above-named gentlemen for the liberty which they have 

 permitted him to take, as also for many personal com- 

 munications on important branches of the business, 

 which they have suggested to him in the short interviews 

 he has had with them. From two of these gentlemen, of 

 the highest respectability, he has received the subjoined 

 testimonials. 



Philadelphia, 27th June, 1831. 



DEAR SIR I have read with great satisfaction the 

 Manual for the Culture of Silk which you have prepared by 

 order of His Excellency the Governor of Massachusetts, in 

 pursuance of a resolution of your State Legislature, and am 

 well pleased with the manner in which you have treated the 

 subject. Availing myself of the permission you have given 

 me, I have, with the aid of Mr D'Homergue, taken the 

 liberty to suggest a few ideas on the blank leaves of the 

 manuscript, of which you will make what use you shall think 

 proper. 



The works of foreign writers on the cultivation of mulberry 

 trees and raising of silk worms, particularly in the latter, 

 are by no means suited to the meridian of this country, and 

 are rather calculated to discourage than instruct our farmers. 

 You have with great propriety discarded their artificial heat, 

 thermometers, barometers, hygrometers, and all their variety 

 of troublesome methods, minute regulations and useless im- 

 plements, which make the culture of silk a difficult and in- 

 tricate science. I see no more difficulty in cultivating the 

 mulberry than any other fruit tree ; and the art of raising 

 silk worms seems to reduce itself to a few simple rules easy 

 of observance. I know but of one European author who has 

 had the courage to break through the fetters of habit and 

 prejudice ; and in a late work on the culture of silk published 

 in the German language at Vienna in 1829, adopted what I 



