been renewed, and a smal! package of silk, the
result of their attempt, was, early in the pre-
sent year, (1831) imported into Liverpool.

“The President of the American Philosophi-
cal Society, established in Philadelphia, Mr.
Duponceau, has, for some time, been desirous of
encouraging this branch of rural economy, and
lately established a filature under the direction
of a gentleman, who having conducted a simi-
lar undertaking at Nimes in France is possess-
ed of the requisite knowledge and experience.

“The quality of the silk hitherto produced in
Pennsylvania is said fully to equal that of Ben-
gal: it promises to stand well the various pro-
cesses of dyeing, throwing and weaving; but
as might be expected in the commencement of
such an undertaking, the operation of reeling
has not been conducted with the requisite de-
gree of skill. The attempt has hitherto been
made on too small a scale for the projector to
form any satisfactory opinion upon the issue as |
regards its profitableness; and it yet remains to
be seen whether the Philadelphians are in pos-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 229

session of facilities for this pursuit, which will
counterbalance the high rate of wages prevalent
throughout the state, and which would other-
wise give a decided advantage in point of price
to the raw silk of Italy and India, even in the
markets of the United States.”

It is not a little astonishing that our first es-
say—that American silk, reeled by raw hands
from all sorts of cocoons, (for we purchased all
that were offered, good or bad, even those
brought by boys, who had fed their worms with
rose leaves and the like,) should have met with
such encouragement in England, the great mart
for that kind of native produce. Nothing can
be more encouraging if we consider it in a pro-
per point of view.*

As we have already observed, the prices of
raw silk have considerably increased within the
last ten years. All the nations of Europe, from
north to south, now turn their attention to the
manufacture of silk; those whose country does
not produce the raw material are obliged to
purchase it. Hence arises the great demand,
which can but go on increasing. By the last
London prices current which have reached this
country, (November, 1838,) we find that the

* We were also frequently interrupted by visitors, so
that we could not be constantly watching our reelers.

21

230 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

best Italian silk, (Novi,) now sells in England
at 33s. ($7.26) a pound, and the least esteemed,
that of Turkey, at 20s. ($4.40.) The best Chi- |
na silk sells at 27s. (about 6 dollars.) The best —
Bengal, which the English call Novi, to assimi- _
late it to that of a town in Italy, where the best |
raw silk is produced, brings, however, a less
price than that of China, it sells for 21s. ($4.62.)
The two last mentioned silks are those from
which is manufactured the pretended Ameri-
can sewing silk, which we have before mention-
ed. French raw silk is not mentioned in the
London prices current, because the French do
not export it. Their country does not even
produce enough to supply their manufactures,
and they are obliged to purchase a great deal
of the foreign article. They purchase annu-
ally of it, according to Count Lasteyrie, to the
amount of thirty millions of dollars. Dr. Lard-
ner seems to fear that the high price of labor
in this country will prove an obstacle to the
production of raw silk. The Doctor is mista-
ken. It will, indeed, prove an obstacle, and a
serious one to our silk manufactures, if we at-
tempt them too soon, unless Congress will lay a
duty of forty per cent. on all imported silk as
they have on sewing silk; but as to raw ae
there is not the least danger.

In France female reelers, (and there are none

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. pas |

others,) are paid from thirty-five to forty sous,
(American cents,) per day. At the Philadel-
phia filature they were well contented with
twenty-five cents, and we might have had hun-
dreds of them at that price. They were de-
lighted with their occupation, which requires
only attention, and their labor is performed
in the open air, but sheltered from the rain and
the too great effulgence of the ravs of the sun,
in the finest season of the year. They com-
pared it with their work in the cotton facto-
ries, Where they are confined, in the midst
of noise, and without the advantage of fresh
air. Girls, for turning the crank, may be had
at a lower price. Besides, fuel is abundant in
this country, which it is not in Europe. It
may be added that raw silk is of little bulk, and
will cost but little in transportation. These
considerations, to which others might be ad-
duced are suflicient to convince us, that the
price of labor in this country will be no obstacle ©
to the production of raw silk.

There is, therefore, no difficulty in the way,
except the want of proper instruction in the
art of reeling. It has been seen that there is a
great difference in the price of raw silk, as
reeled in different countries. It varies now in
London from $7.26, the price of the best Italian
silk, to $4.40, the price of Turkish silk, the

232 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

least esteemed on account of its imperfect pre-
paration. Have those who pretend that we
have attained the perfection of that art, by the
invention of new machinery or the improve-
ment of the old, and by the superior skill of our
reelers, considered this vast difference of near
fifty per cent. between the raw silk of one
country and that of another? ‘The silk reeled
at our experimental filature at Philadelphia, was
only estimated at London, in 1831, at something
like a middle price between the highest and
lowest, and yet it was reeled under the super-
intendance of a professed teacher. What price
do they suppose that silk reeled with their new-
ly invented machines would produce in that
capital? Why have they not tried it, to bring
their assertions to this sure test? And if their
improvements on the reel are so valuable, they
must know that there are countries in Europe,
where patents could be obtained, and high
prices given for the patent right. Every body
knows that there are consuls in this country
from the European nations, on the watch for
all improvements in the arts, who would not
have failed to transmit an account of those won-
derful machines, with the requisite drawings
and models to their respective governments,
who would have been glad to introduce them
into the filatures of their country. But no-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 233

thing of the kind has been tried; no raw silk
reeled by the improved methods has been sent
to Europe to try the markets and test its value;
and our supposed improvements have remained
unknown to the European world to this day.
W hat would not France, for instance, have given
for a reel so simple in its construction, that a
girl, not over eight or ten years old, may, after
a little practice, work at the reeling, admira-
bly well, * or for the machine which is said to
reel and throw silk at the same time? If such
a thing be possible, and has been actually effect-
ed, (which we permit ourselves to doubt,) a
large fortune surely awaits the ingenious in-
ventor, should he know how to avail himself of
his lucky invention. |
Besides, if we wish to derive profit from our
silk worms and cocoons, it 1s not sufficient that
we should reel our silk ¢olerably well, so that it
should command, if not an inferior price, at
least not a higher one than that of Turkey; we
should emulate the filatures of Novi and Fos-
sombrone in Italy, and those of Nismes and
Alais in France. ‘Those have risen to their
perfection by gradual improvements in the art

* Vetter of Chauncey Stone, Hsq., to the Committee of
Congress on Agriculture, dated Burlington, New Jersey,
February 1838.—Report of the Committee, April 20th,

1833, p. 25.
21*

234 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

and in the machinery; but there are men in
this country who contend that the same can be
done by machinery alone, without the aid of
experience or of practical knowledge. .

Since the power of steam has been successful-
ly applied to manufactures, navigation, and lo-
comotion by land, and since the most ingenious
machinery has been invented and improved in
aid of that power, the world, dazzled by the
effects which those truly admirable inventions
and improvements have produced, have been
imbued with the opinion, that machinery moved
by steam, or even without the aid of that power-
ful auxiliary, can perform everything, without
the aid of human hands, or, at least, with as
little of it as possible; we need not, therefore,
have recourse to the long and patient experi-
ence of Europe, nothing is requisite but to in-
vent new machines that will perform the work
alone, propelled by the hand of a little boy, or
a little girl, and the inventive genius of Ameri-
cans has already been at work, and is said to
have produced that effect! No one admires
more than we do, the inventive genius of the
people of this country. They have given too
many proofs of it to the world to admit even the
possibility of a doubt. But we will humbly
contend that were every American a Franklin
or a Fulton, they never will be able to effect

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. _ 235

this purpose. Nature has set bounds to the
ingenuity of man, which he is not permitted to
transgress. Machinery, however perfect, is
an inanimate things it has no eyes, no ears, no
senses by which it can direct its motions, or
change them at pleasure, it must invariably fol-
low the direction that is given to it, either by
a first impulse, or the directing hand of man.
This is in no case more strongly exemplified
than in that of the silk reel.

The operation of reeling or spinning when
applied to silk, consists of two distinct parts:
ist. The drawing of the silk from the cocoons;
2d. ‘The winding it on the machine called the
reel. This last partis performed almost entire-
ly by the machinery, the first 1s exclusively
done by the reeler, unaided by any kind of me-
chanical power. It is in this part that consists
the difficulty of the operation, and we do not
hesitate to say that this difliculty can never be
removed by any invention or machinery what-
soever. It is physically impossible.

Those who have seen the females of this coun-
try draw silk from their cocoons to make their
domestic sewing silk, fancy it very naturally to
be one of the easiest things in the world, and
to be hardly more difficult than the spinning of
flax on the spinning wheel. They do not know
in the first place, how much of the precious ma-

236 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

terial is lost by their clumsy mode of operating,
they do not know how much of it is to be lost
in the subsequent operations, until it is manufac-
tured into those elegant stuffs which cost this
country from sixteen to seventeen millions of’
dollars per annum.* They think that sewing
silk is the perfection of the silk manufacture,
because they do not know that in Europe it is
made of the silk of the refuse cocoons, which
are not as susceptible of the perfection of reel-
ing as the better ones. he thread used for
sewing silk is a coarse thread, which will bear
a strong pressure of the machinery in throwing,
much more than the fine organzines and trams,
on which the greatest profits are to be made.
Those who think so are not to be blamed for
their ignorance, since, as we have said before,
it prevails even in the silk growing and silk
manufacturing countries of Kurope.

But the making of sewing silk, or even the
reeling of raw silk for that purpose, is not the
object that we mean to press upon this country.
Compared to the others, it is trifling and incon-
siderable. We wish to see the United States
produce raw silk fit to be applied to the manu-

* Tn 1835, silk was imported into the United States, to
the amount of 16,597,983 dollars: in 1836, to that of
25,033,200.—Report of the Committee on Agriculture,
20th April, 1838, p. 1.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAT.. 237

facture of those elegant stuffs we have spoken —
of, and to do it in the best, and, above all, in
the cheapest manner, by saving the material as
much as possible, without which no profits are
tobe expected. In this lies the great difficulty
of the art of reeling, it consists in a good method
of drawing the silk from the cocoons, which
can be done only by skilful, dexterous and ex-
perienced human hands. With this the ma-
chinery has nothing to do, it does not assist the
reeler in the least, and, we repeat it, no im-
provement can ever be made upon it, that will
produce that effect.

The fibres of the cocoon are as fine as the
finest human hair, and, of course, easily broken.
They are not of the same degree of fineness
through the whole ball; itis well known to natu-
ralists that there are three layers of silk in the co-
coon, the first or uppermost is formed of the best
and strongest silk, the insect being then in full
vigor and strengths after two or three days he
becomes fatigued, his silk is thinner and less
perfect, this forms the second layer; at last as
he draws near his change into a chrysalis, he
spins a still thinner silk, which generally falls
with the chrysalis, to the bottom of the boiler,
and sometimes in the best cocoons is entirely
reeled off. Good reelers learn to distinguish
those different layers by the sight and by the

238 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

touch, while the cocoons are immersed in a ba-
sin of hot water; and in some filatures, where

the best raw silk is to be obtained, these differ-

ent layers of silk are separately reeled, being

destined for different kinds of manufactures. |
This is only said by way of example; there —

are a number of other details, which no less

require the skill and dexterity of the reeler, |

and are beyond the power of machinery.

As the perfection of raw silk principally de-
pends on the equality of the threads, which must —
be of an equal fineness and strength through ©

their whole length, that the weak parts may
not be broken by the equal pressure of the
throwing machine, which cannot be lessened or
increased at pleasure ; it is necessary that those
threads should consist, as nearly as possible, of
an equal quantity of the delicate fibres of the
cocoon. But the cocoonsare not all of an equal
size, and as we have said before the fineness of
their silk varies; it follows, that to preserve
the equality of the thread, they must be fre-
quently changed and their numbers increased
or lessened ; of this, the reeler must judge, and
her fingers as well as her eyes direct her in this

most delicate operation. Besides this, many

accidents happen in reeling, which she must
learn how to remedy with dexterity and skill;
we shall only instance those entanglements of

- SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 239

the silk threads, which are called marriages,
‘which we shall explain hereafter, and which
frequently happen from the nature of the ope-
ration. It would be too long to detail here
all that is to be done by a skilful reelers; but
we have said enough to show that no machinery
whatever can supply the place of her experi-
enced hand; and that she is not in the least
aided by the machinery of the reel, which, as
we have said, helps only to wind the threads
which she draws from the cocoons, nor can it
be improved to any other purpose.

Where machinery cannot help, steam cannot,
since every body knows that it only serves to put
machinery in motion. We are not ignorant
that steam has been applied with success in
England, to almost every kind of manufactures,
even to the art of weaving. But silk has re-
sisted their efforts... The delicate material was
injured by the rude aad blind movement of the
inanimate shuttle. ‘The project, therefore, was
laid aside, and we are convinced will never be
resumed. We are speaking here only of weav-
ing. In the operation of throwing, steam is
successfully employed. That operation consists
only in twisting. If the silk is well reeled, it
is simple and easy, because the tender fibres of
the material joined together by the reeler, have
acquired suflicient strength to resist the pres-

240 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

sure, and the thread is drawn by the force of
the machine to the part of it on which it is
wound, and is not as in reeling, directed to it
by hand, after being formed with discrimina-
tion and care out of the fibres of the cocoons;
if on the contrary, it be ill reeled, the opera-
tion of throwing is long, tedious and difficult,
and sometimes impossible, because the threads,
unequal in thickness, break at every minute,
and the machinery must stop to reunite them,
whence arises great loss of time and that loss of.
the material which is called waste. Hence
arise complaints of the manufacturer, the low
prices of ill reeled raw silks, or their entire re--
jection. The reputation of the country where:
the silk is reeled is also considerably injured.
The power of steam is also employed in large:
filatures, in the operation of reeling; but its)
use is confined to collateral objects; it supplies:
the basins of the reelers with pure distilled!
water, always of an equal temperature, whichi
is very important in reeling. It enables them)
to change it at pleasure, so as to keep it clear:
from impurities. It lessens the expense of fuel,,
and isa very great saving of troubje and time,,
as the reelers 2re not obliged at every momentl
toattend to their-fires to maintain an equal heat;;
it also adds much to the brilliancy of the silk..
Such are the effects of the admirable machine:

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 24

of Mr. Gensoul, of which we shall give a des-
cription in another chapter, accompanied with
a drawing. But it does in no manner dispense
with the skill of the reeler, as will be seen
when we shall hereafter minutely describe the
process of that operation.

We have no doubt that when the art of reel-
ing shall be sufficiently known and disseminated
through this country, American ingenuity will
find the means of further facilitating some parts
of the labor and saving some part of the expense
attending it, but until then we think that we
must be content with learning and adopting the
method pursued in those countries where the
best raw silk is produced.

CHAPTER Ill.

OF THE FILATURE SYSTEM AND ITS INTRO-
DUCTION INTO THIS COUNTRY.

This system which is generally followed in
Italy and France, has two objects in view:

ist. To provide constant and regular markets
for cocoons, and thereby to give to the silk cul-
ture that encouragement and support without
which it can never be profitably pursued.

2d. ‘To secure and preserve the best method
of reeling silk, and preparing it for exportation
abroad or manufactures at home.

The means employed for effecting these pur-
poses is the establishment of fi/atures.

FILATURE isa French word, which literal-
ly means spznning. When applied to raw silk,
it is synonymous to the word reeling. It is also
used to signify an establishment where reeling
is performed. ‘This word 1s not to be found in
any English dictionary that we know of, be-
cause the English having no native silk, have
no occasion for it. Dr. Lardner, however,
makes use of it, and we believe some other
modern English writers, who have treated of
this subject. It has become familiar in this

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 243

country, and we find it employed, not only in
translations from foreign writers, and in original
works on the silk culture, but in publie docu-
ments, and in the Reports of Committees to the
National and State Legislatures. We consider
it, therefore, as a legitimate term, and would
feel ourselves at a loss, were we to attempt to
substitute another for it.

Filatures are of two kinds:

Ist. Large or regular filatures.

2d. Domestic filatures.

Large filatures, are establishments in which
from twenty to one hundred reels are kept at
work. A greater number has been tried but
found too difficult to be managed. Sometimes
those establishments belong to merchants or
manufacturers, but in general they are owned
by individuals who follow no other business;
they sell their raw silk to the merchants or to
the manufacturers, who either export it or get
it thrown and dyed, and employ it in their man-
ufactures.

The owners of filets buy their cocoons
from the farmers. They have agents who travel
about the country, and such is the want of that
article, that they purchase or contract for the
crops even before they are gathered. ~Cocoons
are brought to them from more distant parts,
and never fail to be purchased. We have said

244 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

that the French do not export their raw silk,
although there is at present no law to prevent
its; on the contrary, they buy large quantities
of it, particularly from Italy; but the Italians,
who manufacture but little, export their silk to
different countries, and principally to England,
where, from its excellent quality and the per-
fection of its reeling, it 1s held in the highest
estimation.

- At the head of every large filature there is
"a person to superintend the establishment, call-
ed a director, or overseer. It will be easily
understood that the young girls at the reels are
fonder of play than of work, and that if left to
themselves, they will neglect their business and
do their work in a careless and imperfect man-
ner. But the profit of such an establishment
depends on the quantity of silk reeled in a
given space of time, and on the degree of per-
fection with which the work is performed. To
unite these two advantages, it is indispensably
necessary that the reelers should be watched
and constantly attended to during the whole
time that they are at work. The younger ones
are to be taught, and their faults corrected, and
the more experienced need also to be con-
stantly overlooked. From this constant super- —
intendence arises the perfection which is so

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. QA5

much admired in the silks of Italy and France,
and has raised their prices above all others.
Those directors must be skilled in every
branch of the art; they are generally educated
for that purpose and are well paid for their ser-
vices. Their employment is sufficiently labo-
rious. “ A diligent director,’ says Mr. Tinelli,*
‘¢ will promote a spirit of emulation among the
women employed in large filatures, and bring
them to an equality with their instructor. The
attention of the superintendent is constantly
given to see that every reeler, winds always
the same number of cocoons on each reel, that
the thickness of the thread be always equal,
the silk always clean and freed from all refuse,
and the water always of the same temperature,
and the same clearness. Every morning the
superintendem makes his inspection of each fe-
male reeler, as to the quantity of cocoons that
each one has reeled, and the quantity of silk
produced 3 not a single ounce can escape his
vigilant supervision. Further—all, or the
greater part of the skeins are examined and
proved, in order to ascertain the ¢e¢/e} and the

a S-Liints.2 pi) OS.

+ In order to aseertain whether raw silk reeled for or-
ganzine or tram of a cerlain number of cocoons, is really
such as it pretends to be, a small skein of four hundred

22%

246 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

quality of the silk.’ Mr. Tinelli might have ©

|
|
|
|
|

added many other things which are parts of the |
duties of the director of a filature, but which —
he did not, nor do we think necessary here to

enumerate. We have said enough to show the
importance of the oflice, and the labors that are
attendant upon it.

Thus these large establishments are admirable
schools for the instruction of young females, who
after having spent there a suflicient time to learn
the business, (during which time they are paid
for their labor,) return to their homes, where
they avail themselves of the knowledge they
have acquired, set up small filatures, and reel silk
for their own account. In process of time, these
domestic filatures extend all over the country, to
which they are at last an immense and never-
failing source of wealth. .

Domestic filatures seldom consist of more than
three reels, and sometimes of only one. They
are worked on the farms by the farmers’ wives
and daughters, who have learned their art at a
large filature; their expense to begin with is

turns of a machine, called a proof reel, is weighed, and
the weight that it ought to have, being known, this is con-
sidered a sufficient test. ‘The weight expressed in de-
niers, and doubled, is called the ¢ttle of the silk, which
is said to be of so many deniers. This is well known to
all directors of filatures.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 247

trifling ; they only need to have a reel anda
basin, which are not very costly. ‘There are
some farms in France where the reeling is
done by women who have not been taught in
the large establishments, but their mothers and
grandmothers were, at a time when the modern
improvements had not been introduced: thus
they follow the old routine and their silk is less
perfect than that of the others; but the great-
est number now consists of the pupils of the
large filatures, who, being better instructed, of
course produce the best silk.

It will be thought, perhaps, that the large fil-
atures monopolize the whole business, and that
there remains but very little for the domestic
filatures to do. But this is not the case. We
are assured by the merchants of Lyons in the
memorial above cited, (page 24,) that one-half
of the silk reeled in France is done in the domes-
tic filatures. Thus they mutually aid and sup-
port each other as it is hoped will be the case in
this country. In Piedmont, there is also a great
number of domestic filatures, but they are kept
under strict and severe regulations by the go-
vernment, to secure the perfection of their
work. We shall give hereafter, a transla-
tion of the ordinance or regulations to which
all filatures are subject, not with the view that
it should be imitated in this country, but in

248 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

order to show what are consided in Europe as
the principal requisites in the art of reeling.
In France there are no such regulations, the
reelers are left there to pursue their own in-
terests in such manner as they think proper, as
indeed must be the case in every free country.

It is expected that in the United States the
greatest quantity of raw silk will be reeled in
the domestic filatures; we are speaking here of
the north, for in the south, it is probable that
the rich planters will have large filatures on
their estates, to be worked by their female slaves,
but in the other parts of the Union, a few large
filatures will be sufficient to instruct the young
reelers, and domestic filatures will enrich the
industrious farmers throughout the country.

The domestic reelers sell their raw silk in
France to the manufacturers, and in Italy either
to these or to the exporters, who are always
ready to purchase it. It is paid for in cash, for
a higher or a lower price, according to the
quality of the silk, and the degree of perfection
of the reeling. Good reelers soon acquire a
reputation through the country.

Such is the system which is adopted in Eu-
rope, at least in those parts where the greatest
profit is derived from the silk culture, and we
do not know of a better one that we can recom-
mend to this country. Large filatures are in-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 249

dispensable, and they must be placed under the
care of competent directors. Otherwise, bad
methods of reeling will be introduced and per-
severed in, until, at last, the farmer will be dis-
couraged; he will neglect his silk worms, and
end by cutting down his mulberry trees. If it
be intended to make the culture of silk a source
of wealth to the United States, they must be
made sensible that the system of large filatures,
is the only one that can produce that effect.
We do not mean to exclude domestic filatures,
we would, on the contrary, wish to see one on
every farm, but without the instruction and
support of the large establishments, we are fully
convinced that they can never prosper.

If we should have convinced our readers of
the necessity of introducing this system into
the United States, the question then occurs,
‘Chow is that to be done?’ ‘Those who think
that there is no art in extracting raw silk from
the cocoons, that the machine does everything,
and that the methods used in this country need
not be improved, will find no difficulty in an-
swering it; but we who think otherwise, find
ourselves compelled to say, that ‘the art of
reeling must first be acquired.” :

Here a difficulty first presents itself, which
we are far from considering as of little impor-
tance. We have said that the English cannot

250 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

teach us this art, because it is unknown among
them, and whatever some of them may pretend,
it is impossible that they should know it, for
this very simple reason,—that there being no
silk worms reared nor cocoons produced in
their country, they never have reeled them-
selves nor seen others reel, and therefore cannot
be familiar with an art which can be acquired
only by example and practice. Itis certain that
if this art were known to the English, it would
greatly. facilitate the acquisition of it in this
country, as they speak the same language, and
their habits, manners and customs do not ma-
terially differ from those of the United States.
Intercourse would then be more easy, a greater
confidence would be inspired, and every thing
would be facilitated by the magic of a kindred
race, a common language and common ideas,
besides that, from the great intercourse that
exists between the two countries, quacks and
pretenders would be more easily detected.
But this must not be even thought of. When
an art is-known only to foreigners, it is from
foreigners alone that it ought to be learned.
The English, who understand their own in-
terest as well as any nation that exists, are well
convinced of this truth, and have acted upon
it uniformly in circumstances precisely similar
to this. Whenever they have wished to sup-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 251

ply themselves with raw silk from their colo-
nies or distant possessions, they have begun by
establishing large filatures and placing skilful
and intelligent foreigners at the heads of them.
About a century ago, being desirous of obtain-
ing silk from their then newly settled colony of
Georgia, they established a large filature in the
town, now city of Savannah, and placed it un-
der the direction of an Italian, named Joseph
Ottolenghe. By this establishment an immedi-
ate spur was given to the silk culture; mulber-
ry trees were planted and cocoons produced;
and history tells us that the filature flourished
and sent considerable quantities of fine raw silk
to England, until the revolution, which put an
end to it. |

Mr. Ottolenghe, was a gentleman of educa-
tion; his talents were not confined to the know-
ledge of his. art. In the year 1771 he was
elected a member of the American Philosophi-
eal Society; in 1772 we find his name in the
list of subscribers in the 4th vol. of the first Ame-
erican edition of ‘* Blackstone’s Commentaries
on the Laws of England,” printed by Robert
Bell, in this city; he is there described as
‘Joseph Ottolenghe, Esq., Superintendent of
the Silk Culture, Georgia.”? This shows that
a director of a filature is not, as some persons
have believed, or affected to believe, a mere

252 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

operative, a journeyman reeler, to be paid at
the rate of one dollar per day for his manual
labor. Of this the author can speak from expe-
rience. :

In their East India possessions the British
had pursued the same system; the East India
Company have established one or more large
filatures in Bengal, under the superintendence
of European directors, from which they now
import annually, 1,500,000 pounds of raw silk.*

Notwithstanding this, and all the attention
and care which the company have devoted to
the amelioration of their filatures, Mr. Badnall,
in his “View of the Silk Trade,’’{ tells us
“ the only silk calculated for the manufacture
of the richest qualities of broad goods, ts that
produced in Italy, or in the southern provinces
of France.” ‘This requires some observations.
The silk of Bengal is not equal to that of this
country. We have shown above, (page 226,)
that American silk was considered in England
as equal to that of Frioul in Italy and superior
to that of Bengal. Yet that silk, as we have
also said, was made, (amidst numerous inter-
ruptions from visitors,) of all sorts of cocoons,
promiscuously reeled, and not fit specimens of

-* © Lardner on Silk,” pp. 70 and 73. London ed.
F * View,” p..16.

~

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 253

that branch of American produce. Therefore,
we have reason to helieve that when American
silk comes to be properly selected and reeled,
Mr. Badnall’s observations will not be applied
to it. |

The English now import 1,500,000 pounds
of raw silk from their filatures in Bengal,
which at $3 per Ib., would make $4,500,000.
That is not enough for this country, when we
consider that we pay annually to Europe from
$16 to 17,000,000 for manufactured silk stuffs.
But it must be considered, in the first place,
that the business of producing raw silk is mo-
nopolized by the East India Company, and that
the hands which they employ are those of the
rude natives, who with difliculty abandon their
own bad practices. ‘‘ Bengal raw silk,’? says
Lardner, (p. 73,) “is distinguished by two ap-
pellations—country wound, and filaturess the
former being furnished by native adventurers,
who can employ none but the rudest methods
for winding its while the latter is produced
by servants of the East India Company, and
treated according to the most approved Eu-
-ropean methcds.”
In this country there is no danger of the
business being monopolized. If our system be
adopted, large filatures may be established in
every State, and the production of raw silk will

203

254 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

be proportionate. We have no rude ignorant
natives to contend with; the American females
are dexterous and intelligent—the imperfect
methods at present used in Connecticut and
elsewhere, will soon be abandoned, when it shall
be found that the sale of the cocoons is far more
profitable. Every thing, therefore, is in favor
of these United States, and there are no bounds
to the production of the valuable material.

