14 



u Carolina lies in as happy a climate as any 

 in the world, from 32 to 36 degrees of north- 

 ern latitude, the soil is generally fertile ; the 

 rice it produces is said to be the best in the 

 world ; and no country affords better silk than 

 has been brought from thence." 



Again, in p. 22, he remarks : 



" As Carolina is likely to become the pro- 

 perty of the crown, the rich grounds that lie 

 under the Apulachean hills, and through Vir- 

 ginia, etc. are inviting places for raising silk." 



And in p. 104, &c. we have the fol- 

 lowing strong proof of the great interest felt by 

 the government of Great Britain, not only for 

 the culture of silk in this country , but of the 

 then existing favorable opinion as to the prac- 

 ticability of it. Mr. Gee says: 



" If care was taken to cultivate and improve 

 the raising of silk in our plantations, Carolina, 

 Virginia, ^Maryland, and Pennsylvania. 

 would produce the best of silk, and as fit for 

 organzine as any in the world; for these 

 countries produce vast numbers of white and 

 other Mulberry trees, which grow wild and 

 spring up almost every where in great abun- 

 dance, which looks as if nature had called us 

 thither to propagate that manufacture ; and if 

 put on foot, would in time be of as great ad- 

 vantage to this nation as any employment in 

 the plantations ; for as I have already observ- 

 ed, the manufacture of silk is a most profitable 

 undertaking, where the land and air is proper 

 for raising it." 



" The vast riches of China, by this manu 

 facture is sufficient to demonstrate the great 

 advantages thereof; and the extraordinary 

 treasure the Duke of Savoy draws into his 

 country by silk, which is made in that little 

 principality of Piedmont, as I have already 

 observed, is also another instance ; we may 

 judge, if he draws above two hundred thou- 

 sand pounds a year from England, what his 

 profits are which he draws from Holland, and 

 other places where the manufacture is carried 



on to a very great degree." 



* **"# * * # # 



"Very great things may be expected by 

 our encouraging and promoting the manufac- 

 ture of silk in our colonies. * * * * No 

 part of the world better [suited to the silk 

 worm] than is our colonies ; no silk cleaner 

 more glossy, of a better body, nor fitter to an- 

 swer the use of the fine thrown silk we have 

 from Italy, than the small quantity of silk tha 

 has been imported from thence." [The Ameri- 

 can colonies.] *******> 



" We are told by a gentleman of good in- 



telligence, the whole charge of making a 

 a pound of silk in China, does not stand in 

 above five shillings, and almost any person, 

 man, woman, or child, may work at it, and 

 a man or woman, with a child to assist in di- 

 recting the thread of the silk, may with a pro- 

 per machine reel from tlie cocoon or silk bag, 

 one pound in a day." 



* * * * " Now I should think the la- 

 bor of slaves employed in this work, would 

 produce above twice as much as those that are 

 employed in planting either sugar or tobac- 

 co." 



These are the opinions of an eminent Eng- 

 ish political economist, who wrote three quar- 

 ;ers of a century ago, and they go to establish 

 two points very clearly, that the silk culture 

 was esteemed, even at that early day, very 

 lighly by the most judicious thinking men, 

 and that the peculiar advantages possessed by 

 our country for the culture, was then well un- 

 derstood, and duly appreciated by the first in- 

 telligences of the age. 



As early as 1732, upon the settlememt of 

 Georgia, the culture of silk was also contem- 

 plated as a principal object of attention, and 

 lands were granted to settlers upon the ex- 

 press condition, that they planted one hundred 

 White Mulberry trees on every ten acres 

 when cleared. Trees, seed, and the eggs of 

 the silk worms, were sent over by the coloni- 

 al trustees, and an Episcopal clergyman, and a 

 native of Piedmont, were engaged to instruct 

 the people in the art of rearing the worms and 

 winding the silk. And in order to preserve 

 the spirit of the silk culture, and to keep the 

 views of government present before the people, 

 the public seal had on one side of it a repre- 

 sentation of silk worms in their various stages, 

 with this appropriate motto, "non sibi sed 



aims'" NOT FOR OURSELVES BUT FOR OTH- 

 ERS. By the manuscript proceedings of those 

 colonial trustees, it appears that the first silk 

 received from Georgia, was in the year 1735, 

 when 81bs. of raw silk were exported from 

 Savannah to England, where it was made in- 

 to a piece and presented to the Queen. The 

 exportations from Georgia increased until the 

 year 1756. During the intervening periods 

 large quantities of silk were at times ex ported 

 to England. The exportation of raw silk in 

 1759 amounted to upwards of 10,000 pounds, 

 and brought two or three shillings per pound 

 more than that of any other country. It is 

 stated that the last parcel brought for sale to 

 Savannah was in the year 1790. 



Attention to the Mulberry and silk culture 



