160 [Assembly 



a common wheel and loom, such as are used in working flax. (Loud 

 and continued applause.) 



The President here very humorously remarked, *' here, do you see 

 him ? is a gentleman too poor to wear British broadcloth, but wears 

 silk of his own production." 



Mr. Pierce further stated, that his family had no experience save 

 what they had acquired by practice, and that his lady had become 

 satisfied that she could make a yard of silk cloth easier than of flax 

 or wool. The suit in which he was clad was made of perforated co- 

 coons. (It was a most beautiful and substantial article, and called 

 forth great applause from the crowd who surrounded him for some 

 lime, to examine its texture, and to grasp the hand of a man whose 

 independence and patriotism, not his poverty, compelled him to appear 

 in the product of his own hands, in preference to " British broadcloth" 

 or any other foreign fabric. 



Colonel Clark remarked that the culture of cotton had become so 

 exceedingly unprofitable, that the South must inevitably be driven into 

 other pursuits. Wool ofifered one, and men are now traversing the 

 Northern States, collecting droves to stock their plantations. The 

 South presents an immense field for men of mind to occupy and cul- 

 tivate ; and it is likely to become by far the most important part of 

 this Union. The culture of silk can doubtless be made a most valu- 

 able substitute for cotton. It is impossible to calculate the value of 

 this branch of industry to the United States, when it once becomes 

 permanently established. Teach any number of negroes to feed the 

 silk worm and gather the cocoons, and they will produce results far 

 exceeding any present pursuit. Here is one of our vice presidents 

 from Vermont, clothed in silk of his own make ! It is made in Maine ; 

 certainly in Connecticut ; and if in the extreme North, where we are 

 obliged to limit our operations to three, and at most four months it can 

 be done with profit, what may not be done at the south, where six, 

 eight and ten months may be devoted to it! 



A miscellaneous conversation here followed, on the comparative 

 quality of wool grown at the north and south, in which Mr. Afflic, of 

 Mississippi, Col. Clark, and others participated, gome contending that 

 the wool became coarser grown at the south, and others maintaining 

 the opposite opinion. 



