Vlll PREFACE. 



on important branches of the business, which they have 

 suggested to him in the short interviews he has had 

 with them. From two of these gentlemen, of the 

 highest respectability, he has received the subjoined 

 testimonials. 



Philadelphia. 27ih June, 1331. 



DEAR SIR I have read with great satisfaction the 

 Manual for the Culture of Silk which you have prepared by 

 order of His excellency the Governor of Massachusetts, in 

 pursuance of a resolution of your State Legislature, and am 

 well pleased with the manner in which you have treated the 

 subject. Availing myself of the permission you have given 

 me, I have, with the aid of Mr D'Homergue, taken the 

 liberty to suggest a few ideas on the blank leaves of the 

 manuscript, of which you will make what use you shall think 

 proper. 



The works of foreign writers on the cultivation of mulberry 

 trees and raising of silk worms, particularly in the latter, 

 are by no means suited to the meridian of this country, and 

 are rather calculated to discourage than instruct our farmers. 

 You have with great propriety discarded their artificial heat, 

 thermometers, barometers, hygrometers, and all their va- 

 riety of troublesome methods, minute regulations and useless 

 implements, which make the culture of silk a difficult and 

 intricate science. I see no more difficulty in cultivating the 

 mulberry than any other fruit tree ; and the art of raising 

 silk worms seems to reduce itself to a few simple rules easy 

 of observance. I know but of one European author who 

 has had the courage to break through the fetters of habit and 

 prejudice ; and in a late work on the culture of silk published 

 in the German language at Vienna in 1829, adopted what I 

 call the American System, the same wtyich your Manual 

 recommends, and which in fact, has been followed in this 

 country for more than 70 years. The author is the Chdva- 

 lier von Heint, an Austrian nobleman, the owner of large 