We think we have said enough upon this
part of our subject. If it should be admitted
that in order to make silk profitable to this coun-
try, large filatures must be established, and for-
eigners employed to direct them, at least until
the art is so well Known, that we may be able
to do without them, the next question will be,
in what manner is this system to be introduced,
and how are we to begin?

We do not write this book to flatter the
American people, and to feed them with delu-
sive hopes of large immediate profits. There-
fore we have forborne all calculations of the
probable produce of an acre of ground planted
with mulberry trees, of so many ounces of silk
worms’ eggs, or pounds of cocoons, or of such
a quantity of raw silk exported forsale. Enough
of this has been done by other writers, and we
do not wish to imitate them. These things de-
pend on too many circumstances to be the sub-
jects of exact calculation. We have already

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 255

said, and we repeat it with full confidence, that
the introduction of the filature system will prove
in the end an immenseand a never-failing source
of riches to the United States. But it must be
purchased by temporary sacrifices. No profits
are to be expected in the beginning. Indeed,
it is our firm opinion, that this system can but
with great difliculty be begun, without the aid
of the National, or of the State Legislatures.
We do not say, however, that it is impossible.
There is nothing that cannot be achieved by
the spirit of enterprize, aided and supported by
patriotism and perseverance.

Some political economists are of opinion, that
every thing should be left to private enterprize
and that it is alone adequate to the attainment of
every useful object. ‘The aid of a govern-
ment,” say they, ‘‘should never be required,
and if required, ought never to be granted.”’
Whenever they attempt to reason upon the sub-
ject, they never fail triumphantly to quote the
answer of the French merchants to the minister
Colbert, “ Laissez nous faire,” (Let us alone.)
This trite saying, serves them in lieu of an ar-
-gument.

It is true that Monsieur Colbert, a minister
of Louis XIV., who was a sincere friend to com-
merce and manufactures, and wished to pro-
mote them by all the means in his power, once

256 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

asked the merchants what he could do for
their advantage, and that the only answer he
received was ‘Let us alone.’”? But it is easy
to understand the meaning of this answer, by re-
curring to the state of things in France at that
time. At that day the French government
was in the habit of vexing and _ harrassing the
merchants and manufacturers by edicts and or-
dinances which they called Regulations, (Reg-
lements,) by which they attempted to regulate
all the details of their business, even the length
and breadth of the stuffs that they manufactured.
Sometimes this was done from fiscal motives, in
order to increase the revenue, but sometimes,
also, it was the result of ignorance, and a busy
intermeddling with things that they did not un-
derstand. ‘The merchants were tired with
those always troublesome and often injurious
measures. ‘They feared the government and
its regulating system, and therefore they thought
that the greatest favor they could obtain from
the minister was that he should det them alone,
and in this they acted wisely; but if they
had had confidence in their government, they
would not thus have rejected the offer cf the
minister, whose talents they had not yet expe-
rienced; for he was, in fact, a man of great
abilities, he raised the commerce and manufac-
tures of France to the highest degrce of pros-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 257

perity, which the bigotted Louis afterwards
disturbed and nearly destroyed by the persecu-
tion of the Protestants and the revocation of the
edict of Nantz. -Inspite of /et us alone, he laid
out large sums of money for the introduction
into France of improvements of the useful arts.
The silk culture was the object of his particu-
larcare.. It was he who purchased of an Italian
named Benay, the valuable machine for the
twisting of raw silk called the throstle, or throw-
sting mall, which but ten years ago was entire-
ly unknown in this country, and is now, as we
have said, employed in twisting foreign instead
of American silk. He not only paid Benay
liberally for his machine, but gave him a pen-
sion for life and a patent of nobility.* Why
did he not leave the silk manufacturers alone?
Laissez nous faire !

In these enlightened times, the merchants of
France no longer say to their government, det
us alone; they do not, like the political econo-
mists we are speaking of, translate “ Don’t vez
us,” “ Don’t oppress us,” into * Don’t aid us,”
but they apply to the ministers for assistance,
and do not apply in vain. Thus, in the year
1828, the merchants of Lyons, in the memorial
we have so often quoted, requested the appro-

* Dictionaire Universel du Commerce, Verbo Organsin.

23 *

258 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

priation of not less than 600,000 francs,
(120,000 dollars) for introducing Gensoul’s |
steam apparatus into all the filatures of France,
and the author of this work was informed when
in Paris last autumn, that their prayer was im-
mediately granted, and that amount was dis-
tributed among all the silk growing departments,
and this, not to introduce, but merely to 1m-
prove the reeling of that material.

Neither do the states of this Union seem to
care much for Lazssez nous faire; for we find
them everywhere by their legislative acts grant-
ing bounties for the planting of mulberry trees,
the production of cocoons, and of raw, and even
thrown silk. We beg to be allowed to make
herea short digression, by some observations on
this system of bounties.

As to the bounties for mulberry trees, we shall
only say that the excitement now existing for
the importation of those trees, particularly the
multicauls, the great quantity imported and
the high prices given for them, would seem to
render any other kind of encouragement use-
less. Nevertheless, we would not object to it,
if connected with a good system of filature; for
with filatures there can never be too many mul-
berry trees in this country. Without them,
they may serve to feed the stoves and the chim-
neys in winter.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 259

As to cocoons, the best and only fit encour-
agement for that production is a good market.
Without a market they must perish in the hands
of the producer. And so they must, even if the
highest bounties were givens; for the farmer
after receiving his bounty, will not be the bet-
ter able to dispose of his produce by sale. The
bounty which the law of Georgia allows is not
less than fifty cents for every pound of cocoons;
this is a higher price than can be expected to
be given in any market, At that rate, the far-
mer may afford to burn his cocoons. In Con-
necticut, the bounty is fifteen cents, which is
a tolerably good price. But after all, it will
not help the sale of that article. We shall have
plenty of cocoons, but vo sek.

As to bounties for raw silk, we observe with
* surprise that no attention is paid, anywhere, to
the degree of perfection with which the silk is
reeled, but the bounty is to be paid for all raw
silk exhibited, without distinction or difference.
Thus it is the guantity and not the quahty that
is encouraged and rewarded, and thus haste and
inattention are called to the aid of want of skill
and knowledge to produce imperfect work.
The greatest enemy to improvement in reeling
could not have devised a better scheme to ar-
rest its progress and to perpetuate the bad
methods which unfortunately prevail.

260 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

This cannot have been the design of the wise
and patriotic legislators who have _ proffered
those bounties; but such will inevitably be their
effect. It appears that they have imbibed the
prejudices that too much prevail throughout -
this country, that raw silk is raw silk, however
it may have been reeled, and that machinery
can supply the want of skill. Need we then be
astonished when we see an honorable committee
of the House of Representatives of the United.
States, in their report to Congress above cited,
express it as their positive opinion, ‘*that the
dull, tedious method of reeling by hand, which
required a regular apprenticeship to learn, and.
years to acquire facility in the use of, has given
way to the new patent reel, by which a person
(even a child,) may learn ina few hours to reel,
with great ease and expedition, a much more
even thread than by the old process”? *

There never was, in our opinion, a more
complete delusion. We hope that when we
come to describe the operation of reeling, we
shall be able to convince our readers, if they
are not already convinced, that no machinery
whatever, were it invented by Newton, Frank-
lin, or Laplace, can ever supply the want of
the skill and knowledge which that operation
requires.

* Report of 20th April, 1838, p. 5.

=

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 261

On the subject of bounties for thrown silk,
we have little to say. We do not, as we have
already said, consider silk throwing as at all con-
nected with agriculture; it belongs exclusively
to mechanics and manufacturers. The United
States are not yet prepared for this branch of
business, and we have shown that the premature
introduction of it into this country, has resulted
in the encouragement of foreign raw silk, to the
great detriment of the native production of the
silk worm and cocoons. ‘Thrown silk cannot at
present be made an object of foreign commerce.
It will be much more profitable to export our
silk in the raw state than with the additional
cost of throwing, which could not be compen-
sated by the profits of the sale abroad, besides
that, it isin Europe subject toa duty, which
raw silk is not. We cannot therefore, approve
of the system of bounties applied to this article.

The necessity of the aid of governments to
new and important undertakings, particularly
to those on which the future welfare of the
state ina great measure depends, is therefore
admitted everywhere in practice, whatever it
may be in theory. It matters not whether it
be in the shape of bounties, of protecting duties,
or of money appropriations, all interests have
claimed it intheirturn. Commerce and manu-
factures have had enough of it in the United

262 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

States. It is now the turn of agriculture, the |
mother, the nurse, and the supporter of the
two others. |

Our eyes are aiatiratly turned to the national |
government for the aid which the silk culture
indispensably requires; but there is an objection ©
in the way which, we fear, it will be difficult
to get over. It is said that Congress has not
the power to appropriate the public money to
such a purpose, at least in the way that we
would propose. Every body knows that in the
year 1830, a bill was reported and recommend-
ed by the Committee on Agriculture to the
House of Representatives, providing for the in-
struction of sixty young men in the art of reel-
ing silk, so as to enable them to become directors
of filatures. ‘he author of this work was to
have been their instructor. Thus, by employ-
ing one foreigner in the first instance, the de-
pendence upon others would have been at an end
forever after. The bill, after depending in
Congress during three sessions, was ultimately
rejected in 1832, by asmall majority. The prin-
cipal ground of argument taken by the members
opposed to it, was the wnconstetutconalty of the
measure. It was principally opposed by the
Southern members, many of whom were afraid
that it would result in a system of high duties
upon foreign silks.

ad

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUATI.. 263

On this question of unconstitutionality we
are not competent to pronounce; but we may,
perhaps, be allowed a few reflections.

In the month of May, 1826, on a report of
the Committee on Agriculture, the House of
Representatives of the United States, passed a
resolution, authorizing the Secretary of the
Treasury, (who was then the Hon. Richard
Rush,).to have prepared “a manual on the
growth and manufacture of Silk.”” The Sec-
retary employed a gentleman of Philadelphia
to compile that manual, which he did ina vol-
ume of rising two hundred pages, and was, we
presume, liberally paid for his labor,.in which
he appears to have been employed upwards of
eighteen months, for it was only in May 1828
that the manual was presented to Congress, who
ordered six thousand eztra copies of it to be
printed, not for the use of the members, but, as
is stated in the “ Report of the Committee on
Agriculture,”’ of the 20th of April, 1828, to
which we have so often referred, for distribu-
tion,* by which we understand, distribution
among the people for general instruction.

Here, then, are two sums of money (no mat-
ter what the amount was) paid out of the pub-
lic funds, one to the author of the manual, the

*« Report,” p. 5.

264 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

other to the printer of the six thousand copies
for the instruction of the people.

Now we would ask, in all humility, what is
the difference between the appropriation or
payment of these two sums for the zmstruction
of the people in matters relating to the growth
and manufacture of silk, and that of 40,000 dol-
lars,. which, by the silk bill above mentioned,
and which was deemed to be unconstitutional,
was to have been applied to their zmstruction in
the art of reeling and preparing silk for expor-
tation. In both cases, the money was, or was
to be applied to the purchase of knomledge.
We are ata loss to know why that knowledge
might be constitutionally purchased in the
shape of a book, and not in any other form ?

Will it be said that in one case the sum was
comparatively small, and in the other more
considerable ? But it seems to us that the ques-
tion does not turn upon the amount, but upon
the principle. ‘The appropriation of one dol-
lar, if not warranted by the constitution, seems
to us to be as much a breach of that compact,
as that of one million.

Must we then conclude that Congress, in
purchasing silk manuals to diffuse instruction
among the people, violated the constitution of
the United States? We indignantly repel this —
supposition; but we are not so sure that if they

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 265

had passed the silk bill, they would have been
guilty of a breach of the Federal compact.

We do not profess to be learned in the con-
stitutional law of the United States; we can
only call to our aid our plain unsophisticated
common sense, when we attempt to explain
its text. For instance, we might, perhaps, say
that by that instrument, the power of regula-
ting commerce with foreign nations is given to
Congress in express terms. We might ask
whether the exportation of raw silk to foreign
countries, is not a branch of that commerce,
which Congress is authorized to regulate? And
whether precautionary regulations to prevent
fraud and imposition upon foreigners, and to
give a sure and a permanent value to that
branch of commerce, are not within the limits
of their authority? But we think we have said
enough upon a subject on which we do not |
think ourselves competent to decide.

The fate of the silk bill is truly remarkable.
In 1830 and 731, it is received by Congress
with apparent enthusiasm. In 1832, it is re-
ported to the House with a few amendments by
the Committee of the Whole, and the next day
it is suddenly rejected in the same House by a-
small majority, as it would seem, on the ground
of unconstitutionality, though it is not certain —
that it was negatived on that principle. In

24

266 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

1838, unconstitutionality is no longer spoken of$
the Committee on Agriculture, on the contrary,
in an elaborate report, tell Congress that at the

time when that bill was proposed, and with the

lights then possessed, it was ‘ wise, prudent,
and important’; but that ‘the subsequent in-
genuity and experience of the American peo-
ple, render it unnecessary.’’*

We have sought in vain for the proofs of that
increased knowledge and experience. We have
looked in vain ito the London prices current,
to discover the prices at which American raw
silks were queted. They are not even named.
At home, we have seen nothing but sewing silk
sold as American, but made of the foreign raw
material.. We must acknowledge that we do
not perceive that improvement, which is
thought to require no aid, either from the go-
vernment or from any other source.

Weare still of opinion, that unless there be in
the constitution an insurmountable obstacle, the
national government is the authority to be look-
ed to in the first instance ; because the object to
be attained is not only a perfect but an uniform
method of preparing the raw silk of this coun-
try, whether for exportation or manufacture,

and to prevent, as much as possible, the mono-

* Report, p. 6.

|

.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 267

poly of the business by states or by individuals.
It is necessary, also, to give a general impulse
to the silk culture throughout the Union.

If, however, the general government, for
reasons that we cannot foresee, should decline
giving its support to this most important and
truly natzonal object, the next to be looked to,
will bethe Legislatures of the different states.

Here we must not expect the samead vantages
that would have resulted from the action of the
general government. If the silk bill had passed
‘in the form in which it was proposed, we should
be no longer under the necessity of employing
foreigners. Sixty. young Americans would
now be fit to be employed as directors of fila-
tures. There would be enough to supply the
Capitalists in the north, and the planters in the
south. Their system, their method, and mode
of proceeding would be the same. ‘There
would be no difference between the raw silk
of Boston and that of New Orleans. But it
cannot now be the case. One state may em-
ploy a Frenchman, another an Italian, ano-
ther, perhaps, a Chinese. One may employ
a skilled director, another a quack or a pre-
tender, and these will not fail to present them-
selves; several of them have already appeared,
and some states have been led by them into
measures that have had no success. The silk

268 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

bill, by employing one well recommended for-
eigner for two years, was intended to prevent
the necessity of having recourse to them for-
ever after. Its failure, therefore, is justly to
be regretted. :

But this is not all. The states will naturally
act for their own interest, and not think them-
selves bound to provide reelers or directors of
filatures for the whole Union. They will cause
no more to be instructed than they will want
for their own filatures; the foreign director,
himself, will not be very much disposed to com-
municate his art, except to the female reelers,
who cannot prove to him dangerous rivals; that
art may and will, it is true, gradually make its
way through different parts of the country;
but the progress will be slow, and the success
various; in the mean time, the state will acquire
a reputation abroad for the perfection of its raw
silk, and it will be difficult to draw the business
from that channel. Happy the state that will
first begin!

But the states may not be sensible of their
interest, or will be unwilling to lay out the
money that the first experiments will require.
The business will then necessarily fall into the
hands of companies or of individual capitalists.
Here a narrower system must be expected to
be pursued; monopoly will be the aim of every

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 269

one, and the knowledge of the art will be still
more concentered in a small number of persons,
Every one will work for himself; foreign pre-
tenders will abound in the country, uniformity
in the process of reeling must not be thought
of, and every thing will be done at a venture.
Nevertheless, some filatures, like those of Novi
and Fossombrone in Italy, and Nismes and Alais
in France, will, in time, acquire a high reputa-
tion abroad, and the others will do as well as
they can. Upon the whole, whether the thing
be first begun or set on foot by the government
of the United States, by that of the particular
states, or by individuals, we do not hesitate to
say that the system of fi/atures, in whatever man-
ner it may be introduced into this country, is
the only one by which it may expect to derive
profit from the silk culture.

We cannot conclude this chapter better than
by inserting here some part of the introduction
of Mr. Pitaro to the third part of his excellent
work on the silk culture, in which he treats,
much too briefly, of the art of reeling silk from
the cocoons. It will enforce what we have said
on the importance and the difficulty of that art.

‘©We have already,” says the celebrated
author, “completed the greatest part. of our
labors, we have shown how the. silk culture

might be carried on with the greatest success,

24% :

270 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

but of what avail will be a multitude of cocoons,
if we do not know how to extract the silk from
them, with the intelligence, economy, and skill
which the various kinds of manufactures re-
quire? For what purpose shall I have written
the above treatise, if, contented with raising
silk worms and producing cocoons, you do not
know how to unwind these with skill, care and
economy, to draw and join together into even
threads the delicate fibres, and to do it with
the perfection required by the silk manufac-
turers? It is only when the silk possesses the
qualities and proportions required for the dif-
ferent tissues, that the reelers are applauded
for their labor, and both the seller and the pur-
chaser find their profit in it. Laborious and
intelligent men know how to acquire wealth,
the indolent, on the contrary, the enemies of
mankind, the apologists of falsehood, those stupid
beings, who only know how to waste the pro-
ductions of the earth, aided by the skill and
ingenuity of man; those, we say, will only reap
poverty and disgrace, and contempt will be
their portion.”

Thus far Mr. Pitaro. We will now, like him,
proceed to the practical part of our subject.

FILATURES! FILATURES! that is the constant
burden of our song.

CHAPTER IV.

OF FILATURES, THEIR EXTERIOR FORM AND
INTERNAL ARRANGEMENTS AND OTHER
MATTERS RELATING TO THEM.

We have already explained the origin and
various meanings of the word /ilature ; we have
shown the difference between the large estab-
lishments called by that name, and those which
are denominated domestic, and which are often
confined to the management of one single reel;
we have also made known the nature of the of-
fice and the various duties of a director, where
the number of reels requires that such a person
should be employed ; we shall not, therefore,
repeat what we have said upon these subjects.

The object of the present chapter is princi-
pally confined to the place and the buildings
in which large filatures are to be carried on: to
their external disposition and internal arrange-
ments. Much of what we shall say on these
subjects, will apply also to domestic filatures,
and the differences that may exist shall be pro-
perly noticed. It must not be forgotten that it
is from large filatures only that we may expect
to have well instructed and skilful domestic
reelers, and therefore that those important es-

272 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

tablishments require our first and our most par-
ticular attention.

The buildings or erections in which the reel-
ing of silk is performed are not exactly on the
same plan in Italy and France, at least in the
parts of those countries that we have seen. In
the north of Italy those buildings are walled on
all sides.* They are in the form of an oblong
square, two stories high: on the ground floor
are the reels and the reelers, above are kept
the cocoons, with the spare reels and other
apparatus not in immediate use.

An American gentleman,t who was at Sa-
vannah thirty-five years ago, when the filature
erected there by the British, under the di-
rection of M. Ottolenghe, and, of course, on
the Italian model, was still standing, though it
was no longer used for its original purpose, but
was a ball or assembly room, and sometimes
served as a place of worship, has been kind
enough to favour us with a description of that
building, as far as his memory could serve him.
It was a two story building, about sixty feet in

* Dr. Lardner, in his valuable work on the origin, &c.
of the silk manufacture, (page 182, London edition,)
says, that a building designed for a filature, should be
open on one side and walled on the other. We have
never seen any of that description.

+ William Ladd, Ksq., of the state of Maine.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. Wis

length, and thirty feet wide; the roof project-
ed slanting on all sides, to protect it against the
rain. From this description we presume that
it must have held from twenty to twenty-four
reels, at least it might have contained so many
with ease, (ten or twelve on each side,) but
only twenty if a part of the room was reserved
for the director, and the women and children
employed in sorting the cocoons, taking off the
floss, and other accessory or preparatory mat-
ters, which could not be done by the reelers
without interrupting their work. We do not,
because the room could contain so many reels ac-
tually employed, necessarily presume that there
were so many used, because that must have de-
pended on the quantity of cocoons with which
the filature was supplied.

We find recorded in history, that in the
three first years of that establishment, that is, in
the third year, there was only eight pounds of
raw silk exported to. England, which were
thrown and manufactured there, and a dress
made for the Queen, who was graciously pleas-
ed to wear it in public. This small quantity is
not astonishing; the colony had just begun to
be settled, the mulberry trees had hardly had
time to bear a sufficient quantity of leaves, and
the inhabitants, then, must have been very few
in number. We learn from the same source,

274 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

that in the course of seventeen years, (from
1755 to 1772,) there were exported to England
8829 pounds of raw silk, which, on an average,
makes a little more than 500 pounds a year.
This will appear very little when compared
with the quantities of raw silk annually pro-
duced in filatures of the same size in Europe;
but when we consider how small was the popu-
lation of Georgia at that time, we ought rather
to wonder at their having done so much. Itis
probable that in the first years much less, and
in the last much more than the average quan-
tity above mentioned, was reeled in that estab-
lishment. It is evident that if the Revolu-
tion had not intervened and put an end to the
silk culture and to-the reeling and exportation
of raw silk in that colony, Georgia would be,
at this time, a great and a rich silk growing
country. Their example is well calculated to
encourage us; if they did so much with such
limited means, what cannot be expected from
the United States in their present condition, -
with a numerous population and large capitals,
their numbers and prosperity increasing every
year, they must soon become, as we have often
predicted before, a rich silk growing and silk
exporting, and, at last, a rich silk manufactur-
ing country.

The French filatures are on a different plan

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 278

from those of Italy. Like them they are in the
form of an oblong square, but open on all sides,
and surrounded only by a low wall of masonry,
about four feet or four feet and a half high,
with openings at convenient distances for pass-
ages. T’he roof, which projects, asin the Ital-
ian buildings, is supported by strong, square,
stone pillars or columns. Thus the air is at all
times freely admitted, which is of great im port-
ance to good reeling. ‘The building has two
stories, both very lofty. In the upper story,
the provision of cocoons is laid on shelves, of
which there are several tiers, above one another.
In the winter, the building is closed by wooden
sliders; in the reeling season, there are glazed
sliding panes, which may be raised or let down
at pleasure, and serve to guard against the rain
in case of sudden gusts; for no reeling is per-
formed in damp or rainy weather. There are
no cellars; the fuel is generally kept in an ad-
joining or neighboring tenement, or under a
shed. The buildings are commonly on the es-
_ tate of the owner, in the country or in the sub-
urbs of a town, and not far from his mansion,
that he may the more easily attend to what is
doing there.

We will not undertake to decide on the re-
spective merits of thase two modes of erecting
filatures. Perhaps the climate or the tempe-

276 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

rature of the country, may require the adoption
of the one in preference to the other. What
is certain is that silk is equally well reeled in
Italy and in France.

The things that are indispensably required
in a filature, are the free admission of light
and dry air, and to be guarded against sudden
changes in the weather. In this country, where
the temperature is so variable, such sudden
changes are particularly to be feared and
guarded against. .

According to Mr. Pitaro, the best exposure
for a filature is north and south, as the clearest
light is thereby obtained. The next best 1s
south east and south west. It will be easily un-
derstood that we speak of the exposure of the
long sides.

Whatever be the length of a filature, its
breadth should be such, that reels may be
placed on each side with convenient intervals
and passages. ‘The Piedmont .reel is six feet
four inches long, and two feet 13 inch wide.
It should be placed with the great wheel or
hasp, towards the wall. A passage of two feet
should be Jeft between each reel, a small pas-
sage of eighteen inches between the wall and
each row of reels. ‘These passages being only
for convenience, they may be increased or di-
minished according to the size of the filature.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. Q277

A space should be left at one end, for the ac-
commodation of the women and children who
sort the cocoons, strip them of their floss, &c.,
and if possible, a small railed place for the di-
rector to sit in, with a table for him to write
on and take notes of the quantity of silk reel-
ed, &c. ‘These conveniences add much to the
facility of the business.

Our experimental filature in 1830, and ’31,
was under a temporary shed, erected for that
purpose, at the end of a lot about 22 feet wide,
~ adjoining the house No. 148, in Pine street,
between Fifth and Sixth streets in this city. It
contained ten reels, seven of which were placed
breadthwise, on one side, and three lengthwise
on the other. It had no upper story. It was
guarded against the rain and the too great efful-
gence of the sun’s rays by a wooden slider
which might be raised or let down at pleasure.
It might have been more convenient, but we
aimed at economy, and had not sufficient room.
We wanted a place in which to keep the co-
coons, which we had to bring from a distance,
and it occasioned a great loss of time.

We think that a large filature with all its
conveniences should not be of less than twenty
reels. Mr. Pitaro speaks ofa filature of four-
teen reels with a steam apparatus; we have
never seen any of less than twenty; this, how-

20

278 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

ever, is only a question of expense, of which
every one can judge for himself.

We have not had an opportunity to see domes-
tic filatures in Italy ; we have only seen the large
filatures at Novi, therefore we can say nothing
of the manner in which the farmers proceed in
that country. In France they generally reel
under sheds, which, in winter, serve them for
other purposes.. If good merchantable raw silk
is wished to be produced, reeling should never
be done ina close room; of course never in win-
ter. It may be done in the proper season ina
well aired and well hghted room on the ground
floor. At Nismes, and other towns in France,
where there are large filatures, when good reel-
ers leave the establishment by getting married
or otherwise, the owners give them every day
a certain quantity of cocoons to be reeled off,
which they do at their own houses. The
owner finds the reel, the basin, the cocoons and
the coals. They are paid by the day and not
by the job. As they are known to be excellent
reelers, the quantity of silk reeled is not so much
looked to as the quality. They generally do
the work in a lower room of their houses, well
aired and lighted.

We shall not describe here the machinery,
apparatus, and various implements employed
ina filature for the purpose of reeling; we will
treat of them hereafter.

CHAP TER.V.,

OF THE PREPARATIONS FOR REELING.

These consist of two things:

Ist. Taking off the floss from the cocoons.

2d. Sorting and separating the cocoons.

When cocoons are brought to market or are
purchased from the farmers or growers at their
houses, they are generally, and we might say
always sold with the floss on, the farmers only
pick it out when they intend to reel the silk
themselves; it is therefore necessary, before
the cocoons are brought to the boiler to be reel-
ed off, that they should be carefully stripped
of the floss or tow silk in which they are en-
veloped. ‘This is an easy task, and may be per-
formed by boys or girls. ‘he cocoons should
be handled gently, so as not to flatten or bruise
them, which would be very hurtful, and the
floss must be picked off from them so as to leave

them perfectly clean. ‘The floss should not be

thrown away, but carefully gathered and kept
for sale or for use. We shall show hereafter in
what manner it is to be employed.

