to Louisiana, requesting information on this subject. 

 That the impulse given by the operations of Congress had 

 been felt even in Europe ; that he had caused one hun- 

 dred copies of the Report of the Committee on Agriculture 

 of the House of Representatives of the United States, to 

 be printed in English, and one hundred in French, and 

 to be disseminated throughout Europe. The result had 

 been that numbers of silk manufacturers, throwsters, 

 dyers and weavers, had come to this country from Eng- 

 land, France and Germany, having heard at home that 

 the silk business was encouraged here ; but they have 

 found no work for want of raw silk, and were obliged to 

 turn to the cotton manufactories for employment. That 

 no reelers were among them. Mr D. had about sixty 

 pounds of raw silk reeled at his filature, which he has 

 sent to different markets to try the prices.* 



* Since writing the above I have visited the city of Philadelphia, 

 and was politely favored by Mr Du Ponceau, with liberty to make 

 several visits to his nursery and filature. The filature was estab- 

 lished by Mr Du Ponceau under the direction of Mr D'Homergue, 

 in which ten reels have been employed, each of which is worked 

 by two women under the superintendence of Mr D'Homergue. 

 This filature is not in a room, but under a shed entirely open on 

 one side with hangings from the roof on the other, which may be 

 opened when required to promote a free circulation of air. The 

 reels of this filature are made chiefly on the model of the Pied- 

 montese reel, (vide plate) somewhat simplified by Mr D'Homergue. 

 Mr D'Homergue put one of these reels in operation in my presence, 

 and it appeared to work very easily. The silk reeled by Mr 

 D'Homergue, at that time, I have preserved as a specimen, and 

 have since been informed by an intelligent merchant of New York, 

 that it would bring seven dollars a pound in Fiance. I was also 

 shown several parcels of sewing silk, manufactured by Mr D'Hom- 



