NEW E]\GtAND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY J. B. RUSSELL, AT- NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (At the Agricultural Warehouse.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



]VO. 8. 



VOL, IX 



BOSTOIV, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER lO, 183 O. 



^^saai^EfjtveAa^sErs* 



1 appealing of ninking that culture profitable, tliere 

 was danger of its being speedily abandoned, as it 

 I has been repeatedly in this country and In differ- 

 I eut parts of Europe. As the cocoons cannot be 



CULTIVATION OP SILK. 

 3Ir Fessenden — I enclose a letter from P 

 Du Po.NCEAU, Esq. of Philadelphia, on the culture j E'^PO'"tcil in kind, nor can they be used in man 

 f silk, whicli contains much important informa- "^^'Ctures without a certain preparation called 

 Jon and evinces such a liberal and patriotic spirit, ''eeling, or spinning from the cocoons, unknown 

 hat it would be doing great injustice to the I »inoiig u-S t''c farmer or planter did not know 

 .vliole comnnniity, to withhold it from publication. ! wh;... to do with those that his silk worms produc- 

 Thc life of that illustrious scholar and jurist | ^''i ^nd they became a prey to rats or to devour- 



las been marked by a zealous devotion to the best 

 nterests of his country. He commenced his 

 istinguished career as an officer of the Revolu- 

 lon, — in literature and science he has attained an 

 Kalted station in both hemispheres, and we now 

 leliold him, in the fulness of years, prosecuting 

 nvestigations, subservient to all the great branches 

 f national industry, with the vigor and enthusi- 

 sm of youth. 

 If we look back only a few years, and recollect 

 hat has been accomplished, it will not be diffi- 

 ult to appreciate the immense value of the ex- 

 eriments be is so generously making, and the 

 onsequences which must result from their success. 

 In 1784 an American vessel was seized in Liv- 

 rpool for having on board ' eight bales' of cotton, 

 I it was considered impossible that they could 

 the growth of this country ; and in 1829, there 

 ere imported into that city, from the United 

 tales 640,998 bales. 



But a few years since, there was not a cotton 

 anufactory in the Union, and now, in the siu'I 

 lllage of Lowell,' which is a creation of yester- 

 ly, a thread is daily spun, which would extend 

 ore than five times round the earth. 

 I sincerely regret, that I unintentionally ren- 

 ered myself obnoxious to the gentle rebuke of 

 y venerable correspondent. I was aware of 

 commendable exertions of Mr Vernon of 

 hode-Island and of Mr Cobb of Dedliam, to ad- 

 inc© the culture of silk, and am happy to learn 

 It they sre as well known and as highly esti- 

 ited at a distance, as at home, and to avail of 

 s occasion, not only to bear testimony to their 

 irits, but to aver that ' in their own country,' 

 are ready to do them honor, and are jnoud to 

 dm them as fellow-citizens, who have deserved 

 ■It of the republic. 



Most respectfully, 



Your obedient servant, 

 rinley Place, Roxburv, i H. A. S. DEARBORN. 



Sept. 2, 1830. t 



PHiUDELPHtj, Auc. a^, 1830. 

 A. S. Dearborn, Epq. — ? 

 KOTBURT, Mass. \ 



Dear Sir — I have received the 4th No. of vol. 

 I of the New England Farmer, which you have 

 1 the goodness to send to me, containing an 



Hig insects. 



It is true that in Connecticut and in .some other 

 parts, a kind of inferior sewing silk was made out 

 of the cocoons, which found a cash price in our 

 coiimercial cities and could only bo disposed of 

 by ivay of barter. It is true also that by a sim- 

 ilar process, some of the coarser stuflTs, such as 

 veslings, stockings, gloves, and perhaps even rib- 

 boiB, might have been made ; but it is now well 

 kncwn that all those articles in Europe are made 

 of floss or refnsee silk, and that the finer material 

 is reserved for those delicate stuffs, for which we 

 paj yearly so large a tribute to Europe, and par- 

 ticilarly to France. 



To reel or prepare the silk for making these 

 finir stuffs, is an art known only in its perfection 

 in the north of Italy and the south of France. 

 Ev3n in China, the native country of the silk 

 worm, the raateriaJ is not so well prepared as it 

 is ii those two countries. In the Turkish domin- 

 ion! and in Bengal, the preparation is still inferior, 

 ' to the latter country, I beg leave to quote the 

 opinion of an English silk broker, communicated 

 by the respectable house of Rathbone, Brothers, & 

 Co., of Liverpool, to a gentleman of S. Carolina, in 

 a letter received in tlie course of the present year. 