The separation or sorting of the cocoons re-
quires particular attention. ,

280 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

Among a mass of cocoons there are some
which cannot be reeled without much difficul-
ty, and others which cannot be reeled at all.
There are also some the silk of which is pre-
ferred in the markets of Europe to that of
others, and commands a higher price. It is,
therefore, necessary to sort them before reeling,
and keep them separate.

The principal differences between cocoons,
are in their color and their quality. Another
difference has been suggested by some foreign
writers; itis that between the soils and climates
where the silk worms have been reared. This
difference cannot be of any great consequence
in Europe, where the eggs and the cocoons
generally originate in the same place or district,
at least in the same country where the silk is
reeled. Butin the vast territory of the United
States, there is such a variety of climates, that
this difference may not be without importance.
Ten pounds of cocoons are required in Europe
to make a pound of raw silk; in Pennsylvania,
eight pounds have been found suflicient. We
have even drawn one pound of silk out of
much smaller quantities of cocoons, particular-
ly from South Carolina and Louisiana, but as
these were only experiments on a very small
scale, we abstain from giving particulars, which,
perhaps, would not be easily believed, and at

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 281

any rate cannot be considered as general rules.
Further experiments will decide how far it is
necessary that cocoons from different states
should be separated from each other before
reeling. We will at present only speak of
their differences of color and quality.

' Ist. Of color.

The principal colors of cocoons are white
and yellow. ‘The white is everywhere pre-
ferred, and the silk of white cocoons, when
well reeled, commands the highest price. We
cannot too strongly recommend preserving only
white cocoons for reproduction; by that means
all other colors would in time disappear.

There are two shades of yellow cocoons, the
deep and the pale yellow. ‘The latter are pre-
ferred. In most filatures, however, in Kurope,
they are reeled together. There is a third
species, which 1s rare in Europe, but appears
common in this country, at least we have had
many of them in our experimental filature, and
reeled them separately. ‘ihey are of a pale
yellow, strongly titged with light green; we
therefore called them green cocoons. In Europe
we have always seen them reeled with yellow

cocoons. In the boiler they change to a dusky
white. :

But there is another species of cocoons which

25%*

282 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

we have never seen or heard of anywhere but
in the United States. They come from Mis-
sissippi and Alabama. They are of a dirty
brown inclining to red, which made us call
them, at first 22d colored, afterwards, however,
we changed their name to coffee colored, as they
are of the color of ground coffee. Under that
name, we sent silk reeled from them to England
and France. In the latter country no observa-
tion was made on them; of the green cocoons
it was said that the specimens we sent, reeled
off very well, though they were pointed at the
ends. Mr. Molyneux, our throwster at Man-
chester, wrote of the two last mentioned species
of cocoons, as follows, “‘the straw, (he meant
the green,) and coffee colors take the dye as
well as the yellow and white; still it must be
remembered that a prejudice will naturally
exist for some time in favor of the latter;’’ from
which we infer that the silk of those two species
of cocoons was not known in England in 1831,
when Mr. Molyneux wrote. We leave to fu-
ture experiments to decide whether these two
last colors, the coffee color, particularly, are to
be separately reeled, or whether, as in Europe,
the white and yellow only should be kept sepa-
rate from each other.

2d. Of quality.

The first division of cocoons, in respect to

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 283

their quality, is into good and bad. The good
cocoons are those which can be reeled without
any extraordinary trouble. These are divided
into two classes, the first and the second, which
good reelers will keep separate from each other,
because the silk that they respectively produce,
is not equally valuable.

The first class of good cocoons is known by
their firmness and hardness and the fineness of
their texture, the second class has less of those
qualities, which an experienced reeler will
easily discern. We have not recommended
this separation to the farmers, who reel their
cocoons themselves, because it is only done in
great filatures where the very best silk is to be
produced.

The bad cocoons are of two kinds, those
which cannot be reeled at all, and those which
may be reeled, but with more or less difficulty,
so that they should not be mixed in reeling with
the good cocoons.

The cocoons which cannot be reeled, are:

1st. The perforated cocoons, that is to say,
those from which the moth has escaped, leaving
a hole that interrupts the continuity of the
thread. —

2d. The thin cocoons, the texture of which
is loose, and yields to the slightest pressure.
Sometimes the texture of these cocoons is so

284 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

loose, that they are transparent, and are, to a
good cocoon like gauze to satin. ‘These are |
spongy, and when by negligence or inadvertence |
they happen to be put into the boiler with good —
cocoons, they imbibe the water and fall to the >
bottom. They must then be taken out, when |
discovered, and put aside, to be afterwards —
dealt with as waste silk. i

The bad cocoons which can be reeled, are of |
various kinds; they are reeled with much dif-
ficulty, and never so perfectly as the good ones,
therefore, their silk is only employed in the
manufacture of coarse articles. ‘They are:

1st. The double cocoons, called dupions, of
which we have spoken above. (p. 118.) It is
clear that their silk often intertwines, and
therefore breaks in reeling, which gives a great
deal of trouble to the reeler. It is because of
this extraordinary difficulty, that we have re-
commended to the farmers who reel their silk
themselves, to separate these from the other
bad cocoons; in large filatures the experience
of the reelers makes this unnecessary.

2d. Spotted cocoons, that is to say, those in
which the chrysalis has died from some sick-
ness, so that by its bursting or otherwise, the
silk has become soiled, and the cocoons covered
with black or éclored spots.

3d. Cocoons that are otherwise dereceive! ill-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. > 2as

shaped, or imperfectly formed, so that it may
be easily seen that they cannot be reeled off
freely. It is sometimes the case with those that
are pointed at one end, but it is not so general-
ly; the point must be very sharp to place them
among the bad cocoons, and we do not think
that it should be often done. We have seen
pointed cocoons in general reel off very well.
Ath. The cocoons called sattiny. They are
of a coarse tissue, furzy like flannel, and the
surface shines. We have seen some, but not
many in this country, neither are they numer-
ous in Europe. |

The French writers have given names to the
different sorts of cocoons. They talk of Chi-
ques, Choquettes, Cocalons, Soufllons, and a
variety of other denominations, which in our
opinion only serve to perplex. We have not
thought proper to adopt this nomenclature.

The bad cocoons which can be reeled, are
generally reeled together; those which cannot
are considered as waste silk, and are carded
and spun, as will be hereafter mentioned.

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF poe
SILK.

Brrore we enter fully upon this subject,

some preliminary matters require to be ex-
plained.

Equality in the threads is the principal re-
quisite in all raw silks that are spun at the reel,
by which it is meant that all the threads shall
consist in their whole length, as nearly as possi-
ble, of the same number of the fibres of the co-
coon. But those fibres are so fine and so deli-
cate, that it is impossible in drawing and joining
them together to preserve exactly the same
number of them, and a certain approximation
is all that can be obtained. Therefore, when
we speak of raw silk, we do not say that it is
composed of exactly so many fibres, but of
one to two or three, three to four, four to
five, five to six, six to eight, eight to ten,
ten to twelve, and as we increase in numbers, a
greater latitude is given; thus we say twelve to
fifteen, and fifteen to twenty cocoons, (one fibre
from each cocoon,) and when we come to
coarser silks, we say from twenty to thirty,
thirty to forty, &.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 287

This equality is required, not only for the
sake of the beauty of the thread, which, how-
ever, depends greatly upon it, but also, and
principally, to prevent its constantly breaking
in the operation of throwing, which occasions
a great deal of waste, which, as we have shown,
adds a great deal to the labor and expense, and
more or less deteriorates the beauty and quality
of the silk. The operation of throwing or
twisting is all done by machinery, a blind in-
strument, the force of which cannot be increased
or moderated at pleasure. Therefore the same
force which will only give the required twist
to the strong parts of a long thread will break
the weak ones, and what it does not break it
will either twist too much or too little, accord-
ing to the strength or weakness of the thread.
For all raw silks do not require to be twisted
alike; organzine, for instance, requires a strong-
er, and tram a weaker twist, and, in general,
the strength of the twist is suited to the pro-
portion required for the kind of stuff into
which the material is to be manufactured,
some requiring a very slight and others a
very strong twist. Therefore the greatest
attention is to be paid in reeling to the equali-
ty of the threads, and it is in throwing alone
that it can be accurately known by the great-
er or lesser quantity of waste, how far that

288 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

equality has been preserved. The value of
raw silk in the market depends much on the

reputation of a filature, in.this respect.

Mr. Boucher, in his letter to the Chevalier
de Pougens, which will be found in the appen-
dix, seems to be of opinion that it is easier to
reel silk from 12 to 15 and 15 to 20 cocoons,
than organzine from 3 to 4 and from 4 to5. We
have had a conversation with him, when lately
at Paris, upon this subject. He meant only to
say that the instruction of female reelers should
not be hastened, by making them begin with
reeling fine organzines, which might appear
beautiful to the eye, and yet be defective; that
though not so necessary, it was more dfllicult to
preserve equality out ofa great than out of a
small number of cocoons, and that by reeling
out of a large number, and striving to maintain
equality as much as possible, they would be
better prepared to reel off the fine threads, which
he admitted, was really the most difficult part
of the art, and that which requires the greatest
skill, care, and attention, as well on account of
the fineness of the threads, and the greater de-
gree of equality that was to be preserved, as
because they required a stronger twist in throw-
ing than any other kind of raw silk. We fully
agree with him in this opinion.

We will now proceed to the immediate sub-
ject of this chapter.

SILK CULTURIST’S. MANUAL. 289

We have, in the preceding chapter, divided
cocoons into four classes :

Ist. Good or perfect cocoons of the ae Class.
2d. Good cocoons of the second class.

3d. Bad or imperfect cocoons mich can be
reeled. :

4th. Bad cocoons which cannot be reeled.

It is of the silk of the two first of those class-
es of cocoons, that are made the elegant stuffs
for which the United States pay so dearly, and
for which it is the object of this treatise to en-
able them to pay, by supplying the nations from
which they are purchased with the raw mate-
rial, properly prepared and fit to be employed
in their various manufactures. The profits to
be derived from this source depend upon the
degree of perfection in the art of reeling which
shall have been attained in this country.

The qualities of raw silk to be produced from
these two classes of cocoons, are of three deno-
minations.

The first is called organzine, the second
tram, and the third sengles. We place this the
last, because it is not in so great demand as the
two others.

The silks, however, receive these names only
by a kind of courtesy, because they are not en-
titled to them until they have passed through
the throwing mill, where organzine may be

26

290 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

converted into tram and singles into organzine.
But this only happens in cases of necessity. If
the silk has been properly reeled, it is almost
always applied to the use for which it is intend-
ed, and from which it receives its name. Man-
ufacturers, therefore, give orders to filatures
for so many bales of organzine, tram, or singles,
meaning of the kind of raw silk intended to re-
ceive those forms in the operation of throwing.

Organzine is the perfection of raw silk. It
is reeled only out of the first class of the best
cocoons, It is that for which the highest prices
are given in the European markets, but always
in proportion to the intrinsic quality of the silk
and the perfection of the reeling. Dr. Lard-
ner* speaks of a quality of organzine, made in
the contiguous departments of Ardeche and
Gard, in France, which sells commonly for 50
francs, (10 dollars,) and some times as high as
150 frances, (30 dollars) a pound. It is em-
ployed in Normandy, in the making of fine
laces. We do not know that it is produced
any where else. We have seen that the best
Italian organzine sells at present in London for
$7 50 a pound.

Organzine is generally employed in weaving
for the warp of the most elegant stuffs. It

* Page 94 London Edition.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 291

should not be reeled out of more than from 2
to 3,4 or 5 cocoons. Our correspondent at Man-
chester wrote to us that raw silk, reeled from
six to eight cocoons, was in the greatest de-
mand in England, but fer what purpose it was
to be used, he does not explain.

The silk called tram is generally employed
for the waft or shoot of those stuffs of which
the warp is made of organzine. It is generally
made of the second class of the good cocoons.
it may also be made out of the first class, and
then it is of more value. When the rearing of
the worms has been well attended to by the far-

1ers, there may bea deficiency of the less per-
fect class of cocoons, which compels the reeler
to employ the best class. We hope it will hap-
pen so often in this country. }

Tram should not be reeled off (of goud co-
coons) of more than twelve to fifteen fibres to a
thread. ,

Singles are also made out of the second class
of good cocoons, and they should not be reel-
ed of more than twelve to fifteen fibres to a
thread. ‘They are called singles, because they
are not, like other raw silks, doubled in
throwing. They are much employed in the
woof of certain mixed stuffs of cotton and silk,
of which the warp is made of cotton. These
stuils which in our day were called cotes palis,

292 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

are intended for the markets of the West In-
dies and other tropical climates. They re-
quire but little twisting. We would recom-
mend this kind of raw silk to the attention of
this country. © These light stuffs might be man-
ufactured here, and would be a good article of
exportation to the Southern climates, with
which the United States have a frequent and
constant intercourse.

Singles, by doubling and a stronger twist,
may be thrown into tram of a good quality.

The silk of bad cocoons, which.are suscepti-
ble of reeling, is all reeled of from 20 to 25,
and sometimes to 30 fibres to a thread; but
it is difficult to unite perfectly well this last
number of fibres. ‘This is the silk that is em-
ployed in Europe in making sewing silks,
plushes, stockings, gloves, night caps and
other kinds of hosiery. floss silk is also -
made out of it, which is a kind of flat silk
much used in embroidery. And lastly all
coarse stuffs, vestings and other articles of.a
similar kind, are made out of this silk.

We have seen many articles of these various
kinds, knit or woven out of American silk,
and they have been exhibited as proofs of the
advancement of the arts connected with silk in
this country. But we regret to say that they
were made out of the best silk of the best co-

SILK CULTURIS1°S MANUAL. 293

coons, and of course, at an immense loss, be-
sides that they had not attained the degree of
perfection of those imported from Europe.
This made us observe in our essays that it was
like making kettles and sauce pans of pure gold.
This observation applies particularly to sewing
silk, of which we have said enough that we will
not repeat here.

We shall lastly speak of those cocoons which
are not susceptible of being reeled. ‘These,
whether they are discovered in reeling or in
sorting, are put aside, with the waste silk, the
floss, the ribs, the third layer of silk which falls
with the chrysalis to the bottom of the boiler,
from which, after the chrysalis has been extract-
ed, are boiled in a mass in soap and water during
from four to six hours, after which it is card-
ed and spun at the spinning wheel. This silk
is called jiloselle or flurt silk. It is employed
in making stockings and other kinds of hosiery
of the coarsest kind. ‘Those articles are much
worn in Europe, and being made of silk, though
of the most inferior quality, are preferred by
many to the articles of the same kind made
of other materials.

We will now proceed to the mechanical ope-
ration of reeling.

26%

CHAPTER VII.

OF THE REEL AND OTHER APPARATUS.

The operation of reeling, as we have said
before, consists of two distinct parts.

1st. The drawing of the silk from the cocoons
and keeping the machine constantly supplied
with regular thread.

2d. The winding of the thread round some-
thing that performs the office of a spindle.

The first of these two operations is done ex-
clusively by the reelers or spinners; they re-
ceive no aid from the machinery. In this con-
sists the difficulty of the art.

The second part is performed by the ma-
chine, which is set in motion by the turning of
a Wheel. 7
- The Piedmontese reel has, for more than
one hundred years, been considered as the best
for winding the silk drawn from the cocoons ;
various improvements of this machine have at
different times been attempted, but after fair
and repeated trials, they have been successive-
ly rejected as defective and producing par-
ticularly that blemish called glazing, which
consists in the threads being so badly directed

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 295

upon that part of the reel called the hasp,* that
they are glued to each other, one of the most
perplexing defects in the operation of reeling.
No nation of Europe has contributed so much
as the Piedmontese, to improve the reel for the
winding of silk; but this machine did not at
once reach the perfection which it has now at-
tained. One of the principal points which
first drew their attention was, that the fibres of
which the threads were composed, reached the
hasp without being embodied, that is to say,
perfectly united to each other. In order to
remedy this defect they first imagined to cause
each thread of silk as it issued from the holes of
the bow-bent iron, to pass over the circumfer-
ence of two cylinders. ‘This invention had two
advantages: Ist, to cause the different fibres of
which the threads are formed, by being com-
pressed upon the cylinder, and thus imbibing
their liquid gum, to glue them together and

* This name is given in France, Italy and Germany to
the great wheel of the reel on which the silk is wound,
the outer bars of which are called the arms. There is
no proper name in English for this part of the machine,
we have, therefore, called it hasp, which is also a good
English word, and, we think, appropriate.

‘‘Hasp, aspindle to wind the silk thread or yarn upon.’
—Todd’s Johnson’s Dictionary.

“‘Hiasp, a spun to wind thread or silk on.”—Web-
ster.

296 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

make the whole thread compact. 2d, that the
compression upon the cylinders lessens the
moisture of the threads, and causes them to be
wound round the hasp in a dryer state.

This apparent improvement at first took fa-
vor, because it gave to the silk a finished ap-
pearance, which it never had before. But this
method had also its disadvantages. The pres-
sure upon the cylinders gave to the threads a
flat form, whereas its perfection is to be as
round as possible. Besides, it was found that
this pressure was not strong enough to unite
completely the fibres, they were not sufficiently
dry, nor sufficiently smooth. Instead, there-
fore of those cylinders, they contrived to make
the two threads cross by twisting fifteen or
twenty times round each other, which is called
crossing; this operation is performed between
their passage from the holes of the bow-bent
iron to the eyes of the rampins, or more pro-
perly, the guides fixed on the distributing rod.
This innovation had great success; the silk ac-
quired from that moment a very different and
a far superior quality; the threads by being
thus crossed fifteen or twenty times over one
another, became round and compact on leaving
the point of crossing, by which the moisture
was much better dried up; it arrested, likewise,
the floating particles of silk which sometimes

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 297

rose from the basin with the threads. Thus the

silk was distributed upon the hasp in a purer
and dryer condition, and of a perfect, round
form.

We will not here describe a method invented
by the celebrated Vaucanson of crossing the
threads at two different places, to wit, below and
above the distributing rod. This invention has
been put aside, because the reelers cannot be
brought to use it, for the threads thus crossed
twice, are liable to be broken very often, and
occasion great loss of time. _

After the discovery of the crossing, the
Piedmontese added several other improvements
to their reels. They applied themselves more
especially to the perfecting of the distributing
rod and its guides, and to establishing between
the roller and the pulley, which was then fixed
at the end of the hasp, a proportion so exact,
that the threads should continually take a sepa-
rate position upon its arms; so that no longer
lying upon each other, they might not be
glued together. After the most careful ex-
amination, they concluded that they should
never attain the end which they sought, as
long as the roller should receive its movements
from the hasp, by the means of a cord with-
out end, because this cord, by the alterations
to which it was liable, and which were con-

298 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

stantly occurring, from the different degrees |
of moisture or dryness of the atmosphere, |
perpetually deranged the proportion estab- |
lished between the hasp and the roller. Be- |
sides, the cord without end, by its continual |
friction, gradually wears away the wood of |
the roller, and that of the pulley of the hasp, |
and by thus deepening the channels, causes |
an irregularity in the just proportion which |
ought to exist between them, and if the cord |
be too loose, it will slip upon the pulley of
the hasp, or upon the roller, and in either
case, the roller will not make its proportional
number of rotations; for all these reasons they
have abandoned the movement by the agen-
cy of a cord without end,* and have substi-
tuted for it four bevilled wheels, with an es-
tablished number of teeth, in order that the
advancing and retiring motion of the distribu-

* These improvements in the reel were made in Pied-
mont, more than a century ago; for in 1724 when the
celebrated ordinance was made, the reel had attained its
present degree of perfection: yet such is the force of
habit, that in some of the domestic filatures in Franee,
the cord without end is still in use. We ourselves used
it in our experimental filature at Philadelphia, because,
at that time we could not get the Piedmont reel made
without considerable trouble and expense, and we were
also much pressed for time.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 299

ting rod with its guides, should be permanently
regulated with each revolution of the hasp.

The Piedmentese have also increased the
distance from the distributing rod and its guides
to the hasp, and have at last fixed it at 3 feet
103% inches, (American measure, ) in order that
the minute particles of water with which the
threads of silk are charged, being longer ex-
posed to the air might evaporate and the silk
be wound round the hasp in a dryer state.

Every one will understand that the motion
given by cog wheels is more perfect and more
equal than that given by a cord without end,
ora pulley; the first is easily calculated, divi-
ded, and distributed in the desired proportion.
It is easy to determine and fix its graduation by
the number of cogs which produce the move-
ment, and thus be able to calculate those de-
grees to their smallest possible number; a per-
fection which cannot be attained by the other
motion, the cord without end or the pulley not
being susceptible of that geometrical correct-
ness which is requisite to calculate and distin-
guish the progr ession of such a motion ;_ ee 1s
as clear as it is incontestable.

A motion by cog wheels is much more mul-
tiplied and varied than a simple motion, every
one will understand that; such is the motion of
the Piedmont reel, as we are going to see.

300 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

In this particular case, in order that the
threads in reeling do not lie parallel upon the
arms of the hasp, but cross over one another, it
requires a motion extremely multiplied and vari-
ed to produce that irregularity, and this is pre-
cisely performed by the combination in the
four cog wheels of this reel, as we shall pre-
sently demonstrate. |

The bevil wheel, R, (see the plate) has 22
cogs; it gears with another bevil wheel, S, not
of 22 cogs, which would produce a simple mo-
tion only, but of 25. ‘This irregularity in the
number of cogs, creates, necessarily, another
one in the motion. The bevil wheel, F, of 35
cogs, which guides the distributing rod I, gears
with another bevil wheel U, of 22 cogs, which
is a second irregularity.

This double irregularity of movement which
takes place between the distributing rod and
the hasp, which moves all, forms also an inte-
gral motion, the effect of which is to imitate,
in the unwinding of the cocoons, the same me-
thed employed by the worm in forming it; for
it is a fact well known to naturalists, that the
fibres of the cocoon are spun on it crosswise,
and not in a straight line, (the foreign writers
call this z¢g-zag,) which is exactly the same
manner in which the motion of the Piedmont
ree] places the threads on the hasp, from which

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAI,. 301

this great advantage results, that the threads
which in reeling still retain much of their gum,
by not lying close to each other on the hasp in
their whole length, are not so liable to be glued
together; besides that the motion of the hasp
has already dried, in some measure, the silk
threads that are placed upon it; for such is the
effect of the well calculated motion of the dif-
ferent parts of this reel, produced by the admi-
rable arrangements of the cog wheels, that the
hasp has had time to perform 875 revolutions,
and the distributing rod 484, before the threads
return precisely to the same place. Conse-
quently the operation of this ingenious machine
is an imitation of nature, of which the industry
of the worm, instructed by her is the proto-
type.

All the above improvements, suggested by
long practice and experience, have brought the
reel of Piedmont to the perfection which it has
been so long generally acknowledged to possess,
and all the attempts to improve it in Europe
have been successively rejected.

We must be allowed to say here, that the
ereatest number of the supposed improvements
that we have seen attempted in this country,
~ were no others than those which had been thus
unsuccessfully tried in Europe; we do not
speak of those that are truly contemptible, to

27

302 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

some of which we have alluded in this work;
there are quacks and pretenders in every coun-
try; but it is well that it should be known that
those alterations, for we will not call them im-
provements, have not met with success any
where, and that the Piedmont reel in its present
form is everywhere considered as possessing a
degree of perfection which it is difficult, if not
impossible to surpass.

We will now proceed to give a minute de-
scription of this truly wonderful machine, which
gives unquestionably to the silk a beauty anda
quality before unknown, and which no other
invention has yet and probably never will be
able to attain.

EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE,

Ficure I.

The length of the frame is 6 feet, 4 inches, the
breadth 2 feet 13 inches out and out, the height
is 2 feet 43 inches; from the front of the bearers,
AAA, to the centre of the front feet, BB, there ©
is one foot and one inch, from thence to the cen-
tre of the hind feet, BB, 3 feet 103 inches. The
bearers, AAA, are 3 inches in depth, by 13
inch in widths the feet BBBB, are of the same
dimensions; 5 inches from the bottom they
are framed together lengthways and crossways
with braces, CCCC, of suitable strength, under-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 303

-veath which, boards are fastened in order to
form a room to serve to put the bad cocoons
and other things. The top of the frame is
fastened at each end, by two cross pieces,
DD; the one in front to be at least 5 inches in
width, which is called the shelf, and serves
to the reeler as a place to deposit her bunch
of twigs, and her cup of fresh water to cool
her fingers, the other not more than 3 inches
wide. Directly above the front feet, BB, two
posts, EE, are placed, that on the left side is 4
inches long, in which an iron pin, G, is fastened,
on which revolves a bevil wheel, F, called the
pinion, having 35 cogs or teeth; this wheel 1s
fastened to a turned piece of wood about 3
inches in length, which fits loosely on the iron
pin, Gs; upon this piece of wood an iron crank,
H, is fastened, which has 3 inches eccentricity,
in which the distributing rod, I, fits loosely 5 on
the other post, that is to say, the right one,
there is a mortice, or opening, in which the
extremity of the distributing rod plays. Four
feet and 6 inches from the front of the bearers,
AAA, two other posts, KK, are placed, about 5
inches high, in which the gudgeons, LL, fixed
at each end of the nave, M, revolves; this nave
is 4 inches square, the thorough length of the
arms, NNNN, is 2 feet 10 inches, the thick-
ness is 12 by i inch$; the four pieces, OOOO,

304 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

on the top of the arms on which the silk is
wound, are 2 inches square, and 18 inches long,
with a groove of three-eighths of an inch in the
middle, and both sides rounded off; one pair |
of arms are permanently fixed in the nave, but —
the other pair are cut asunder and placed

crossways upon the other, and fastened by two

wedges, PP; this mode is resorted to in order

that by taking out the wedges, the arms which

are provided with rule joints, may be drawn in-

to the opening, by which means the silk on the

arms will be slackened, so that it may be taken

off. At one end of the nave, M, is fixed a han-

dle, Q, by which the whole is put in motion;

on the other end, is a bevil wheel, R, with 22

cogs, called the /2tile bell, which gears in ano-

ther bevil wheel, S, with 25 cogs, called the
great bell, fastened upon a shaft, T, to which

another bevil whee}, U, with 22 cogs, called the

star, is also fixed, which drives that of 35 cogs,

F, called the pinion, by which the distribu-

ting rod, I, is put in motion. In front upon the

cross piece, D, called the shelf, a bow-bent

iron, V, is fixed, inclining at an angle of 45 de-

grees, with holes drilled in it, through which

the silk threads are led to and passed through

the wire eyes of the guides, WW, fixed on the

distributing rod, to the hasp.

_ Now, if motion be given to the horizontal

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 305

bevil wheel, or pinion, by means of the other
wheels and shaft, when the handle of the hasp
is turned, it is evident that this will cause the
distributing rod likewise to move to and fro,
directing the threads which pass through its
wire eyes alternately to the right and left,
through a range equal to the diameter of the
horizontal bevil wheel to which it is attached.

