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FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3 



the many atrocious and infamous crimes of tha* 

 monster. 



The use of this luxury continued however to 

 increase among the Romans, until it was not only 

 fully tolerated, but came to be considered a neces- 

 sary of life to the rich and great ; and it became 

 a matter of public and national interest and poli- 

 cy, to be able to purchase silk free from the extor- 

 tion of the Persians, the immediate suppliers, and 

 who, moreover were often at war with the Roman 

 empire. But all efforts lor lessening the evil were 

 vain, until accident produced results which all the 

 power of the Roman government had not been 

 able to approach. Two Nestorian monks, by the 

 persecution of their christian brethren of other 

 sects, had been driven from India, and took refuge 

 in China. There they saw, with wonder, in com- 

 mon use, and at comparatively low prices, gar- 

 ments of a material which they had been accus- 

 tomed to consider as almost sacred to the use of 

 princes. They also observed the insects which 

 produced the material for these rich stuffs, and 

 learned the manner in which they were reared, 

 and their precious spoils obtained. Rightly con- 

 jecturing that this information would be highly 

 valued and well rewarded, they made the long 

 and dangerous journey to Constantinople to im- 

 part it, and to sell their plan to the emperor Jus- 

 tinian. He encouraged their returning, to procure 

 the eggs of the silk- worm. They did so ; and by 

 concealing the eggs in their hollow canes, they 

 were enabled to elude the jealous scrutiny of the 

 Chinese, and to carry safely their charge to Con- 

 stantinople. The eggs were there hatched, and 

 the worms reared to propagate their race ; and 

 mulberry trees were planted to secure in abun- 

 dance their proper sustenance. 



Justinian made a royal monopoly of this new 

 and rich product. But after his death, the culture 

 spread from the capital over Greece proper, which 

 became devoted to mulberry and silk-culture, and 

 continued for 400 years to enjoy the benefit of be- 

 ing the only European silk-producing country. 

 Religious persecution had been the cause of bring- 

 ing the industry from China to Greece; and 

 war, which has served indirectly to confer so 

 many great blessings, as well as, directly, (o pro- 

 duce so much suffering to the human race, was 

 next the means of extending the knowledge and 

 the art of silk-culture to other regions. When 

 Roger the Norman king of Sicily, invaded 

 Greece, in 1146, and spread devastation and ruin 

 over the Peloponesus, among the other spoils of 

 his conquest, he carried off many captive Greeks, 

 who, by his order, taught his Sicilian subjects to 

 rear silk-worms, and to manufacture their pro- 

 ducts. The silk stuffs of Sicily soon became cele- 

 brated. Thence, in time, the culture was spread 

 over Italy, which still is the only country in Eu- 

 rope where it is very extensively pursued. Still, 

 all the discouragements produced by the rule of 

 Turkish despotism and barbarism, have not pre- 

 vented silk continuing to be one of the most im- 

 portant products of the country into which the cul- 

 ture was first introduced and established by the 

 policy of Justinian. 



The attempts to establish silk-culture in the more 

 western parts of Europe have been far less suc- 

 cessful. The cause of difference, is to be found 

 in the difference of climate ; the eastern, or more 

 distant from the ocean, having much greater ex- 



tremes of heat and cold, or hotter summers and 

 colder winters, in the same latitudes. And thia 

 defect of temperature, as it has been commonly con- 

 sidered, (or wide extremes,) in the Ibllowing ar- 

 gument, will be maintained to be an important 

 advantage for silk-culture ; an advantage which 

 Greece possesses over Italy, and Italy over the 

 south of France ; and, as it may be inferred, lor 

 similar reasons, our own country over the silk 

 producing regions of all Europe. But to return. 



III. The climate of France, and western Europe 

 in general, unfavorable to silk-culture. 



Silk-worms and mulberry trees were first intro- 

 duced in France in 1450, by Louis XI; and in 30 

 years silk stuffs appeared amoug the fabrics of 

 Lyons and Tours. Subsequently, both the cul- 

 ture and the manufacture of silk were zealously 

 encouraged by the government, especially under 

 the reigns of Charles VIII, Henry IV, and Louis 



XIV. The manutacture has flourished. But in 

 all the longer intervals between the different times 

 of greatest effort to promote its growth, the cul- 

 ture and production of silk languished ; and in- 

 deed it would seem that it is only since the gene- 

 ral peace, in 1815, that France promises to derive 

 any considerable portion of her great agricultural 

 income from the production of silk. This opinion 

 as to the second greatest silk producing country of 

 Europe may probably be considered altogether 

 unfounded and untenable. But it seeiDS to be 

 sustained by the general and direct statements of 

 the latest French work which we have seen, (Mo- 

 rin's '■Manuel.'' ) After speaking of the previous 

 times of depression which had occurred between 

 the shorter periods of prosperity caused by particu- 

 lar encouragement during the lew detached reigns 

 just named, the author adds, that ''under Louis 



XV, and Louis XIV, and still more during the 

 first years of the revolution, silk-culture was struck 

 with discouragement. Under the empire, it was 

 barely not forgotten among the other manufac- 

 tures. But since the restoration [1815] the estab- 

 lishments in which silk-worms are raised and the 

 culture of silk prosecuted, have taken a consisten- 

 cy and growth much more considerable than had 

 existed for a long time previously." 



If a judgment may be formed from the testimo- 

 ny of Arthur Young, in his voluminous and in- 

 teresting and valuable report of the agricultural 

 practices and products of France,* the opinion 

 above stated is greatly confirmed. His travels and 

 personal observations were made immediately be- 

 fore, and during the early part of the revolution, 

 and just at the close of the longest period of in- 

 ternal tranquillity and of general prosperity that 

 France had ever enjoyed. And yet at that time, 

 the mulberry plantations must have been very 

 lew, even in the southern part of the kingdom, to 

 which they were almost confined, and the busi- 

 ness of silk-culture far from profitable. This de- 

 duction is unavoidable from all the statements in 

 Young's chapter "on the silk-culture of France," 

 which was copied in the preceding pages of this 

 number, (see p. 135 to 140.) In addition to these 

 very full statements, the following will be quoted 

 from his chapter on "climate." After having 

 stated many particular examples of the severe ef- 



* Travels in France during 1787, 8, 9, by Arthur 

 YounK. 



