EXTRACTS FOREIGN AKD DOMESTIC. 163 



silk must be reeled only in large quantities, of a uniform quality 

 and fineness, in order to be employed in manufactures." " The 

 proper business of families, and the only business adapted to them 

 in the silk culture, is the feeding of worms and the production of 

 the cocoons." Again : a gentleman well versed in the business of 

 silk, asserts that " two reelers shall each take one bushel of the 

 same parcel of cocoons, and one shall produce from her portion a 

 pound of silk worth $6 ; while the other shall produce the same 

 quantity worth only $3 — the latter being not even the value of the 

 cocoons before she began to reel them." The establishment of 

 filatures in great central points, which shall furnish a near market 

 to those who grow the cocoons, is most desirable. Already there 

 are a number in successful operation. 



6. The mamifadure of silk has been carried to great perfection. 

 It is said : " A large establishment in Baltimore manufactures im- 

 mense quantities of silk and worsted vestings, employing some 

 fifteen or twenty Jacquard looms, and working up large quantities 

 of domestic silk j and yet they dare not let it be known that their 

 goods are manufactured in this country." But there are other 

 manufactories in various parts of the country which furnish sew- 

 ing silk, fringe, tassels, gimp, satin, velvet, and other silks. The 

 uniform testimony of those employed in these establishments, 

 (some of whom have followed the business for twenty or twenty- 

 five years in England,) is, that they never saw finer, or as fine silk, 

 as the American when carefully prepared. It is said to give a 

 stronger thread than foreign silk, and, by many manufacturers, is 

 altogether preferred. The experiment of making paper from mul- 

 berry leaves, which is said to have been successful in France, is to 

 be fully trietl in this country the present year. It is said that a 

 discovery has been made that pongee silk is produced from the 

 fibrous bark of the mulberry, and that it has never passed through 

 the silk worm. It is also said, on the same authority, that " there 

 is nearly one hundred per cent difference in the use of foilage in 

 raising cocoons. That, to produce one hundred weight of cocoons, 

 from twenty to twenty-two hundred weight of foilage of grafted 

 trees, propagated by grafting buds, cuttings, or layers, is necessa- 

 ry ; while from twelve to thirteen hundred weight of leaves from 

 seedlings will accomplish the same result." 



The jprofit and feasibleness of the raising and manufacture of silk 

 are also fully established. One person, who produced raw silk, 

 says that his net profit w'as equal to $60 per acre. At a large 

 establishment in Massachusetts, the profits are estimated at thirty- 

 seven and a half per cent. To show the kind of manufacture, and 

 the amount of capital invested, and nature of expenses, we insert 

 the following account with reference to a fine manufactory in 

 Ohio : "My factory is in full and successful operation, producing 

 more goods than at any time previous. Our operations, as per 



