87 



FARMKRS' REGISTER. 



[No. 2 



the reel used. The great object is to induce all 

 our people to use reels that shall produce a unifor- 

 mity of results ; and as the Piedniontese reel pro- 

 duces raw silk of the most perlect quality, as silk 

 from this reel is known and appreciated all over 

 Europe, and all the machinery of the factories are 

 adapted to its use, we ought to adopt this reel also. 

 As we are beginning, it will be liir easier lor us to 

 adopt the Piedmoniese reel, and make our raw silk 

 conform to the standard of form now preferred, 

 than to compel all the factories of Europe and 

 America to alter their machinery for the purpose 

 of adapting it to our silk. The Piedmontese reel 

 is constructed upon principles peculiar to itself. 

 The skein produced by it is always exactly of a 

 certain length, (six leet eleven inches circumfer- 

 ence,) the fhreads are laid upon the bars in a dia- 

 gonal line, crossing obliquely each layer in such 

 a manner that the fresh wet thread never comes 

 in contact with the wet thread just belbre laid on, 

 and consei^uently there is no glueing of the threads 

 toi^ether. The skeins thus reeled are also un- 

 wound by (he manufacturers vvithout any waste, 

 as the peculiar manner of laying it upon the reel 

 enables them to unwind it vvithout any difficulty 

 from tangling. Various other valuable objects 

 are obtained by the use of this reel, which it would 

 lake too much time to describe in detail. 



But, continued Mr. S., even if this reel pos- 

 sessed no single quality superior to the hundreds 

 of other kinds, the single fact that the article pro- 

 duced by it is known and preferred throughout Eu- 

 rope and America, is sufficient of itself to war- 

 rant us in universally adopting it. 



It seems necessary to explain that the object in 

 recommending the Piedmontese reel, is, that we 

 may produce the best possible commercial article 

 of raw silk. We have no reference to the mak- 

 ing of sewing silk, oi other domestic articles; nor 

 htrve we any reference to the use of the various 

 machines that have been invented for making 

 sewing silk, &c. These machines are all, doubt- 

 less, admirably adapted to such purposes; and 

 will no doubt be used lor them. But it seems ne- 

 cessary to say here that raw silk, as reeled on fhe 

 Piedmontese reel, is adapted to all the forms of 

 manufacture to which raw silk can be applied ; 

 and that after it is thus reeled, it can be doubled 

 and twisted into any form required. It is a mai- 

 ler of doubt with me, therefore, whether any of 

 these machines will be retained in use for any 

 kind of silk after we obtain a thorough acquain- 

 tance with the subject. 



Before I conclude, permit me, in answer to va- 

 rious questions from different parts of the house, 

 to say, that there is in Philadelphia, a perfectly 

 constructed Piedmontese reel. It was imported 

 in 1826, by Dr. James Mease, of that city, who 

 was then actively engaged in promoting the 

 cause; and I believe that reel is the only true one 

 ever imported. Dr. Mease early foresaw the 

 great advantage of beginning right in this busi- 

 ness, and perniit me to say here, that to him is 

 the country indebted for much valuable informa- 

 tion on the subject of the silk-culture. 



Permit me, Mr, President, to make one more 

 remark, and I will then leave the subject to the 

 disposal of the convention. I have labored hard 

 and long in the silk cause; I have done much to 

 introduce into our beloved country, this most va- 

 luable branch of industry; but I have never done 



anything of half the importance to the cause 

 that this resolution will accomplish, if seconded 

 by the American people. I feel, Mr. President, 

 that all that has been done, is a mere drop in fhe 

 bucket compared to this. I therefore ask the con- 

 vention to pass this resolution, or at least the 

 spirit of it, for I care not lor the form, co that we 

 obtain the substance— and I shall then have done 

 my task, I shall have accomplished the great work 

 that has been, 1 might say, the main object of 

 my life— or at least of twelve years of it. Were 

 I required to point out, as the last act of my life, 

 the way in which my country and countrymen 

 would be most benefited, I should unhesitatingly 

 point to the general production of silk in a do- 

 mestic way, in all our farmers' families, and in a 

 uniform manner, as the great source of national 

 and individual prosperity, yet reserved to the 

 American people. 



DIARY 



OF AN EXPERIMENT IN REARING SILK- 

 WORMS. 



[There is no mode of conveying agricultural 

 instruction which is so interesting, and at the same 

 lime so impressive, as by piesenting an accurate 

 and full detail of all the circumstances of some trial 

 or process, with all the incidents, errors, and mis- 

 haps, as well as the correct operations and suc- 

 cessful results. In general treatises, or in general 

 directions and didactic instruction, the writer ne- 

 cessarily proceeds upon the supposition that each 

 of his rules, as presented in order, is understood, 

 and properly obeyed, and that all goes right in 

 the procedure founded thereon. He cannot, with- 

 out digressing intolerably, consider and provide 

 lor every excepiion, and disaster, to be caused 

 either by ignorance, or neglect of the directions, or 

 by unavoidable evils of bad weather, or other ac-: 

 cidental and rare disasters. It is an account o 

 those necessary omissions, that general treatises, 

 or merely didactic instructions, are rarely satisfac- 

 tory in all respects to those who are previously al- 

 together unacquainted with the subject, and who, 

 therefore, need to be informed on every particular, 

 many of which would be so familiar to the more 

 experienced writer, as not to be deemed worth 

 being mentioned. 



The following diary, (though more concise 

 than is to be desired, on than would have been 

 presented to readers as little informed on the sub- 

 ject as the people of the United States,) is an ex- 

 cellent illustration of what has just been said. 

 The writer is a very intelligent man, and a zealous, 

 though not long experienced silk-culturist; he 

 having had but the benefit of an apprenticeship, 

 or the conducting of a course of experiments, of 

 eleven years in this business ; which he had first 

 introduced in a part of France where it had not 



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