State Agricultural Society. 283 



Trusting that my exhibition will receive the favorable consideration 

 of this committee, 



I am, very respectfully, J. E. PARKER. 



AMERICAN SILKS. 

 Statement op Tobin, Davisson & Co., op San Francisco. 

 I. N. Hoag, Esq., Corresponding Secretary, Sacramento: 



Dear Sir: We beg leave to call the attention of your Board of Direc- 

 tors to the late exhibition made by us of Messrs. Cheney Bros' American 

 dress silks, and to ask you to place the goods among the list of those 

 for which you grant gold medals, provided you feel that you can con- 

 sistently do so. 



The development of this particular interest is one of great importance 

 to this country, employing, as it necessarily does, a large amount of 

 capital and labor, skilled and otherwise, besides keeping in the country 

 millions of money which, in the absence of such industries, would be 

 sent away to enrich foreign manufacturers. We submit, therefore, that 

 anything that can be done to stimulate and encourage such enterprises 

 should be done. 



Hoping you will give the matter your careful consideration, we are, 



Respectfully, TOBIN, DAVISSON & CO. 



SILK CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 

 Statement of Joseph Neumann, op San Jose\ 

 To the Committee on Award of Gold Medals: 



Gentlemen: The merits upon which my claim for the gold medal is 

 based are as follows: 



First — In the third department all the silks I had on exhibition were 

 of California production and the work of my own family.* The articles 

 on exhibition by my competitors were of foreign material and not manu- 

 factured in this State. Especially must I mention the showcase of sew- 

 ing silk exhibited by the San Francisco Silk Manufacturing Company 

 were not of their own make, but manufactured at Patterson, New Jersey. 

 My exhibition in this department was one of the most meritorious, so 

 was the expression of all the visitors. 



Second — In the fifth department my exhibit of silk culture, from the 

 eggs to the raw silk, was one of the most practical, and although the 

 cash premium on the same has not been awarded to me, yet the general 

 expression was that mine was the most practical in that line. Hoping 

 that your honorable body will take the same view and award me the 

 gold medals in the third and fourth departments, I remain, 



Yours, most respectfully, JOSEPH NEUMANN. 



