SILK FABRICS 141 



tion of it was from $100,000 to $200,000 per annum. 

 Its production persisted throughout the Revolution, 

 and even into this century. The chief reason of the 

 continuance of the business in Connecticut seems to 

 have been that the silk was used almost wholly in 

 domestic manufacture, and therefore did not need the 

 English market to keep it alive.* 



In most or all of the eastern states silk cul- 

 ture has been undertaken, particularly in the colonial 

 period. Of the fabrics made of this silk, Mr. Brockett 

 speaks as follows: u We find instances, occasionally, 

 * of some delegate to the Colonial 

 Assembly coming thither with a silk waistcoat or 

 handkerchiefs made from silk of his own raising, 

 and woven in his own house; or of some grand lady 

 appearing at a reception of the Colonial Governor or 

 in a public assembly, clad in a gown woven from 

 native -grown silk. In either case, the fabrics were 

 greatly praised; yet it must be confessed that, as 

 compared with the silks of our own time, they were 

 very imperfect goods, and would be scouted by our 

 belles and beaux as unworthy to be worn." 



The "Multicaulis Craze 1 ' 



Although the interest in the growing of silk had 

 greatly subsided before the close of the last century, 

 it had not completely died out. Here and there a 

 local interest survived, and carried over the memory 



*Persons who are interested in the early ideas respecting the species of silk 

 worms, should consult Moses Bartram's "Observations on the Native Silk 

 Worms of North America," 1768, published in Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. i.. 2nd 

 ed. 294. 



