140 THE EVOLUTION OF OUR NATIVE FRUITS 



rants; but, as the Fruit is sour, it requires a great deal 

 of Sugar to make it good, which is an heavy Weight 

 upon that Manufacture; but as the Juice of Mulberries 

 is very sweet, especially the white Sort, I cannot but 

 think, that from these, very good artificial Wine may 

 be made, without any, or with very little Sugar ; what 

 is Sweet has a spiritous Strength, in Proportion to 

 the Degree of Sweetness ; Honey will make strong 

 Metheglin, and Molasses makes Rum." The mulberry 

 may be made to afford groves, "proper Places for 

 Retirement, Study, and Meditation; this will have 

 Weight with those who love Contemplation, those 

 who are wise and good ; he that is not Company for 

 himself, when alone, will be none of the most pleasing, 

 or edifying Company for others." 



Eliot says that "The Society established at London, 

 for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and 

 Commerce," offered premiums for the production of 

 silk in North America, and "pointed out Georgia, 

 Pennsylvania, and Connecticut" as the most promising 

 colonies in which the undertaking might be prosecuted. 

 The Rev. Samuel Pullein's "Culture of Silk" for the 

 "Use of the American Colonies," published in Lon- 

 don in 1758, is a further evidence of the desire of the 

 mother country to foster this new industry. 



Rev. Dr. Stiles, subsequently president of Yale 

 College, was also early interested in promoting the 

 raising of silk, and he aided in obtaining from the 

 legislature an offer of a bounty of ten shillings for 

 every hundred mulberry trees of three years' standing, 

 and another of three pence per ounce for all raw silk 

 produced in the colony. The production of silk was 

 so great in Connecticut that for many years the valua- 



