1354. AnDOUF.TL'M AND FllUTICETUM. PAUT HI. 



iiiimufactuml in the toimtrv, from (JOO.OOO/. to TnO.OOOi. worth were iiii- 

 porti-a anmiiiUy. In 1719, tlie first silk mill was erected at J )crby. After 

 tlie faiUire of 'James l.'s attempts to cstal)li.sli the silkworms and the 

 miill)erry. no cHbrt of anv imi)ortance seems to have l)een made for many 

 viars; though several individuals had, at ditterent times, reared the worms, 

 iind i.rodnied silk. In lH:i5, however, a company was established, under the 

 name of" The British, Irish, and Colonial ^ilk C'onii)any," with a lar^'c capital, 

 and under the direction of the celebrated Count Dandolo, whose treatise on 

 the manai;ement of the silkworm, &c., is considcreil the best work extant on 

 the subject in Italy. This company formed extensive plantations in England and 

 Ireland", |)articularly near Slouiili.'and near Cork; and Mr. John Ileathcoat of 

 Tiverton, Devonshire, one of its most influential members, invented a method of 

 reelin^ which was attended with the most complete success. The company 

 also formed plantations in Devonshire : but, after numerous trials, it was found 

 that the climate of the British Isles was too humid for the production of useful 

 silk ; and the company was finally broken up, and its plantations destroyed, 

 in lH-i9. For further details respecting this company, and its operations, 

 see Enri/c. of Agric, 2d edit., p. 1 103. The cause of the entire failure of 

 this spirited umlertaking, as well as that of James I., will, we think, be found 

 in the following very judicious observations from the Journal d'Agncidlurc 

 (Icsl'ai/s-lias ; w^'hich will show the impracticability of any futiu'e attempt to rear 

 silkworms as an article of conunerce in Britain, or in any similar climate : — 

 " The nndberrv tree is found in dirtercnt climates; but the juice of the leaves 

 urown in the north is much less suitable for the protluction of good silk, than 

 That of the leaves of the south. In this respect, nuilhcrry leaves and silk diifer 

 as much as wines, according to the climate and soil in which they are pro- 

 thiced. In general, ever\ climate and soil that will grow good wheat will 

 produce large succulent mulberry leaves; but these leaves will, in many cases, 

 l)e too nutrflive ; that is, thev will have too nuich sap, and too much substance 

 and succulency. The w ikl nuilberry, with small leaves, answers better, for such 

 a soil, than the grafted mulberry," with large leaves. A general rule, and one 

 to be depended on, is, that the niulberry, to produce the best silk, re(]uires the 

 same soil and exi)Osure that the vine does to produce the best wine. Exi)e- 

 rience has proved that silkworms nourished by leaves gathered from a dry 

 soil succeed nmch better, produce more cocoons, and are less subject to those 

 diseases which destroy them, than those which have been nourished by leiives 

 produced by an extremely rich soil." (See (rard. Mag., vol, iv. p. 52.) The 

 silkworm was introduced into America by James I. ; who, at the same tmie 

 that he published his edict for the planting of the mulberry tree in Englaml, 

 sent over nuilberry trees and silkworms to Virginia, accompanied by a book ot 

 instructions for their culture, and exhortations to the inhabitants to pursue it 

 instead of that of tobacco. The worms thus introduced were partially culti- 

 vateil ; but, not being so lucrative as tobacco, rice, and indigo, they made but 

 si'iiall progress till the time of Dr. Franklin. That truly great man established 

 a silk manufactorv at Philadelphia, which was put a stop to by the war of 

 independence. tSilk has still continued to be raised in some remote parts of 

 the country; but it is only since about 1S25 that any establishments have 

 been formed on a large scale. It is now produced extensively through all the 

 southern provinces of the United States; ami it seems probable, from the heat 

 and dryness of the American summers, that it will etjual the silk of Italy. 

 Since the introduction of j1/. a. multicaulis into America, which took place in 

 |M.'}1, an attempt has been made to obtain two crops in one year, which, it is 

 said, is attended with evtrv |)rospect of success. The same may be observed 

 of the culture of silk in South America, in which it has been commenced at 

 Kio Janeiro, the Caraccas, Buenos Ayres, and other places. 



In India, the culture of the mulberry and the silkworm continues to be 

 practised ; but how far it will be promoted or retarded by the progress of this 

 culture in ILurope and America remains to be proved. It a|)|)ears probable, 

 however, from the suiierior climate of Eastern Asia, that, when general com- 



