124 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March, 



made. When he undertook the cuUure of silk, he had never 

 seen a silk-worm nor a silk reel. He constructed a reel admi- 

 rable for its simplicity and eiRciency, of which I shall give an 

 engraving ;* and his operations from the beginning to the end 

 were crowned with perfect success. This demonstrates the 

 great simplicity and feasibleness of the operation. Dr. Deane 

 is so remarkable for his carefulness, that his statements, where 

 statements are given, may be implicitly relied on. The cost 

 of producing the silk, however, is with him rather a matter of 

 estimate or judgment, than of a careful observation of every 

 minute charge ; and, like Mr. Smith's, embraces only the labor 

 applied. 



3. The next authority to which I refer, is, that of D. V. Mc 

 Lean, of Freehold, Monm. Co., New Jersey. No experiment 

 has been given to the country so numerous in its details and 

 instructive in its results, as this. From the time employed and 

 the wages paid for the production of twelve pounds of silk, he 

 comes to the conclusion, that raw silk may be produced and 

 reeled at the rate of two dollars to two dollars and one quarter 

 per pound, though he admits, that " his cost him much more 

 than this." This likewise is to be understood as the cost of 

 the labor only applied to the production of the silk from the 

 eggs ; and without any allowance for land, trees, or cost or rent 

 of cocoonery. 



4. In Mansfield, Connecticut, it is customary v/ith those wiio 

 have trees, to furnish the eggs, to board the woman employed 

 in the process, and to allow her half the produce in silk. She 

 performs all the work, from the hatching of the worms to the 

 reeling of the silk. The board of a woman in this case is esti- 

 mated at one and a half dollar per week. I have no means of 

 ascertaining how many worms a woman would be able to man- 

 age. The general estimate is, that one woman will feed 

 60,000 worms. It has been stated to me, that in one instance, 

 one woman took the care of 120,000 worms ; but I am unable 

 to obtain the particulars of the case ; and to learn whether she 

 had any aid in picking the leaves or not. In the commence- 



* Appendix R. 



