14S 



F A R M E li S ' H E G I S T E 11 



[iNo. 3 



views should he entertained as to the great diiTer- 

 ence of circumstances, formerly and now, by 

 which, measures wliich are urgently invited at 

 this time, by inducements stronger than any Ibr- 

 mer legislative control or bounty, (however bene- 

 ficial such aid might be) were then forbidden, or 

 rendered inoperative, by obstacles still stronger. 



Since the modern improvements in managing 

 eilk-worms by artificial and regulated tempera- 

 ture and ventilation have been made known, it 

 may be [)rononnced that every climate is suffi- 

 ciently friendly to the growth and health of silk- 

 worms, provided their peculiar food can be pro- 

 duced plentiluliy ;md cheaply enough. The ques- 

 tion is no longer, whether the natural temperature 

 of the climate is mild and warm enough for the 

 health of tlie silk- worm ; but whether the soil and 

 climate are highly favorable to the growth and 

 regular supply of leaves of the mulberry tree, 

 and that land for the growth, and labor to gather 

 the leaves and to tend the silk- worms, can be also 

 afforded cheaply. Even as to the natural climate 

 and weather, without resorting to the easily avail- 

 able artificial safeguards against inclement spells, 

 there are few regions better suited to the wants of 

 the silk-worm, than all of the lower and central 

 parts of Virginia ; and better suited is our climate 

 than that of any of the more northern states, and 

 very far more so than in Connecticut, where silk 

 has been successfully raised and m.anufactured. in 

 families, for more than GO years, without the 

 benefit of artificial temperature, or any other of 

 the new and great improvements in the culture 

 and management. All fears of the climate being 

 unfavorable, then, may be dismissed from our 

 minds. Of course, it was not any defect of cli- 

 mate that prevented the success of the govern- 

 ment formerly in the attempts to establish silk- 

 culture. 



But. there were much greater obstacles; and 

 such as would have been insuperable, even if le- 

 gislation for encouragement or compulsion, had 

 been directed as v^^isely, as in fact it was unwisely. 

 It may be seen in many of the old laws that it 

 was not more the care of the government to en- 

 courage the raising of silk, than of Indian corn, 

 and other staple products, necessary lor the food 

 of the cultivators themselves. But for the strong- 

 er compulsion of the danger of starvation, tjie 

 legislative encouragements to plant corn, and rear 

 live-stock, would perhaps, have been of as little 

 effect as the encouragment of silk-culture. Du- 

 ringall those earlylimes, and long alierwanis, 

 considerations of profit, or the prejudices formed 

 by old habits, induced the colonists'to cultivate to- 

 bacco for sale in preference to evory other product 

 of agriculture. This alone would have been more 

 than sufficient to counteract all the ill-timed and 

 ill-directed measures of government to induce the 

 undertaking the new and untried production of 

 silk. But besides this sufficient reason, the cir- 

 cumstances of' the country in other respects were 

 then as unpropitious to the successful prosecution 

 of silk-culture, as they are now the reverse. 

 These circumstances will be now briefly enu- 

 merated. 



Besides mild and warm summers, (if artificial 

 heat is not regularly empjoyed,) and besides 

 the abundant and regular supply of mulberry 

 leaves, there are also several other conditions ne- 

 cesaary for the successful production of silk, as a 



crop for maikpf, and still more for exportation. 

 These are, cheap land and cheap labor, and either 

 a sure market at hand for the cocoons, or raw silk, 

 or manufacturing establishments connected with 

 the cultivation, to weave the material for exporta- 

 tion to remote markets. The slightest considera- 

 tion will show at once that all of these necessary 

 elements of successful culture were deficient du- 

 ring the whole time when it was so strongly urged 

 by the laws alone. Labor was scarce, and great- 

 ly wanting lor the demands o! what weie consi- 

 dered pursuits far more profitable than silk-raising. 

 Land, it is true, cost almost nothing in money- 

 prices ; but to clear off its heavy forest growth, 

 with very costly labor, made the real price of land 

 very high ; just, as now, an emigrant to the west 

 may buy rich forest land for $i2 the acre, and yet 

 pay for it, in the cost of clearing and bringing into 

 tillage, more than the price of the best and richest 

 farms on James River. For the raw products of 

 silk-culture there was no near or sure demand; 

 and the condition of a young colony was altoge- 

 ther adverse to the establishments of filatures, and 

 manufactories of silk fabrics. Therefore, it is not 

 at all strange that the comparatively feeble aids 

 and inducements oficred by government were 

 without effect. 



VI. The peculiar circumstances which noio invite 

 silk-culture in Virginia. 



Now let us consider the present condition of 

 Virginia as calculated either to invite, or to dis-' 

 courage, new exertions to introduce ihe culture of 

 silk, in addition to the climate, of which enough 

 has been already said. 



In the first place, is the production known by 

 sufficient experience to be profitable any where in 

 the United States? This question is satisltictori- 

 ly answered in the affirmative, by the long conti- 

 nued labors of the many silk-culturists in the far 

 worse climate of Connecticut, on lands lar more 

 dear than ours, and labor more valuable for other 

 uses, than we have to furnish. Where a com- 

 munity of industrious and intelligent people have 

 per.severed for more than half a century in a cer- 

 tain direction of labor, without intermission, or 

 doubt of the value of their returns, there can re- 

 main no question that their profits are not ideal. 



If, then, silk-culture, can be successfully prose- 

 cuted under the inhospitable sky of New Eng- 

 land, surely it can be done in Virginia much bet- 

 ter, with facilities merely equal in other respects. 

 But, in addition to the manifest superiority in cli- 

 mate, we possess in Virginia other great induce- 

 ments to undertake the business, in the present 

 depressed price of our lands, and the low cost of 

 the labor of^J'oung or infirm slaves, who must be 

 maintained at the same expense whether so em- 

 ployed, or idle and totally unproductive, as some 

 such are on almost every farm in Virginia, and 

 who yet could well discharge the light and easy 

 labors of feeding and managing silk-worms. 

 From this one source of labor, already fully paid 

 for and suj)ported, and now altogether profitless 

 even when not totally idle, enough operatives 

 might be drawn, in \'irginia alone, to produce an- 

 nually millions of dollars worth of silk. And 

 there is another source from which nearly as 

 much might be obtained — the many destitute but 

 respectable white females, who either suffer fiom 

 want, notwithstanding their daily and unceasing 



