1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



m 



In those states where a bounty is given, it must 

 be added to the above; and where the trees are 

 left out through the winter, the planting, &c. oC 

 the trees and cuttings must be subtracted lirora the 

 amount of cost. 



The sum expended for trees at 60 cents, is 

 ^450 ; the net gain, therefore, amounts to twenty 

 percent, the first year on the capital laid out, and 

 leaves $30 for incidental expenses. 



For the second year the cultivator has 192,000 

 trees and roots, the net profit of which, planted on 

 sixteen acres, will amount to 81"60, which will 

 leave him a handsome income, and allow him ten 

 per cent, on the cost of a cocoonery. The profits 

 ol" the third year, should he plant all his roots and 

 cuttings, will pay him lor all his improvements, 

 and leave a large sum of money in his pocket. 



Now if these important results, which may be 

 readily obtained, were brought before the Ameri- 

 can public by being carried out in practice, in dif- 

 ferent sections of the country, it could not fail, 

 eminently to encourage and extend the silk cul- 

 ture. 



From tlie Journal of tlie American Silk Society. 

 ON THE RESOLUTION (WHICII PASSED) RE- 

 COMBIENDING THE ADOPTION OF THE 

 PIEDMONTESE REEL. 



Mr. Smith, of Maryland, remarked that the 

 great object to be attained was uniformity in the 

 quality of American raw silk; and this could only 

 be accomplished by the adoption by our whole 

 country of a standard of reeling. As the subject 

 had been suggested by him in the business com- 

 mittee, he would give his reasons here, why he 

 considered the subject of so much importance; 

 and also, why the Piedmontese reel was the only 

 one on which we can rely for the attainment of the 

 great object. 



In the first place, said Mr. S., all principal arti- 

 cles of produce are subject to regulation by certain 

 legal enactments, or by inspection, or both, in all 

 countries. The Piedmontese government requir- 

 ed all raw silk to be reeled upon a reel of a parti- 

 cular construction, that the form and quality of the 

 article might be uniform and superior. No soon- 

 er was this regulation adopted by the government 

 than an improvement in the value of the article 

 took place ; and to this day, Piedmontese raw silk 

 commands a higher price than that of any other 

 country. In our own country, the article of flour 

 is not only reqnired to be inspected before it can 

 be sold, to insure its conformity to certain stand- 

 ards of quality, but even the laws require that the 

 barrel which contains it shall be of a certain num- 

 ber of inches in length of stave, and so many 

 inches in diameter of head and bilge ; not only 

 these, but the barrel must contain 196 lbs. olflour. 

 And similar regulations exists in relation to almost 

 every other article, certainly all staple articles. 

 Why and for what reason are these regulations 

 adopted? Need I ask this large assern'bly this 

 question? Is the answer not most obvious to all 

 men who are acquainted with the commerce of 

 the world? The reason is, that the article shall 

 always be of the highest attainable quality, and 

 that it shall be known as such in the commerce of 

 the world ; that it shall establish and maintain a 

 character for itseif, which shall give it precedence 



every where. It is well known that in fbrei<rn 

 countries the value of articles is often depreciated 

 by mere character, and the reverse. For in- 

 stance, in South American ports the price of flour 

 varies more on account of the brand than on its 

 intrmsic quality. A vessel load of one particular 

 brand, often sells for two or three dollars a barrel 

 more than that of another brand ; when, if the 

 real quality of the two parcels had alone been 

 looked to, perhaps the prices would have been re- 

 versed. The reason of this preference was alone 

 to be found in the previously established quality 

 of the preferred brand ; and it was a fact to be re- 

 membered by this assembly, that however good 

 other brands might be, it required a long time to 

 counteract the prejudice in favour of the object of 

 preference. Much, therefore, depends upon cha- 

 racter, and it stands us in hand, as beginners in 

 the great business of producing silk, to° establish 

 a character for our raw silk at the start, that shalt 

 not only insure it equality of consideration in all 

 the markets of the world, but give it precedence 

 every where. And, (excuse me for repeatintr 

 what I have so recently asserted, when I had the 

 honour to address you on another subject,) all we 

 want to secure this precedence in the very facto- 

 ries of Italy herself, is this uniformity and excel- 

 lence in reeling. Yes, sir, adopt this resolution, 

 and let the American people imbibe and practise 

 upon its spirit, and you will kill every silk worm 

 in Europe. The Italians themselves, to say no- 

 thing of France and England, will give us twenty 

 to thirty per cent, more for our raw silk than they 

 will for any produced in Europe; because, besides 

 Its regular conformity in reeling to their known 

 and accepted standard, its intrinsic quality of 

 fibre IS superior to all other silks, owing, as I have 

 before stated, to the peculiar adaptation of our cli- 

 mate to lis most perfect production. 



In the second place, the reasons why the Pied- 

 montese reel is the only one on which we can rely 

 for the accomplishment of this great object, are 

 these. The P.edmontese reel produces the most 

 perfect article of raw silk of any reel known. For 

 a long period of time the silk-producing countries 

 of Europe, were without any fixed standard of 

 reeling. Almost every filature used reels differ- 

 ent from all others. The forms of the article 

 were as various as the number of the reeler^ 

 The consequence was, that the manufacturers 

 were obliged to adapt their machinery to everv 

 little parcel of raw silk. This caused much trou- 

 ble and expense to the manufacturers, and fhev 

 of course were oblirrcd to deduct an equivalent 

 from the price they paid for the raw material 

 Ihis condition of the silk producing interests at 

 length attracted the aitenlion of the Piedmontese 

 government, which, after long deliberation, ap- 

 pointed a l)oard of scientific men of the highest 

 character, to construct a reel upon such principles 

 as should insure the most perfect article. The 

 result was the reel now known as the Piedmon- 

 tese reel, and which is universally used in Italy 

 and which is now recommended to your attention, 

 and for the adoption of the A merican people. Let 

 me digress again for a moment. I do not pretend 

 ihnt' Yankee ingenuiit/ cannot invent a more in- 

 genious machine, I know fliem too well for that 

 nor do I wish to compel all our people to purchase 

 and use this or that man's manufacture or con- 

 «u uciiun— we care not who makes or who sells 



