220 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Then the silk culture was one of the most profitable industries in the 

 colonies, but Government bounties were withdrawn and it drooped. 

 Cotton, and tobacco raising took its place, and with tobacco and rum 

 manufacturing the enterprise was virtually killed. 



The Carolinas, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut and 

 Massachusetts all still struggled on, though feebly, and we find the pro- 

 ductions long years afterward as follows : 



In eighteen hundred and forty the United States raised sixty thousand 

 pounds, valued at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; in eighteen 

 hundred and forty-four, four hundred thousand pounds, valued at one 

 million five hundred thousand dollars; in eighteen hundred and fifty, 

 fourteen thousand seven hundred and sixty-three pounds; in eighteen 

 hundred and sixty, annual production, five million dollars; Philadelphia 

 and New York produced two million three hundred thousand dollars; 

 and a favorable improvement is reported ever since, and steadily 

 increasing. 



The importations of silk into the United States are given as follows : 



In eighteen hundred and forty, eight million six hundred and nineteen 

 thousand nine hundred and eighty-six dollars, or fifty dollai'S and thirty 

 cents consumption per capita; in eighteen hundred and fifty, seventeen 

 million seven hundred and thirty-one thousand six hundred and eighty 

 dollars, or seventy-six dollars and fifteen cents; in eighteen hundred 

 and sixty-four, thirty-seven million four hundred thousand two hundred 

 and five dollars; in eighteen hundred and fifty-six, thirty-four million 

 three hundred and fifty-three thousand three hundred and thirteen 

 dollars, or eighty-eight dollars and eighty-one cents; in eighteen hun- 

 dred and sixty, over forty million dollars. 



Well may we inquire why these large importations of silk which our 

 own country, with its many glorious facilities, could all produce herself. 

 But now let us look a moment at the production of silk generally. The 

 silk interests are divided into two important branches. The rearing of 

 mulberry trees and cocoons is purely an agricultural industry. Its 

 various transformations and manufacture is a mechanical industry. The 

 Oriental nations employ themselves in general with all the transforma- 

 tions of silk, from the culture of the mulberry, the breeding of the worm 

 and manufacture of tissues. In Asia all, heretofore, has been handi- 

 work. Now France and Italy, with their improved machinery, are fast 

 entering Asia and manufacturing there, leaving the native population to 

 raise the worms. Europe, and especially Eussia, has greatly benefited 

 by the experience and knowledge of Asia. Peter the Great first intro- 

 duced the culture into Eussia, which is now making rapid progress, and 

 has increased threefold since the annexation of trans-Caucasian Asia. 

 In eighteen hundred and sixty-five Eussia produced about one million 

 dollars worth of silk, exporting three hundred and twelve thousand 

 dollars worth. A lai'ge traffic is carried on all through Asia, in eggs, 

 graines, cocoons, silk and waste, mainly by the French and English. 



The following is near the present product of silk in the world, two 

 hundred and twenty-five millions, three hundred and eighty thousand 

 dollars: Asia, one hundred and fifty million dollars ; Europe, seventy- 

 five million dollars; Africa, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars; 

 Oceanica, one hundred and thirty thousand dollars; America, eighty 

 thousand dollars to one hundred thousand dollars. Divided and raised 

 as follows : China, eighty-five million dollars ; Italy, forty million dol- 

 lars; France, twenty-six million dollars ; India, twenty-five million dol- 

 lars; Japan, eighteen million dollars; Turkey, ten million dollars. 