The remaining apparatus for reeling 1s very
simple, it consists only of a basin filled with
water, in which the cocoons are put, and a fur-
nace to heat that water to the proper degree.
The foreign writers have taken great pains to
prescribe the size and the form of the basins,
and the material of which they are to be made.
The ordinance of Piedmont requires, (Art. 15,)
that the basins be thin and of an oval form, and
even goes so far as to prescribe their depth.
This attention to minutia, shows how much 1im-
portance is attached in Europe to everything
that may in the least contribute to the perfec-
tion of raw silk. We cannot say that we allow
so much importance to this object; we rather
think that a basin large enough to contain the
necessary quantity of cocoons, and to beat and
manage them with ease, and of a material not
susceptible of rust, and not liable to soil the co-
coons or make the water foul, will, be sufficient.
In our experimental filature at Philadelphia;

hos

306 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

we had basins made of copper that might have
contained two handsful of cocoons, and which
answered perfectly well.

As to the furnaces, there is no particular form
required; in our filature they were made of
bricks and built on the ground in front of each
reel, and so placed that the reeler might sit next
to them with ease. Their height should be
such that they should not rise above the level
of the reel where the reeler sits, and their di-
ameter proportionate to that of the basin. They
should be provided with a flue or pipe to carry
up the smoke, so that it should not offend the
eyes of the reeler, and injure the color and
brilliancy of the silk.

But since the invention of the admirable ap-
paratus of Mr. Gensoul, furnaces are no longer
used in the large filatures of Italy and France,
but the water is supplied by steam to the basins
through pipes, in the manner hereafter des-
cribed. This apparatus has the advantage of
distributing a suflicient degree of heat to an in-
determinate number of basins, by means of a
single furnace. It regularizes the labor of the
reelers, it raises or lowers by small degrees and
with rapidity the water of the basins to the re-
quired temperature; it preserves the purity of
the water and increases the quantity of the silk
reeled, because the women, no longer disturbed

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 307

by the necessity of attending to their furnaces,
perform their work without interruption, and
with greater ease, and are not offended by the
smoke arising from their fires.

The following description of this apparatus
ig taken from a report made by Dr. Terme to
the society of agriculture of the department of
the Rhone, of which Lyons is the capital. We
are indebted for it to Mr. De Teste in his ex-
cellent work on the silk trade in France. An
engraving of it will be found in the plate, figure
2, which we have taken from the same work.

DESCRIPTION—FIGURE II.

_ The apparatus consists of a boiler provided
with asteam gauge and a safety valve; the
boiler is placed in a furnace heated by means
of bituminous coal. ‘The steam thereby gene-
rated passes into a main pipe which extends
horizontally through the whole apartment at an
elevation of about ten feet from the floor. From
this main pipe, descending pipes branch out lat-
erally, each of these is bifurcated, and supplies
two basins with steam. These pipes are termina-
ted by a tube, the extremity of which is perfo-
rated with small apertures that allow the steam
to diffuse itself through the water in the basin.
They are also provided with stop cocks near
the end, by opening or closing which, the spin-

308 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

ners are enabled to regulate the temperature;
when steam is introduced into cold water, it
produces a hissing sound that continues till the
temperature is raised to 167° F. From 178°
to 190°, which is the best point for spinning,
the water experiences a very distinct tremu-
lous motion, which, at 203° passes into a lively
ebullition; this is the proper temperature for
beating the cocoons. ‘These indications may
serve in lieu of a thermometer, and are so used.
by the reelers, who being no longer diverted
from their occupations yb the necessity of keep-
ing up their respective fires, as they used to
be, are enabled to attend more steadily to spin-
ning. The steam that condenses in the basins
furnishes a constant supply of distilled or per-
fectly pure water, which gives to the products
obtained by this apparatus, a marked advantage
over those resulting from the old process. A
comparison made by the committee, of hanks of
silk produced by the old and the new appara-
tus, showed the superiority of the latter. By
comparing these hanks with some of the first
quality of Chinese silk, the committee satisfied
themselves of the great and decided preference
to be given to that of French origin.

To this report Mr. De Teste adds: ‘This
mode of working by steam, compared with the
old process, shows a saving of three-fourths

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 309 ©

of the fuel, an increase in the quantity of the
produce of labor, which may be estimated at
one-tenth, and an improvement in the quality
and brilliancy of the product. Moreover, by
means of it, the white silk retains all its bril-

liancy.”’

CHAPTER ViIPI.

OF REELING AND PREPARING THE RAW
MATERIAL FOR EXPORTATION.

Havine taken the preliminary precautions
already spoken of, that is to say, picked the
floss or loose silk from the cocoons, sorted them
according to their different degree of fineness,
and separated the bad, the double, and other
imperfect ones, we will now proceed to ex-
plain the manual operation of reeling.

The kind of water in which the cocoons are
to be reeled is of considerable importance ; it
should be either rain water, or that which is
obtained from ponds or slow running streams,
and which has been a Jong time exposed to the
air; water which is called hard, such as that
which is supplied by springs or wells, usually
contains a large proportion of earthy salt, and
will not sufliciently soften the gum of the co-
coons; they will consequently wind off with
difficulty, and their threads be liable to contin-
ual breaking.

This water being put in the basin of the fur-
nace, X, let it be made just to simmer, but not
come to boiling. ‘The exact degrees of heat to

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. sll

which the water should be raised cannot be ex-
actly defined, for some cocoons will require wa-
ter heated from 168° to 190°; and others from
190° to 202°. From 178° to 190°, which
is the best point for spinning, the water ex-
periences a very distinct tremulous motion,
which at 203° passes into a lively ebulition;
this is the proper temperature for beating the
cocoons.

For the hardest sort of cocoons the water re-
quires to be more heated, but a less degree for
the others. However, the heat cannot be as-
certained until the reeler begins to spin, for
then if the silk comes off in knobs, commonly
called gouts, or lumps, it shows that the water
is too hot; it must be immediately cooled and
the fire abated. On the contrary, if the silk. is
with difficulty drawn from the cocoons, which
is known by their often leaping out of the basin,
the water is then evidently not hot enough suf-
ciently to soften the gum, and the fire must be
increased. It is evident, therefore, that all
those things are to be regulated according to
the experience of the reeler.

_ The reeler or spinner who attends to the
management of the cocoons in the basin, must
be provided with a brush of about six inches in
length, made of the finest twigs, or tops of
heath bound together, and made flat at the

312 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

brush part—two or three handsful of cocoons
are thrown into the basin, wherein they are
submerged, with the flat part of the brush, du-
ring some minutes to soften their gum; the
reeler must then press the cocoons with the flat
part of the brush. ‘This operation requires
care and dexterity, for if the cocoons are
struck roughly, their fibres, instead of coming
off singly, will cling together in lumps, and
there will be a great loss of silk and great trou-:
ble in reeJing them off. By means of this opera-
tion the fibres of the cocoons thus gently press- |
ed, will adhere to the brush, and will be drawn)
out by its means, when the reeler disengages:
them, and draws the filament towards her, until |
it comes off quite clean from floss or coarse silk, ,
which is called the 77s, and the fine silk begins’
to appear. These preliminary steps are called |
the beating. |
In the composition of the thread, the recler:
takes a number of fibres, according to the fine- |
ness of the silk that may be required of her, |
and delivers the compound thread to the per- |
son who turns the hasp, who passes it through |
one of the holes of the bow-bent iron,* | fixed

*There are four holes, two on each side of the bow-
bent iron, but one on each side is only used, and may be
changed if the reeler should find that the hanks on the|
hasp, are too near or too far from each other. But four
or even three hanks cannot be reeled at the same time.

i

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 313

above the basin. Another thread is, in like
manner, to be prepared, and passed through
another hole at the other end of the bow-bent
iron; the two threads thus composed are then
twisted twenty or twenty-five times round each
other, in order that the different fibres compo-
sing each thread may better unite together by
these mutual crossings, and likewise that the
whole may assume a cylindrical form, which is
indispensable for the good quality of the silk.

After being thus passed through the bow-
bent iron, V, and twisted, the threads are led
separately through the wire eyes WW, of
the distributing rod, I, and being thence con-
ducted to the hasp, are made fast to its arms,
NNNN, one on the right and one on the left,
so as to form two hanks. ©

Now, both threads being chp’ fixed, the
hasp is turned with a regular motion, and some-
what slowly, until it is ascertained that all the
cocoons yield their fibres freely and easily, for
it will happen that some of the fibres which
were taken to compose the threads were false
ones, because in taking off the floss, the ribs, and
loose particles, you may have taken hold of one
of these false fibres which will soon end in reel-
ing, and must be replaced, to make up the num-
ber which is to compose the thread.

As soon as the cocoons yield their fibres free-

28

314 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAI.

ly; a much quicker motion is to be given to the
hasp. This is, however, regulated by the reel-
er, according to certain indications; for if the
cocoons should leap up often, and beat against
the bow-bent iron, the motion of the hasp should
be slackened, and the fire increased, and if the
thread comes off in burrs, knobs, or lumps, it
must be turned quicker, and the fire diminished.
Of this, the reeler, who keeps her eye constant-
ly upon the cocoons and the threads, must, as
she sees occasion, apprize the person who turns
the hasp; that it may receive its proper motion,
which ought to be as quick as possible, without
endangering the breaking of the thread, or hur-
rying the reeler, so that she cannot add fresh
cocoons when required.

To keep the requisite degree of evenness
in the thread requires attention, skill, and prac-
tice. The reeler must not wait until the fibre
of a cocoon is entirely exhausted before she
puts on another, because as we have already
explained, as the cocoons approach to their
end the fibres become much finer. It is in-
dispensable to attend to this circumstance, as
well as to the breaking of the threads, in
order that the requisite degree of evenness,
without which the silk cannot be profitable,

may be preserved throughout the threads.

This gradually decreasing thickness of the

’

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 315

fibres is in such a proportion, that where half
wound cocoons, after breaking, are again add-
ed, two such are considered equa! to one that
has not been used. Thus the union of three
new and two half wound cocoons is equal to four
new cocoons, therefore if the reeler does not take
care to preserve the equality of her threads, by
adding fresh fibres to strengthen them, they will
break at the crossings. As we have already said,
she must not wait until one or more cocoons be
finished before she joins others to her threads ;
for by such delay she would not only expose her
threads to break, but she would make besides
a very unequal and bad quality of silk; and as
far as it may depend upon her, she must pre-
vent the threads from breaking; and when this
accident is too frequent, it may generally be
imputed to her carelessness or to her want of
skill.

Whien the reeler neglects to purge complete-:
ly the cocoons before the reeling, knobs of loose
silk rise with the fibres and stup either at the
holes of the bow-bent iron, V, or at the cross-
ings, and cause the rupture of the threads.

If she do not conduct skilfully the deating,
so that the cocoons be on all sides well steeped,
the silk will not wind off ; the cocoons will rise
with the threads and make them break.

The cocoons must not be reeled off to the last,

316 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

because when they approach their termination,
the husk or pellicle of the worm, is carried
forward with the threads and makes the silk
foul. When the silk is nearly wound off, those
small pellicles remain, and the cocoon being
then too light to continue in the basin, will rise
to the bow-bent iron, and if not immediately
removed would, by stopping the passage, oc-
casion the breaking of the threads.

It will not unfrequently happen in reeling,
that the two threads in passing from the bow-
bent iron to the distributing rod, will become
entangled with each other, and pass on together
to the hasp, and this, from the rapidity of the
motion, may continue for some time without
being observed. We call that marriages.
When this is perceived, the reeler must imme-
diately order the turner to stop, and then the —
hasp is to be turned on the opposite side, so as to
unwind the silk to the place where the marriage
began. When it does not extend to any great
length, the united threads are separated, and
one of them is broken off, and the reeling con-
tinues; but if it should extend to too great a
length, then a knot is to be made at both ends
of the united threads, and the reeling goes on;
when the silk comes afterwards to be wound off
on bobbins from the hanks, which is the busi-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL, 317

ness of the throwster,* those united threads are
broken, and considered as waste; therefore it
is of great importance that a reeler should pay
the greatest attention to prevent these accidents
which are the cause of considerable loss.

The supplying of fresh fibres requires readi-
ness and dexterity which can only be acquired
by practice ; and there are no reelers suflicient-
ly expert to give the necessary attention to
more than two threads at the same times; it is
proper, therefore, never to reel more than two
threads at once. .

In order to be always ready to add fresh
fibres, to replace those which break or come to
an end, the reeler must from time to time
throw an additional supply of cocoons into the
basin for this object. Even this little matter
requires to be done with judgment, for if any
of the cocoons should remain too long in the
basin, their gum would be dissolved, and the
silk would come from them unequally; the
same thing would happen if the reeler was un-
der the necessity of leaving her work for any
length of time; in that case the cocoons should
be all taken out of the basin, until her return.

Raw silk may be wound of any size, from two
cocoons, to one hundred, but it is very difficult

* See page 326.
28*

318 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

to unite more than thirty fibres in one compact
thread. The art consists in reeling an even
thread; for as the fibre of each cocoon is not
of one uniform tenuity throughout, the skill of
the reeler is required so to form her threads,
that the same thickness may be continuously
preserved throughout the hanks. This per-
fect equality is so difficult of attainment, that
the degree of thickness in the silk is never
exactly defined; and, with the exception of
a thread of two cocoons, which is so called,
silks are not distinguished as being composed
of three, four, or five fibres, but as we have
already observed, are said to be of three to
four, four to five, or five to six cocoons.
Coarser silks are not even so particularly de-
fined, but are called from twelve to fifteen,
from fifteen to twenty cocoons, and so on.

The reeler must always, during the operation
of reeling, have at her side a bowl of cold water;
into which she may dip her fingers; for without.
that precaution, she would be unable to bear
the heat of the water in the basin. With that
bowl of cold water she may also, from time to
time, as occasion requires, abate the heat of the
water in the basin. |

It is not only of consequence to the facility of
reeling, but also to the quality of the silk pro-.
duced, that the water should be of a proper tem-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 319

perature, and as clean as can be; and it is for
these reasons that Mr. Gensoul’s apparatus is so
useful in large filatures, and should be general-
ly adopted in establishments of that kind. As to
those who wish to reel their cocoons on a smaller
scale, it isnecessary that they should be told, that
the water in the basin must be changed twice a
day at least, when good cocoons are reeled, and
four times a day when dupions or other bad co-
coons are wound. The chrysalides and husks
contained in the cocoons very speedily make the
water foul, and, for that reason, these frequent
changes are needed; for if the water employed
be not very clear, it will be in vain to look for
the production of fine, brilliant silk.

Two hanks are wound upon the hasp at the
same time; when these are completed, they are
set in the shade to dry, without being removed
from the hasp, which, for this purpose, can be
readily disengaged from the frame. These two
hanks will occupy the morning’s labor. In the
afternoon a fresh hasp is employed, and two
other hanks are wound, which are set apart un-
til the morning, that they may be dry before
_ they are removed from the hasp.

Although this operation needs no instruction,
yet we shall take occasion here to mention some
things which will be found useful.

One cannot consider attentively the manner

320 SILK CULTURIST S MANUAL.

in which the silk is reeled from the cocoons,
without observing that the fine fibres of which
the thread is composed, are liable to suffer
very different degrees of stretching, as they
are winding from the cocoons. If the cocoons _
are not well sorted, this different degree of ex-
tension will be greater, and, even when they
are well sorted, they are still subject to dif-
ferent stretching, because some always remain a
little longer in the hot water than others, and
therefore yield their silk more easily, and also,
because the finest fibres of some cocoons wind
off with the strongest of others.

The fibres being thus stretched unequally,
will occasion (when the hank is taken from
the hasp too suddenly,) those fibres which are
most stretched, to contract more than others,
by which their union will be in some measure
destroyed, and the thread composed of them,
rendered less compact and firm, the single
fibres appearing in several places disjoined from
one another.

To prevent this, the reeled silk, should not
be suddenly taken off the hasp, but remain on
it until the unequal extension which it suffered
in winding, is, by the stretching which it un-
dergoes, brought as much as possible to an
equality, and until the thread by being well ©
dried, has all the fibres of which it is com-

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 321

posed, firmly united. This is only effected by
having two hasps for each reel, so that when
one is full, the reeler may proceed to wind
upon the other.

When the skeins are quite dry, ‘and while
they remain on the hasp, they must be well
cleared of all knots, or gouts, loose threads, (if
any there be,) and other impurities; this must
be done with the hand alone, any other mode
is expressly prohibited by the ordinance of
Piedmont, as will be seen in the tenth chapter;
after this, the silk is taken off by taking out the
wedges, and folding the arms. Before that,
each skein is then to be tied round in two
places with some of the refuse silk, it is after-
wards doubled into a hank, and is considered
ready for use or sale.

We repeat here that evenness of thread, and
the absence of knobs or gouts, which, among
manufacturers give to silk the name of being
foul, are the leading points which determine

its value in the market.

As to the floss, coarse and lcose silk which was
on the outside of the cocoons, it is carded and

spun on the wheel; as is also the third layer of
the cocoons, being first softened in water and
soap. We need not give any information to the
farmers as to the manner of performing this ope-
ration; they are sufficiently familiar with it.

322 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

The further management of silk, with the
various manners in ae it is thrown, and pre-
pared to be woven, do not come within the per-
view of this treatise, but will, nevertheless, be
briefly explained in the next chapter.

Sorting the silks for exportation is a subject
which will require great attention and care.
In the year 1774, when a filature was establish-
ed at Philadelphia, under the patronage of the
American Philosophical Society, at the sugges-
tion of the illustrious Franklin, Dr. John Mor- .
gan, an active and zealous member of that insti-
tution, carried on a correspondence on the sub-
ject of silk, with Messrs. Hare and Skinner,
then respectable silk merchants in London,
Two of those gentlemen’s letters were pub-
lished in 1785, (alas, too late, for the filature
had then disappeared, ) in the transactions of the
Society.* In one of those letters, dated July
27,1774, Messrs. Hare and Skinner write as fol-
lows: “The large quantity of raw silk that con-
tinually arrives from China every year, being
mostly of a round or large size, will a good deal
interfere with the sale of yours, provided you
make it of the same; therefore, we by all means
recommend your reeling yours of the fineness
of five or six cocoons, no coarser at any rate, if

* Vol. ii, p. 347.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. aoa

avoidable. And we further beg leave to re-
commend your giving orders to your workmen
to be extremely careful in assorting the silk,
observing that all that is put into one parcel,
be exactly, if possible, of the same fineness, for
if it is not, it will very much prejudice its sale;
a neglect in this particular, is complained of in
all the silk that has hitherto been received from
America. If the silk, which was very good in
itself, that we received from Georgia, had been
properly assorted, we certainly should have sold
it 1s. 6d., or 2s., per pound, better than we did.
If you reel your silk fine, the China silk will
rather promote its sale than otherwise, as it is
necessary to have fine silk to work up with
that of China.”’ 3

This letter is suited to the time in which it
was written. If large filatures should be estab-
lished in this country, the managers will do
well to follow the instructions of their corres-
pondents in England and France as to the quali-
ties of silk that are to be sent, as they vary with
the different stuffs which are made in the manu-
factories, and these depend upon the fashions
of the day.

But the reeling and sending proper assort-
ments of raw silk, will require tne greatest at-
tention. Ifa bale of that article should contain

silks of various dcscriptions, without attention

324 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

to what may be wanted, it will give infinite
trouble to sort them afterwards, and will great-
ly lessen the price of the article. The reelers,
therefore, when they leave a filature to set up
for themselves, should be instructed as to the
qualities of silk that will be wanted of them,
otherwise they will work at a venture, and
those who purchase their silk will be at a loss
what to do with it. This, alone, is sufficient to
show the advantage of large filatures, which
will serve as guides to the domestic reelers, fa-
cilitate their work, and increase their profits.

CHAPTER IX,

OF THE PROGRESS OF RAW SILK UNTIL IT
COMES TO THE HANDS OF THE MANU-
FACTURER.

We do not mean in this chapter to instruct
the reader in the various arts to the operation
of which our precious material is subjected af-
ter it comes out of the hands of the reeler,
when, and not before, it becomes entitled to the
denomination of raw silk. We have already
said that those different operations have nothing
to do with agriculture, and that they belong to
different mechanical trades or professions. Our
object is simply to show the different changes
which silk undergoes after reeling, until it comes
to be manufactured into an immense variety of
forms, which require different preparations, as
well in the reeling as in the throwing of the
delicate material. We also wish to show the
impossibility of performing any one of these
operations at the same time with reeling and
by the same machinery, and that the so much
spoken of machine, which is said to reel and
twist silk at the same time, is either the produc-
tion of imposture or of ingenious ignorance.

29

326 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

From the filature, the silk, after being pro- |
perly reeled, and the hanks dried, cleaned and =
made up in the manner above directed, passes»
into the hands of the ¢hromwster, to be converted |
into what is called organzined, or thrown silk.
The principal operation here is ¢westing, which |
is done by means of the throwing mill or ma-
chine, which is very complicated and fills a.
large room. But before the silk is put to the:
mill, it is to receive several preparations, by |
means of separate subordinate machinery. |
Those preparations are : |

ist. Winding on bobbins. The raw silk,,
which the throwster receives in hanks, is now
wound upon bobbins for the facility of twisting. |
This is done by means of what is called a wand-
ing machine, consisting of several slight reels:
all of the same form called swzfts. They are
placed at some distance from each other, so that:
several hanks may be wound at the same time. .
Dr. Lardner has given a drawing of one of those:
swifts, in his Treatise on the Silk Manufacture, ,
page 199, Lond. dit.

2nd. Cleaning or purging. Dr. Lardner does |
not speak of this second operation, for what.
reason we know nots but we have seen it con-
stantly performed in France, in the throwing}
establishments, and it seems to be absolutely
necessary, because silk, particularly that of the

\

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 327

domestic filatures, seldom comes to the throw-
ster perfectly free from knobs or gouts, and other
impurities. These are removed by means of

_an instrument called the cleaner, of which we

have not seen a description any where.

3rd. Doubling. This operation is that of
joining two or more threads of the same silk to-
gether, according to the nature of the different
fabrics in which it is to be employed. Some
silks receive, before this operation, a slight
degree of twisting at the mill, and a stronger
one afterwards. All silks do not require the
same degree of twisting, nor are they all to be
twisted in the same manner, but some ina right
hand, some in a left hand direction, and others
in both directions. See Lardner, pp. 203, 204,

where a drawing of the doubling machine is

given.

The silk is now ready for its final twist. This
operation needs not be deseribed. Those who
are curious of knowing it, will find a descrip-
tion of it with drawings, in Lardner’s interest-
ing work.

From the throwster, the silk goes to the dyer,
who first boils it in soap and water, to dissolve the
gum that still adheres to it; afterwards he dyes
it of various colours, and hands it over to the
manufacturer, who weaves it into different stuffs. ©
Sewing silk, however, is perfect, after it is

328 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

thrown and dyed. It is then fit for use and re-
quires nothing to be added to its so that the
manufacturer of sewing silk is properly the
throwster. Itis easy now to perceive that even |
sewing silk cannot be made. at the same time,
nor by the same machinery which is employed
to prepare raw silk. Much less can organ-
zine, tram or singles, beso twisted, that are des-
tined for the making of different stuffs, most
of which require a different mode and degree
of twisting.

CHAPTER X.
PIEDMONTESE ORDINANCE,
CONCERNING FILATURES AND SILK REELS,
Of the 8th of April, 1724.

Articue Il. Every one who shall wish to esta-
blish a filature of silk, whatever may be his
quality, shall every year before he puts his fila-
ture into operation, present himself at the office
of the Secretary of the Consulate, if he (the
owner) lives in the city of Turin or its districts,
and at the office of the ordinary judge, if he
lives in another town or village, and there shall
make his declaration, and bind himself to ob-
serve and cause to be observed, the following
regulations, under the penalty of losing the
reeled silks or their value for want of such de-
claration and engagement.

The Secretary of the Consulate shall keepa
particular register of the declarations for the
District of Turin.

The ordinary judges shall transmit the de-
clarations made before them to the said Secre-
tary, within fifteen days after they shall have
been made, otherwise they shall pay the costs
and chargesof the commissioners whom that

*29

~ 330 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

‘ magistrate shall be obliged to send upon the
spot to receive them.

Of these the Secretary shall keep a separate
record.

In case those declarations shall be made by
the servants and not by the owners of filatures,
the latter shall be civilly responsible for such
declarations.

ArT. II. Every filature of more than three
reels, shall while in operation, be superintended
by an able and skillful person who shall watch
over the observation of the following regula-
tions. ‘The owner shall make him known to the
Secretary or to the ordinary judge, under the
penalty of 25 golden crowns, (about $45.)

Art. III. In order to reel silk, the good co-
coons must first be separated from the double,
spotted and imperfect ones; the floss must be
cleanly taken off, and the various qualities must
be reeled separately from each other, putting in-
to the basins a sufficient number of cocoons, ac-
cording to the quality that is to be reeled; the
reeler must besides be very attentive to her
work, that the thread be drawn perfectly equal;
the whole under the penalty of 25 crowns, to be
paid by the owner or those of his servants who
shall be present and consent to a similar mixture,
and of ten livres Piedmont, (about 2 dollars) to
be paid by the reelers for each contravention.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 331

Art. IV. The silks must be spun of two
threads only, so that there be on the hasp no
more than two hanks; ‘those threads must be
crossed at least 15 times for fine and superfine
silks, and for other silks a greater number of
times, according to their respective qualities ;
for the thicker and coarser the silks are, the of-
tener must they be crossed, which must not be
done while the hasp isturning. Whenever the
threads shall meet, and roll up thus doubled in-
toa single thread, on one of the two hanks, the
hasp must be turned in the contrary sense until
the place shall be found where the threads be-
gan to be joined, and the double thread, must
be placed in the middle of the hasp between
the two hanks, so as to form a little band which
will serve afterwards to tie up the said hanks;
it being forbidden to tie them up with any thing
else under the above penalties, besides the loss
of the silk.

Art. V. All the silks must come out well
purged, very clean and very equal, according
to their respective qualities.

Art. VI. The posts between which the hasp
is fixed, and those which support the distribut-
ing rod ought to be placed at the distance of
two Piedmontese feet, (equal to three feet 103
inches American measure,) from each other, so
that from the hasp to the guides there be a suf-

332 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

ficient distance, that the crossed threads, as has
been said above, may come to the hasp drier
and in better condition: all that under the
penalty of 25 livres for every reel otherwise
disposed, to be paid by the owner of the filature.

Art. VII. The hasp shall be of no more than 48
nor less than 40 ounces (a Piedmontese measure)
in circumference. Nevertheless all the hasps
of the same filature, shall have an uniform cir-
cumference, under the above penalty of 25
livres, &c.

Art. VIII. The hanks shall not be taken from
the hasp until they are perfectly dry; and
therefore every reel shall be provided with two
hasps and with four, if the reel is double, under
the above penalty.

