FESSENDEN'S 



AND 



DcToted to the Culture of Silk, Agriculture, and Rural Economy. 



VOL. 1. 



BOSTON, MARCH, 1836. 



NO. 11. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY 



GEORGE C. BARRETT, 



51 Sf 52 N'orth Market St., at theM E. Farmer Office. 



T. G. FESSENDEN, Editok. 



Fifty cents per year — twelve copies for five dollars 

 — always in advance. 



[CT Postmasters and Agents allowed 10 per cent on 

 all subscribers. 



BOSTON, MARCH, 18 3C. 



Remarks of Mr Fessenden, from Boston, in the 

 Legislature of Massachusetts, F'b, 25, 1836, 07i 

 a Bill for the Encouragement of Silk. 



The cultui'e of the mulberry tree, and the manu- 

 facture of silk do not present us with anything 

 new, doubtful or visionary. The art of silk cul- 

 ture, though in its infancy in Massachusetts, is, iu 

 some countries, coeval with the dawn of civiliza- 

 tion. In North America, while we were colonies 

 under Great Britain, from 175.5 to 1772, premiums 

 were bestowed, by a. patriotic association in Lon- 

 don, called " The Society for the Encouragement of 

 Jlrts," on a number of persons in Georgia, South 

 Carolina and Connecticut, for planting mulbeny 

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

 prf-miuins laid the foundation for the silk-culture 

 in those States. 



In the year 1828 there was published at Wash- 

 ington, in a large thick pamphlet, a '■^Letter from 



octavo size, and contained 224 pages, together 

 with a great number of cutsexplanatory of different 

 processes in the silk manufacture. According to 

 this 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 

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

 of the domestic fabrics made from the refuse silk, 

 and worn in those counties, was not takep 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 'm of the counties of Windham and Tolland, 

 and that it was readily exchanged at tiie stores 

 for other articles, on terms Avhich were satisfac- 

 tory to both parties, and that the balance of the 

 account, when in favor of the seller was paid for 

 in silver. 



There is, at this day, no doubt of the profi^r 

 which attach to the skilful as well as diligent 

 manufacture of silk. But it may be asked, how 



Richard Rush- Secretary of the Treasury of the is that manufacture connected with the farming 

 U. S. transmitting the information required by a interest of Massachusetts, as its advocates assert » 

 resolution of the House of Representatives, of May To this I reply, that farmers possess not only that 



11. 1826, in 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 Re})resentatives, and referred 

 to the Committee on Agriculture, of that House, 

 April 21, 1828. The pamphlet was of royal 



interest, which is common to, and binds together^ 

 the three great branches of human industry, Agri- 

 culture, Manufactures and Commerce, btit the 

 foundation, and first stepping stones of the Silk 

 Culture are Agriculture and the pursuits of rural 

 economy. The raising of mulberry trees, and th© 



