50 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



ing, or those they purchase of their neighbors, by 

 which they make a handsome income at the end 

 of the year. Those women in general have pre- 

 served the art in the famiUes from generation to 

 generation. The silk from domestic reels is not 

 as perfect as that which comes from the large fila- 

 tures. It sells, however, and the manufacturers 

 know how to employ it. — It must be added, that 

 the French and Italian female i-eelers perform 

 their work mechanically, and are, in other re- 

 spects grossly ignorant : few ofthfim, if any, know- 

 ing even how to read and write. Our American 

 women will prove themselves far superior in 

 every i-espect, and their domestic filatures will 

 produce perfect silk, because they will not have 

 received instruction through their great-grand- 

 mothers, before the art was improved as it is 

 now. 



In this country there should be both great and 

 small or domestic filatures ; the former will be 

 the depositories of all the improvements in the 

 art ; the latter will contribute to the use of fam- 

 ilies, and there is no danger of their being an ex- 

 cess of the article in the market. There must be 

 filatures of all sizes and dimensions, accoi-ding to 

 the means of those who undertake them. Full and 

 free competition can alone ensia-e success. 



SUPERIORITY OF AMERICAN SILK. 



M. D'Homergue has been the first to discover 

 the great superiority of American silk over that of 

 any other country, and ascertained the fact, that, 

 while in France it requires twelve pounds of co- 

 coons to produce one pound of raw silk, eight 

 pounds will in this country, be amply sufficient to 

 produce the same quantity. Experiments made 

 long since in Georgia, it is true had given the 

 same result, but they were insulated and had ex- 

 cited no particular attention. In the Manual, pub- 

 lished in 1828, under the authority of the House 

 of Representatives of the United States, the 

 author (pages 105, 106) has inserted those exper- 

 iments in detail, as extracted from the manuscript 

 of the late Col. Habersham, and has subjoined 

 similar ones made in France and Italy, with their 

 results, extracted from various foreign writers, and 

 those results, in general correspond with the state- 

 ment of M. D'Homergue ; but neither the author 

 nor any body else, appears to have perceived the 



great advantages of American silk over all others 

 although the facts were before their eyes. The 

 reason is, that it required a practical man to make 

 the important discovery ; one well acquainted 

 with the properties of foreign silks, and enabled 

 by his own experience, to take a clear compara- 

 tive view of them with our own, and decide on 

 both. * 



The following " General Directions to Ameri- 

 can Planters and Farmers for the Raising of silk 

 worms by J. D'Homergue" are copied from the 

 work above quoted. 



r. OF THE EGGS OF SILK WORMS. 



The eggs of silk worms exactly resemble in 

 their appearance and color the seeds of the pop- 

 py. Hence those seeds are sometimes sold in 

 Euro})e by dishonest men as silk worm's eggs, or 

 mixecl with them. But it is easy to detect the 

 fraud, and at the same time to separate the good 

 or live eggs from the bad ones. The eggs must be 

 washed in pure water ; all that are good will go to 

 the bottom, and the bad ones will swim. This 

 separation ought to be made by any one who pur- 

 chases worms' eggs. It is also necessary to keep 

 them clean, and free them by washing from a kind 

 of gum which adheres to them. Those who pur- 

 chase or receive from others the eggs of silk worms 

 will do well to observe this direction, although the 

 eggs may have been washed by those who raised 

 them, as many of them may have perished by 

 dampness, excessive heat or want of care. 



After the eggs have been washed, they must be 

 dried by exposure to cool and dry air. As the 

 eggs are produced in the month of July, which is a 

 hot month, they must be kept in some cool place 

 until the proper season for hatching them, which is 

 in May. No degree of cold can hurt them, provid- 

 ed they do not freeze. If they are purchased and 

 received in the hot season, they must be dried in 

 the sun after being washed, but in the cool of the 

 morning or evening, when the air is [)erfectly diy, 

 and the dew is not falling. The manner of pre- 

 serving them will be mentioned hereafter. 



II. OF HATCHING THE EGGS. 



Tlie general rule in Europe is to put the worms' 



* Report of the Committee on Agriculture to the 

 House of Representatives in Congress. 