Art. IX. The hanks of the first and the
second quality shall not weigh more than 3 or
A ounces each; nor those of the third and fourth
quality more than from 6 to 8 ounces, under
the above penalty.

Art. X. Each hank as soon as it is taken
off the hasp, shall be folded with two folds
only; and shall not be tied with threads, nor with
waste nor floss silk ; one end of the hank shall
only be passed through the other, so that it may
easily be known whether there is any fraud,
and whether the reeling has been done accord-
ing to this ordinance ; all this under the above -
penalty.

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL. 333

Art. XI. The water of the boilers must be
changed three times in a day; at the same
time the cocoons must be well cleared of their
floss, in order that the silk may come out
clean, equal, and without floss, as there must
come out of each ub of cocoons (18 pounds and
12 oz. French) at least about one pound of floss,
regard being had to the quality of the cocoons,
and this under the penalty of 10 livres for each,
contravention, to be paid by the reelers.

_ Arr. XII. (This article is merely fiscal.)

Arr. XIII. The reelers shall be paid by the
day, and not by the job. In case of contraven-
tion the owner shall lose all the silk reeled, and
the reeler shall pay a fine of 20 livres, be-
sides the loss of her salary.

Art. XIV. Every furnace shall be provided
with a pipe or flue, of a sufficient height that
the smoke may not fall on the hasp, under the
penalty of 25 livres to be paid by the owners.

Art. XV. The boilers or basins must be
oval and thin, and a quarter of a ras deep,
(one foot American measure) each provid-
ed with a wooden cover. The reels shall
have two sets of cog-wheels. The large hori-
zontal wheel, or pinion, which moves the dis-
tributing rod, shall have 35 cogs or teeth; the
one underneath called the star shall have 22;
the one next to the nave of the hasp called the

304 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

great bell, shall have 25 teeth; and the one fixed —

to the centre of the nave, called the Uttle dell,
shall have 22. That machinery must always
be kept in good condition, it is expressly prohi-
bited to make use of reels with a cord without
end; the whole under the above penalty of 25
livres.

Art. XVI. Every reel employed in spinning
silk of the first and second qualities, shall have
a skillful person to turn the hasp, to whom it is
prohibited to do it with the feet, under the pe-
nalty of 5 livres.

Art. XVII. It shall not be lawful for the
reelers or any one else to cleanse the silk either

on or out of the hasp, with needles, bodkins, or ©

any such instruments, under the penalty of 10
livres.

Arr. XVUI. Under the same penalty it is
forbidden to smooth the hanks on the hasp or
elsewhere with any kind of liquid, even with
pure water, the silk must be cleansed with the
hands alone, and with nothing else.

Art. XIX. All silks that shall be found to
be defective, and not to have been reeled each
according to its quality, in observance of the
forms and the rules prescribed in and by the
preceding articles, shall be seized without re-
mission, and be moreover liable to the above
penalties, after a simple summary recognition

SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAI,. 335

of the defects; those silks shall be publicly
burnt, saving to the owner his recourse against
whom it may concern. The throwsters res-
pectively shall be obliged to denounce the de-
fective silks that they shail receive, and to
make known the person from whom they shall
have ‘received them, under the penalty of 25
golden crowns to be paid by the owners or di-
rectors of filatures who shall be found in con-
travention.

Arr. XX. As to ordinary silks, that is to say
silks of the last quality, commonly called fag-
gottry, after having separated, as is above pre-
scribed, the good cocoons from the double or
imperfect ones, the reeler shall in beating the
cocoons, draw up the coarse filaments three
times to the height of half a vas, (two feet,
American measure,) above the boiler, that the
silk may remain well purged and cleaned, un-
der the penalty of 30 sous for each pound of silk.

Art, XXI. In order to insure the due ob-
servance of these regulations, the consulate and
the ordinary judges shall be obliged in the reel-
ing season, respectively to visit or cause to be vi-
sited, by experienced persons, the places where
silk shall be reeled, taking all necessary infor-
mation to discover contraventions, so that they
may proceed against the delinquents, and in-
flict upon them the above penalties. The or-

300 SILK CULTURIST’S MANUAL.

dinary judges and those who shall be appointed -
by them to make such visits shall not demand
or receive any fees for their labor, costs or
charges, until the end of the law suit according
to the taxations which shall be made by the
consulate.

Scopes

a SF Se ee

LUTES.

APPENDIX.

Plate.

0

Stlle Reel.

4
A Sa)
he
i —- ia
: |

CGeansouls Steam. apparatus ror Ste rilatures.

raat
int sane:

AN

APPENDIX.

A.

CORRESPONDENCE OF MR. BOUCHER OF
PARIS, WITH MR. DU PONCEAU.

From Hazard’s Register of Pennsylvania.
Noe tt.

From the Chevalier de Pougens, to Peter S. Du Ponceau.

Paris, 23d August, 1830.

I enclose a letter from M. Boucher, the first of our
Parisian merchants in the silk line, Rue Francaise, No.
2. I think I do you pleasure in communicating it to yous
You may keep it.

No. 2.
From M. Boucher to the Chevalier de Pougens.
Parts, 20th August, 1830.

I am honored with your letter of the 12th, instant. I
must tell you with frankness that I do not at all believe in
the success of the beautiful project of your honorable friend
Mr. Peter S. Du Ponceau, of Philadelphia; I consider it
as the dream of an honest man. In support of my opinion,
I will cite two gigantic undertakings which have failed
within the last few years. I must refer you to the nine
first lines of the fourth page of the French pamphlet you
have addressed to me.* Yes, sir, practice is every thing

* This reference is to the French translation of the Report of
the Committee on Agriculture, of the House of Representatives
of the United States, of the i2th of March, 1850.

The words referred to are in the English text as follows: ‘It is

340 APPENDIX.

in this art, and theory very little. Your young man,
M. D’Homergue, may have a great deal of knowledge of
the silk trade, but he cannot have the knowledge and ex-
perience of old manufacturers; a thousand obstacles will
arrest his progress, as happened to men of great experience,
of whom I am going to speak to you.

In the southern part of Russia, on the confines of Persia,
the Caucasian mountains produce a considerable qu intity
of cocoons, of which the inhabitants cannot make any use.
Two Frenchmen, one of them Mr. Didelot, a great me-
chanician, and the other a man from our southern depart-
ments accustomed to the filature of silk, took with them
an old director of filatures from St. Jean du Gard, and a
few female reelers to found an establishment. ‘They ob-
tained from the emperor of Russia, large grants of land and
buildings at Tifflis, large sums of money were advanced
to them by the emperor; they began to reel silk,—we
have seen some small samples of it that left nothing to be
wished for; but they did nothing more, they could not
supply their establishment with female reelers, the silk
which those women reeled, apparently very fine, could not
be thrown, and in the course of four years, all the capitals
were sunk, the emperor abandoned them, one of them died,
and the other returned to France, poor and destitute. The
director of the filature and the female reelers could not
return for want of money.

further demonstrated in those Essays, (Mr. D’Homergue’s,) and
in a memorial lately presented by the manufacturers of silk stuffs,
of Lyons, in France, to the Minister of Commerce and Manufac-
tures, that the art of filature can only be acquired by practical
instruction, by some one intimately acquainted with, and accus-
tomed to that process. That no human skill or ingenuity, unaid-
ed by practical instruction, is capable of acquiring that art to any
profitable extent,”

APPENDIX. 341

The second undertaking is still more extraordinary ; it
was made by a man of eminent merit in the sciences con-
nected with the useful arts, and in the part of France
where the greater quantity of silk is reeled (but by rote.)
This undertaking has recently failed; out of a joint stock
of 1,100,000 francs, (220,000 dollars) the concerned will
only have 15 per cent. of their capital, out of the pro-
ceeds of the sale of the real property. I send you here-
with a printed copy of their articles of co-partnership,*
which you may send to your friend Mr. Du Ponceau.

I do not mean to say that the project of establishing
filatures of silk in the United States should be abandoned;
but it should be pursued with prudence, if profit is intended
to be made by it, and it must not be believed that in two
or three years America can supply England and France
with part of the silk they want. (

The sixty young men to whom you will have in two
years taught the theory of the art, will not be able to pro-
duce any thing, if they have not an overseer to attend to
the quality of the silks which they shall cause to be reeled,
and facilitate the disposal of it in the way of trade. They
will meet with a thousand obstacles from the female reelers,
and will for some years only produce raw silk unfit to be
thrown, and yet those silks will appear very fine.

I would advise Mr. Du Ponceau to cause himself to be
appointed director of a pattern filature, of which Mr.
D’ Homergue should be the overseer; that filature should
be managed for account of the Government, and the object
in view for the first year should be rather to instruct, and
form female reelers, and male directors or overseers of fil-
atures, than to make silk for sale. I would expend as little
as possible in mechanical apparatus, and adjourn the em-
ployment of Gensoul’s machinery; it is only good for

* This document was never received.

30*

342 APPENDIX.

saving fuel in large establishments, and when old experi-
enced females can be obtained, for raw silks of three and
four cocoons fit for organzine, but which are entirely use-
less for the raw silks employed in making sewing silk and
singles; the overseer may teach the art to grown women,
and employ to turn the wheel girls from 12 to 15 years of
age, who after a few months of exercise, will try to reel
under the superintendence of the elder reelers; who will
turn the wheel for them some hours in the day. It is thus
that the thing is practised in the best filatures of France.

All those who have devoted themselves to the filature of
silk, have imagined that the greatest merit was to be able
to reel from three to four and from four to five cocoons, and
to produce a thread regular to the eye; but it is recognized
by old reelers that it is easier to reel fine silk, than silk of
12 to 15 and 15 to twenty cocoons. The most essential
quality of raw silk is to be easily wound or thrown and
twisted, the more waste results from those operations, the
more imperfect the silk is, and the more expensive the
throwing; in my opinion the overseer, in order to hasten
the instruction of the female reelers, should only permit
them at first to reel threads of from 15 to 20 cocoons, the
next day he should put another reeler at the basin, and
employ the former in winding off the silk she had reeled
the day before on bobbins, such as are used by the makers
of sewing silk,so that it might be sold to them ready
wound off.

That your filature may reach the desirable degree of
perfection for raw silk of from 15 to 20 cocoons, it would
be necessary that like that of Bengal, called Cossimbusar,
they should suffer in throwing only a waste of one half
per cent., or like the French silks of Alais and the De-
partment of Gard, only one or two per cent; all other silks
in the world from 15 to 20 cocoons, are worse reeled.
‘Those of Bursa, in Asiatic ‘Turkey, lose from 6 to 8 per

APPENDIX. 343

cent., those of Calabria, called Girelle from 8 to 12; those
of Spain, called Tramas of Valencia, from 6 to 8; those
of Syria from 15 to 25. Those of Salonikiand the Morea
are still worse. Instead of attempting to reel silk of every
quality, the United States should supply the trade with raw
silks of from 15 to 20 cocoons, in bales of the weight of
one hundred kilograms, (about 200 lbs.) Some years
afterwards the same reelers might spin 10 to 15, afterwards
8 to 10 and 6 to 8 for trams: in about ten years only, you
might reel 5 to 6 and 4 to 5 for organzine, if the cocoons
have nerve enough to bear twisting.

The skeins of Bengal silk are of the weight of two
ounces; with a good distributing rod, they might with-
out inconvenience be made of 4 to 5 ounces. ‘The skein
must be all of one single thread, and so that it may be
fastened by crossing the first and the last end. ‘There
must be a good deal of twisting or crossing the threads in
reeling, and the knobs or gouts must not be suffered to pass
through. ‘The selecting or separating of the cocoons is a
‘most essential thing; all the double cocoons that we call
dupions are to be put aside to be separately reeled, the
stained are to be separated in like manner. The yellow
and white cocoons must be separately recled, to obtain a
lively yellow and a pure white.

The silk will be handsomer, if the cocoons are first
stirred in a basin of hot water of from 167° to 203°
Fahr., then carried to the reeler’s basin, the heat of
~ which may be only 99°. You will thereby prevent the
_ water being colored by the decoction of the chrysalis, and
the silk from being tarnished.

The water in the reelers’ basin must be changed at
least four times a day. ‘I'he more persons there are to
oversee and watch the reclers, the more attention they
will pay to their threads and to their basins. ‘The bro-
ken threads must be tied up, and marriages (when two

JAA APPENDIX.

threads accidently join by passing through the same hole
in the distributing rod) must be taken off. This is done in
reeling silks of 3 to 4 cocoons, and still better in those of
15 to 20.

They have been for some years in the kingdom of the
Netherlands and in England, attending to the culture of
the mulberry. Experiments have been made for raising
silk worms, and it is pretended that they produce superb
silks for their brilliancy. I am inclined to believe it, be-
cause in those damp countries, vegetation being quicker
and the worm better fed, they must yield more abundant
crops; but this speculation is only founded on experiments
on a small scale. Mr. Christian asserts that a pound of
silk may be made out of eight pounds of cocoons, while
ten are commonly employed in silks of from 15 to 20;
eleven in those from 10 to 15; twelve in those from 7 to
8; thirteen in those from 5 to 6 and 6 to 7; and fourteen
in those from 3 to 4 and 4 to 5 cocoons; but I think it is
an error, produced by the dryness of the cocoons at the
time of making the experiments. In fact 12 lbs. of co-
coons, just out of the nursery, produce some months after
only 8 lbs. because the humidity which is in the gum
evaporates, and the chrysalis itself loses of its weight by
the baking of the cocoons, to prevent the moth from
escaping.

In cold damp countries the feeding of the silk worms
is very uncertain; because the leaves, wet by the rain, oc-
casion diseases among the insects, and the white frost may
in one single night destroy all the leaves, which is less
likely to happen in Italy and the south of France. In
those countries one half only of the eggs on hand is put to

i

hatch, to divide the chance of an adverse temperature, and —

some weeks afterwards the other half is put out, if both suc-
ceed, the crop is more abundant; it rarely teppens that the
two crops fail.

APPENDIX. 34a

If you think that this letter contains any thing that may
be useful to your honorable friend, Mr. Du Ponceau, you
may transmit it to him. If it should be agreeable to him,
I shall continue with him this correspondence on the sub-
ject of silk. 1 would recommend to him to begin on the
small scale his experimental filature; he has nothing but
the reels and the basins to purchase, to begin to reel.

I annex to this letter a sample of Spanish raw silk, reel-
ed in the neighborhood of Valencia,* of the quality called
Trams, of from 15 to 20 cocoons. This is only fit for
thick stuffs or fine sewing silk. Raw silk of from 15 to
20 cocoons, is best fitted for sewing silk.

There is a great deal more to be said on the subject of
filature ; but I am obliged for a beginning to confine my-
self to what appears to me the most urgent,

Accept, Monsieur le Chevalier,
My respectful civility.
L. J. BOUCHER. -
No. 3.
From M. Boucher, to Mr. Du Ponceau.
Paris, June 3, 1831.

Sir :—TI received on the 24th of last December, your
interesting letter of the 18th November. A long sickness,
of which I am now convalescent, has been the cause of
my not having answered it sooner. I wish that the letter
which I addressed on the 20th of August last, to your re-
spectable friend the Chevalier de Pougens, may be useful
to you. That friend will have sent to you.some weeks
ago, a pamphlet entitled «« Du commerce des Soieries en
France’ (on the silk trade in France.) This work, writ-
ten by a friend of mine, Mr. Leon De Teste, of Avignon,
will interest you.

* This sample was never received.

346 APPENDIX. -

I have carefully examined your samples of white sew-
ing silk.* It is what we call demie grenade, or ronde-
lette. It is made of dupions, (double imperfect cocoons, )t
two threads of the raw silk are twisted together, then
closely united by a second twist more or less strong, and
thus sewing silk is made either white or to be colored.
Our rondelettes, in the raw state,t are worth here 15
franes per pound, avoirdupois, with a discount of 123 per
cent. To this you must add one frane 25 centimes for dye-
ing, 50 centimes for packing, the loss of weight after ex-
tracting the gum and dyeing, 25 per cent. and thus you
have the price of dyed rondelette, 21 francs per pound.
You must compare this price, deducting the freight and im-
portation duties, with that your women get for it at home.
It is a branch of industry yet in its infancy: this silk is
very irregular, as well in the reeling as in the twist-
ing .§

Your project for introducing the filature of silk, is grand
and deserving commendation ; do not, however, go too fast
in endeavoring to spin fine threads; you would do bad
work. You will, indeed, have pupils well instructed, but
the improvement of the female reelers by practice, will
require years. As to the manufacturing of stuffs, it will
require still longer time; and moreover it remains to be
decided whether the high price of labour in your country,
will not be an obstacle.

What you say of Mr. D’ Homergue gives me great hopes

* This wasa sample of sewing silk made after the manner
of Connecticut. It was a most favorable specimen.

{This sample was made of the best silk of the best cocoons.

+The writer speaks here of the French sewing silk.

§The writer gives his opinion as delicately as he can, and
‘reluctantly at last comes to this conclusion which cannot be mis-
understood.

APPENDIX. 347

as to the reeling of raw silk;* he must know how much
the reelers of Alais, Anduse and St. Jean du Gard have
improved their filatures, while not far from thence at Salon,
the art has declined, and it isthe same at Tours.t+

Your experimental filature of ten reels, is becoming in-
teresting. Your raw silk, spun of six cocoons, if the threads
are regular, the ends tied in knots, marriagest taken off,
and the silk made up in small skeins, will suit to make
trams of two threads, and even organzine fit for the manu-
facturing of Florence of Avignon—but it will have to
stand the competition of our own silks, as well for the
price as for the throwing. England at this moment is
more in want of raw silks of from 3 to 4 and from 4 to 5
cocoons, than from 5 to 6.§ Ican say nothing of Mexico.

I shall receive with great pleasure the sample of your
raw silk which you intend to send me, and I shall tell you
what may be done with it. I should prefer receiving silk
of 15 to 20 cocoons, like the sample of Spanish silk called

* The writer seems at first to have considered Mr. D’Ho-
mergue as a mere dealer in silks, not familiar with the various
processes of their manufacture.

+ If the art of extracting silk from the cocoons were as
easy as some pretend, there would not be so much difference be-
tween the raw silk made in different places even in the same
country. There is no such difference in the spinning of cotton,
flax, or hemp, the value of these depends solely on the quality
of the material, not on the skill of the spinners.

+ Marriage is when two threads in reeling, through the inat-
tention or unskilfulness of the spinner, pass through the same
hole in the distributing rod, and thus get improperly joined.

§ The texture of our silk is so very fine, that the English
manufacturers to whom samples of it were sent, have desired
that it should be reeled. from 7 to 8 cocoons, instead of 4 to 6,
which is only equal they say to 3 to 4 of Italian silk. Notwith-
standing this extreme fineness, our silk is found to excel in
stregth and nerve.

348 APPENDIX.

tramas de Valencia, which I have sent you.* I would
advise you to try your silk by means of a proof reel, which
you might get made of 400 turns of a wheel of an ell’s
(44 French inches) diameter. 400 ells by their weight in
grains of mark weight, give the standard weight (¢#re)
which is called deniers.t| Say 15 grains or deniers, sin-
gle thread, or 30 deniers double thread. By this means
you will be in harmony will all the manufactories of Eu-
rope.

I am like yourself, very much astonished that you have
boiled your raw silk, without throwing it, either from tram
or organzine; it must have been twisted or crossed a great
deal in the filature. The silks of Bursa in Asiatic Tur-
key of 20 to 30 cocoons produce the same effect; but with
six cocoons it is most extraordinary. Do not trust always
to it, however; alittle too much boiling in the dyeing pro-
cess, may render the silk unfit to be wound.

I do not conceive how you can have made a piece of
stuff with one single thread of raw silk reeled from six

* This sample was never received.

+ The word denier means literally a pennyweight, here it
seems synonymous to grain. Denier is a technical term in the
English as well as in the foreign silk manufactures.

The proof reel is employed to test the quality of the silks, a
given length of thread well reeled gives an ascertained weight ;
if it should fall below or rise above the standard, it is considered
ill reeled in proportion to the difference.

The Chamber of Commerce of Lyons in France, cansed a
sample of American silk reeled by Mr. D’Homergue himself, to
be thus tried by a sworn assayer. The report was, that “the
raw silk obtained! in Philadelphia was of an extraordinary quality,
well adapted to all the uses of fabrication. Its degree of fineness
was 16 deniers. It was fine, nervous, good, regular, clean, of a
fine colour; in short it united all the qualities that cuuld be
wished for. Its price was estimated at 26 francs per pound; at
Nismes, afterwards it was estimated at 30 fr.

APPENDIX. 349

wocoons, it must have been very light.* I understand
better that you should have trammed your second flag of
’ four threads ; but your dyeing on the piece, particularly of
two colors, must have made their silk look like an old
piece of stuff dyed a second time, consequently without
lustre and crispy.t :

I have observed that in a temperate climate, silk is al-
ways more brilliant, nervous and mellow, with livelier co-
lors than in very hot countries; this comes from the na-
ture of the mulberry leaf; but in those countries, there is
the danger of white frosts and frequent rains, which are
seldom experienced in Italy and India. ‘This danger may
perhaps cause the silk culture to be abandoned. Be so
good as to give me some information respecting the tem-
perature of the United States of America, particularly in
the spring season.

I have been assured that the English have invented ma-
chines of iron and copper for throwing of silk, of much
greater activity than that of our wooden throwsting mills.

I am well aware, sir, that the love of your country and
not the thirst of gain, induces your efforts for introducing
the filature of sik into the United States. I wish you
complete success, and shall willingly contribute to it in
every thing that will depend upon me. I shall with plea-
sure follow your progress. Write to me as often as you
please, do not spare me, you will receive speedy answers.

I am, &c.
L. J. BOUCHER.

*The writer speaks of the flag presented to the Legislature
ef Pennsylvania. The warp of the stuff only was of one single
thread, which was doubled for the woof. The stuff was indeed
extremely light: twelve feet by six feet and a half, weighed only
nineteen ounces.

+This mode of dyeing was adopted for the flag presented to
Congress, because it was thought proper to make it all of one

31 -

APPENDIX
B.”

THE HISTORY OF THE SILK BILL:

In a Letter from Peter S. Du Ponceau, LLD. to David
B. Warden, Esq. late Consul of the United States, at
Paris, Member of the American Philosophical Society,
Corresponding Member of the Institute of France, §c.
§c.* |

Puitavetputa, 29th July, 1837.
Dear Sir,

I have received your favor of the 24th of May
last, in which you desire me to send you a copy of the re-
port made by the Committee on Agriculture to the House of
Representatives of the United States, on the 12th of March,
1830, which was accompanied by a letter from me to the
ehairman of that committee, dated the 23d.of February
preceding, in which, at his request, I suggested a plan for

piece, and there was no time to prepare a suitable loom to weave
different colours. In consequence of this the stuff had not the
lustre it would otherwise have had; but was not crispy. The
warp of the flag presented to the Legislature of Pennsylvania
was entirely white, which gave to the colors a changeable ap-
pearance. This was wished to be avoided in the other.

* This letter has never been before published. It was writ-
ten to Mr. Warden, to enable him to give some information to
the Agricultural Society of Paris, of which he is a member, on
the subject of the silk culture in this country. Mr. Du Ponceau
had only a few copies of it printed for distribution among his
friends. He sent a copy of it to Mr. Randolph, Chairman of the
Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives of the
United States, with his answer to some queries addressed to him

by the Committee, who mentioned it in their report as an inter-
esting document.

APPENDIX. 351

promoting the culture of silk in the United States, so as
to make it a source of national wealth to this country.

I regret to be obliged to say that, although that report
has been several times published, in the first instance by
order of Congress, and afterwards in newspapers and in the
pamphlet form, it has not been in my power to procure a
copy of it for you; all those that I had, one excepted,
which | preserve, have been distributed away, and have
experienced the fate of such sibylline leaves.

Your object, however, being, as I presume, to be in-
formed of the history of the measure to which that report
relates, and of the present state of the culture of silk in the
United States, I shall endeavour, in some other way, to
supply the place of the document you have asked for, and
I lay hoid with pleasure Of te Opportwuinty yuu vive me
to commit to writing a brief narrative of the origin of that
report, and the ill success that attended it.

I am saved the trouble of giving you the history -ef the
silk culture prior to the arrival of Mr. D’Homergue in this .
eountry, by anarticle which I wrote forand published in the
American Quarterly Review for December, 1831, of which
{send you a copy; you will find in it many things which
would have had a place in this letter, but which I omit, to
avoid repetition. shall, therefore, begin with Mr. D’Ho-
mergue’s arrival at Philadelphia, which was in the month
of May, 1829.

Mr. D’Homergue had been sent for from France by a
society, then lately formed in this city, for promoting the
culture of silk, who had unfortunately misconceived their
object, and miscaleulated their means. They were not
in a situation to employ him. Without entering into use
less details on this subject, suffice it to say that, shortly
after his arrival, Mr. D’Homeregue found himself a stran-
ger in this country, and ignorant of the language, manners,
and customs.

352 APPENDIX.

In that situation, he applied to me for advice. I saw his
letter of recommendation to the society. He was repre-
sented by their agent to be a person fully capable of fulfill-
ing the objects which they had in view. He had been ex-
amined at Marseilles by men skilled in the art, and found
sufficient. In his conversations with me, I found him intelli-
gent, and consistent in the explanations which he gave of the
various processes of reeling and throwing silk, of making
sewing silk, and of various manufactures of that article. I
was struck with the idea that his acquisition might be
important to our country, and I determined to take him by
the hand.

The first thing to be done was to make his talents.
known. He could not write our language, nor did he
know the manner of addressing an American public. Orn
my part, I knew very little of the silk business, to which
I had never before turned my attention. I put myself un-
der his tuition. He initiated me into the mysteries of la fila-
(ure and Je moulinage (reeling and throwing of silk); I
read some books upon the subject, and, having him at my
elbow, I wrote and published in his name, in the National
Gazette, a series of essays entitled ‘* American Silk,”
which became very popular, and were reprinted in almost.
all the newspapers in the United States. While writing
those articles, I was struck with the importance as wellas
the difficulty of the art of reeling, without which the raw
material not only cannot be manufactured, but -cannot. be
exported, because the cocoons will rot in a sea voyage, and
are too bulky and too light to bear a heavy freight. I ob-
served that raw silk was an article in great demand in Eu-
rope, and that it might be made to us a source of consider-
able profit. I conceived the plan of dealing with silk as
we had done with cotton, that is to say, to confine ourselves
for ten or perhaps, twenty years to the exportation of the raw
material, during which time we should become perfect in
the mode of preparing it for foreign manufacture, and then,

APPENDIX. 353

and not before, we might begin to manufacture our-
selves, The other arts, such as throwing, weaving, §C.,
we might learn from English manufacturers; but they
could not teach us that of jilature, because their country
did not produce cocoons. None, therefore, but a French-
man or an Italian could be to us a proper instructor in that
art.

