17 



other nations have liekl it. The art has been consid- 

 ered as mysterious; and artists, skilled in it, prohibited 

 from leaving their country, under severe, and I beheve 

 capital punishments. If a solitary artist eluded this 

 prohibition, he has been courted in other countries, and 

 there rewarded with a princely munificence. As late 

 as 1823, a silk manufacturer of Lyons, in France, at 

 the solicitation of individual manufacturers in England, 

 went there to introduce certain parts of his art ; and 

 impart some portions of his skill. He returned, in one 

 year, with a bonus of twenty thousand pounds sterling — 

 eighty thousand dollars. On his return to France, he 

 was prosecuted, for communicating his skill — but had 

 the good fortune to elude the penalty. 



In England, France, Italy, and China, this manufac- 

 ture could not be valued. It is, equally, above price, here. 

 Our climate, and our soil, are equally adapted to it ; and 

 will raise the raw material in greater abundance ; and 

 of a finer, richer, and superior quality. 



It is proved by actual experiment ; that the mulberry 

 will flourish equally well, in all parts of the United 

 States ; unless it be the extreme North and South ; 

 that the silk-worm, in all its mysterious forms, grows 

 and works, as Avell here, as in the East, and even bet- 

 ter ; that the whole process from the egg, to the wind- 

 ing and finishing of the cocoon, is accomplished in thir- 

 ty one days ; whereas the same process, in the East, 

 occupies from forty five to forty seven days : that the 

 cocoons produced here, are larger, and of a more uni- 

 form size ; evincing clearly the uniform health of the 

 worms, that wind them ; and that the silk extracted 

 from them, is of a finer, stronger, and more beautijid 

 texture. 



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