No. 200.] 209 



what object can it he dedicated with greater propriety ? Among the 

 means which have been employed to this end, none have been attend- 

 e;d with greater success than the establishment of boards, composed 

 of proper characters, charged with collecting and diffusing informa- 

 tion, and enabled, by -premiums and small pecuniary aid, to encourage 

 and assist a spirit of discovery and improvement, by stimulating to 

 enterprise and experiment, and by drawing to a common centre the 

 results everywhere of individual skill and observation, and spreading 

 them thence over the whole nation. Experience accordingly has 

 shown, that they are very cheap instruments of immense national 

 benefits. 



One great national object to come under the care of such a depart- 

 ment, will necessarily be the culture of silk. Human experience has 

 taught us, that in all the immense variety of articles afforded by na- 

 ture for human comfort and convenience, there is no one thing con- 

 nected with the clothing of our race more to be cared for than this 

 beautiful article. What utility as a thread ! what splendor as a gar- 

 ment ! Already no human being is dressed to its satisfaction without 

 some silk. Once more valuable than gold, and worn only by the up- 

 per classes of society, now it begins to form a portion of dress for 

 almost every huuian being. An immense experience has proved its 

 high value ; and the millions of dollars which America annually pays 

 to Europe for it — while America ought to let Europe pay us for it — 

 urges us to the culture of this great staple. France says that silk can 

 only be raised in small quantities by individual families That our 

 reliance for its production is absolutely upon that nice division of la- 

 bor in which some one or more of those members of a family who 

 are unable to do the more severe labors of the farm, must have a co- 

 coonery. By an universal application of this rule — and there is no 

 other — a nation can not only supply itself, but spare much for other 

 nations. 



And here allow me to repeat what is perfectly admitted by our silk 

 conventions. That, by a happy adaptation as to climate, America is 

 more enabled to supply silk than any country on the globe, not except- 

 ing China ; the only one which possesses the like fitness for that pur- 

 pose. I refer you to the report of facts on this point, made by our 

 silk conventions. 



[Assembly, No. 200.] 14 