The essays were chiefly directed to developing and urg-
ing the adoption of this system. Some writers who had
passed before, by means of some superficial knowledge,
for great adepts in matters relating to silk, were impelled
by their vanity to attack this plan in the newspapers, and
pretended that there was no difficulty in reeling silk, and
that we might begin at once to manufacture. I took no
notice of those publications, and, therefore, they produced
little effect. ‘he general opinion was in favour of my
system. ‘This induced me to publish the essays with an
explanatory preface, in the form of a pamphlet, of whicht
distributed the copies far and wide. I have soughtin vain
for one to send to you. :

This was in the month of January, 1830. Congress
were then in session. As a mark of respect, as is usual in
such cases, I addressed to them a copy of the essays, not
expecting any thing else but they would give it a place in
their library. “They, however, were pleased to refer it te
their Committee on Agriculture, then presided over by the
venerable Ambrose Spencer, formerly chief justice of the
state of New York, whose high character is undoubtedly
known to you. I soon received a letter from that gentle-
man, in the name of the committee, approving of my plan,
expressing the wish that Mr. D’Homergue should be em-
ployed in a national school of filature, and desiring me to:
eonfer with him upon the subject. |

I accordingly conferred with Mr. D’Homergue, and,
with his agreement, I ee an to the commitiee that he
31?

204 APPENDIX.

should be employed to instruct sixty young mem in the art
of reeling silk, and preparing it for exportation, so as to fit
them to be afterwards directors of filatures. You know
that the manual operation of reeling in large filatures 1s
performed.in Europe by females, under the direction of an
overseer, as otherwise much loss would result from their un-
skilfulness, or from their neglect or inattention—-the profits
in this business depending on the quantity of -well reeled
silk which is daily produced. ‘Twenty women, at least,
were to be employed in the normal filature at or near Phi-
ladelphia, who should work at the reel before the young
men, who also should be taught the manipulation practi-
eally, that they might direct it with effect, and instruct wo-
men in their turn. ‘Their instruction was to last two years ;
afterwards it was expected that they should be employed
by the planters in the south, and companies in the north,
and in the meanwhile the culture of silk, which was fast ad-
vancing in different states, might produce cocoons enough
to set the business agoing. ‘The young men were to be
taught gratuitously, and maintain themselves at their own
or their friend’s expence. ‘The women were to be paid
for their labour. i

Mr. D’Homergue was to receive from the government
forty thousand dollars at the end of the two years, deduct-
ing therefrom the amount of the necessary expences, such
as the hire or purchase of a lot of ground, the ‘erection of
buildings, the machinery, the purchase of cocoons, and
other incidental expences, which were to be advanced by
the government, but the materials at the end to remain the.
property of Mr. D’Homergue. I offered to be his securi- »
ty for the performance of his engagements, provided he
were placed under my inspection and control. My per-
sonal services were to be gratuitous.

My object in proposing this plan was to introduce into |
the country a perfect and uniform method of reeling silk, ,

AEPENDIX. 300

and preparing it for exportation or manufacture, but chief:
ly with a view to the former; so that when American raw
sill should have been imported into Europe, its name alone
should have secured its reception and a favourable sale.
Those who are acquainted with this branch of trade, know
of what immense advantage this would have been to our
country. As to the planting of mulberry trees, and raising
of silk worms, I thought it might be left to experience, and
the instruction to be derived from the numerous books
published upon these subjects; but the preparation of good
merchantable raw silk, and the providing of a market for
cocoons, appeared to me what was to be attended to in the
first place ; the rest, I thought, would follow of course.

I made the above proposal in a letter to the committee,
who gave it their full approbation. I was desired to pre-
sent it in the form of a bill, which I did, and the bill, such
as I drew it up, with a trifling addition, was laid before Con-
eress with my letter, and a most flattering report from the
committee, warmly recommending the measure. It is the
same report which you have desired me io send to you,
and of which a copy cannot now be had.

The session, however, was tco far advanced to take up
the business, and it was of course postponed to the next
meeting. But, to all appearance the report was most fa-
vorably received. .

' I had then a whole summer and the greater part of the
autumn to dispose of before Congress should meet again,
I determined to spare no trouble or expense to convince
the nation of the advantages of a good method of reeling
silk, and of the exportation of the raw material to Europe.
I established in this city a filature often reels, and twenty
women; went to Connecticut to purchase cocoons, and
bought all that were brought to me from different parts of
the Union. I put the whole under the direction of Mr.
D’Homergue. Our filature was open to all who chose to

306 APPENDIX.

visit it. Our women learned to reel with amazing facility,
and though some of my friends in Europe wrote to me
that it would take ten years before they were perfect in
the art, I was convinced that they would compass it in a
much shorter time.

I was not satisfied with that. I wished to display some-
thing that would strike the public eye, and maintain Con-
gress in their apparently good disposition. I had two
flags of the United States made of American silk, each
twelve feet long and six feet wide; one to be presented to
Congress, and the other to the Legislature of Pennsylvania.
f had also some small articles made, such as cravats, hand-
Kerchiefs, &c., which, together with one of the flags, were
exposed to eublie view at the exhibition of the Franklin
Institute in this city. I also sent a quantity of my raw
silk to England and France, to be manufactured into
stuffs, and distributed among our friends in this country.

Congress met in December, 1830. ‘That was what was
ealled the short session, and lasted only three months.
Almost the whole of it was taken up by the trial of a judge
in the Senate, at which the members of the House of Repre-
sentatives were present. N evertheless, a day was appoint-
ed near the end of the session for the discussion of the
silk bill. In the mean time, I presented to the house the
flag of the Union. I may say with truth, that it was re-
ceived with enthusiasm. Ona most flattering: report of
the Committee on Agriculiure, Congress revolved that the
flag should be displayed in the hall of their sittings, over
the full length picture of General Lafayette, where it still
remains.* ‘There is no doubt that if the bill could have
been brought on that session, it would have passed almost
unanimously.

* The flag presented to the House of Representatives of Penn-
sylvania, was received in the same flattering manner, and order-
ed to displayed in a conspicuous place in their hall.

APPENDIX. 357

Unfortunately, on the day when it was to have been
taken up, Mr. Spencer, the chairman of the Agricultural
Committee, who was to have led the discussion on our
side, and whose presence could not be dispensed with, was
engaged as counsel in an important cause before the Su-
preme Court of the United States. The argument lasted
several days, and the opportunity was lost. Congress ad-
journed without discussing the bill.

But so zealous were our friends on the tient, that Mr.
Spencer, passing through this city on his return to the state
of New York, where he resides, brought me a paper _
signed by eighty-six members of Congress, expressing their
sense of the importance of the silk bill, and their opinion
that it would have passed at the last session, if it could then
have been taken up. Mr. Spencer told me that it would.

have been signed by many more, but that it was done at
the close of the session when a great number of the mem-
bers had already departed for their homes, and others were
preparing to depart. ‘Those who signed that paper were
afraid that Mr. D’ Homergue might return to France——that
I might get tired of the trouble and expense which this bu-
siness occasioned me, and for which I never expected to
receive compensation, and that it would consequently fail.
I subjoin to this letter a copy of that paper. It is a li-
teral copy. I have made no alteration in it, except inter-
verting the order of the signatures, in order to show to
what states the signers respectively belonged.

Thus I was encouraged to proceed. I went on with
my filature, but not to the same extent as I had done the
preceding year. I sent some of my raw silk to Mexico,
where it found a good market. I sent some to England
and France, not to be sold, but to be manufactured into.
gros de Naples, and returned to this country. The silk
sent to England lost only three and five eights per cent..
by what is called waste (déchet) ; that sent to Lyons lost

398 APPENDIX.

more, but the stuff made of it was more delicately wrought.
I kept up an active correspondence with those countries.

The silk Isent to England excited much attention there.
Mr. Ewart, the member for Liverpool, mentioned it in
Parliament. The newspapers in London, Liverpool, and
Manchester, teemed with articles on the subject. The
English were led to expect a new source of supply of raw
silk for their manufactures, and we a new branch of Ame-
rican exports. A number of silk throwsters, weavers,
dyers, and silk manufacturers of various kinds, came to
this country in the hope of finding employment; but were
for the most part sadly disappointed, and many obliged to
return home. :

Such was the state of things when Congress met again
in December, 1831. I went with Mr. D’Homergue to
Washington, determined to remain there until the silk Dill
should be disposed of. During the session, which was
very long, I received from England some of the pieces of
gros de Naples manufactured out of my silk, and distri-
buted them among our friends in the capital, by whom
they were much admired. Those from France did not ar-
rive until after the adjournment. Every thing at first look-
ed fair and prosperous; but the scene was suddenly
ehanged. -

The tariff question was brought before Congress, and
produced violent party animosities. ‘The word manufac-
ture, which had inadvertently been introduced into the
title of the silk bill, became hateful to the opponents of the
protecting system, and they fancied that if it should pass,
it would lead to the laying of high duties on the importa-
tion of foreign silk goods. Yet the bill still had friends of
both parties; but as the contest grew warmer, so as almost
to threaten a dissolution of the Union, their number gradual-
ly diminished, and at last it became decidedly a party

APPENDIX. 359

question. ‘The French minister, M. Serurier, no doubt
from patriotic motives, opposed it with all his might--not,
that I know of, by diplomatic communications, but by
speaking warmly against it wherever he found an oppor-
tunity. He saw in it the source of great injury to France, _
while the manufacturers of that country rejoiced in the
hope of being supplied with the raw material that they so
much ried Whether that gentleman’s opposition had
any influence on the final result, it is not in my power to

say. I rather believe it had not, though some members

might have been afraid lest the passage of the bill might
prevent or delay the payment of the indemnity, which af-
terwards brought the two countries on the verge of a war
with each other. :

The times were now unpropitious. My friends advised

me to suffer the business to go over to another SESSION 3

but I had already gone to more expense than I could con-
tinue to afford. I pressed Congress for a decision, and a
day was accordingly appointed for that purpose.

_ On that day, the 22d of May, the bill was taken up and
discussed in committee of the whole ; the majority declared
in its favour, and reported it to the House the next morn-
ing. A warm discussion took place, but in the interval
the opponents of the measure had rallied, and their pha-
lanx was not be resisted. I have been credibly informed
that a paper was circulated in the House, stating that if
the bill should pass, the President would be obliged to put
his veto uponit, and that he hoped that his friends would not
place him in that unpleasant situation. Iam well satisfied
that such a paper was circulated; but I believe that it was
without the knowledge or participation of General Jack-
son. Extraordinary, and, indeed, some unfair means were
employed. Several of the members who had signed. the
paper brought to me by Mr. Spencer, as I have before men-
tioned, voted against the bill, and some absented them-
selves when the question was taken.

360 APPENDIX.

The bill, however, was rejected only by a small mnajo-
rity. Among the members who voted against it there were
some, undoubtedly, who conscientiously believed the mea-
sure to be unconstitutional, and that Congress had no pow-
er to appropriate money to such a purpose ; others were
political economists, who thought that governments should
not meddle with such matters, and whose favorite motto
was, Let us alone. But on the whole it is plain to me
that the bill was lost on party grounds, and not otherwise.

I was not present at the last day’s discussion, but I was
at that of the day preceding, in committee of the whole.
The debates on both sides were published at the time in-
the newspapers. It gives me great pleasure to say, that
full justice was done by all parties to my conduct and to
my motives; and not a word was said that could be in the
least personally painful to me, but, on the contrary, the
greatest courtesy was shown even by my most inveterate
opponents. ‘I'he principal argument employed, was that
the measure was unconstitutional. ‘The most violent con-
tented themselves with saying that it could only serve the
purpose of setting up a foreigner (Mr. D’Homergue) in
business, and that the public money could not be applied
to such an object.

I had the pleasure to find that the members from Penn-
sylvania who were present, although almost all of the part-
ty opposed to the bill, voted (all but two) im its favour,
and so did the members from Connecticut, whose jealou-
sy had been attempted to be excited. ‘The south, general-
ly, voted against it.

Thus finally defeated in my patriotic design, I took leave
of my friends and returned home immediately. I made -
no complaints nor appeals to the people in the newspapers
or otherwise, but turned my thoughts to other objects. I

found that I had lost three years of my time, and about
four thousand dollars of my money,.in pursuing a phan-

APPENDIX. 96]

tom, which at last eluded my grasp. I awoke, as from a
dream, and consoled myself with the proverb which says»
that the shortest follies are the best.

Five years have now elapsed since that time, and you
will be, perhaps, curious to know what has been done in
that interval with respect to silk. The impulse that was
given still continues; but a different course is pursuing
from that which I had pointed out. Mulberry trees are
planted in every direction ; associations with large capitals
are formed and forming, for promoting the culture and
manufacture of silk ; the Legislatures of the states are enact-
ing laws for the same object; but I do not see any where
a filature or a market for cocoons, such as I had establish-
ed at Philadelphia, where they were brought to me from
all parts of the Union, and continued to be brought long
after my filature ceased to be in operation. But they found
no purchasers.

The people are beginning where, in my opinion, they
should end, by establishing manufactories. 1 have said
that a great number of silk throwsters and manufacturers
had come to this country from England. ‘Those men,
wanting employment, have persuaded the people to manu-
facture the raw silk of China and Bengal, as they do in
Great Britain, which they have begun to do, in a small
way however, in the New England states; while else-
where the farmers who raise silk worms, employ them in
making sewing silk after the manner of Connecticut.* No-
body thinks of producing and preparing the raw material
as an article for exportation. ‘Phe opinion generally pre-
vails that there is no kind of difficulty in the art of filature,
and that any woman may reel silk perfectly without having
received any instruction. I fear that much money will b&
sunk in these ill-concerted attempts.

“With the common spinning wheel.

32

362 APPENDIX.

The American people are impatient and wish to do eve-
ry thing at once. Go a-head is their motto, and they are
not deterred by obstacles. Nothing to them appears im-
possible; they plunge headlong into a scheme, and pur-
sue it until they break, or until it succeeds. They now
want to be silk manufacturers. [I wanted them to be silk
growers, and exporters of raw silk in the first imstance.
Time will show who was in the right.

My opinion is that large sums of money will be sunk
in the course now pursuing, but that in the end America
will be a great silk growing and silk manufacturing country.
Americans must have their own way. It often reminds
me of the answer of a French courtier to the unfortunate
Maria Antoinette, who asked of him a small favour :-—‘‘Me@-
dame, st la chose est possible, elle est déja faite; si elle
est umpossible, elle se fera.”’* It is the American charaec-
ter, drawn to the life. The word impossible is not in
their dictionary.

IT am, with great recard and esteem,
Dear sir, your most obedient servant,
PETERS. DU PONCEAD.

‘Davin B. Warven, Esa., Paris. aM

DOCUMENT REFERRED TO IN THE ABOVE
LETTER.

We, the andersigned members of the twenty-first Con-
gress, feeling a great anxiety that Mr. John D’ Homergue
should remain in the United States for the purpose of in-
structing the youth of this country in the art of reeling silk,
and in the various processes for preparing the same for
manufacture or exportation, agreeably to the provisions of

* Madame, if the thing be possible, it is already done; if im-
possible it shall be done.

APPENDIX. 363

the bill for the promotion of the growth and manufacture
of silk, now pending, and which could not be acted upon
for the want of time, express our decided opinion that the
bill would have met the approbation of the House of Rep-
resentatives, and that we consider it a measure of great
national importance, as regards the industry of the country,
in the profitable employment of various grades of its citi-
zens, and as creating a staple which will not only save to
the nation many millions of dollars, now annually drawn
from the country, but will introduce speedily a new branch
of manufacture of incalculable value to the United States.

March 1, 1831.

MAINE.

George Evans,

Samuel Butman.
VERMONT.

W. Cahoon,

Benjamin Swift,

Horace Everett.

MASSACHUSETTS.

J. Varnum,

i. Everett,

George Grennell,

Joseph G. Kendall,

John Reed,

Joseph Richardson,

John Bailey,

James L. Hodges,

B. W. Crowninshield,

John Davis,

H. W. Dwight.

RHODE ISLAND.
Tristam Burges,
Dutee J. Pearce.

CONNECTICUT.

R. J. Ingersell,

Noyes Barber,

J. W. Huntington,

W. W. Ellsworth,

William L. Storrs.
NEW YORK.

ne Spencer,

John D. Dickinson,
H. B. Cowles,

T. Beckman,

B. Arnold,

Robert 8. Rose,
Ch. G. De Witt,
Isaae Finch,

J. Hawkins,

Abm. Bokee,

John W. Taylor,
Phineas L. Tracy,
Henry R. Storrs,
Henry C. Martindale,
Timothy Childs.

364

NEW JERSEY.
Lewis Condict.
PENNSYLVANIA.
Wm. McCreery,

Henry A. Muhlenberg,

John Gilmore,

W. Ramsey,
George G. Leiper,
Joseph Hemphill,
Samuel A. Smith,

T. Hartley Crawford,

Thomas H. Sill,

J. B. Sutherland,

D. H. Miller,

John B. Sterigere,

R. Coulter,

Joseph Fry, Jr.,

Harmar Denny,

Innis Green,

Joshua Evans.
DELAWARE.

Kensey Johns, Jr.,
MARYLAND.

G. C. Washington,

E. K. Wilson,

G. E. Mitchell,

B. I. Semmes.
VIRGINIA.

P. Doddridge,

John Taliaferro,

C.F. Mercer,

Robert Craig.

APPENDIX.

NORTH CAROLINA.

Lewis Williams,

William B. Shepard,

Edmund Deberry,

D. L. Barringer.
KENTUCKY.

R. P. Letcher,

Joel Yancey,

_ R. M. Johnson,

J. Kincaid.
TENNESSEE.
John Blair,
David Crockett.
OHIO.
Samuel F. Vinton,
I}. Whittlesey,
Joseph Vance,
W. Creighton, Jr.,
Wm. W. bvin,
Joseph H. Crane,
H. H. Leavitt.
; LOUISIANA.
E. D. White,
H. H. Gurley.
INDIANA.
John Test,
R. Boon.
ALABAMA.
R. E. B. Baylor.
MISSOURI.
Sp. Pettis.
FLORIDA.

Jos. M. White.

APPENDIX.

C.

ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS CONCERNING
THE SIK BILL.
No. 1.
Twenty-first Congress of the United States—First Ses-
sion.—In the House of Representatives,
January 27th, 1830.

The Speaker laid before the House a letter from Peter
S. Du Ponceau, of Philadelphia, member of the American
Philosophical Society, accompanied by a work on Ameri-
can Silk, and the best means of rendering it a source of
individual and national wealth; which letters and the ac-
companying work, were referred to the Committee on Agri-
culture.

February, 10.

Mr. Spencer from the Committee on Agriculture, re-
ported the following resolution, viz :

That the Committee on Agriculture be directed to in-
quire into the expediency of adopting measures to extend
the cultivation of the White Mulberry tree in the United
States; to promote the culture of Silk, by introducing the
necessary machinery for reeling the same from cocoons, and
acquiring and disseminating practical knowledge therein,

No. 2.
Letter from the Hon. Ambrose Spencer, Chairman of the
Committee on Agriculture to Mr. Du Ponceau.
Wasuineton, Feb. 11th, 1830.

Sir,—The Committee on Agriculture reported yester-
day a resolution, which was adopted by the House, and
which you will see in the papers.

I have read with great interest your valuable preface to
Mr. D’Homergue’s Essays on American Silk, having read
_ in the papers, the greater part of his essays before I came

366 APPENDIX.

here; the Committee are unanimously of opinion that
measures ought to be taken to secure to the nation the ser-
vices of this gentleman, as an instructor to our people in
the art of reeling silk from the cocoons. I am instructed
by them to inquire of him through you, whether he would
take charge of an establishment (say in this city) and in-
struct pupils in that art—what salary he would expect—
how long he would continue to give instruction—what pe-
riod of time would be necessary to teach a pupil the
art of reeling. In short we wish all the information ne-
cessary to be laid before Congress on the subject of gain-
ing to the nation this invaluable art. My proposition to
the Committee was, Ist. "I’o secure the services of Mr.
D’Homergue. 2nd. ‘lo get an appropriation for the erec-
tion or hiring suitable buildings in this city, to accommo-
date say 215 pupils, from the States and ‘Territories in the
same proportion as we are represented in the House of
Representatives, the persons to be designated by the Ex-
ecutives of the States. 3rd. hat these scholars shall be
taught the art by Mr. D’fHomergue. 4th. ‘hat others
shall succeed them, if it shall be deemed necessary to the
diffusion of this knowledge.

I have selected this plan with a view to avoid Constitu-
tional objections.

You have thus an imperfect sketch of my plan, which
I hope you will examine, and make such suggestions as
occur to you.

{f we succeed in it, the nation will owe you the deepest
obligation of gratitude, for I am enthusiastically not only
your disciple on this subject, but am anxious to see it car-
ried into immediate operation.

I beg you to write me freely and fully.

With high esteem and respect,
Your obedient servant,

AMBROSE SPENCER.
Peter S. Du Ponceau, Esq.

" :
=
:

APPENDIX. 367

No, 3.
Pumaspetpuis, Pebruary 23, 1830.

Sir:—I am honored with your letter of the 11th in-
stant, which I have immediately communicated to Mr.
D’Homergue. He desires me to convey to you, and the
honorable committee, his respectful thanks for the favor-
able sentiments that you have expressed towards him; he
wishes it also to be known and understood, that, if suc-
cessfully encouraged, it is his intention to settle himself
permanently in this country which he has learned to ap-
preciate.

The contents of your letter have been the subject of fre-
guent conferences between him andme. The various mat-
ters that it brought to our consideration, and the desire on
my part to lay at once my whole view of the subject be-
fore the honorable committee, and to do it with as much as
possible of that clearness and precision which so exten-
sive and complicated a subject requires, have been the
cause of this answer having been so long delayed. The
committee will, I hope, see, from what follows, that no
unnecessary time has been employed.

The object of the commitice appears to be to extend,
throughout the United States, the knowledge of the art of
preparing raw silk in all its varieties, for the domestic and
foreign markets; and that it should be done in the shortest
time, in the easiest manner, and with as little expense as
possible.

With a view to this object, a plan has been proposed
through you, and several questions asked of Mr. D’Ho-
mergue, with a view to obtaining his assistance towards
carrying it into execution. The plan is the establishment
of anormal school of filature in the District of Columbia,
in which Mr. D’Homergue should be employed as an in-
structor at a fixed salary.

This plan is formed on a noble scale, and bears the stamp

368 APPENDIX.

of the character of a great nation; it is such as would
naturally occur to a man of liberal views and an enlarged
mind, on considering the subject unconnected with its
practical details. ‘The knowledge of those details, how-
ever, which Mr. D’Homergue possesses, has convinced
him that it would be liable to many inconveniences, which
he hopes it will not be thought improper in him to suggest.
In the first place, it would be very expensive, complicated

in its mode of execution, and liable to various abuses; and,
above all, it would be subject to the risk of ultimate fail-
ure, by bringing Mr. D’Homergue in contact, and, per-
haps in collision, with persons not acquainted with his art,
to which his ignorance of the language, manners, and
usages of this country, might not a little contribute. This
last reason alone would deter him from acceding to the
committee’s proposal.

For my part, sir, 1 must frankly acknowledge that, after
giving the subject all the consideration in my power, I have
myself come to the same conclusions as Mr. D’Homergue,
and I am satisfied that it is not by employing him as a
salaried instructor that the object of the committee is most
likely to be attained. On the contrary, I am fully persuad-
ed, that a degree of confidence placed in that gentleman,
in the manner I shall presently mention, will produce to
the nation the most satisfactory results.

After this candid statement, the committee will no doubt
expect that I should explain to them Mr. D’Homergue’s
views, and my own, on this interesting subject. I shall
do it with due diffidence ; but, at the same time, with per-
fect freedom.

The committee, I am very sure, will do justice to my
motives, and be satisfied that my feelings are congenial with
their own. Ishall lay before them a plan, the result of
which is to be the dissemination of the art of reeling silk,
in all its varieties, throughout the United States, in the

APPENDIX. 369

short space of three years, and at the moderate expense
of forty thousand dollars. So far I am convinced that the
views of the committee will be fully met. ‘They will
also be pleased to find, that its execution must naturally
be followed by the introduction of silk manufactures in-
to the country. In other respects I must own that it dif-
fers from that which the committee had formed; but, in a
matter of this importance, they will be willing to hear,
though they should ultimately disapprove.

Before I begin to state the offers of Mr. D’Homergue,
and the plan founded upon them, it is necessary that I
should mention a few introductory facts.

The mechanical part of reeling silk in France and Italy
is performed entirely by women. There are in those
countries what are called great and small filatures. The
former are large establishments, in which from 50 to 100
reels are at work; the women employed there are under
the superintendence of a director, who is thoroughly ac-
quainted with the mechanical as well as the mercantile
part of the business. ‘Those directors are brought up to
the profession. ‘The women employed in those large
filatures are well paid, and generally remain there till
the end of their days. The small, or, as we should call
them, domesiic filatures, are carried on in families, by the
farmers’ wives and daughters, who work from one to five
reels, either with cocoons of their own raising, or those
they purchase of their neighbors, by which they make a
handsome income at the end of the year. ‘Those women, in
general, have preserved the art in their families from gene-
ration to generation ; hence, you may have seen in the me-
morial of the merchants of Lyons, which I had the honor
to send you, that these merchants complain of their imper-
fect routine ; I believe their complaints are in part from jea-
lousy, and the spirit of monopoly ; still lam not unwilling
to believe, that the silk from domestic reels is not as per-

370 APPENDIX.

fect as that which comes from the large filatures ; it sells,
however, and the manufacturers know how to employ it.
It must be added, that the French and Italian female reel-
ers perform their work mechanically, and are, in other re-
spects, of the grossest ignorance: few of them, if any,
knowing even how to read and write. Our American wo-
men will prove themselves far superior in every respect,
and their domestic filatures will produce perfect silk, be-
cause they will not have received their instruction through
their great-grand-mothers, before the art was improved as
it is now.

In this country there should be both great and small or
domestic filatures ; the former will be the depositories of
all the improvements in the arts; the latter will contribute
to the ease of families; and there is no danger of there
being an excess of the article in the market. There must
be filatures of all sizes and all dimensions, according to
the means of those who will undertake them. Full and
free competition can alone ensure success.

The first thing to be done, therefore, is to instruct, in
the art of reeling silk, a sufficient number of young men,
to disseminate it at once through the country. Those
young men will, when instructed, set up filatures with a~
oreater or lesser number of reels, according to their means ;
in which they will be obliged to employ women, who will
not, as in Italy and France, remain all their lives on wa-
ges, but, after a certain time, will return to their families,
or get married and set up small filatures of their own,
which they can do ata trifling expense. They will, pro-
bably, also plant a few mulberry trees on their farms,
and the females of the family will raise silk worms, and
produce cocoons to be reeled in the house. This is the
course which the thing must infallibly take.

Thus much being premised, I now proceed to state the
offers of Mr. D’Homergue. He offers to instruct sixty

APPENDIX. 371

young men, to be designated by the Government of the
United States. ‘They should be healthy, intelligent, ac-
tive, and dexterous youths, between the ages of eighteen
and twenty-five, and having as much as possible a natural
disposition to the mechanical arts. ‘They will be instruct-
ed in the theory and practice of the art of reeling silk from
the cocoons into the various forms or qualities of raw silk.
They will be taught the theoretical and practical, the mer-
cantile as well as the mechanical parts of the business, with
the most modern improvements. ‘They will, in short, at
the end of the course of instruction, be enabled to take
charge, as directors, of a filature, however extensive, to
instruct women, and, in short, to do every thing in that
branch which Mr. D’Homergue may do himself.

