VOL. XIV. NO. 37. 



AND G A {^ D K N K 11 ' S J [Ml N A L , 



2)1 



Remarks of Mr t'esstndcn, from Boston, in ih 

 Le^isttiture of Massachuselts, F<-b. 25, 183G, on 

 a BUI for the Encoura<<:cmcnt of Silk. 



The ( iiltiire of the niullierry tree, nrid tlio nianu- 

 factiiro of silk do not present us with anything 

 new, iloiihifiil or visioniiry. Tho Hrt of silk rnl- 

 turc, though in its infincy in Massachusetts, is, in 

 some conntrios, coovnl with the dawn of civiliza- 

 tion. In North Aini^'ii'a, while wo were colonies 

 iindor Great Mritain, from 1755 to 1772, preminms 

 were bestowed, by a patriotic association in Lon- 

 don, called " The SocicI;/ for the Encouras;ement of 

 Arts," on a number of jiersons in Georgiii, South 

 Carolina and Connecticut, for planting mulberry 

 trees, and for cocoons, and raw silk ; and those 

 premiums laid the foundation for the silk-culture 

 in those States. 



In the year 1828 there was published at Wash- 

 inj;ton, in a larjre thick pam;)hlet, a " Letter from 

 Richard Rush, Secretary of the Treasury of the 

 U. S, trnnsmittin^ the information required by a 

 resolution of the House of Representatives, of May 

 II; 1826, 1(1 relation to the Growth and Manufacture 

 of Silk, adapted to the different parts of the Union." 

 This communication was dated February 7, 1828, 

 sent to the House of Representatives, and referred 

 to the Committee on Agriculture, of that House, 

 April 21, 182S. The pamphlet was of royal 

 octavo size, and contained 224 pages, . lo.gether 

 with a great number of cuts explanatory of different 

 processes in the silk manufacture. According to 

 tliis valuable state paper, it was found that after 

 the war of the revolution the culture of silk was 

 renewed, and in 1789 two hundred pounds weight 

 of raw silk were made in the single town of 

 Mansfield, in Windham county, Connecticut. In 

 the year 1810, the value of the sewing silk and 

 raw silk, made in the three counties. New London, 

 Windham and Tolland, was estimated, by the 

 United States' Marshal, at $28,503 ; but the value 

 of the domestic fabrics made from the refuse silk, 

 and worn in those counties, was not taken into 

 consideration. This may fairly be estimated at 

 half the above sum. In 1825 it was found that 

 in Windham county the value of sewing silk and 

 of the domestic silk fabrics was double what it 

 was in 1810. (having doubled in three years) and 

 then amounted to about .$80,000. It was also 

 found that sewing silk was part of the circulating 

 medi im of the counties of Windham and Tolland, 

 and that it was readily exchanged at the stores 

 for other articles, on terms which were satisfac- 

 tory to both parties, and that the balance of the 

 accotmt, when in favor of the seller was paid for 

 in silver. 



There is, at this day, no doubt of the profits 

 which attach to the skilful as well as diligent 

 manufacture of silk. But it may be asked, how 

 is that manufacture connecied with the farming 

 interest of Massachusetts, as its advocates assert ? 

 To this 1 reply, that farmers possess not only that 

 interest, which is common to, and binds together, 

 the three great branches of human industry. Agri- 

 culture, Manufactures and Commerce, but the 

 foundation, and first stepping stones of the Silk 

 Culture are Agriculture and the pursuits of rural 

 economy. The raising of mulberry trees, and the 

 furnishingof mulberry leavesforfeedingsilk worms, 

 is as much the business of the farmer, as the rais- 

 ing of corn and potatoes. We have many thou- 

 sands of acres in this commonwealth, which are 

 thought to be almost totally unfit for any agricul- 



tural [Hirpiisc, l)ut would provt; vi'ry valnabli! for 

 the raising of mulberry trees. Dry, stony soils, 

 descending to the south produce mulberry leaves 

 of a better quality than rich levels or lands with a 

 northern aspect. I hope the time will come, iu 

 which the sides and the summits of every one of 

 the thousand hills of ohi Massachusetts will be 

 decorated and crowned with mulberry trees. In 

 that case, if silk manufactures flourish, whether 

 they belong to the fire side and farm buildings of 

 cultivators, or to incorporated companies, mul- 

 berry leaves, as well as mulberry seeds, seedlings, 

 cocoons. Sec. will be articles in as regular demand 

 in market as beef, flour, or any article consumed 

 in a family. 



Dr Lardner states, that in many parts of France 

 and Italy mulberry leaves are commonly sold in 

 market by weight, and that persons, who rear silk 

 worms are often wholly dependent on this source 

 for a supply. In other places itmlberry trees are 

 hired for the season, and from four to six francs, 

 (about 75 to 110 cts.) are paid for the use of each 

 tree. 



