no. 15. 



THE farmers' cabinet. 



233 



dance, the committee ars disposed to believe 

 that at twelve cents per pound, the raisinj,"- 

 of them will be as profitable as growing cot- 

 ton at fifteen cents per pound. 



Raw Silk. — At the first going off our 

 manufactories must depend chiefly on for- 

 eign raw silk. 



The present prices of foreign raw silk, 

 are, Bengal, $A.2^y to $0 per pound ; China, 

 $5.50 to $G; Italian, 8G.GI) to $7 per pound. 

 The amount of manufactured silks import- 

 ed into tlie United States, in the year ending 

 on tiic 3l)th of Sept. Irt35, was $17,497,000. 

 Machinery. — Silk is manufactured in 

 France principally by adult labor, but the 

 introduction of machinery in the manufacture 

 of silk, which is the ratio of ninety per cent, 

 in the hundred, reduces the cost of manufac- 

 ture from fifty to eighty per cent. England, 

 by the use of machinery, has become the 

 successful rival of France, in many articles 

 of silk manufacture. Let the ingenuity of 

 America be applied to silk maciiincry, as it 

 has been to the machinery for making cotton 

 and woollen goods, and its articles will be 

 the same. The higher cost of adult labor in 

 the United States, will thus be rendered com- 

 paratively unimportant. 



The expenses of machinery are not heavy, 

 as silk machinery is always ligiit in its con- 

 struction, and requires no great power to 

 keep it in motion. A si.x horse power steam 

 engine will move the machinery to manufac- 

 ture two hundred pounds of raw silk per 

 week; and a building of 30 feet in width, by 

 225 feet in length, three stories high, will be 

 sufficient for all the purposes of manufactur- 

 ing, dying and packing that quantity of silk 

 within its walls. 



Plain Silks. — The estimate is made with 

 confidence, that an establishment for the 

 manufacture of silk into plain and ordinary 

 articles, will cost no more than about one- 

 eighth of a cotton factory, to turn out the 

 same number of dollars worth of work; and 

 with equal if not greater profit. 



While it is claimed, that all articles made 

 from silk can be manufactured here, it is not 

 considered desirable at present to undertake 

 the making of any but plain staple goods ; 

 6uch as floss and sewing silks, twist and stuff' 

 for gentlemen's wear, vestings, plain ribands, 

 and gray silks for printing pocket handker- 

 chiefs. 



Floss and sewing silk made from Bengal 

 silk would cost — 



Raw material, say - $.5.25 



Dying, manufacturing and waste, 1..50 



Made from American cocoons, they woultl 

 cost 84 per pound. It is estimated that grey 

 plain silks, and white pongees, can be made 

 as good as imported from Canton, by hand- 

 looins, of Bengal silk, to a profit at the pre- 

 sent prices of the article in the market. 

 When made by power looms, and with Amer- 

 ican silk, they will yield a profit of not less- 

 than thirty per cent. 



Scicing Silk. — The amount of Sewingf 

 Silk used in the United States, is immense. 

 To manufacture enough of this article tq sup- 

 ply the demand, almost any amount of capital 

 could be employed, with little cost of machi- 

 nery. It has been ascertained that in the 

 town of Hartford, Connecticut, the sales of 

 sewing silk amount in one year to $3.5,000. 



Pound of 14 oz. - - $6.75 



These articles are now worth — 



Sewing silk, - - - $10 to 11 

 Floae, - - - - 11 to 12 



From J. Merrill's Address before the Union Ag- Society. 

 Benefits of Agricultural Societies* 



The first great question in farming is this; 

 — How shall we obtain the greatest Teturna 

 for capital and labor 1 This secret can be 

 completely unfolded only by repeated trials. 

 But trials in one country will not always 

 show the truth in another. This islhc true' 

 secret of the Philosopher's stone; out we 

 must take notice that tfie process is very 

 different. Very good gold may be found in 

 one country by a way, which in another will 

 only uncover slate stones. It is for this reason 

 that we cannot fully profit by the experience 

 of European agriculturists; or even of those 

 of our own country a little to the north or to 

 the south of us. The question then arises, 

 how far can we profit by their experience ? 

 How many of their practices dare we imitate "? 

 How many of their unsuccessful experiments 

 may be useful here; and with what variations 

 in the details ] If one man must try all these 

 experiments, he will probably not live to 

 know and profit by the results of one half of 

 them. The benefit of his actual improve- 

 ments will be confined to his immediate 

 neighborhood. Here is one very important 

 point, in which societies like ours are useful. 

 One has tried one thing, and another has tried 

 another thing, till at last they are all tried. — 

 The success or failure, the profit or loss, — to- 

 gether with a detail ot the proceedings, — be- 

 comes known by our meetings, or by our 

 publications. In all other things, union pro- 

 duces strength. Why should it fail here 1 — 

 There is no reason to suppose it will fail here. 

 It does not. The universal experience of all 

 countries proves that Afrricultural Societies 

 have raised the standard of fiirming; and let 

 me be excused for saying, have expanded and 

 liberalized, and in every way improved the 

 minds of the farmer. Consider, also, that 

 atrriculture is the fjrcater interest of the 

 country; that whatever imporlancc may be 



