2B [ 175 ] 



■don. * During the last three years, a spirit has been revived and difTused 

 on the subject, and promises to increase ; and there can be no hesita- 

 tion in saying, that a ready sale for cocoons is alone wanting, to esta- 

 blish the silk culture as a regular employment in several Slates of the 

 Union. It was the want of this market which defeated, in a great 

 degree, the patriotic attempt of Mr. Nathaniel Aspinwall, of Connec- 

 ticut, about the year 1790, to revive the silk culture in Pennsylvania, 

 New York, and New Jersey. But his memory deserves to be held in 

 everlasting and grateful remembrance, for the thousands of white mul- 

 berry trees which he planted in those States, and for the commendable 

 zeal he exhibited in the cause. 



In Connecticut, attention to the culture of silk commenced about 

 the year 1760, by the introduction of the white mulberry tree, and 

 eggs of the silkworms, into the county of Windham, and town of 

 Mansfield, from Long Island, New York, by Mr. N, Aspinwall, who 

 had there planted a large nursery. He also planted an extensive nur- 

 sery of the trees in New Haven, and was active in obtaining of the 

 Legislature of Connecticut, an act granting a bounty for planting trees; 

 a measure in which he was warmly supported by the patriotic and 

 learned Dr. Ezra Styles. The premium was ten shillings for every 

 hundred trees which should be planted and preserved in a thrifty con- 

 dition, for three years; and three-pence per ounce for all raw silk;, 

 which the owners of trees should produce from cocoons of their own 

 raising within the State. After the public encouragement for raising 

 trees was found unnecessary, a small bounty on raw silk, manufactur- 

 ed within the State, was continued some time longer. A statute con- 

 tinues in force, requiring sewing silk to consist of twenty threads, each- 

 two yards long.t 



It would be an act of injustice to omit noticing the generous en- 

 couragement to the cultivation of silk in the American Colonies, which 

 was given by the patriotic Society in London, for "the Promotion of 

 Arts," C:c. From the year 1755 to 1772, several hundred pounds 

 sterling were paid to various persons in Georgia, South Carolina, and 

 Connecticut, in consequence of premiums offered by the Society, for 

 planting mulberry trees, and for cocoons and raw silk. J 



After the war of the Revolution, the business was renewed, and 

 gradually extended; and it is recorded, that, in the year 1789, two 

 hundred pounds weight of raw silk were made in the single town of 

 Marsfield, in Windham, Connecticut.§ In the year 18 «0, the value of 

 the .:ewing silk and raw silk, made in the three counties of New Lon- 

 don, Windham, and Tolland, was estimated, by the United States^ 

 Marshal, at ^28,503;|| but the value of the domestic fabrics made; 



* This excellent paper has been copied in r\ll the British and.Scoth Encyclopaedias, 

 and was reprinted in a pamphlet, at Windham, Connecticut, in tiie year 1792. 



t Governor Wolcot's answer to the silk circular. 



t The particulars are not inserted in tin: transactions cf the Society, but maybe 

 seen in Bayley's Advancement of the Arts, London, 1772, and in Dossie's Memoirs 

 <jf Af^riculture, vol. 3. 



§ Columbian Mac;'azlne, Philadelphia, 4, p. Gl. 



II Statement of ilui arts and minurfantm-cs of t-ke TJuited s;t t^p for t4ie vesfr 381**. 

 By '{'''nHi Co"^t- 



t 



