PRACTICAL FARMER, 



83 



1 For the Practical Farmer.] 

 SILK MANUFACTUiiE. 



The subject of raising and manufacturing silk 

 has been laid before the public so many times and 

 in so many different shapes, that sufficient inform- 

 ation has been elicited to prove the practicability 

 and certainty of our being able to raise silk, and 

 manufacture various silk fabrics, which can suc- 

 cessfully compete with silks of any clime. And 

 why should we not ? The enterprise and re- 

 searches of our citizens have stripped from the 

 process of manufacturing all the mystification 

 with which Euixipean policy, and our ovn\ preju- 

 dice had clothed it ; so that it now appears a sim- 

 ple and easy process. Samples of beautiful silk 

 have already been produced here, and when prac- 

 tice shall have been added, we may challenge ri- 

 valship with the most expert Europeans. Enough 

 has been shown to convince any business man that 

 this branch of industry will be exceedingly profit- 

 able. In fact, companies have been formed in 

 several of the States for the sole purpose of man- 

 ufacturing siik; and are making preparations to 

 «omiTience the business immediately. Most of 

 those concerned in these companies are practical, 

 calculating, business men, showing by the best 

 possible argument that the business is considered 

 safe. There are, however, a great many intelli- 

 gent men who doubt the utility of our engaging in 

 this braneh of the business at ])resent. But why 

 do they doubt? Because it is new, and nearly all 

 that they have heretofore heard has been to dis- 

 courage any attempt of the kind. It would seem 

 from the tone of J. D'Homergue's essays, that 

 America could make no advances in the manufac- 

 ture of silk, unless she followed closely in the step 

 of Europeans. 



Since these essajs were first published, those 

 interested i« the subject have been looking for- 

 ward with confidence to the time, when our inge- 

 nious countrymen should refute the insinuations 

 of D'Homergiie by commencing the manufacture 

 of silk in their own way. Our intelligent me- 

 chanics have been laboring assiduously to construct 

 machinery for that purpose : they have succeeded. 

 Machinery diflTering almost wholly from any in 

 Europe, and admirably adapted for the purpose 

 for which it is intended, is already in successful 

 operation, under the direction of the Valmtint 

 Silk Company, and at other places. Samples of 

 goods produced by these machines are in the 

 market, and are beautiful specimens of what 

 American genius can accomplish. 



The business is destined to become a great 

 source of profit to the people of this country, and 

 especially to those of New England, where free 

 and willing hands, and intelligent minds, will 

 master all that is complex in it. 



The legislattires of the different States feel the 



importance of this subject, and ours, with a com- 

 mendable spirit, at its last session passed a resolve, 

 allowing 50 cents per pound on all silk reeled or 

 thrown within the Commonwealth. 



The culture of cotton was introduced into this 

 country in 1785. The manufacture of it was not 

 commenced until a number of years after; not a 

 half century has elapsed, yet how vast and impor- 

 tant has it become to our whole country. If the 

 manufacture of cotton has risen to such a degree 

 of prosperity in so short a time, will not the man- 

 ufacture of silk be of much greater importance 

 in less time.'' Yes: because the facilities for ob- 

 taining the raw article are greater, and the process 

 cf manufacturing equally easy; besides, while 

 the climate adapted to the growth of cotton is 

 confined to the Southern States, that adapted to 

 the production of siik is extended over nearly our 

 whole territory. 



A writer, when speaking of this subject (the 

 manufacture of silk), says, " It is observed that 

 all those countries that produce the best silk bor- 

 der upon the sea. Our country (meaning the 

 United States) will produce the best of silk, and 

 as fit for organziiie as any in the world ; and, if 

 attended to, will be of as great advantage as any 

 in the States, for, as I have already observed, the 

 manufacture of silk is a most profitable under- 

 taking, where the land and air are proper for 

 raising it." C. 



The morus alba, or white Italian mulber- 

 ry The Baltimore Farmer and Gardener states, 



that " in order to make ' assurance doubly sure,' 

 he would recommend to persons who have sown 

 seed of this tree, the present season, to cover their 

 plant beds as soon as winter sets in, either with 

 straw, or long stable manure, to be confined by a 

 slight covering of small brushwood, which should 

 be permitted to remain on the beds until about the 

 middle of April, when it should be gradually re- 

 moved, so as not to expose the plants too sudden- 

 ly to the changes of the weatjier at that unsettled 

 season of the year. This precaution will not be 

 necessary after the first winter." The seed of 

 this mulberry may be had of Kobert Sinclair, Jr. 

 in Baltimore, which the editors of the Farmer and 

 Gardener recomn^end, "as being fresh, having 

 seen some of it tried, and sprouted in about 36 

 hotirs." — Hampshire Gaz. 



Silk Company. — VVe learn that another Silk 

 Company has beer, formed in this city, and has 

 purchased a spot for the location of their estab- 

 lishment at Woburn, on the Lowell Railroad. It 

 contains 280 acres, and cost about $15,000. — 

 JVorfolk Advertiser. 



