112 SILK GROWER'S GUIDE. 



The silk of Cevennes in France is probably the finest 

 in the world. . I have particularly stated the mode in 

 which it is reeled, for to this cause, in a measure, it 

 owes its celebrity. There is indeed one kind which is 

 sold at Lyons for from $4 09 to $4 23, the English 

 pound : but there is a kind still finer, which brings 

 $8 88 a pound. 



Four hundred thousand pounds of silk of superior 

 quality was raised in Cevennes in 1832, and since that 

 period, this quantity has been greatly increased ; as 

 among all employments of capital, none is so productive 

 as the mulberry tree. It was yielding at the above 

 period from fifteen to twenty per cent, profit to the intel- 

 ligent agriculturist." 



I have already spoken of a description of white silk 

 which is produced in the department of the Upper Ar- 

 deche, which is of a quality so superior, that it is pur- 

 chased by the lace manufacturers of Normandy for more 

 than fifty francs, ($9 20) a pound. But a few years 

 since, it commanded a price as high as 150 francs a 

 pound, equal to $27 60. 



Mr. William Carpenter, now of Lisbon, Conn., has 

 manufactured silk at Spitalfields, in London, for twenty 

 years. He is perfectly acquainted with the winding, 

 warping and weaving of all kinds of plain silks, such as 

 sarsenets, satins, gros de Naples, Florentines and vel- 

 vets ; also figured silks, florets, tissues and damasks, all 

 which required very different kinds of silk ; he must 

 therefore be considered a competent judge. He has 

 also, according to his statement in the " Silk Culturist" 

 woven many pounds of silk of American growth : and he 

 has seen many samples of American silk, far superior to 

 the Bengal, China and French silks, and nearly equal 

 to the best Italian. He has known Italian silk to be 

 sold at a dollar an ounce in England before it was man- 

 ufactured; and the average price is about seven dollars 

 a pound. At the present time, says Mr. Carpenter, the 

 most inferior kinds of manufactured silk imported from 