The course of instruction will require two years; that
_is to say, two seasons, from. the Ist of July to the middle
or end of November in each year. ‘The young men will
board themselves where they please in the neighborhood
of the filature, which they will be expected regularly to
attend during working hours, to receive their instruction.
The remainder of the year they may dispose of themselves
as they or their friends shall think proper.

It is intended by Mr. D’Homergue to erect his filature
in the vicinity of Philadelphia, as the most convenient
place, for reasons which shall hereafter be explained.

The course of instruction can only begin on the Ist of
July, 1831; the present year must be employed in pre-
parations. Mr. D’Homergue will have, before the Ist of
July, to travel through several of the States, in order to
secure cocoons, and at the same time he will instruct the
farmer, as much as will be in his power, respecting the
culture of the mulberry tree, and the raising of silk worms.
Every year, in the winter or spring, during the three
years, he will travel in the same manner, varying his course
as much as possible; this will be necessary, on account

oT? APPENDIX.

of the scarcity of cocoons, which must be expected to last
some time, and probably to the end of the contemplated
three years. In the approaching Summer he will establish
a filature near Philadelphia, with at least twenty women,
so that the young men, at the next season, when their course
will begin, may see it at work, and learn how such an es-
tablishment is to be directed. Inthe next year the filature
will be enlarged for the immediate instruction of the sixty-
pupils, who it is expected will be sent all at the same time.
Improved machinery will be imported from Europe, and
every thing necessary will be done in the course of the three
years, that the young men may be fully instructed, and en-
abled, when they return home, to set up filatures in their
respective neighborhoods. ;

Speaking of machinery, I cannot avoid noticing the cele-
brated apparatus of M. Gensoul, so often mentioned in the
memorial of the merchants of Lyons, and which it con-
templates to introduce into all the filatures of France. As
it is very expensive the memorial recommends to the
French Government to distribute bounties to an amount
not less than 600,000 francs ($120,500) by way of en-
couragement to those who will introduce it into their esta-
blishments. |

This apparatus can only be employed in large filatures
of at least thirty reels. Its advantages are the following:

1. It saves the time of reelers, who are not incommo-
ded by fire and smoke, and are not obliged to stop and feed
their fires, as the hot water is conveyed by pipes to their
several basins, and the furnaces to each reel are unneces-
sary.

2. It preserves the purity of the water.

3. It raises or lowers the temperature of the water in the .
basins, to the required degrees of heat.

4. It saves three-fourths of the fuel, increases the quan-
tity of the produce of labor, which may be estimated at

APPENDIX. 373

ene-tenth, and improves the quality and brilliancy of the
raw silk.*

Mr. D’Homergue intends, if his offers are accepted, to
import this valuable apparatus, in the first place, as a mo-
del, which will soon be imitated, and perhaps improved
by our ingenious workmen; and, also, to enable him to
instruct the sixty young men in the knowledge of all its
parts, and in the use of it. It is very complicated, and
requires great care in packing and forwarding. It consists
of a great number of pieces, which must be all marked
and numbered, in order that it may be properly put
up on its arrival. It requires therefore, the aid of a
person profoundly skilled in the business. Mr. D’Ho-
mergue proposes to employ his father. He would ex-
pect that this apparatus, and what other machinery he
should think it necéSsary to import, during the three years,
should be free of duty.

By means of this plan, the United States would be in
possession at the end of the contemplated period, of the
means of offering to the markets of Europe and of this
country, raw silk, of all its different qualities, in the high-
est perfection. ‘The committee will have observed in the
Lyons memorial, how much importance is attached to the
perfection of the filature, and what complaints are made
of the want of uniformity in the silk produced. It would
be a most essential point, that the first raw silk which
shall come out of the American filatures, should be as per-
fect as possible, and uniformly so, because in addition to

=This description is somewhat altered from the original. Mr.
Thu Ponceau had misunderstood the explanation givento him. A
few similar errors found their way into the essays of 1829, which
are allto be ascribed to him, to whom the subject was at that
time entirely new. He has authorized the insertion of this note.

33

374 APPENDIX.

the superior beauty of the material, it would at once give
a name to American silk, which would establish its repu-
tation on a solid basis, and make it every where sought
for and purchased in a manner with the eyes shut. If the
United States are determined to introduce this manufacture
into this country, the committee will be sensible that it
should not be done partially, and that as little as possible
should be left to chance hereafter. A good method intro-
duced every where, at once from the besmaninys will with
difficulty degenerate.

If this plan should be adopted and carried into exeeu-
tion, it will follow, that, at the end of the three years’ in-
struction, three sorts of filatures may and will be immedi-
ately introduced into the different parts of the United
States. 1. Large filatures, of thirty reels and upwards,
moved by horse or water power, or by steam. 2. Mid-
dle sized filatures, of six reels and upwards, moved by
hand in the ordinary way. 3. Small or domestic fila-
tures, of five reels and below; these would employ the
farmers’ wives and daughters, and the slave population,
through the country. he difference in the perfection
of the silk between that which is reeled with Gensoul’s
apparatus, and that reeled in the ordinary way, is hardly
perceptible, when the directors are good, and the reelers
are attentive, and have been well instrueted.

The reason why, in France, the silk reeled upon farms
obtains a less price than that reeled in filatures, is, that the
peasants’ wives and daughters follow an antiquated rou-
tine, as has been mentioned. In this country the method
would be uniform every where. Negligence and inatten-
tion alone could produce a difference in the value of the
silk reeled in farm houses, and this negligence would carry
with it isown punishment. The raw silk of China, much
inferior to that of France, is still sure to find purchasers ;

APPENDIX. 375

and there is little doubt but that it must be, in time super-
seded by American silk.

When the art of reeling silk shall have been thus esta-
blished through the country, it is to be expected that the
article will abound in the land; and particularly if mea-
sures are taken, as will be presently mentioned, for pro-
moting the planting and growth of mulberry trees. Mr.
D’Homergue then will have a great many competitors in
the business of filature, which if monopolized, would have -
enriched him; consequently, it will be his interest, and it
is his intention, if this plan succeeds, to turn his attention
to manufactures, from which he expects he will be able to
make a competent fortune, and at the same time to enrich
the country. In this he knows he will also have compe-
titors, (for it is said there is already in Boston a good Eng-
lish silk throwster, of the name of Edward Brown, who
has brought with him the necessary machinery for the ex-
ercise of his profession,) but Mr. D’Homergue relies on
his knowledge of the various arts connected with this bu-
siness, and is not afraid of meeting competitors.

The course which the silk business will take when fila-
tures of raw silk shall be established through the scale
is expected to be as follows:

1, The fringe-makers, who are already numerous in sins
country, will be supplied with the article which they now
import at a great expense, and in considerable quantities.
An eminent fringe-maker of this city said, in my presence,
that he imported raw silk, annually, to the amount of
$20,000.

2. The filoselle, or flurt silk, which sali issue from the
filatures, and needs not be thrown, but only carded and
spun in the usual way, will be immediately employed by
our industrious workmen in making stockings, caps, vest-
ings, and other kinds of hosiery.

376 APPENDIX.

3. The art of throwing silk, that is, of giving it the last
preparation for the loom, is not so difficult of acquisition
as the art of reeling from the cocoons, which is the founda-
tion of all; silk throwsters will come over from England
and France, and that branch of business will soon spread
through the country.

4, The weaving of stuffs out of the three first qualities
of raw silk, sincles, tram, and organzine, wil! next follow.
Ji cannot be expected that the beautiful gold and silver tis-
sues and embroidered stuffs, for which the Lyons manu-
facturers are so eminently distinguished, will be introduc-
ed for a considerable time. Velvets and satins also will
be among the last that will be manufactured in America;
but the Lyons memorial, if I remember right, says that
those rich stuffs amount only to one-fourth in value of the
silk manufactures of France, and that the other three-
fourths consist of those plain tissues which are yearly im-
ported to such an immense amount into this country. It
may be expected, therefore, (such is the opmzion of Mr.
D’Homergue and my own) that the manufactures of plain
tissues and those of mixed stuffs of silk and wool, and
cotton and silk, will rapidly extend themselves through the
United States. ‘There is no extraordinary difficulty in the
mode of weaving, and Mr. D’ Homergue is fully convinced
that our ingenious and industrious weavers will master that
business in a short time.

But all depends on the reelmg of the raw silk. It ts
the foundation of all; the sine qua non, without which,
all undertakings connected with silk must prove ruinous to
those who shall venture to embark in them. Fine raw
silk alone, though it were never employed here, will,
nevertheless, be a great source of riches as an article of
commeree.

I have thus stated to you, Sir, as clearly as I have been
able, the offer made by Mr. D’Homergue to teach that val-

APPENDIX. ; 377

-uable art, in such a manner as to disseminate it at. once™
through every part of this country. I have shown, in as
‘much detail as I have thought necessary to make it well
understood, the manner in which this proposal is intended
to be carried into execution; and, lastly, I have endeavor-
ed to sketch a view of the effects it may reasonably be ex-
pected to produce. Ihave now to state the terms on which
Mr. D’Homergue is willing to engage himself to its per-
formance.

He requires the: sum of forty thousand dollars, for which
he will engage to instruct sixty young men in the art of
reeling silk from the cocoons, as has been abovementioned.
He will be, for that sum, at ail the expense that will be re-
quired for carrying the plan into full and complete execu-
tion, and will never ask or apply for a single cent more, —
by way of advance, reimbursement, reward, compensation,
or on any other account whatsoever. The forty thousand
dollars are expected to do the business completely, and to
leave something at the end for Mr. D’Homergue; what
that may be cannot be calculated, but he hopes it will be
sufficient to enable him to set up for himself in the other
branches of the silk manufacture that he contemplates.

He has calculated that it will be necessary that the
money should be advanced by the United States at the fol-
lowing periods: 1. Ten thousand dollars immediately.
2. Twenty thousand dollars on the first of March, 1831.
3. Ten thousand dollars on the first of March, 1832. The
reason for which the sum is doubled for the next year, is,
that machinery will have to be imported from France, to
a large amount in the course of that year. The reason
why the money is thus asked for in advance, is, in order
that the business may not, at any time, or on any account,
be retarded for want of funds, and that all may go on with

the necessary rapidity.
Here, Sir, | am well convinced that it aiissies be reason-

30

378 APPENDIX.

ably asked, that this nation shouid trust with so large a
sum a young stranger, who has not been above nine months
in this country, and who ean give no pledge of his solva-
bility in case of failure. ‘This objection has struck me
with the same foree with which it will strike the commit-
tee, and I have long been revolving in my mind the means,
if any could be found, to get over it; at last I have come
to the resolution to make the following proposal in my
own name: '

I have set my whole heart on the introduction of the
manufacture of silk into this country; I know it is possi-
ble, and I know, also, that great honor awaits those who
shall have been instrumental in it. I am ambitious of that
honor; and, moreover, f have committed myself so far in
recommending this course of proceeding, that I stand in a
manner pledged for its success. I cannot better prove my
firm conviction, than by the offer I am now going to make.

I am willing to interpose my personal responsibility be-
tween the nation and Mr. D’Homergue; I offer to act as
a trustee, to receive the money, and to see to its applica-
tion. Mr. D’Homergue is willing to place himselt entirely
under my direction; and in consequence, I shall be re-
sponsible for any misuse of the money to be thus placed in
my hands; I shall be in fact the director, to whose con-
trol Mr. D’Homergue will be bound to submit. He shall
receive no money but through my hands, and I shail see
to its application. In short, I shall act for the United
States, in this matter, as I should do for myself, if I were
in their place. For this service, I shall expect no reward
or compensation whatever. Iam devoted to the object;
[ have leisure and health; it will be a pleasure to me to
direct and watch over this great undertaking, and to enjoy
its progress, and I shall consider it as a glorious empley-
ment of the latter years of a long life.

Now, Sir, that you and the honorable committee may

APPENDIX. 379

‘not think that [am here guided by unreasonable enthusi-

asm, I think it right to state to you the grounds on which
Tam induced to make an offer, which, otherwise, might
be considered by some as at least a rash act, but which is
only the effect of a strong conviction of the probability, I
‘had almost said, of the certainty of success; indeed, sav-
ing unforseen accidents, I cannot conceive how the pro-
ject can fail. My grounds are the following:

1. Of the talents of Mr. D’Homergue I have not the
least doubt. His recommendations from Europe are ex-
plicit on that head. The silk that he has reeled in this
country has been admired by respectable silk merchants
from Lyons, now in this country, who are competent
judges. TI enclose a small sample of raw silk, of the qual--
ity called organzine, which he has reeled in my presence,
from cocoons sent to him by Thomas Sumter, Esq. of
Statesburgh, South Carolina. ‘They were most beautiful,
and of an extraordinary size; this silk was shown in my
presence to the fringe maker whom I have already men-
tioned, who mistook it for that fine silk with which they
make Valenciennes lace, which he saw sold at Paris for
$20 a pound; but Mr. D’Homergue admits that it is
not of that quality. ‘This sample is very small, but there
were but few cocoons reeled; and similar samples have
been distributed among friends, and some sent abroad.
The committee will, no doubt, be struck with the dazzling
whiteness of the silk; such is seldom found out of this
country.

2. As to the personal character and disposition of Mr.
D’Homergue, | have had sufficient opportunity of know-
ing it, in a constant intercourse during nine months. He
is a modest, ingenuous young man, ambitious of fame, and
of perfectly correct principles. He places in me implicit
confidence, and is willing to be, as he has hitherto been,
entirely guided by my counsels. I can rely on his moral

380 APPENDIX.

character; and I have not the least doubt that he will, un-
der my direction, faithfully execute whatever he shall un-
dertake to do.

I now shall state to the committee the reasons which
convince me that he is the person the best calculated, and,
perhaps, the only one, through whom the silk manufac-
tures can be speedily and effectually introduced into this
country.

His being the son of an eminent silk manufacturer has
been attested to me, not only by himself, but by credible
persons acquainted with his family.. His knowledge is
not confined to the reeling of silk, but extends to the va-
rious branches of the silk manufacture. Such persons are
very rare, even in Europe; it was a fortunate accident that
brought Mr. D’Homergue into this country. Silk reelers
may be found, silk throwsters, also, and manufacturers
skilled in particular branches; but none, or very few, and
none at his age, possessed of so general a knowledge. His
youth, too, is an immense advantage, as it will identify
him with the country, and give him time to carry all his
projects into execution. French reelers cannot be induced
to leave their country ; and if they could, as they are very
ignorant, and work mechanically, they would not be able
to teach the art as Mr. D’Homergue can. Directors of
filatures are, in general, men of an advanced age, with fami-
lies, well compensated for their labor; these could only
with great difficulty be obtained; and it is very doubtful
whether their talents for instructing would be equal to their
pretensions, which, no doubt, would be very elevated. 1
-eonsider Mr. D’Homergue as an important acquisition to
this country.

Thus, Sir, I have ventured to lay before you and the
honorable committee a plan for the firm establishment of
the filature, and eventually, of the manufacture of silk in
this country ; which, after much reflection, and the most

APPENDIX. 381

mature deliberation, has, and still appears to me to be, the
cheapest, the easiest, and the most effectual, to produce
this result completely, and in the shortest space of time
possible. Permit me, before I conclude, to submit a few
observations.

1. I believe it must be admitted, that, if the object can
be attained for the sum of forty thousand dollars, without
any further expense to the United States, it will be, con-
sidering its value, the cheapest purchase that ever was
made. When we consider the sacrifices which the sove- —
reigns of Europe have made for the same object, the no-
ble rewards that they have given to individuals under simi-
lar circumstances; and when we consider, particularly,
that, at the present moment, the government of France is
called upon, by the merchants of Lyons, to expend the
sum of $120,000, in bounties to the owners of filatures,
merely to induce them to purchase and use an expensive ma-
chinery, that the preparation of raw silk, long since known
and practised in that country, may be uniformly carried to
the highest degree of perfection, we may be able to judge
of the importance and of the value in which is held in Eu-
rope that fundamental branch of the silk trade, on the per-
fection of which every thing else depends; and we are
unavoidably led to the conclusion that forty thousand dol-
lars is a trifling sum, indeed, for securing the introduction
generally and uniformly through our country of so valua-
ble an art.

As relates to Mr. D’Homergue, I do not think that less,
in justice, can be offered to him, undertaking as he does
to bear all the expenses. From the view he has taken of
the subject, he does not expect, at the end of the three
years, to have much more than the matériel of the esta-
blishment, which will, of course, remain to him, and per-
haps some money. If it were otherwise, it appears to
me a just principle, that he who makes a nation’s fortune,

382 APPENDIX.

should make his own. But Mr. D’Homergue does not
expect to make his fortune by the execution of this plan,
but only to be put in the way of making it by future exer-
tions, which will also be highly beneficial to the country.

2. I regret very much that, as the committee contem-
plated, the execution of this plan cannot take place in the
District of Columbia; but several weighty reasons are
opposed to it. In the first place, there are not in that Dis-
trict the resources that are to be found in one of our large
cities. 2ndly: In the employment of women, the differ-
ences of color might present great obstacles, which will
not exist when several reeling establishments will be scat-
tered through the States. 3rdly: I have already stated the
difficulties which Mr. D’Homergue would find in his con-
nexions with strangers, and which might eventually pro-
duce a failure in the project; and I am also convinced that,
from my knowledge of him, his character and disposition,
from the confidence that.he places in me, and from my
having become, in some degree, familiar with the subject
of silk, and the various modes of employing it, he would
more willingly place himself under my direction, than that
of other persons with whom he might not so freely com-
municate. Under these circumstances, Philadelphia seems
to be the place where the plan in auesuols if adopted,
should be executed.

Nor does it seem very material ee the sixty young
Americans are taught, since their instruction is to take so
short a time, and their acquired knowledge so soon to be
diffused through the whole land. It would have been dif-
ferent if a permanent school were to have been established,
as seems to have been contemplated by the committee. Ac-
cording to the proposed plan, the school will be only tem-
porary; and, in the course of two summers, the instruc-
tion of the young citizens will have been begun and com-
pleted.

; APPENDIX. 383

One more observation remains for me to make.

Whatever plan may be pursued for the introduction of
the filature of raw silk into the United States, it will be
indispensably necessary to take measures, at the same time,
to increase the quantity of cocoons. It will be sufficient for
that purpose, to encourage the planting of the white Italian
mulberry tree, because, when it shall abound through the
country, silk worms and cocoons will naturally follow. I
would, therefore, take the liberty to suggest the expedi-
ency of granting a bounty, for a limited time, say five
years, of dollars for every three thousand such mul-
berry trees, of three years’ growth; and if it should be
wished to extend the benefit of it to small cultivators, then
a proportionate sum for every thousand. ‘The amount of
the bounty should depend on the greater or lesser proba-
bility that there is of its producing the desired effect, so as
to obtain the greatest possible quantity of mulberry trees at
the least possible expense to the United States. I do not
_ profess to be a judge in this matter. Mr. D’Homergue,
on the supposition that the citizens would immediately and
generally turn their attention to the planting of those trees,
proposed fifty dollars for every three thousand; a genile-
man from Indiana county, in this State, on whose judg-
ment I place great reliance, on a contrary supposition, pro-
posed one hundred dollars for the same quantity. But
this is a matter on which the members of the Legislature
are most competent to decide. If such a bounty were
eranted, it appears to me that no other legislative measure
would be required.

I have endeavored, in this communication to be as clear,
and, at the same time, as brief as possible; I am not sure,
however, that I have succeeded. Should any further in-
formation be wanted from Mr. D’Homergue, or myself, it

B84 APPENDIX.

will be given with great pleasure, and every question rea-
dily answered.
I have the honor to be,
With the highest consideration and respect,
Sir, your most obedient
And very humble servant,
PETER 8. DU PONCEAU.,

Hon. AMBROSE SPENCER,

Chairman of the Committee of Agriculture of the
House of Representatives of the United States.

No. 4.
Mr. Spencer’s letter to Mr. Du Ponceau.
Wasuincton, March 4th, 1830.

Dear Sir:—I ought to apologize to you for my seem-
ing neglect in leaving your communication to the Commit-
tee on Agriculture of the 23d ultimo, so long unanswered,
the reason of this delay is, that I wished to be able to state
to you the views of the committee in relation to it. We
have had the subject under consideration, and have agreed
to your proposition, every member assenting thereto, except
Mr. Wilson, who was out of town.

I can scarcely express to you the admiration your com-
munication excited. To see a man of your age engaging
so zealously in a plan promising such a rich harvest of re-
ward to the whole country, presents a spectacle of devotion
and patriotism, rarely seen in these days.

It shall be my first object to draw up a report, but I fear
that I must yet trouble you further, in requesting you to
draw a bill, and I will give you some suggestions in rela-
tion to it, to be followed or not, as you think best, desiring
you to frame such a one as meets your own views.

Ist. As to the $40,000, ought it not to be payable to
you, for the purposes specified in the bill? Mr. D’Homer-

APPENDIX. 1» RH

gue is a stranger, end there may be objections to placing
in his hands that sum, my wish is to encounter as few ob-
jections in the details as possible.

2d. Would it not be advisable to place the designation
of the sixty pupils in the chief executive magistrate of each
state? ‘They are better able to make the designation, than
any officer of the general government.

3d. Ought not the pupils to be taken from the states in the
proportion of their population or representation in the House
of Representatives, giving every state one pupil?

4th. Should there not be some police established for the
government of the pupils? On this subject, I have no
very definite ideas, and J submit the whole to your consi-
deration, asking only as speedy a reply as your conveni-
ence will admit.

Most Respectfully,
Your chedient servant,
A. SPENCER.

Peter S. Du Ponceau, Esq.

No. 5.
From the same to the same.
Wasuineton, March 13th, 1830.
Dear Sir,

Yesterday I made a report to the House, stating suc-
cinctly the principal points of view which rendered it im-
portant to make provision by law, for securing the services
of Mr. D’Homergue, as an instructor in the art of filature.
I presented at the same time the bill you so kindly drew,
and which entirely met the views of the committee; and
yeur letter to me, detailing your opinion and reasons in
relation to the school. We added one clause to the bill,
in order to secure its passage and to do away objections.
It confers authority on the President to suspend the pay-
ments of the money, if it shall be made to appear to him,

34

386 APPENDIX.

that from misconduct on the part of Mr. D’Homergue, the
objects of the bill are likely to be frustrated.

The report, and bill and documents, were committed to
the Committee of the Whole on the state of the union,
and ordered to be printed; as soon as they are printed I
will send you several copies.

I cannot but hope there will be wisdom enough in the
Congress to earry this bill into alaw. If this shall hap-
pen, you will have secured to yourself a title to the grati-
tude of your adopted country, and I shall have the satis-
faction of being an humble auxiliary in this good work.

Most truly,
Yours,

A. SPENCER.
Perer S. Du Ponceau, Esq.

No. 6.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF
THE UNITED STATES.
March 12th, 1830.
The Committee on Agriculture, who were instructed by

a resolution to inquire into the expediency of adopting
measures to extend the cultivation of the white mul-
berry tree in the United States; to promote the culture
of silk, by introducing the necessary machinery for
reeling the same from cocoons; and for acquiring and
disseminating practical knowledge therein; make the
following report in part:

That the committee have been greatly aided in their in-
quiries on these important subjects by essays published re-
eently by Mr. John D’Homergue, a native of France, who
eame to the United States during the last summer. Mr.
D’Homergue, being unacquainted with our language, has
been assisted in the writing these essays by Peter S. Du
Ponceau, Esq. of whom it is unnecessary to speak, he be-
ing extensively known as a genileman of the most patri-

APPENDIX. 387

otic VIEWS, possessing great scientific attainments, and an
unblemished character. ‘The committee, therefore, con-
sider these essays, and the facts contained in them, as en-
titled to high confidence.

Among the facts developed are several of an important
nature. It appears that American silk is superior in qual-
ity to that produced in any other country. In France and
Italy, twelve pounds of cocoons are required to produce
one pound of raw silk, whilst eight pounds of American
cocoons will produce one pound of raw silk. That co-
coons cannot be exported to a foreign market from several
causes, their bulk, their liability to spoil by moulding on
shipboard, and because they cannot be compressed without
rendering them incapable of being afterwards reeled.

it is further demonstrated in these essays, and in a me-
morial lately presented by the manufacturers of silk stuffs
of Lyons, in France, to the Minister of commerce and
manufactures, that the art of filature can only be ac-
quired by practical instruction, by some one intimately ac-
quainted with, and accustomed to, that process. Thatno hu-
man skill or ingenuity, unaided by practical instruction, is
capable of acquiring that art, to any profitable extent. It
is made manifest, that, although the culture of silk nas been
carried on for many years in some parts of the United States,
and more particularly in Connecticut, it has been conduct-
ed very unprofitably, compared with what the results might
have been, if the art of filature had been understood. The
sewing silk made in Connecticut is from the best of silk,
and is, after all, quite inferior to that of France and Italy ;
in these latter countries, sewing silk is manufactured from
imperfect cocoons, or from refuse silk. It appears, also,
that, unless the silk is properly reeled from the cocoons,
it is never afterwards susceptible of use in the finer fabrics,

It is a gratifying consideration to the committee, that
the benefits from the culture of silk, and the acquisition

388 APPENDIX.

of the art of reeling the same, will be common to every
part of the United States. ‘The climate of every State in
the Union is adapted to the culture of silk; hatching the
eges of the silk worm may be accelerated or retarded to
suit the putting forth the leaves of the mulberry. That
tree is easily propagated from the seeds of the fruit, and is
adapted to almost any soil.

The committee regard the general culture of silk as of
vast national advantage in many points of view. If zeal-
ously undertaken and prosecuted, it will, in a few years,
furnish an article of export of great value; and thus the
millions paid by the people of the United States for silk
stuffs will be compensated for by the sale of our raw silk.
Théeimportation of silk during the year which ended on
the 30th of September, 1828, amounted to $8,463,563, of
which $1,274,461 were exported; but, in the same year,
the exportation of bread stuffs from this country amounted
only to $5,414,665, leaving a balance against us of nearly
two millions. 'The committee anticipate, that, at a period
not remote, when we shali be in possession of the finest
material produced in any country, the manufacture of silk
stuffs will necessarily be introduced into the United States.

The culture of silk promises highly moral benfits, in the
employment of poor women and children im a profitable
business, whilst it will detract nothing from agricultural or
manufacturing labor. ‘The culture of silk will greatly
benefit those States which have abundant slave labor, the
value of whose principal productions, particularly in the
article of cotton, has been depressed by over production.
It is well ascertained, that, although France produces with-
in herself much silk, she pays annually more than $20,-
000,000 for imported silk. The committee have been
unable to ascertain the amount of raw silk purchased from
other countries in England, but they are satisfied the
amount is large ; and that, in these countries alone, a ready

APPENDIX. 389

market can be found for all the raw silk raised in the Uni-
ted States for many years to come.

