740 



KAKMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 12 



I would ??iosfear7Jes/i!/ call upon multitudes who j fabric, can be perlbrmed by tbeiu, and in the 

 are engaged in no agricultural pursuiis — who invvhole process their labor is as valuable as the 

 consequence of the great revulsion in the tiniet=, j most athlriic male. 



are engaged in no regular husiuess — niiiiiy who j Even the aged and infirm, by liie aid of inge- 

 are depending on tlie precarious results of specu- i nious contrivances ibr moving along by the 

 lation in lis thoiipand Ibrms, let these abandon the ' shelves, can perlorm almost tiie vvliole work in tiie 



unceilainlics ol' speculation, the excess oj' which 

 has ahnost ruined our country, and which, if snc- 

 cesslul to them, adds nothing the wealth of the 

 Tiaiion. Let all who are thrown out of business 

 V I he pressure oi' the limes — all who are wailiiig 

 • more prnpuious times in which to commence 

 bui=iness— let all, all suidi embark in)mediately 

 io the silk culture. Let them occupy lands now 

 unrultivated and idle, and thus secure Ibr them- 

 selves a stream of wealth, cer/rt//i as tlie flow of 

 the tides. A stream that will deepen and widen, 

 on whose bosom ttiey will be borne, safely and 

 surely, if not rapidly to affluence and (brtune. 



Let fathers, whose lands in our older states are 

 worn out, and whose enterprising sons are dis- 

 posed to leave kindreii and home Ibr the far west, 

 stock their worn out farms with moras multicaulis, 

 and thus make it more profitable Ibr tlieir sons to 

 remain at horai' than go to the west. 



Bur a consideration which commends this sub- 

 ject to every patriot, pliilanthropist and christian, 

 is the great benefits which are to tiowli-om its gen- 

 eral introduction to the poor and dependent portion 

 of'our community. 



Even in our own happy country, there is a large 

 class of individuals, who so ikr from adding any 

 thing to the industry and wealth of the nation, are 

 unable to support themselves ibr want of suitable 

 employment. These are indigent females anti 

 children, and the long list of the aged and infirm. 

 The numerous labor-saving machintsry, the pro- 

 duction of the present inventive ane, introduced 

 into almost every department of lile, has thrown 

 out of [iiofiiable employment vast rmmbers of 

 industrious and virtuous poor. How many worthy 

 mothers of or[)han children are constrained to |)ly 

 the needle through anxious days and almost sleep- 

 less nighis. to keep those children from the alms- 

 house, while they are unable, from the want of em- 

 ployment suited to their tender years, to do any 

 thing to assist their affectionate mothers? How 

 many females and children obtain a scanty and 

 precarious subsistence by picking berries of vari- 

 ous sorts lor a lew weeks, for our city markets, 

 who during the remainder of the year must con- 

 tinue in the lowest poverty or absolute want. 

 W ho mwsf spend their winters in the poor-house, 

 or live on the charity of the benevolent, and all 

 this for the want of suitable employment. One of 

 the most crying evils of the a<2;e is the inadequate 

 compensation which female labor receives. This 

 arises mainly from want of properobjects on which 

 to bestow that labor. Indeed the secret of render- 

 ing any labor valuable, and insurinir for it an ade- 

 quate and equitable reward, consists in applying 

 it to objects not only valuable in themselves, and 

 suited to the ability of those who perlorm it, but 

 which are capable of helncr made the means of 

 increasing wealth. Now let philanthropy ex/trmsf 

 itself, and where can it find an object that will 

 secure to female labor such a reward as the pro- 

 duction of silk ? Nature! seems almost to have 

 designed the production of silk for female hands. 

 The whole work, from the feeding of the worm, 



cocoonery, while children gather and brinij: them 

 the leaves. O! will not the blessitmsof nmltitudes 

 ready to perish descend upon those who presevere 

 in the midst of the most unnatural opposition in 

 their noble elibrts to establish the silk culture in 

 our land? 



In England alone, more than a quarter of a mil- 

 lion of her peoi)leearn their bread in tlie manufac- 

 ture alone of silk. And with a soil and climate 

 admirably adapted to the production ot the raw 

 material, a skill and ingenuity ecjual to that of 

 England or any other country on earth to man- 

 ufi^cture it — will American patriots be content to 

 exhaust our resources in sustaining her population 

 — will they sufier our own labor to remain unpro- 

 ductive, our own poor but meritorious citizens to 

 pine in poverty and want 7 How much longer 

 shall we permit them to freight their steam pack- 

 ets wiih silken Ikbrics, crowd iliem into our market 

 and take away in return nothing but gold and sil- 

 ver, and that too at a moment when the eschao- 

 iiea are largely against us, and when we are strug- 

 gling almost to bankruptcy to equalize them? 

 'The production of silk in our country /s not now 

 an experiment, and considerinir the imst interests 

 involved in its extensive production, it claims, and 

 it has a right to claim the Ibstering care of our 

 government in any and every way in which that 

 care can be consistently bestowed. A brighter 

 day is dawning upon our country. Another great 

 staple is about to be added to her productions 

 which will kindle joy and gladness in many a de- 

 solate heart, and pour a flood of wealth over our 

 whole land. D. V. McLean. 



Freehold, N. J. Nov. 1839. 



BIESSRS. CHENEY S EXPERIMENT. 



From llie Sill< Giowei-. 



Havino; met with uncommon success in /('eding 

 silk worms this year, we are induced to give a 

 statement of our proceeding, and the method 

 adopted by us to hasten their labors to a success- 

 ful termination. We followed, as near as circum- 

 stances would permit, the plan recommended by 

 IVl. C. Beauvais, an account of which we have 

 published, and succeeded in terminating the crop 

 in twenty-lour days, and we venture to say that 

 firmer and larger cocoons have not been produced 

 by any silk grower this season. The silk reels 

 admirably, and is strong, lustrous, and of a su- 

 perior quality. 



June 27th, the eggs were taken from the re- 

 friirerator, where they had been kept since the 1st 

 of JVlarch,at an average temperature of 40'^ Fah- 

 renheit. They were placed upon a shelf in the 

 cellar, where the teniperature was 60". On the 

 •29lh, at 4 P. M. they were taken to the cocoonery, 

 the temperature at that time beinij 78°. All 

 worms found upon the cloths, upon their removal 

 from the cellar, (beinor but a small number) were 

 destroyed before the cloths were placed in the co- 



coonery. 80,000 worms hatched on the 30th of 

 to the production of the most beautiful and delicate June, which we reserved lor the experiment. 



