FARMERS' REGISTER. 



349 



France will realise immense profits from this new 

 industry. 



The iieiL'hhorhood ofP.iris prodiicps already the 

 h;iiidsoii)»^dt siik in ihe world as rel;ard^J whueiiess:, 

 fineiietjsi ol" lexiure, aiid elasticity. We must now 

 apply ourselves lo its retjularity and its produition 

 on a hu'ire scale. The profiis of i his new proiiuc- 

 tion are enormous, hm it retjuiresa knowledi^e and 

 attention which are met with only amoiitj learrrnl 

 and enliirhienod proprietors. That branch of in- 

 dustry never prospered in ihe hands of a proprie- 

 tor averse to innovations or improvements. This 

 circumstance is authemicaled by the bad silks pro- 

 duced in Touraine and Provence. 



It must also he remarked that the countries 

 which have raised silk lor the hntjest time, such as 

 China, Persia, Turkey, &c., are also those that 

 are the most averse to improvements, and conse- 

 quenily ihey now produce the worst silks ; such 

 as sells from 50 to 70 per cent, under the Italian 

 and French silks. 



THE MODEL, FILATURE AT PHILADELPHIA. 



From tlie Jniirnal of tlie American Silk Society. 

 The results obiained by the establishment of 

 this filature, have been so (jratifying to those who 

 are immediately connected with the company, 

 that some notice of them may be interesting to 

 your reailers, lo whom you have made our estab- 

 lishment lamiliar, copying our briel'prospectus into 

 your last number. Our capital is ^20,000, in 

 shares of .^20 each, and we ofierate under a 

 charter obtained Iroin the governor oC Pennsylva- 

 nia, whom a general law of the state aujhorizes 

 to issue letters patent, under certain limitations, 

 for the incorporation of persons embarking in (he 

 silk busmess. Under this law charters are obtained 

 directly from the governor, without the trouble and 

 delay of an application to the legislature. The 

 whole expense is the lee of ^4, required at the 

 secretary of state's office. A limited amount ol 

 stock was sold, and only $5 per share required to 

 be p;iid : a principal otiject with us being to get 

 the filature into actual operation, no matter in how 

 humble a way. I'he necessary apparatus beinir 

 obtained, advertisements were extensively publish- 

 ed, and are yet continued, ottering to purchase at 

 (air prices, all the sound or pierced cocoons that 

 might be brought to us. Nunieroas lots, from 

 Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New 

 Jersey, very soon came in, and the cash was paid 

 for the whole, lo such as were willing to sell. At 

 present, the supply seems to have entirely ceased, 

 and will probably not revive until the new crop is 

 ready. 



Among the cocoons purchased by the directors 

 were some very small lots of lialf a bushel up to 

 two bushels, raised in New Jersey by indigent 

 and aged Icmales, and some by litlJe boys in this 

 city. Four dollars per bushel was the highest 

 price awarded to any ; but it would be difficult to 

 convey to you an idea of the gratification and 

 delight which the prompt payment of the money 

 attbrded to these persons. Every one expressed 

 himself fully satisfied with the price, some said it 

 was quite as much as tliey e.xpected ; and many 

 wei;e encouraged to go on, and double or treble 

 fheir crops the present year. 



We are satisfied the happiest eflTects have been 

 produced upon the public mind, by even the limit- 

 ed exertions we have been able to nnike. We 

 have three Piedmontese reels, and six to eight 

 lemales employed in pre|)arii)g the pierced cocoons 

 by removing ttie shell ol the ciirysuli>, boihng the 

 cocoons, and epinning them inio yam, which is 

 aliervvards converted into thread lor knitimg or 

 weaving. The spinning is perlormed on a com- 

 mon spinning-wheel, and the whole process is 

 curried on at the filature. 



A young lady, who volunteered as a reeler, haa 

 been, at the tune this is written, engaged about 

 three weeks in reeling cocoons. She has been 

 working on a lot Irom Tennessee, which are pro- 

 baltly as indiH'erent a lot as could be produced, 

 they are very small, covered with a superabun- 

 dance of Hoss, very sharp pointed at the ends, and 

 possess no merit but that of .-eeling freely. They 

 have evidently been made by sickly worms ; yet 

 a bushel of these indifierent coccons wiien dossed, 

 afiords three quarters of a pound of silk, as ascer- 

 tained by actual measurement and weight. No 

 sort of doubt exists with us, that if we could only 

 obtain good cocoons, tjiat a full pound and a 

 quarter would be the product of a bushel. But 

 no good ones have been ottered to us. This young 

 lady, after three weeks' practice, leels three-quar- 

 ters of a pound of silk daily, (about 30 to 40 fibres 

 to a thread,) and (or all of lier reeling during the 

 first ten cays, we have been voluntarily ottered 

 ^5 50 per pound cash, and have sold it at that 

 price. Her subsequent reeling has been sold (or 

 ^6 cash ; and that price may be guarantied lor all 

 we can produce, il it were a ton every week. The 

 causes which have led to the present depression 

 in business of all kinds — the scarcity of money, 

 and the low prices to which all staple articles have 

 receded — have had no ettect upon the price of 

 either raw silk or sewing silk. Six dollars per 

 pound may be depended on lor raw silk well reel- 

 ed, and ten dollars lor all good sewing silk. A 

 girl, ajier two months' practice, if ordinarily atten- 

 tive and ambitious to excel, will reel one pound 

 daily without any extra labor, during the usual 

 working hours. 



Our filature is visited daily by strangers from al! 

 parts of the Union, and the various operaiions of 

 reeling, spinning, &c. actually going on, attord 

 abundant gratification to all. Care is laken to ex- 

 plain to such the particulars of the various pro- 

 cesses, and lo answer the multitude of inquiries 

 made by every stranger who visits us. Tins of- 

 fice, in the absence ol the directors, (to whom the 

 sole conduct is entrusted by the charter,) is per- 

 lormed by Mrs. H. iVlcLanahan, the superinten- 

 dent. This lady is eminently qualified, by a prac- 

 tical knowledge of all the branches ol the silk 

 business, to t)e the efficient head of such an esta- 

 blishment. A case is also shown, containing sam- 

 ples of silk reeled by ihis lady, of a quality so ex- 

 (juisitely fine, as to be worth ^12 per pound ; to- 

 iretlier with many other specimens of her superior 

 skill. 



A small pamphlet has been prepared, contain- 

 ing a sketch of the objects of the association, 

 wiih the charter and by-laws, and 2,000 co()ies 

 were printed for gratuitous distribution, 1,000 of 

 which were immediately distributed by mail lo 

 persons interested in the silk-bnsiness, in various 

 parts of the country. Copic?: of tiiis pamjihiet are 



