SILK CULTURE. 239 
_ thirty factories, with a capital of $1,500,000. Paterson, New Jersey, 
has fifteen factories. One corporation manufactures every month 3,000 
pounds of silk thread, 1,000 gross of silk braids, 600 gross of hat bands, 
350 yards of serge, and employs 300 operatives, mostly children. An- 
other makes 70,000 yards of dress trimmings monthly. The aggregate 
number of persons employed in the factories at Paterson is 3,500, and 
there are 70,000 spindles. The raw silk used by these companies issim- 
ported from China and Japan free of duty, but first passes through the 
English market, where the prices are fixed. 
Mr. E. V. De Boissiere, a wealthy French gentleman, has engaged in 
silk culture and manufacture near Williamsburg, Franklin County, Kan- 
sas, upon an estate of 3,200 acres. He has already planted over half a 
miilion of young mulberry and ailanthus trees, raised from seed imported 
from France, China, and California, and is every year enlarging the area 
of his groves.. He proposes to raise his own stock of raw material, which 
he thinks will be easily accomplished when his trees have fully matured. 
Until these become available for feeding, he will import from China, 
France, and other foreign countries, a supply of material for his manu- 
facturing enterprise. The cotton fiber used in some of his fabrics he is 
compelled to procure in Manchester, England, none of sufficient fineness 
being yet produced in this country. 
The erection of buildings designed to accommodate both the looms 
and the weavers, with their families, has already been commenced. One 
large frame building is occupied by two families, with looms for weav- 
ing dress silks. Another still larger building has been erected for the 
accommodation of a number of families and for a velvet-ribbon loom. 
A large stone factory has just been completed, in which will be placed 
three velvet-ribbon looms, with machinery for making silk thread, twist, 
&c. All of this machinery has arrived in this country, and will be imme- 
diately set in operation. The velvet-ribbon loom new in operation pro- 
duces 250 to 300 yards of ribbon per day, or 28 double pieces, woven back 
to back, with a nap or plush connecting them, which is cut by a knife 
vibrating with the movement of the loom. In some of the lower-priced 
fabrics the warp is wholly or partly cotton. 
Mr. De Boissiere exhibited at the late Ottawa County fair several 
specimens of silk velvet ribbon, which, in fineness of texture, compact- 
ness of fabrication, and brilliancy of color, will compare favorably, it 
is claimed, with the most elaborate products of the Old World. This 
branch of silk manufacture has hitherto been confined mostly to a few 
localities in France. 
Some of the features of codperative associations have been adopted 
in this enterprise. Mr. De Boissiere proposes to erect a building 300 
feet long by 150 wide, three stories high, with an open court 200 feet by 
100, for the accommodation of female specialties. A common refectory 
will be provided, and subsistence offered at the low prices attainable by 
this method. He is now importing from France fresh supplies of skilled 
labor and machinery. 
The California Silk Manufacturing Company, which was organized 
March 4, 1870, with a capital of $50,000, has engaged an experienced 
' silk manufacturer, and proposes to erect immediately a factory building 
125 feet long, 50 wide, and two stories high. The culture and manufac- 
ture of silk bid fair to become one of the most important interests in 
‘the State. 
DISEASES OF THE SILK-WORM. 
A writer in the North China Daily News, of June 30, 1870, says that 
