SILK CULTURE. j^^ 



was not nearly so remunerative, and tlie hopes of those coh)nists who 

 were making preparations to embark in the industry of reariutr frraine 

 for export were damped considerably in consequence. 



Amongst the various colonists besides Mr. Brady who made con- 

 siderable efforts to establish the industry about this time were 

 the late Thos. S. Mort, Mr. George Thorue, Dr. G. Bennett, Mr. 

 'Jas. Manning, Eevd. Father Pacilio, Mrs. Bladen Neill, Messrs. 

 Affleck and Howard, Mr. R. D. Adams, Mr. F. Went worth, Mr. 

 S. D. Gordon, Mr. J. Fry, and Mr. J. T. Hobbes. From that time 

 until the present, Messrs. Brady, Fry, and R. D. Adams have con- 

 tinued their efforts, and at last there seem to be good prospects of 

 sericulture being properly established on a system which obtains in 

 no other part of the world, discovered and worked out success- 

 fully by Mr. Brady. Attention was directed to this system by the 

 late Dr. Bennett. Writing to the Colonial Secretary, 7th June, 1870, 

 he said : " Secondly, the well-known operations of Mr. Brady in the 

 Colony have already caused considerable attention to be directed to 

 Australia, and the very remarkable system originated by that gentle- 

 man, and carried on from time to time during several years under the 

 observation of this society (Acclimatisation), of producing a succession 

 of daily broods and crops of silk during a great part of our long 

 season, is highly encouraging." This very important fact, so honour- 

 able and, if rightly understood, so calculated to do good to the Colony, 

 was thus commented on by Mr. Dickens, President of the Silk Supply 

 Association of London, at a public meeting held at Coventry : — " The 

 fact of producing silk day by day was most wonderful, and was what 

 was not done in any other part of the world." And Mr. Chad wick, 

 M.P., at the same meeting, took occasion to say, in reference to this 

 Australian plan, that " the daily production of silk which would be 

 as important a fact as ever occurred in the silk trade." The late Mrs. 

 Bladen Neill, who lectured before the Society of Arts in London, 1876, 

 remarked : " No account of silk culture in Australia would be com- 

 plete without a tribute of praise to the unw^earied and scientific labours 

 of Mr. Chas. Brady, of Antony, Tweed River, who has devoted his 

 life to the study and improvement of silk culture. We owe to him the 

 means of producing successive and daily hatchings at pleasure, as well 

 as the introduction into Australia of the best races of silkworms 

 known. These will doubtless produce in time. He probably knows 

 more about silkworms than any man living." 



It has been necessary to give the above particulars to enable the 

 reader to form a clear idea of the operations to further the establish- 

 ment of silk culture, which are now being carried on by the Government. 



Before entering into particulars respecting these operations, mention 

 should be made of the sericultural work carried on by a small settle- 

 ment of Italians at New Italy, a comparatively poor tract of country, 

 situated between the Richmond and Clarence Rivers. 



These Italian settlers are a remnant of the ill-fated expedition to New 

 Ireland organized by the Marquis de Ray. They were practically des- 

 titute when they settled at New Italy, but, by indomitable perse- 

 verance and thrifty habits, succeeded in clearing small areas of 

 heavily-timbered land, and building comfortable homes. W ithin the 

 last few years they have planted mulberries, reared sdkworms, and 