Some have objected to incorporating silk com- 

 panies, with the right to grow as well as to manu- 

 facture silk, lest the corporators should raise the 

 leaves in such quantities as to prevent their sale 

 by farmers in the neighborhood, fjiutifthe man- 

 ufacturing part of silk culture succeeds, there will 

 always be good encouragement for the agricultu- 

 ral part; and silk companies might as well at- 

 tempt to monopolize air or sunshine as the grow- 

 ing of mulberry leaves. If silk factories flourish, 

 (and I think they will flourish, if we give them a 

 little encouragement at their commencement) 

 those factories will require mulberry leaves, co- 

 coons and raw silk to some hundred times the 

 amount of all that the owners of such factories or 

 persons engaged in their business can ever think 

 of raising or reeling themselves. The demand 

 for mulberry leaves and cococus, for which they 

 must be almost wholly dependent on the farmers, 

 will increase with the supply ; but without a com- 

 petent supply to commence with, there never can 

 be much demand for those articles. Silk compa- 

 nies and their workmen will have their o\v^ ap- 

 propriate avocations to attend to. Artists who 

 have served afiprenticesliips to the making of dif- 

 ferent sorts of silk fabrics of nice texture and high 

 price, engineers capable of constructing and super- 

 intending the employment of those efficient and 

 gigantic laborers, power looms, and steam engines, 

 would be foolishly set to work in gathering mul- 

 berry leaves ; usurping the places and occupations 

 of the farmer's women and children. This would 

 be worse than putting Hercules to the distafl^. It 

 would be an absurdity equal to the employing of 

 steam oiiigines of forty horse power to pare apples, 

 or to give motion to a straw cutter ; or to use a 

 railroad car to drive cows to pasture. It is a 

 truth that the agricultural part of producing silk 

 may usefully employ the hands of a cripple, a 

 child or an idiot, and some branches of the me- 

 chanical and manufacturing part may task the 

 mental powers of a Bacon, a Newton, an Ark- 

 wright, or a Fulton. The Farmer who refuses to 

 patronize, or who uses his influence in this hon- 

 orable body to prevent legislative encouragement 

 to the culture of silk, acts a part in as direct o|tpo- 

 sition to his own interest as if he were to oppose 

 the franchise of a market in Boston, or to head a 

 mob to inflict Lynch law on market men. 



A strong argument in favor of the culture of 



si;k is thnl it will neiiher inlerf<iro with, nor super- 

 sede, any other kind of domestic niamifaB- 

 ture. And some branches of silk ciilturn can 

 never he taken out of tho hands of the husbandman 

 and his family by the great wholesale manufao- 

 turers. This, however, is not the case with regard 

 to cotton and woollen mannfiiclures. I can re- 

 member when nearly all the cotton and woollen 

 goods used in the country were of domestic man- 

 ufacture, products of the spinning' wheel and of 

 the hand loom. Cotton as well as wool was card- 

 ed, spun and woven by the farmer's daughters 

 and female hired help; and for a farmer, or his 

 family to wear any a|)parel not manufactured 

 wholly, or in part by the females of his household, 

 would be held very disreputable extravaganc('. 



We, however, incorporate, and I am willing 

 that we should continue to incorporate, companies 

 to manufacture woollen and cotton goods by 

 water and by steam power. We thus saucliott 

 the use of, and lend a hand in establishing cer- 

 tain agents and machines which have rendered 

 some branches of domestic industry entirely obso- 

 lete, and caused family spinning wheels and looms 

 lo be as much out of fashion as hi|*h heeled shoes 

 and lioop petticoats. This is the less to be re- 

 gretted because substitutes for such wheels and 

 looms may perhaps, be found in the mulberry 

 hedge, the farmer's cocoonery and the domestic 

 silk spinner. 



Many persons are of opinion that large factories 

 are greatly and permanently injurious to domesfir- 

 indiistry, and to the greatest good of the greatest 

 number. To such erroneous notions I l)eg leave 

 to oppose the facts and the reasons contained in a. 

 " Report of a Committee of the House of Com-- 

 mons in Great Britain on the Woollen Trade." 



"Your committee have the satisfaction of see- 

 ing that the apprehensions entertained of factories 

 are not only vicious in principle, but they are 

 practically erroneous, in such a degree that even 

 the very opposite principles ought lo be reasona- 

 bly entertained. Nor would it be difficult to 

 prove that the factories, to a certain extent at least, 

 and in the "present day, seem absolutely necessary 

 to the well being of the domestic system ; supply- 

 ing those very particulars wherein the domesfie 

 system must be acknowledged to be inherently 

 defective ; for it is obvious that the little master 

 manufacturers cannot aftbrd, like the fnan who 

 possesses considerable capital, lo try the expert- 

 ments which are requisite, and incur the risks, 

 and even losses, which almost always occur, in 

 inventing and perfecting new articles of nianufae- 

 ture, or in carrying to a state of greater perfection 

 articles already established, He cannot learn, by 

 personal inspection, tho wants and habits, the arts, 

 and improvements of foreign countries; diligence, 

 economy and prudence, are the requisites of his 

 character, not invention, taste and enterprise ; nor 

 would he be warranted in hazarding any part 

 of his small capital. He walks in a sure road as 

 long as he treads in the beaten track ; but he 

 must not deviate into the paths of speculation. 

 The owner of a fact»ry, on the contrary, being 

 commonly possessed of a large capital and having 

 all his workmen employed under his own imme- 

 diate superintendence may make experiments haa- 

 ard speculation, invent shorter or better modes of 

 performing old processes, may introduce new arfi- 

 c!es, and improve and perfect old ones, thus giv- 

 ing the range to his taste and fancy, and thereby 

 alone, enabling our manufactures to stand the 



