134 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



100 acres of his estate," writes Brockett iii his "Silk 

 Industry in America." "This was in 1623, and for 

 some time the business went on well." Under Sir 

 William Berkeley's governorship (beginning in 1641), 

 "a Reward of fifty Pounds of Tobacco was given for 

 each Pound of Silk," according to Robert Beverley; 

 and "all Persons were enjoin'd to plant Mulberry- 

 Trees, for the food of the Silk -worm, according to 

 the Number of Acres of Land they held." The 

 industry thrived for .a time, and a little silk is 

 said to have been exported to England about the 

 middle of that century. Some or all of the bounties 

 were removed, at least for a time, in 1666, because 

 the industry was considered to be well established; 

 but tobacco was so much more profitable that it soon 

 eclipsed every other crop. Robert Beverley, writing 

 upon "The Present State of Virginia" in 1720, recalls 

 "how formerly there was Incouragement given for 

 making of Linen, Silk, etc., and how all Persons not 

 performing several things towards producing of them 

 were put under a Fine: But now all Incouragemeut 

 of such things is taken away or intirely dropt by the 

 Assemblies, and such Manufactures are always neg- 

 lected when Tobacco bears anything of a Price." 



The efforts to grow silk in the New World did 

 not stop with Virginia. With the founding of Caro- 

 lina and Georgia the attempt was made with all the 

 vigor which characterized the early experiments along 

 the James River. In fact, the best conceived and 

 most persistent scheme for silk -raising appears to have 

 been that which was set on foot in Georgia. The 

 designs of the trustees of the colony, as told 

 by Stevens in his "History of Georgia," "comprised 



