No. 4. 



On Silk and Morns Miilticavlis. 



Ill 



6. That their leaves are gathered with 

 much less labor than tliose of any other kind, 

 and that in feeding them there is much less 

 waste or litter. 



7. That its rapid growth enables the feeder 

 to use its foliage the same season that it is 

 emerging into existence as a tree. 



k These are some of the reasons of its value 

 in use. That it will long retain its present 

 value in exchange I do not feel myself com- 

 petent to determine. To ascertain that pro- 

 position accurately would require some " cy- 

 phering." What is to be done in the biisine.«s 

 of cultivating silk will very much depend up- 

 on circumstances. The legislatures of three 

 states have discovered, through the medium 

 of borers if you please, that silk is an article 

 intrinsically of great value — that there is 

 an immense consumption of it in this country 

 and in Europe — tliat theie is scarcely an in- 

 dividual to be met witii whose apparel is not 

 composed in part of that article — that tiio im- 

 portations of silk cost this country annually 

 about $2r),000,000— that there isiiot a coun- 

 try on earth where the mulberry tree will thrive 

 better, or the silk worm will feed with more 

 avidity, and enjoy better general health than 

 our own, almost from one extremity of it to 

 the other. That our people are sufficiently 

 intelligent and enterprising, industrious and 

 patriotic to supply their country with this pre- 

 cious article, but that they must at first have 

 some aid from their government. They must 

 have time to learn the nature and habits of 

 the worm. They niust be made acquainted 

 by actual observation, with the best system 

 of rearing and feeding. They must have 

 time to erect their cocooneries, and to be in- 

 formed of the best fixtures for feeding and 

 spinning upon. Upon these subjects we are 

 as yet very much in the dark, and our citizens 

 should be encouraged, and receive premiums 

 from the state for concentrating such informa- 

 tion, and giving the country the benefit of it. 

 I am persuaded that the same amount could 

 not be expended to ensure more advantacreous 

 results to the state and country generally. — 

 We have already some little light as regards 

 the enormous profits realized by the manufac- 

 turer and merchant of this article, and recent 

 experiments have proved that American silk 

 is in no wise inferior to the best silkoifered in 

 the European market. 



The premiums now ofl^ered will give an im- 

 pulse to the producer, which will, I trust, 

 firmly establish the silk culture as a perma- 

 nent branch of agricultural industry. Heavy 

 duties would be burlhensome to the public, 

 and of no service to the producer. 



We already hear of large orchards to be 

 planted the ensuintr spring, and of large co- 

 cooneries being built and to be built for the 

 purposes of feeding. We learn that the de- 



mand for eggs is so great, that they will now 

 command f()rty to fifty dollars an ounce, which 

 shows that the tree is to be used for feeding 

 next year. 



If the advice of your correspondent was 

 followed, and no one was to plant more than 

 one hundred trees, where would those who 

 may wish to enter into the business next year 

 obtain their supplies. Beware of monopolies. 

 That the legislatures of the different states 

 will ofier premiums for the production of silk 

 I do not doubt. That there will be a conse- 

 quent demand for trees ne.xt year, I confi- 

 dently expect. If this country is to supply 

 herself with this valuable and necessary arti- 

 cle, can any man imagine the immense num- 

 ber of trees that will be required for feeding, 

 and if extensive manufactories are established 

 (for there are some small ones in operation 

 now) and their fitbrics should be exported, can 

 any one estimate the number of persons who 

 will be employed in its production, and the 

 immense amount of wealth that will be re- 

 tained and obtained by this country from its 

 production and fabrication. There must be a 

 beginning, and I think this business has now 

 got a fair start, and will "go ahead" in spite 

 of all the hard names used by your correspon- 

 dent. 



The life of the silk worm is not quite of 

 six weeks duration, during two or tliree of 

 which he is so small as to require compara- 

 tively but a small quantity of food. The la- 

 bor therefore of attending and feeding silk 

 worms is only required for three or four weeks. 

 Mr. Stone tells us (Cabinet, Vol. III. page 98) 

 that the hands necessary to produce 100 lbs. 

 of silk, is a man for one week alone, the sec- 

 ond week a boy or girl will be wanted to pick 

 leaves, and after that another person equal to 

 a full hand will be all that will be required to 

 finish the crop. He also states that at the 

 rate of fifty pounds of reeled silk to the acre 

 has been produced from the first year's growth 

 of trees. He estimates the expense of feed- 

 ing and reeling the silk at not more than 

 $2..50 per pound, and states the value to be 

 from -94.50 to $6 per pound. The average 

 is )j!.5.2o, and the profit on fifty pounds or the 

 produce of an acre of trees the first year will 

 be .^IGi.-'iO. But we are assured that S'SSs 

 lbs. can be produced from an acre of multi- 

 caul is trees, and that the profit thereon, all 

 expenses paid, is $1463.33. (See Cab,, Vol. 

 II. page 15.5.) 



For the reasons above enumerated, Idonot 

 doubt that your correspondent is in error, and 

 that the present value of the trees does not 

 arise so much from a spirit of speculation or 

 gambling in the purchaser, as from a fair es- 

 timate of their present intrinsic value. I feel 

 confident that the legislatures of the other 

 ^states will see the wisdom and will fellow 