The committee have, through their chairman, corres-
ponded with Mr. Du Ponceau, and this report is accom-
panied with a communication from that most respectable
man and useful citizen, exhibiting his matured views on this
interesting subject. Mr. D’Homergue is now in Phila-
delphia, and unless sufficient inducements are offered to
him to remain in this country, he will very soon leave it
forever. He possesses, in an eminent degree, all the prac-
tical knowledge necessary as an instructor in the theory
and practice of the art of reeling silk from cocoons, and
manufacturing the same into the various forms and qualities
of raw silk known in the silk trade, having from his infancy
been instructed in all the various processes. It is believed
to be almost impossible to procure from Europe another
person so competent to impart a knowledge of these arts as
Mr. D’Homergue is. ‘The acquisition of his services and
instruction is invaluable; and in the opinion of the com-
mittee, if he be suffered to leave the United States at this
period, it would be a national misfortune. In the confi-
dent belief that Congress will, unhesitatingly, provide for
the appropriation of a small and insignificant sum of mo-
ney, in promoting a measure which cannot fail to realize
to the nation such rich results, the committee have pre-
pared a bill, which they beg leave to present,

No. 7.
Twenty-first Congress— Second Session.—In the House

of Representatives.
December 13th, 1830.
The Speaker laid before the House the ones com-
munication :

Sir,
You will receive with this letter a silken flag “bear-

34%

390 APPENDIX.

ing the colors of the United States. This flag is made
entirely of American silk, reeled from the cocoons, pre-
pared and woven by John D’Homergue, Silk Manutac-
turer. The coloring has been done by the best artist he
could procure in the city of Philadelphia; he himself not
professing to be a dyer.

The staff of this flag, with the eagle, measures about
fifteen feet; the flag itself is twelve and a half long, and
six feet wide. It is woven in one piece, without a seam.

I beg, sir, you will be so good as to present this flag,
most respectfully in my name, to the honorable House
over which you preside, as a sample of American indus-
try, thus applied, for the first time, to the most valuable
ef American productions, and as a result of the efforts
they have made during the last five years, for the promo-
tion of the important branch of agriculture to which we
owe the rich material of which this flag is composed.

I have the honor to be,
With the highest respect, Sir,
Your most obedient
And most humble servant,
PETER 8. DU PONCEAU.
Hon. ANDREW STEVENSON,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Ordered, ‘That the said communication be referred to
the Committee on Agriculture.

December 21st.

Mr. Spencer, of New York, from the Committee on
Agriculture to which was referred, on the 13th inst., the
letter of Peter 8. Du Ponceau, announcing his presenta-
tion to the House of a silken flag, bearing the colors of
the United States, made of American silk, reeled from co-
coons and prepared and woven by John D’Homergue,
made a report thereon; which was read, and the resolution
therein submitted, viz:

APPENDIX. 391

‘‘Resolved, That the flag bearing the colours of the
United States, presented to this House by Peter S. Du
Ponceau, of Philadelphia, made of American silk ; prepar-
ed and woven by John D’Homergue, Silk Manufacturer,
in the city of Philadelphia, be accepted by this House, and
that it be displayed, under the direction of the Speaker, in
some conspicuous part of the hall of sittings of this
House.”

Having been read, Mr. Alexander moved to lay the reso-
lution on the table ; which motion being disagreed to, the
said resolution was concurred in by the House.

February 9th, 1831.

On motion of Mr. Spencer, of New York,

Ordered, That the Committee of the Whole House to
which is committed the bill (No. 345) for promoting the
growth and manufacture of silk, be discharged from the
consideration thereof, and that the said be committed to the
Whole House on Monday next.

No. 8.
Twenty-second Congress—first Session.
December 14th, 1831.
The Speaker laid before the House a letter from Peter
S. Du Ponceau, of Philadelphia, dated December 9th,
1831, upon the subject of the culture and manufacture of
silk ; which letter was referred to the Committee on Ag-

riculture.
January 20, 1832.

Mr. Root, from the Committee of Agriculture, to which
was referred a letter from Peter S. Du Ponceau of Phila-
delphia, on the culture and manufacture of silk, made a re-
port thereon, accompanied by a bill (No. 294) for promo-
ting the growth and manufacture of silk; which bill was
read the first and second time, and committed to a Com-
mittee of the Whole House to-morrow.

392 APPENDIX.

Thursday, February 2.

On motion of Mr. Root,

Ordered, That the Committee of Agriculture, to which
is committed the bill (294) for promoting the growth and
manufacture of silk, be discharged, and that the bill be
committed to a Committee of the Whole House, and made
the special order for Tuesday the 7th instant.

February 16.

The House proceeded to the consideration of the bill
(No. 294) for the growth and manufacture of silk, (and of
another bill) whereupon it was

Ordered, That the consideration of the said bills be
postponed until Monday next.
March 12.

Mr. Root presented a memorial of the New York State
Agricultural Society, praying that the bill now pending be-
fore this House (No. 294) for promoting the growth and
manufacture of silk, may speedily be passed into a law, or
that such other measures may be adopted, as, in the wis-

dom of Congress, may seem meet for the encouragement —

of the growth and manufacture of silk; which memorial
was referred to the committee of the Whole House to which
said bill is committed.
May 10.

The Speaker communicated to the House a letter from
Peter Stephen Duponceau, stating sundry reasons why it
is important to the nation that the bill, now pending be-
fore this House, ‘ for promoting the growth and manufac-
ture of silk,’’ should be acted upon as soon as possible ;
and, above all, that it should not be suffered to lie over the
present session; which communication was committed to
the Committee of the Whole House to which the said bill
is committed. The letter is as fellows *:

* This letter is printed among the public documents, and
marked, Document No. 232, Housse of REPRESENTATIVES.

APPENDIX. 393

Wasuineton, 8th May, 1832.
Sir—

The present session of Congress being far advanced,
and business pressing on your honorable House from every
side, I think it my duty to solicit again their attention to
the bill ‘‘for promoting the growth and manufacture of
silk,” now pending before them, and to state some
reasons why it is important to the nation that it should be
acted upon as soon as possible, and, above all things, that
it should not be suffered to go over the present session.

As there are many members of the present House who
are unacquainted with the history of this bill, and who may
not understand on what grounds I take the liberty to ad-
dress them through you, I beg leave to give here a brief
statement of it, which, while it serves as my apology, will,
I believe, throw some additional light on the important
subject to which your attention is most respectfully request-
ed.

When, at the beginning of the first session of the last
Congress, I had the honor to present to them a copy of
the ‘‘ Essays on American Silk,” then lately published by
Mr. D’Homergue and myself, I had nothing in view but
to give them a mark of my profound respect, and, at the
same time, through them, to extend the knowledge of the
facts which the book contains. I was highly flattered by
the honor which the House did to that little work, by re-
ferring it to their Committee on Agriculture; still, I had
no idea that that reference would lead to the recommen-
dation of a legislative measure.

The idea of deriving a national advantage from the ex-
portation of raw silk was entirely new, at that time, in the
United States.’ Until then, the culture of that rich produc-
tion of our soil had been considered only with a view to
domestic manufactures. ‘This is so true, that, in the able

394 APPENDIX.

report of the Committee on Agriculture, made to the House
on the 2d of May, 1826, in the Manual that was prepared -
and published on their recommendation; and in the an-
swers that were sent from all parts of the United States to
the then Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Rush, in conse-
quence of his circular queries, (as far as those answers
have come to my knowledge,) the importance of the ex-
portation of raw silk, as an article of commerce, is not any
where suggested. ‘Thus, our agriculture, as far as silk is
concerned, was considered only as auxiliary to domestic
manufactures ; while the idea first thrown out and devel-
oped in the ‘‘Essays,’’ contemplates solely the advantage
of the agricultural interest of our country, which alone is
to be benefited by the sale of our produce to foreign na-
tions in the form of a raw material, manufactures may
follow or not, asitmay happen. In either case, our coun-
try is to be benefited by the sale of an article exclusively
the fruit of agricultural industry. When we consider that
the small country of Piedmont exported, in the year 1829,
near five millions of pounds of her raw and thrown silks,
we shall better understand the value of this suggestion.
France does not permit the exportation of her silks, unless
manufactured.

These reflections could not but forcibly strike the minds
of the enlightened committee to whom the work was re-
ferred. ‘That committee did me the honor to address me
through their chairman, and desired my interference to
retain Mr. D’Homergue in this country. I was requested
by them to ask him on what terms he would accept to be
placed at the head of a national school of filature ; in con-
sequence of which, after having ascertained the lowest
terms that could reasonably be offered to him, and obtained
his assent, not without difliculty, as his pretensions were
higher, and these I found justified afterwards by a letter
from his father, in which, appealing to his experience of

}

i’

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APPENDIX. 395

forty years, he told him that forty thousand dollars would
hardly be sufficient to enable him to execute what he had
undertaken; I submitted a plan, which the committee im-
mediately adopted, and presented to the House in the form
of the present bill, to which they subjoined my letter to
them, and an able report, warmly recommending the mea-
sure, in which is found this remarkable expression, that it
would be a national misfortune if Mr. D’ Homergue were
suffered to leave this country.

That report was made on the 12th of March, 1830.
The session was then far advanced, and the House could
do no more before their adjournment than order six thou-
sand copies of the report, with my letter to the committee,
and the ‘‘Essays on American Silk,” to be printed. The
Senate, to whom a copy of that work had been also pre-
sented, referred it to their Committee on Agriculture and
manufactures, with whom I had some correspondence,
which, however, produced no result, as the subject had
been so fully taken up by the House of Representatives.

Under these circumstances, sir, | thought myself in hon-
or, if not in duty bound to justify the confidence placed in
me by retaining Mr. D’Homergue in this country, at least
until another session of Congress. At the same time, I
determined to prove to Congress, and to the nation, by the
evidence of facts, the great importance of the contemplated
measure, so that it might be popular by the time it should
come again before the National Legislature. I went with
Mr. D’Homergue to Connecticut, to see how the people
there managed the silk culture, and their so much spoken
of domestic manufacture of sewing silk. My object in
going thither was also to purchase cocoons, of which how-
ever, | could obtain but a small quantity, as the people
thought that they might employ them otherwise to more
advantage. We, therefore, supplied ourselves, in that and
the succeeding year, from other sources. On my return
to Philadelphia, I erected an experimental filature under

396 APPENDIX.

the direction of Mr. D’Homergue, in which American wo-
men were instructed in the art of preparing raw silk for
exportation. As there was not time before the then next
session of Congress to obtain information from Europe of
the results of these experiments, I prevailed on Mr. D’ Ho-
mergue, although without much of the requisite machine-
ry, to manufacture, himself, in various forms, a part of the
silk prepared at the filature. It was not until the end of
the last session of Congress, that we obtained proofs from
abroad, that our raw silk was esteemed in foreign coun-
tries, and might become a valuable article in our commerce
with other nations. The details of these experiments and
their results at home and abroad, have been made known
to the House in former communications.

The last session was short, and a great part of it taken
up by a State trial in the Senate, at which the members of
the House attended. ‘The House, however, showed its
favorable disposition towards the bill, by fixing a day
for its discussion; but, more pressing business interven-
ing, that discussion did not take place, and Congress ad-
journed, of necessity, on the day appointed by the consti-
tution.

At that time, sir, Mr. D’Homergue had received tempt-
ing offers from a foreign minister, then at Washington,
and was hesitating whether or not he would accept them.
The fact was known to many members of the late Con-
gress, who considered it of the highest importance that
Mr. D’Homergue should stay in this country, at least, to
wait the result of the present session. ‘Io obtain that end,
a paper was signed on the very day of the adjournment
of the late Congress, by eighty-nine members of the House
of Representatives, in which, without presuming to predict
what might be done by a future Congress, they did not
hesitate to give it as their decided opinion, that, if the bill
had been considered at that session, ‘‘ it would have met
with the approbation of the House of Representatives.”

APPENDIX. 397

That paper was brought to Philadelphia, and delivered to
me by the Hon. Ambrose Spencer.

Under such circumstances, what couldI do? However
inconvenient it might be to me to continue the efforts I had
begun, that was not now an object for my consideration.
A market had been established at Philadelphia for cocoons,
and they were bringing in for sale from various parts of the
country. ‘To have discontinued that market at once, would
have discouraged the farmers, and checked the impulse
which Congress had been giving to the silk culture since
the year 1826; and, what would have been worse, Mr.
D’Homergue might have accepted some of the offers made
him, and left this country. I therefore determined to per-
severe; the cocoons were purchased, the women hired,
and the filature again set to work, not as a business, or
with a view to any profit, but as a continuation of former
experiments. Mr. D’Homergue was persuaded to remain
in the United States, and to reject the offers made to him
by the foreign minister to whom I have alluded, and by
another, then in Philadelphia, who made overtures to him
in my presence.

The period having arrived for the opening of the pre-
sent session of Congress, I had the honor of addressing
a letter to you, requesting that you would place the subject
before the eyes of your honorable House. I had the sa-
tisfaction to see that my letter was promptly referred to the
Committee on Agriculture. Encouraged by this favora-
ble token, and determined that no effort should be want-
ing,‘on my part, to promote so important a measure, I re-
solved to accompany Mr. D’Homergue to this city, that
he and I might be on the spot to give to the members all
the explanations that they might require. We attended
together the Committee on Agriculture, who brought in the
former bill with a report not less favourable to it than that
of their predecessors. ‘The order of the House, which

30

398 APPENDIX.

soon after followed, to place that bill among the special or-
ders of the day, convinced me of the high importance which
they attach to the subject; and I should not think it neces-
sary to trouble them or you with this letter, if the session
were not so far advanced, and the prospect of the bill’s
being taken into consideration during its continuance dimin-
ishing every day. At any rate, the part I have taken in
this business, in consequence of the facts I have stated,
and which I have continued to take as long as my means
would permit, until prudence warns me to desist, if the
House should postpone its decision to another session,
will, I hope, be accepted as an apology for what other-
wise might be considered as an officious and unwarranted
intrusion.

I beg to be permitted to take this opportunity to say,
that, from my own observation, and the information of
others, and particularly of editors of newspapers, who, by
exchanging their journals, have the best means of know-
ing the feelings of the people at large, the measure con-
templated by this bill is highly popular among all classes
of men, but particularly the agriculturists throughout the
whole Union; and I am satisfied that, if passed into a law,
it will give general satisfaction. I am further convinced
of this, and that the postponement of the bill will cause
great disappointment among the farmers who have turned
their thoughts to the silk culture, by the letters which I
receive from all parts of the United States, which general-
ly end with the query, whether there will be a market
for cocoons this year at Philadelphia? which question I
am unable to answer. This inquiry has lately been made
by the inhabitants of the silk district, in Connecticut, who
two years ago, were unwilling to sell their cocoons, be-
cause they thought they could manufacture them to better -
advantage, but now appear to entertain a different opinion.
From the southern States, similar inquiries are made;
and, since I have been in this city, I have been informed

APPENDIX. 399

that cocoons had been sent for sale to Philadelphia from
North and South Carolina, but could find no purchaser,
as it would be idle in me to purchase that produce, to
throw away afterwards if the silk bill shall not pass. I
ought to add that several State Legislatures have made
laws to encourage the culture of the mulberry tree, and
the breeding of silk worms, in contemplation of the pass-
ing of that bill. I fear that if a check be given to this-
strong impulse by the discontinuing of a market for co-
coons, it will be difficult hereafter to revive it; and, with-
out the silk bill, I do not see how that market can be con-
tinued.

As I was going to conclude this letter, I received, from
Philadelphia, extracts from a series of public documents
lately presented to the American Philosophical Society,
by Don J. M. Tornel, late Minister from Mexico to the
United States. Among those documents, are official re-
ports, in which it is stated that the want of the knowledge
of the art of reeling is the only thing that prevents the cul-
ture of silk from flourishing in that Republic; and [ ought
to add, that itis known to me that overtures have been made
to Mr. D’Homergue, on the part of that government, to
induce him to enter into their service.

Thus, sir, three foreign governments have endeavored
to obtain the aid of Mr. D’Homergue to introduce or per-
fect the art of reeling silk among them. ‘This shows that it is
not so easy, as some have imagined, to obtain persons thus
qualified from other countries: and that this nation is pos-
sessed of an opportunity, which, if it should suffer to es-
cape, it may long, very long, have cause to regret here-
after.

The only object of this letter is to endeavor to convince
your honorable House of the high importance of this bill,
in the confident expectation that it will be finally acted up-
on by Congress at the present session. In doing so, |
conceive I am performing a duty, which, if I were to neg-

400 APPENDIX.

lect, I would have cause to mec myself for it forever
after.
I have the honour to be, with the highest respect,
Sir, your most obedient and ey humble servant,

PETER 8. DU PONCEAU. ~

Hon. ANDREW STEVENSON,

Speaker of the House of Representatives
of the United States.

May 22.

The House Resolved itself into a Committee of the
Whole House on the bill (No. 294) for promoting the
growth and manufacture of silk ; and, after some time spent
therein, the Speaker resumed the chair, and Mr. Barrin-
ger reported the said bill to the House with amendments.

May 23.

The House proceeded to the consideration of the bill
(No. 294) for promoting the growth and manufacture of
silk: when

A motion was made by Mr. Polk, that the enacting
words of the said bill be stricken out.

And, after debate thereon,

A motion was made by Mr. Wickliffe, that the said bill
be recommitted—with instructions to inquire into the ex-
pediency of so amending the same as to establish at the
public expense, a filature for reeling silk, and for the em-
ployment of suitable superintendents for the same, and of
providing for the instruction of pupils in the art of reeling
silk. 4 |

And, on the question, Shall the said bill be recommitted
with instructions ?

It was decided in the negative.

The question was then put on the motion of Mr. Polk

to strike out the enacting words of said bill ;
& , BY Yeas a 3 ri ir 98
And passed in the affirmative. ; Nays esac al

And so the bill was rejected.

APPENDIX.
D.

Proceedings in the Legislature of Pennsylvan‘a on the
presentation of a flag made of American Sitk, bear-
ing the colors of the United States.

From the Harrisburg Reporter, Friday, January 6, 1831.
AMERICAN SILK.

A very beautiful flag manufactured by Mr. D’ Homergue
of Philadelphia, from silk the growth and produce of this
state, was a few days since presented to the Legislature
by Peter S. Du Ponceau, Esq., accompanied by a letter
from that gentleman. ‘The letter was referred to a com-
mittee in the House of Representatives, consisting of
Messrs. Jngersoll, Read, of Susquehanna, and Craft;
and Mr. Ingersoll from that committee, on the 14th inst.
made a very appropriate report, accompanied by a rescolu-
tion that the flag be displayed in the House, under the
direction of the Speaker. Agreeably to the resclution the
flag has been very tastefully displayed over the Pennsyl-
vania Arms in rear of and above the Speaker’s chair,
where it at once commands the attention and admiration
of every one entering the hall of the House. We think it
a fine specimen of the useful perseverance of its worthy
donor, and a strong earnest of what may be expected from
the culture and manufacture of silk in Pennsyivania here-
after. ‘The following is the letter and report of the com-
mittee. ‘The report was unanimously adopted,

PuHivaDEtpuia, Jan, 3, 1831.
Srr,—I take the liberty of presenting through you to the
honorable House over which you preside, and of offer-
ing to their acceptence, a flag, bearing the colors of the

35*

A02 APPENDIX.

United States, and made entirely of American silk, by Mr.
John D’Homergue, of and in the city of Philadelphia.

The texture of the flag-is light and delicate; more so
perhaps than it should have been, if my object were not
by this specimen to show that stuffs of this description may
be manufactured in this country, from our own native
material. It is for similar stuffs that we pay annually to:
Europe a tribute of several millions of dollars, considerably
exceeding the amount that we receive for all our bread
stuffs. Hitherto the silk that this country produces, has
been exclusively employed in making sewing silk, and a
few stockings, gloves, and other like articles of domestic
manufacture, in which the best material has been used,
while elsewhere those articles are made of imperfect co-
coons, and of waste and refuse silk. For more than twen--
ty years, the inhabitants of a part of the state of Connec-
ticut, have pursued this unprofitable system, and it is re-
markable that the silk districts which ought to be the
richest in that State, are in fact the poorest. There is no
market there for their cocoons or silk balls, those who raise
them are obliged to manufacture them themselves, or they
will perish on their hands. Nor can they find any cash
‘price for the articles they make, so that they must use
them in their families, or dispose of them by way of bar-
ter. ‘This system is fast extending itself through the other
states, and the only use that has hitherto been made of
the cocoons in Pennsylvania, has been converting them
into sewing silk, or coarse articles of domestic fabric.

It is not that manufacturers of fine silk are wanted in
the United States, we have: them in this city of every
description, seeking employment which they cannot obtain
for want of raw silk properly prepared. The art of making
this preparation, which is called reeling, is not known
among us, though it is generally but most erroneously sup-
posed to be very simple, while on the contrary it reauires

- APPENDIX. A403

much instruction and long practice and experience; and
those who know and would instruct us in it, cannot with-
eut the greatest difficulty be procured from other countries.
Without the knowledge of this art, itis impossible to em-
ploy our silk in a profitable manner, for unless the raw
material is properly reeled, it cannot be exported abroad
nor manufactured at home into those fine stuffs for which
we pay so large an annual amount to foreign countries.

Having had the good fortune in finding in Mr. D’ Homer-
gue, a person well skilled in that mode of preparing our
native silk either for exportation or home manufacture, I
established last summer under his direction an experimen-
tal filature of ten reels, in which twenty women were em-
ployed; in consequence of which a market for cocoons was
immediately opened at Philadelphia, whither they were
brought for sale from.almost every part of the United States.
The farmers brought them from different parts of this
state, and received cash for them, which they had never
done before. 'They were brought it is true, in small quanti-
ties, but there is no doubt that the culture of silk will be there-
by promoted, and that in the course of a few years, if this
important object shall receive the national encouragement,
which a bill now before Congress gives reason to expcct,.
silk worms will be raised in great plenty all over Penn-
sylvania. ‘The climate being peculiarly well adapted to
the cultivation: of the Mulberry tree, which will thrive even
in our poorest soil.

The flag which I have the honour to send to you is of-.
fered as a visible proof of the facts I have just stated, no
silk stuff of the same kind has ever been or ever attempted:
in this country,.and none can be made without a perfect
knowledge of the art of preparing the raw material. Ibeg
you will be so good as to present this flag most respect-
fully in my name to your honorable House, as a sample
of a new and interesting branch of American manufacture 3:

404 APPENDIX.

as a token of my high respect; and as a proof of my sin-
cere devotion to the interests of the State of Pennsylva-
nia, which has been from early youth my cherished home,
and where I hope with my latest breath, to offer my last
fervent prayer for her happiness and prosperity.

I have the honour to be,
With the highest respect,
Sir, your most ob’dt humble serv’t.
PETER S. DU PONCEAU.

To the Hon. Freprrick Smiru, Speaker of the House
of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE.

That this beautiful specimen of American agriculture and
manufactures, carried through all its process in Pennsy]l-
vania, is a practical result of the utmost importance to the
wealth and prosperity of the state. Its agriculture has
long suffered from restriction to certain staples, of which
the production has increased, while the foreign demand is
greatly diminished. By the valuable experiments of Mr.
Du Ponceau and Mr. D’Homergue it is established that the
climate, the soil, and the waters of Pennsylvania, are emi-
nently congenial with the culture of silk, which it is be-
lieved may be cultivated with advantage throughout the
United States. Ifso, this inestimable product must become
a great staple of the country. Adverting to the fact that
but forty-six years ago, an American vessel with cotton on
board, was seized at Liverpool under the impression that
cotton was not the growth of America; and to the fact,
that last year more than six hundred and forty thousand
bags of American cotton were imported at that port, there
is nothing unreasonable in the anticipation that a similar
development may attend American silk.

In every country producing silk, it has become the

APPENDIX. | 405

fruitful means of industry and wealth. Every manufac-
turing country incapable of producing, has spared no efforts
to naturalize it. Added to the other products of this state
and Union, its benefits must be incalculable. It leaves all
other employments unimpaired, and affords domestic occu-
pation to females and children, who may rear the cocoons,
and reel them into raw silk. Many millions, as Mr. Du
Ponceau states, are the tribute money paid for it by the
United States to foreign countries.

From the increase of the coasting trade of Philadelphia,
which has nearly trebled itself within the last eight years,
encouraging and unquestionable proof is afforded, that the
agriculture, manufactures, and mineral wealth of the state,
are in active and increasing demand. If, as is understood
to be the case, vessels loaded with the coal of Pennsylvania
are destined to sail for France in the ensuing season, the fo-
reign trade of the state may derive great augmentation from
that source. Even the quantity of flour exported from Phi-
ladelphia to Europe has much increased of late; and wool
bears better prices throughout the country.

With these flattering prospects, no aid within the power
of legislation should be withheld from the endeavor to
domesticate silk, and unite so important a staple to the
others. In France, Italy, Flanders, Spain, and England,
no wealth or honours were spared by government, when
the object was to cherish and reward the culture of this
superior article, which, in all ages and nations, from the
earliest era to the present, has been in universal request
and of the highest value.

The flag presented by Mr. Du Ponceau is a proof of the
natural and artificial resources we possess; and that in the
practical skill of Mr. D’Homergue, the country enjoys the
fortunate means of obtaining all the instruction and demon-
stration necessary for the complete attainment and indefi-
nite extension of the difficult art of reeling silk, without

406 APPENDIX.

which raw silk for manufacturing, or of the merchantable
quality saleable in foreign markets cannot be produced.

The patriotic, disinterested, and most praiseworthy ex-
ertions of Mr. Du Ponceau to establish the art among us,
entitle him to the gratitude of the state. ‘They constitute
another of the public services of a citizen whose career,
beginning in the army of the revolution, and continued in
the department of foreign affairs, afterwards distinguished
by eminent accomplishments in jurisprudence and other
sciences, has exalted him to become the successor of Jef-
ferson as president of that Philosophical Society which
was founded by Franklin. ‘To the duties and distinctions
of such a career, Mr. Du Ponceau, in the decline of life,
superadds a noble effort to confer upon his country the in-
estimable advantages of the introduction of silk, and to join
that to the many honors of which his venerable years are
full.

The committee trust that it will not be deemed inappro-
priate to display this flag in the hall of the Representatives
of Pennsylvania, near the Speaker’s chair—the same that
was once filled by the President of that immortal Con-
gress, which in the city of Philadelphia, declared the in-
dependence of these United States.

They therefore respectfully submit the following reso-
lutions.

Resolved, That the Representatives of the Common-
wealth of Pennsylvania accept, with great sensibility and
satisfaction, the silk flag of the United States, presented to
them by Peter 8S. Du Ponceau, as an auspicious promise of
national wealth and prosperity, and a proof of the patriot-
ism of the distinguished donor.

Resolved, That the flag be displayed in a conspicuous
part of this House under the direction of the Speaker, and
that the Clerk be directed to communicate to Mr. Du Pon-
ceau copies of these resolutions and report, _

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