620 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 10 



nilk culture, which we cannot doubt, from present 

 appearances, is destined to open a wide and profi- 

 table field lor the exercise of American industry 

 and skill. The subject may be dwelt upon here- 

 after more elaljoratei y. 



In a collection of Kssays, published by Jared 

 Elliot, of Killiiigworth, Connecticut, a gentleman 

 who united in himselt the three prol(3ssions of a 

 divine, a physician, and an agriculturist, we find 

 many inieresiiug particidars in relation to the pro- 

 duction ol'silk. Mr. Elliot was an honorary mem- 

 ber of the "society established in London, lor the 

 encouragement of arts, manufactures and com- 

 merce," and his zeal for making experiments 

 which might result in benefit to America, was 

 quickened into greater exertion, from his connec- 

 tion with that institution. The society, as appears 

 from a pamjihiet published by them in l^ondon, in 

 1761, note the following gentlemen as their Ame- 

 rican correspondents, who were also to pay premi- 

 ums in their respective colonies, " for merchanta- 

 ble raw silk, raised and produced therein." viz : 

 Dr. Jared Elliot, the Rev. Mr. Thomas Clap, 

 (President of Yale College,) and Jared Ingersoll, 

 Esfp of Connecticur ; Benjamin Franklin, LL.D., 

 and John Hughes, Esq. of Pennsylvania ; George 

 Pollock, Cullen Pollock, and John Rutherfoord, 

 Esqrs., North Carolina. 



The premiums were arranged by the London 

 society, as follows : 



" For every pound weight of cocoons produced 

 in the province of Georgia, in the year 1761, of a 

 hard, weighty, and good substance, wherein one 

 worm only has spun, three-pence. 



" For every pound weight of cocoons produced 

 in the same year, of a weaker, lighter, spotted or 

 bruised quality, though one worm oidy has spun 

 in them, tivo-pence. 



" For every pound iveight of cocoons produced 

 in the same year, wherein two worms have inter- 

 woven themselves, one-penny." 



These premiums were, by resolution of the 

 eociety, to be paid, so far as the province of Geor 

 gia was concerned, by Mr. Oitolenghe, superin- 

 tendent of the silk culture therein, "to every per 



Elliot, "it appears thai the silk manufactory is in 

 a flourishing way. In the year 1757, the weioht 

 of silk balls received at the filature, was only 1052 ; 

 last year produced 7040, and this year already 

 above 10,000; and it is very remarkable, that the 

 raw silk exported from Georgia, sells at London 

 from two to ihree shillings a pound, more than that 

 from any other part of the world." 



At the time when Mr. Elliot's essay was pub- 

 lished, Georgia was increasing in the silk business. 

 The writer is unacquainied with the reasons that 

 have since led to its abandonment. Georgia, 

 Pennsylvania and Connecticut, were specially se- 

 lected as silk districts. The reason of this selec- 

 tion probably, v.-as, that it was deemed imjjortant 

 to test the advantages of different climates in rais- 

 ing the mulberry tree and the production of silk. 

 The writer is not informed with regard to the re- 

 sult of experiments, if any were made, in Pennsyl- 

 vania. The condition on which premiums were 

 to be granted in Connecticut, as connected with 

 the resolutions of the "Loudon Society," was, 

 that a public filature should be established in the 

 colon}', under the direction of the correspondents 

 of the society, " to which every person should 

 bring his or her balls or cocoons." A severe loss 

 was sustained by those who were engaijred in the 

 silk business in Georgia, in the year 1758, by the 

 filature or store-house taking fire, and being con- 

 sumed, together with a quantity of raw silk, and 

 eight thousand loeight of cocoons. The quantity 

 destroyed, enables us to form some judgment with 

 regard to the extent of the silk business at that 

 early day. Doctor Elliot says, that in the year 

 when his essay was written, (1759,) those who 

 had given their attention to the production of silk 

 in Connecticut, informed him that "it was more 

 profitable than any other ordinary business." He 

 gives the two following authorities as confirmatory 

 of his opinion. 



He says, "some years past, I asked a man of 

 ffood faith and credit, who had then made the most 

 silk of any among us, what profit miglit be made 

 of it ; his reply was, that he could make a yard of 

 silk, as cheap as he could make a yard of linen 



eon who would bring his or her balls or cocoons to ! cloth, of eight run to the pound, &c. A woman 

 the public filature at Savannah, according to notice I of experietit'e in this business, told me, that in the 

 (then) sent to Georgia." I short time of feeding the worms and winding the 



The mode of proofs to establish claims to premi- silk balls, she could earn enough to hire a good 



ums was minutely regulated. The fact to be eslab 

 lished, was "that the silk has been actually and 

 bona fide reeled from cocoons of the claimant's 

 own raising and produce;" and the sum which 

 should be paid by tiie society's correspondents, 

 were to be repaid to them or order, severally, by 

 the society, upon receiving accounts of the same 

 properly attested. 



It appears that the first attempt in this country 

 to cultivate the silk business, was made in Geor- 

 gia. The writer is not informed with regard to 

 the time of its commencement there, but ?rom a 

 note appended to the essay of Doctor Elliott, and 



which is quoted at length, it certainly appears say 



spinner the whole year. I have not (adds the 

 Doctor,) the least scruple of the informers' veraci- 

 ty, but how far their capacity might serve for an 

 exact calculation, I know not." 



The writer has been unable to ascertain the 

 precise time when the colonists of Connecticut first 

 directed their attention to the production of silk. 

 That if was far anterior to the time specified in the 

 memorial recently presented to the legislature, for 

 the incorporation of a company, (upon which 

 memorial and corresponding report of a committee, 

 a charter has been granted,) is shown conclusively 

 by the following extract li-om Doctor Elliot's es- 



Ihat the enterpri.ie of Georgia, under the adminis 

 trafion of Gov. Oglethorpe^ first embarked in the 

 manufacture of the American silk. The note is 

 quoted at length, as it refers to an "account from 

 Georgia," not in the possession of the writer, but 

 which may be yet preserved, and in the possession 

 of others. 

 '• By a late account from Georgia," says Doctor 



The Doctor says, "1 have been informed that 

 at a place called Falkner's Island, which lycth op- 

 posite to Guildford, there are vast nund)er of 

 young shoots (iiudberry) which grow with such 

 eagerness and obstinacy, that notwithstamling all 

 endeavors to destroy them, the utmost eflorls of 

 the proprietors of the island, both b}' plough and 

 scythe, has been used successively viany years, as 



