1840.] SENATE.— No. 36. 1G7 



ton and woollen establishments raised up in different parts of 

 the State, have entirely destroyed what may properly be called 

 household industry. Even the humble knitting-needle, is in 

 many cases, completely displaced by machinery. We complain 

 that the music of the spinning-wheel, and the flying of the 

 shuttle are no longer heard in our farm houses. We cannot ex- 

 pect it to be otherwise. This is not because our women are 

 not as much disposed to be as industrious as their grandmoth- 

 ers, but because, in truth, it would be almost folly to contend 

 by the ancient arts against the modern processess of manufac- 

 ture. Then again, for want of this opportunity of domestic 

 labor, thousands and thousands of our young Avomen, forsake 

 the parental hearth, and fly in crowds to our cities, to seek 

 employment in the various trades and arts which are there prac- 

 tised ; and, where unprotected and removed from the restraints 

 of parental care, amidst the dreadful perils which surround 

 them, they but too often find the grave of their honor and vir- 

 tue : to themselves, and to those, whom they leave behind, 

 a more dreadful sacrifice than that of life. To all these de- 

 scriptions of persons, the culture and reeling of silk may fur- 

 nish a necessary, easy, respectable, and profitable employment. 

 Many a small farmer in the State, without difficulty, without 

 expensive investments, without using any but the services of 

 his own family, and without, in any measure, interfering with, 

 or deranging his farming operations, may, under proper arrange- 

 ments, produce his fifty, hundred, or two hundred pounds of 

 raw silk per year. This, even at two and a half or three dol- 

 lars per pound, a price below which it is not likely to fall, 

 would afl'ord a convenient and agreeable addition to his income. 

 This seems to be entirely practicable. Here the calculations 

 are all closely restricted ; and founded not upon conjecture, but 

 upon actual experience and determined results. This supplies 

 a want, which is deeply felt throughout the country ; and opens 

 views most grateful to the philanthropic mind. In Italy and 

 France, as I am informed, the production and reeling of silk, 

 are almost wholly conducted in this domestic way. The ag- 