 'Everything,' says the silk broker, '^depends on 

 the proper selections and reeling of them (the co- 

 coonsl into the hanks, — although our importations 

 from the East Indies are great, and this trade is of 

 such vital importance to our successful competi- 

 tion with the Continent (of Europe), it is to be 

 regretted that neither the East India Company, nor 

 the private merchants, have hitherto employer! 

 any ccmpetent person to superintend the reeling of 

 the silk. If that were done, I have not the slight- 

 est do'jbt but that silks of the Eastern production 

 would render ns altogether independent of 

 either France or Italy ; for it is an established 

 fact, that silk of the hest quality can be produced 

 in the East Indies at a lower rate than in Europe.' 

 This speaks volumes — It is evident that if com- 

 petent persons to superintend the reeling of silk 

 could be easily procured from Italy or France, 

 Great Britian, situated in the vicinity of those 

 countries, ami having such a high interest to pro- 

 mote, would have obtained them. The reason 

 why it cannot be done is this. In the filatures of 



icle written by yourself, in which you are i Europe, the mechanical process of reeling is per- 

 ased to escribe much more merit to my weak ; formed by women, under the directions of ovcr- 

 >rt3 for promoting the culture of silk in this seers. The women are ignorant, being taken 



ntry than they are in strict justice entitle 



e first impulse to this important branch of ag- 



Iture, was given by the House of Representa- 

 !8 of the United States, in the year 1826. 

 ce which time Mulberry trees have been plant- 

 and silk worms raised in various quantities ia 



different parts of our Union ; but no means 



from the very lowest class of the people : no consid- 

 eration can induce them to leave their native vil- 

 lages, much less to cross the seas; the overseers 

 are few, and generally men of an advanced age 

 and have families — They are well compensated 

 for their labor, and have no temptations to emi- 

 grate. 



The great desideratum, therefore, in the United 

 States, is to learn the art of reeling silk for man- 

 ufacturing those stuflTs with which our female.s 

 are almost universally clothed, and not only to learn 

 it, but to disseminate it through the whole coun- 

 try, as it has been ascertained that the cost of 

 transporting cocoons from one part of the Uniou 

 to the other, would render them valueless to the 

 grower, unless filatures were established in his im- 

 mediate neighborliood, or at some reasonable 

 distance. 



A fortunate chance in the course of last sum.. 

 mer, brought Mr D'llomcrgue to this country, a 

 young man 25 years of age [now 26] well skill- 

 ed in the art of reeling silk from the cocoons and 

 in other branches of the silk manufacture. His 

 work, which no doubt you have seen entitled 

 ' Essays on American Silk,' made him generally 

 known, and Congress took so much notice of it, 

 as to refer it to their committees on agriculture. 

 The committee of the House of Representatives, 

 perceiving the importance of keeping this young 

 man in the country, reported a bill to the House 

 the object of which was to employ him in teach- 

 ing the art of reeling silk to 60 young men, to 

 be selected from the different States of the Union 

 in certain jiroportions, who, when sufficiently in- 

 structed, might establish themselves as directors 

 of filatures in their respective neighborhoods, and 

 employ women to perform the mechanical work 

 under their discretion. Thus the art of preparing 

 silk would be introduced in its perfections, equally 

 and uniform";' t,'r'o,.gh our extensive country, 

 and the results might be easily anticipated. 



This bill, however, in consequence of the pres- 

 sure of other business, could not be taken up at 

 the last session, and lies over till the next, when 

 the fortunes of this country, as far as they depend 

 upon silk, will either be effeetually secured or put 

 back for a period, the duration of which cannot 

 be foreseen. 



Determined, however, as far as depended upon 

 me, to keep Mr D'Homergue in this country, at 

 least until the next session of the national legisW 

 tnre, I have resolved to employ him during the 

 present season in making experiments on Ameri- 

 can silk, whereby the nation ujight be still more ful- 

 ly convinced of the importance of the art he pro- 

 fesses. For this purpose 1 'have purchased co- 

 coons, and established an experimental filature 

 in this city, in which ten reels are at work. My 

 object is to test the price which our raw silks 

 will produce in the markets of England, France, 

 and Mexico, into which countries large quantities 

 of the article are annually imported, as they have, 

 silk manufactures and do not raise silk worms, 

 but import that material from abroad at a consid- 

 erable expense. I exjiect no profit from this un- 

 dertaking ; as far as I can judge, on the contrary, 

 there will be a not inconsiderable loss ; but it is 

 not profit that I have in view. Experience in 

 everything must be purchased. I have fixed a 

 sum, which I am willing to lose, and which i 

 shall not regret, if the country is to be benefit^-, 

 ed by it. The silk that my filature has hither- 

 to produced, is of the mo.st beautiful kind, and is 

 at least equal, if not superior to any in the world, 

 1 would wis}! to try the quality of the silk co^ 



