SILK CULTURE. 



SINCLAIR, GEORGE. 



every grade and name, passing through his 

 hands weekly, expresses the following opinion 

 relative to silk produced in the United States : 



"I am qualified to affirm, from various ex- 

 periments I have tried, that the silk is superior 

 to any I have seen from Italy, China, France, 

 Piedmont, or Valencia, where the worms are 

 fed upon mnlticaulis, or Italian. Its brilliancy, 

 strength, and scent are superior. I am aware 

 that an exposure to the saline air, in the pas- 

 sage across the ocean, may be the cause of the 

 loss of fragrance to imported silk; but the 

 brilliancy is peculiar to American silk, if reeled 

 in a proper manner, with cleanliness. 



"I am confident that the mammoth sulphur- 

 worm is the pure Fossam brown. To try this, 

 I had about 3 Ibs. of silk reeled, and enclosed 

 it in an air-tight box for 3 weeks. When I took 

 it'out it had the fragrance of the Fossam brown 

 stronger than any that I ever smelt in Eng- 

 land, which convinced me that the mammoth 

 sulphur is the identical sil.k which is al \vays 

 from 5 to 8 shillings per pound higher than or- 

 dinary silk. The mammoth white and the pea- 

 nut white is a Novi, and superior to any I have 

 seen in England. The yellow or orange I can- 

 not, satisfactorily to my own mind, yet define, 

 but am trying experiments in order to ascer- 

 tain. I am strongly persuaded it is a Bergam. 

 Should this be the case, it will prove a great 

 acquisition to manufacturers of silk velvet. 

 Some have supposed the pea-nut white is the 

 Piedmont, but they are mistaken. The Pied- 

 mont cocoon is lily-white, very diminutive, 

 with a sharp point." 



Where legislative patronage has been ex- 

 tended in the allowance of bounties on cocoons 

 and raw silk, the state treasuries may be re- 

 ferred to as criterions showing the increase or 

 diminution of the .silk crop with great preci- 

 sion. The treasurer of Massachusetts has fur- 

 nished the following report, indicating how the 

 matter stands in that state : 



1837 - 



1838 - 



1839 - 



- $71 37 



- 198 00 



- 350 92 



- 434 62 



1840 - - $1,233 5'J 

 1S41 - - 2,111 42 

 l$2toOcl. 1 3,351 91 



\ .'ther consideration, calculated to urge 

 the business forward," says the Northampton 

 Silk Convention, " is found in the fact that all 

 our present agricultural staples are now ex- 

 tremely depressed, and are likely to remain so. 

 The market is completely glutted. Our far- 

 mers must take up something new, or their suf- 

 ferings will be prolonged indefinitely. In this 

 crisis, silk comes to their aid. In the produc- 

 tion of this article they cannot glut the market 

 for one whole generation, most assuredly." 



Without desiring to excite undue expecta- 

 tions, it is a question which deserves serious 

 consideration, whether much more may not be 

 realized from the prosecution of this business 

 than has hitherto been? The little town of 

 Mansfield, in Connecticut, by a persevering 

 devotion to it, undiscouraged by the ill-success 

 of others, has been enabled to derive therefrom 

 a good profit; and it appears from the last 

 census that, with a population of 2276, not less 

 than $20,000 is annually received from this 

 business. 



The bounty paid in Ohio, in 1841, amounted 



to $2681 76; in Pennsylvania 4418 55. In 

 1842 there was paid as bounty, in Ohio, 

 $6699 61. The whole amount of reeled silk 

 produced in Ohio is set down at 3000 pounds. 

 One person sold 300 pounds of reeled silk for 

 $1600. The whole aggregate of the silk crop 

 throughout the United States, for 1842, is given 

 in a tabular view, by Mr. Ellsworth, at 244,124 

 pounds of cocoons. (Ellsicorth's Report to Con- 

 gress.") 



Under the head of MULBERRY, some observa- 

 tions have been made in relation to the varie- 

 ties of the tree best adapted to the silk culture 

 in the United States. Besides the numerous 

 communications to be found in most of the 

 American periodicals devoted to agriculture, 

 and some specially to the silk culture, many 

 excellent original treatises have been written 

 upon the same subject. Among the last we 

 may name the essay published under the aus- 

 pices of 1*. S. Duponceau, Esq., of Philadel- 

 phia, one of the greatest champions of the 

 legitimate silk culture that the Union has pro- 

 duced. By li'zituiuitf xilk ntltitrc, is meant the 

 employment of th- Pieilmontevr rrrl, the use 

 of which is absolutely necessary to give the 

 product of the cocoonery its proper value. 

 The work thus referred to is a duodecimo 

 printed in Philadelphia, and bears the name 

 of M. d'Homergue. It is particularly useful in 

 relation to the subject of the Piedmontese reel. 

 A summary of the principal Chinese treatises 

 on the culture of silk, &c., was published, in 

 1838, by P. Force, Esq., Washington. An ex- 

 cellent Treatise OH the Mulberry Tree, and the 

 Pi-oili-rHun unit Mi mt fin-til re of Silk, was pub- 

 lished in Philadelphia, in 1839, by Mr. John 

 Clarke. Several Mo/imk on the silk culture, 

 furnishing abundant information, embracing 

 the most minute details, have been published 

 by Roberts, Cobb, Kenrick, Comstock, Clarke, 

 &c., &c. Among the periodicals specially de- 

 voted to the subject, the Silk Culturist, edited 

 by F. G. Comstock, of Hartford, Connecticut, 

 in 1835-6, and the Bvrlinxtmi $ilk Record, by E. 

 P. Morris, may be mentioned. In the latter 

 are given the interesting views of Mr. Morris, 

 with" a description of his newly invented and 

 valuable feeding-shelves, together with the re- 

 sults of many experiments in raising worms 

 upon an extensive scale. 



SILK-GRASS or BEAR-GRASS. See 

 YUCCA. 



SILK-WEED. See COTTON, WILD. 



SILLS. A country name for the shafts of a 

 cart, &c. 



SILVER BELL. See HAIESIA. 



SILVER FIR. See FIR and PI.VE. 



SILVER-WEED, or WILD TANSEY (Pa- 

 tentilla ansei-ina"). An indigenous perennial 

 plant, which, according to Linnaeus, indicates 

 clay under the surface. Although it is found 

 frequent in osier holts and spongy meadows, it 

 grows most commonly upon cold, stiff land, and 

 is a sure mark of the sterility of the soif. 

 Flowers large, bright-yellow, the calyx hairy; 

 and each on a long, simple stalk, mostly erect, 

 blowing all the summer. See Ci.vauEiroir. 



SINCLAIR, GEORGE. An able and sue- 

 cessful writer and experimentalist on the arti- 

 ficial and other grasses. He carried on a se~ 



995 



