[ 175 ] 22 



would prove." Three years after, legislative encouragements were 

 revived, but subsequently to the year 1669, the interference of govern- 

 ment seems entirely to have ceased.* The renewal of the premiums 

 after the act of the year 1658, was, doubtless, owing to the recom- 

 mendation of Charles II: for, in the year 1661, among the instructions 

 given to Sir Wm. Berkeley, upon his reappointment as governor, and 

 while in England on a visit, the king recommended the cultivation 

 of silk, and mentioned, as an inducement to the colonists to attend to 

 his advice, " that he had formerly worn some of the silk of Virginia, 

 which he found not inferior to that raised in other countries." This 

 remark is probably the ground of the tradition mentioned by Beverly, 

 that the king had worn a robe of Virginia silk at his coronation.! 



The revived encouragement given by the Colonial Legislature to 

 the culture of silk, had the desired effect. Mulberry trees were gene- 

 rally planted, and the rearing of silkworms formed a part of the 

 regular business of many of the farmers. Major Walker, a member 

 of the Legislature, produced satisfactory evidence of his having 

 70,000 trees growing in the year 1664, and claimed the premium. 

 Other claims of a like tenor were presented the same session. % The 

 eastern part of the State abounds at present with white mulberry treesj 

 and it is to be hoped the people will see their interest in renewing 

 the culture of silk. 



Upon the settlement of Georgia, in 1732, the culture of silk was 

 also contemplated as a principal object of attention, and lands were 

 granted to settlers upon condition that they planted one hundred 

 white mulberry trees on every ten acres, when cleared; and ten years 

 were allowed for their cultivation. Trees, seed, and the eggs of silk- 

 worms, were sent over by the trustees to whom the management of 

 the colony was committed. An Episcopal clergyman and a native of 

 'Piedmont were engaged to instruct the people in the art of rearing 

 the worms and winding the silk; and in order to keep alive the idea of 

 the silk culture, and of the views of the Government respecting it, on 

 one side of the public seal was a representation of silkworms in their 

 various stages, with this appropriate motto: " Non sibi sed aliis."§ By 

 a manuscript volume containing ''the account of the moneys and 

 effects received and expended by the trustees of Georgia," to which 

 the writer has had access, it appears that the first parcel of silk receiv- 

 ed by the trustees, was in the year 1735, when eight pounds of raw 

 silk were exported from Savannah to England. It was made into a 

 piece, and presented to the queen. 1| 



*'Henning^s Statutes of Virginia, vol. 1 & 2. — Letter to the Secretaiy of the Trea- 

 sury in answer to the silk circular, from the Honorable John Tyler, late Governor 

 of Virginia. 



f Burke's Hist. Virginia, vol. 2. p. 125. 



t Burke, vol. 2. p. 241. 



§ M'Call's History of Georgia, vol. 1- p. 22. 29. 



U " The trustees of Georgia waited on her majesty with some silk from Georgia, 

 which had proved very good. It is to be wove into. a piece for her majesty." — Gen- 

 tleman's Mag. Vol. 5, p. 448. The following entry appears in the manuscript book 

 of the trustees, under date 1736: " The raw silk from Georgia, organzined by Sir Thos. 

 Lombe, was made into a piece of silk, and presented to the queen." Under date 1738, 

 is a charge " for making a rich brocade, and dying the silk from Georgia, £26." 



