No. 85. 1 493 



per year. Last year's product was but 5111 pounds, in consequence 

 of two severe spring frosts, and very unfavorable weather during Au- 

 gust and fore part of September. 



The product of this year will be about twenty-five per cent less 

 than that of last year, and will therefore not much exceed said ave- 

 rage. 



J. H. Cobb — SwpH Silk Company, Dedham, Mass. 



Questions answered in order. No separate report for 1844. 



No. years engaged, 20 



Amount of capital invested, $10,000 



Amount of American stock used, $1,000 



do. Foreign, $24,000 



Total amount used, $25,000 



Male hands employed, 20 



Female hands employed, 100 



Children employed, 10 



Pounds of sewing and twist made, 5,000 



Yards of ribbons, galloons, laces, cords, &c,, 50,000 



Pairs of stockings and gloves, 100 



No. of cravats and handkerchiefs, 100 



Total value of goods, $100,000 



As I first started machinery for manufacturing sewings in a regular 

 way, with the latest European improvements, and have superintended 

 the building and operations of the New England Silk Company's silk 

 works in this place, I hold myself competent to contract for and sup- 

 ply machinery for the silk manufacture, and operatives skilled in the 

 business, to go to any part of the country. I first sent the machinery 

 to Hartford, for the old Connecticut Silk Company, and operatives to 

 work it. I am now making making machinery on a contract, to sup- 

 ply a factory in Canada. The mill constantly under my direction in 

 Dedham, and now in operation, is described in my Silk Manual, page 

 152, 4th edition. 



Judge A. E. Ernest, Macon, Bihh County, Ga. — I have cultivated 

 silk in my humble way for six years, and have bestowed much thought 

 on the subject, and my candid opinion is there is not a finer country 

 in the world for producing silk than Georgia. All my experiments, 

 and the other facts I have to judge from, satisfy me beyond a doubt, 

 that our climate is the very best. It seems to me almost impossible 

 that any country can possess greater advantages for cultivating silk 

 than we do. When I commenced the business I knew nothing about 

 it, and my circumstances have been as unfavorable for getting infor- 

 mation as could well be imagined ; and yet, under all these disadvan- 

 tages, I have been successful, and have made the business profitable. 

 It seems to me that my well known success is saying a good deal for 

 the silk culture in Georgia ; more, certainly, than can be said of many 

 new undertakings. 



When people undertake any branch of business of which they are 



