PRACTICAL FARMER. 



13 



CUIiTlTRE OF SILK. 



Extract of a letter from Dr Thomas White, of Mount 

 Pleasant, to a citizen of Steubenville; (Ohio,) dated 

 Mount Pleasant, Dec. 13, 1835. 



Dear Sir, — Yours came duly to hand ; and in 

 reply, I am happy to inform you that I have suc- 

 ceeded very well ; and am fully convinced that 

 the culture and manufacture of silk, will before 

 long, become one of the most important pursuits 

 that have ever claimed the attention of our citi- 

 zens. In my view there are three reasons why it 

 sliould become so. 



1st. It must, and will most inevitably become 

 a great sourcs of wealth to all who turn their at- 

 tention to it, especially to the farming part of 

 the community, if they can be encouraged to 

 engage in it. To them it will be attended with 

 but little expense to raise the cocoons ; a female 

 of an ordinary constitution will be able to tend 

 from 30 to 40,000 worms, which if well fed and 

 properly taken care of, will yield from 10 to 15 

 bushels of cocoons, for which we will give them 

 from $4 to $4,50 and $5 per bushel, according to 

 quality ; or manufacture them into goods agreea- 

 bly to order. Good cocoons will yield one pound 

 of reeled silk per bushel ; each pound will make 

 12 square yards of good substantial goods, worth 

 from $1 to 1,50 per yard. Thus 30,000 worms 

 will produce ten |!Ounds of silk, or 120 yards of 

 goods ; and supposing it takes two thirds to pay 

 for the manufacturer, it will leave the producer 

 forty yards of goods ; and counting the labor at 

 one dollar per week (which will be the time em- 

 ployed), will reduce the price of the silk goods to 

 12 1-2 cents per yard, or $1,50 per pound. 



Now, I would ask you, and every farmer in 

 cur country, bj^ what means can our females clothe 

 tiiemselves cheaper than by feeding silk worms? 

 I know none. It is only the business of five 

 weeks for a female to provide herself with forty 

 square yards of goods, worth moie than one hun- 

 dred and twenty yards of the best cotton goods 

 she can find in the market — these are no vis- 

 ionary dreams ; but practical facts founded upon 

 experience. This season 1 raised enough for 

 about three hundred yards of silk, which did not 

 cost me more than 12 1-2 cents per yard to raise 

 the cocoons, counting my labor of one hired 

 fenjale and my daughter, each at a dollar a week. 

 It is tlie tedious process of nianiifactiiring silk, 

 that will, for a time, make it expensive: but this 

 expanse falls on the manufacturer, not on the 

 farmer, or silk grower. As it respects the food 

 for the worms, 1 am unable to see any great supe- 

 riority that the Italian leaf has over our native 

 leaf. I am inclined to believe that the principal 

 advantage the Italian has over the native is, that 

 these can be brought into quicker use, as they are 

 much more thrifty in their growth than our native 



trees. I fed mine this season principally from the' 

 native tree, and expect to feed as many as one 

 million next season from the same source ; my 

 grove of Italian trees being too young to yield 

 much food. Our native tree of the middle size 

 will prodiice food enough for 3000 worms, or a 

 pound of silk per tree ; each tree that a farmer 

 has is worth more to him than two sheep. 



At a sale of lands in Northampton last week, 

 several lots of meftdow land were sold at $114 a 

 134 for meadow plough land, and $78 1-2 a 104 

 for grass land. This is said to be the highest 

 price ever given for meadow land in Northampton. 



SIIiK ACT. 



The following act was passed at the late session 

 of the Legislature of this State. 



" Be it enacted, Sfc. as follows : — Section 1. 

 There shall be allowed and paid out of the trea- 

 sury of the Commonwealth for every ten pounds 

 weight of cocoons of silk, the produce of silk 

 worms raised within this Commonwealth, the sum 

 of one dollar, and in the same proportion for any 

 larger quantity of cocoons to be paid to the owner 

 of such worms, or his legal representatives. 



Section 2. There shall be allowed and paid out 

 of the treasury of the Commonwealth, to every 

 person who shall reel or cause to be reeled, and 

 to every person who shall throw or cause to be 

 thrown in this Commonwealth, from cocoons pro- 

 duced from silk worms raised in this Common- 

 wealth, a merchantable silk, capable of being 

 manufactured into the various silk f:\brics, or to 

 the legal representatives of such person, one dol- 

 lar for every pound of silk so reeled and thrown, 

 and fifty cents for every pound of silk, reeled 

 without being thrown. 



Section 3. When satisjfactory evidence by the 

 oath of the party or otherv.ise, sha 1 be exhibited 

 to the selectmen of any town in this Common- 

 wealth, that any person, being an inliabitant of 

 such town, is entitled to claitn the bounty or 

 bounties provided for in the first and second sec- 

 tions of this act, they shall give a certificate there- 

 of in writing imder their hands, stating the quan- 

 tity of cocoons produced, or of silk reeled or 

 thrown conformably to the |rovisior.s of said 

 sections, and that such claimant is entitled to the 

 bounty or bounties therein allowed, and when 

 such certificate shall have been filed in the office 

 of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Gov- 

 ernor, with the advice of the Council, is hereby 

 authorized to draw his warrant on the treasurer 

 therefor. 



Section 4. If any person shall claim a bounty 

 more than once for the same cocoons, or silk so 

 reeled or thrown, or obtain any bounty undt r this 

 act, llirough fraud or deception, such person shall 



