'688 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. U 



quiries of our corresponJent, wc have sent him 

 the ' Essay on 'Calcareous Manures.' — Ed. F. R. 



For the Farmers' Register. 



THE CASE STATED, AS TO THE FITNESS OF 

 THIS COUNTRY FOR SILK CULTURE. FRAG- 

 MENT OF A DIALOGUE. 



Con. " Jt is absurd to expect to produce silk in 

 the United States to profit. I am not speaking of 

 the raisin;? a few worms by some otherwise idle 

 female oCThe family, nor the reeling and twistin^r 

 the product into sewing silk, for home use, or at 

 most to supply the tailors and sempstresses of the 

 neighborhood. Such employment 1 say nothing 

 against. It may serve as amusement ; and, com- 

 paratively, may even yield some profit, as any 

 species of productive industry is belter than abso- 

 lute idleness. But as to competing with the 

 French, Italians, and Chinese silk-growers, in the 

 markets of the world, it is too ridiculous !br serious 

 consideration. The weight and bulk of silk are 

 so small compared to its value, that its transporta- 

 tion to the remotest parts of the world would 

 scarcely add one per ceni. to its cost. So that dis- 

 tance from market is of no account. Putting aside 

 foreign markets, where our silk producers would 

 have to meet others on more equal ground, in our 

 own markets they would have to compete with 

 foreign growers, whose hired labor, and products 

 of labor^had cost thern but the tenth or twentieth 

 of the ordinary price of labor in this country. A 

 peasant in Languedoc, or Lombardy, will labor 

 day alicr day lor the daily wages of ten cents, and 

 may even lay up half of that, as in general bread 

 alone is his cheap food. But even that labor is 

 Itigh compared to the rate in China. There, a 

 a cent or two will pay for the day's labor of a wo- 

 man, if not of a man. Nay, a handlul of rice 

 will sometimes be thankfully received by the 

 starving laborer for the unceasing toil of a whole 

 day. And it is against such odds as these that 

 this country is to conlend in the silk markets of 

 the world ! Before this can be done successfully, 

 you must persuade the industrious and well-fed 

 laborers of the norihern slates lo be content with 

 the small wages and the meagre fare of the Italian, 

 and the lazy laborer of tlie south, whether while 

 or black, to loil and to starve with the Chinese." 



Pro. " I admit, that in regard to the cheapness 

 of labor coinpared to Europe, and still more to 

 China, we shall be at disadvantage, though not to 

 the extent you claim. Your comparison of labor 

 mit^ht be correct, if able-bodied men in this coun- 

 try were the laborers required for silk-culture. But 

 dear as their labor certainly is, the wages of fe- 

 males are generally very low — and the infirm, the 

 very old, and the very young, (all hoivever useful 

 for feeding worms,) work not at all, and of course 

 earn nothing at employments now existing. A 

 vast amountof cheap labor can be obtained fiom 

 these sources. But in Virginia, where j/oit sup- 

 pose our principal labor, that of slaves, to be the 

 dearest in the world, we have, in lact, labor suita- 

 ble for silk-culture that is even cheaper than in 

 China. There are but few landholders who have 

 not some slaves, who do no work, and who are 

 maintained at precisely as much cost as those who 

 do labor. All the labor that these idlers could give 



to silk-culture would absoutely cost nothing; and 

 therefore, it is certain that no hired labor elsewhere 

 can be cheaper. These new workers (but old ■ 

 eaters and consumers,) are the aged slaves of 

 boih sexes, females nursing infants, and boys and 

 girls too small for field labor. And besides this 

 kind of labor, which costs nothing, that of many 

 others could be added, both bond and li-ee, whose 

 present employments yield so little, "hat even half 

 wages at silk-culiure would be a gainful change. 



" But though labor is certainly an important ele- 

 ment of the cost of silk, it is not the only one that 

 deserves lo be counted. There are three impor- 

 tant elements of the cost of raw or reeled sillcj 

 The first, and the most important in Europe, and 

 the flZ/-imporiant in China, is the land necessary 

 for the buildings, and the growth of the mulberry 

 trees. In Lombardy, the best silk country in Eu- 

 rope, the mpre annual rent is usually liir greater 

 than the fee-simple of the land equally productive 

 can be f)urchased lor in Virginia ; or the greater 

 cost of land there may be salely estirnated at 20 

 times as much as ours. In China, the value of 

 land is very far greater than anywhere in Europe ; 

 and of course, so much the greater there is thai; 

 element of cost. So dear is land in China that it 

 is there economical to substitute the labor of men 

 for beasts of burden or draught. The plough is 

 but little used in their very perfect tillage, and the 

 streets of their great cities and villages arc gene- 

 rally so narrow as not to permit the use of wheel 

 carriages. Immense numbers of families dwell 

 permanently in boats on the rivers, because they- 

 cannot pay the rent of a dwelling spot onland ; 

 and they even cultivate vegetables on rafts of bam- 

 boo covered with earth. Conceive then the enor- 

 mous expense of landed capital required to de- 

 vote even a few acres of a farm to the growth of 

 mulberry trees! A third element of cost is the 

 construction of the cocoonery and other necessary 

 buildings and fixtures. I "am not enough ac- 

 quainte^l with European prices to compare with 

 them on this head. But there is no doubt but that 

 this part of the expense, (being principally of tiiii- 

 ber and coarse materials,) is also cheaper in this 

 country. 



"Thus, then, while one of the three elements 

 of the whole expense of silk-culture would gene- 

 rally be the most cosily here, the other two vvoulcf 

 be cheaper, and the most important of them greatly 

 cheaper. And so much the most important of the 

 three elements is the land, that, taking all to- 

 gether, there can be little doubt but that all the 

 elements of cost combined, will be less in Virginia 

 than in France, Italy, or even in China. The su- 

 periority of a country in one of these respects 

 amounts to nothing, "if it be counlerbalanced by 

 as much inferiority in the others, [t is the balance- 

 of combined advantages, in all the three elements 

 of cost, that must show which country is best 

 adapted for silk-culiure ; and that balance I am 

 confident we possess. 



" Besides— the amount of out-door labor neces- 

 sary, and of time for preparation, are now reduced 

 to one-fourth of what was before required, by the 

 introduction of the new many-stalked mulberry. 

 It is true that the old silk-countries will also avail of 

 this benefit ; but every general and equal diminu- 

 tion of labor (which is our heaviest expense) 

 serves to lessen relatively our only disadvantage. 



" Again— expenses are incurred in proportion to 



