ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 19 



fed many worms upon the leaves and produced consider- 

 able silk, for specimens of which he received several 

 gratuities from the Essex County Agricultural Society. 



A committee of the Massachusetts Legislature on the 

 culture of Silk reported in January, 1829, recommending 

 an extension of the grant to Agricultural Societies, made 

 in 1819, to encourage the culture of silk, expressing great 

 confidence in the simplicity of the process and the cer- 

 tainty of success. The committee of the Essex Society 

 reported in September, 1830, that nurseries of the white 

 mulberry had been established by Mr. Boynton, Rev. 

 Gardner B. Perry, of Bradford, Stephen Currier, Jr., 

 Samuel Eaton and J. M. Grosvenor, and Dr. J. M. Gros- 

 venor in Methuen. Premiums were paid to each of these. 



In the Transactions for 1831, Dr. Andrew Nichols, 

 for the Committee on Silk Culture, presented an exhaus- 

 tive report with minute directions for the cultivation of 

 the leaves and the care of the silkworms, with a large 

 engraved plate. "At present," the report says, "nothing 

 seems to promise better than the production of silk. . . . 

 Like gold, it possesses an intrinsic value and will never 

 cease to be in demand. . . . Farmers of Essex, can you 

 longer hesitate? White mulberry trees, seeds and eggs, 

 together with the necessary directions for managing the 

 whole business are now within your reach.'* 



It proceeded to urge that women, boys and infirm peo- 

 ple, every family, indeed, might rear a few thousand 

 worms easily. Encouraged by this, many persons in dif- 

 ferent parts of the County set out plantations, in size 

 from a few hundred to as many thousand trees. Worms 

 were raised in a great many families, from a few dozens 

 by way of experiment, to many thousands for profit. 

 Many of these efforts yielded a good profit. "Every cir- 

 cumstance," Mr. Perry stated, "seemed to justify the 

 expectation that the business, if followed with energy, 

 would generally secure a competence and not unf requently 

 lead to wealth." 



