17 



silk, made in the three counties of New Lon- 

 don, Windham, and Tolland, was estimated 

 by the U. S. Marshal, at $28,503, but the 

 value of the domestic fabrics made from the 

 refuse silk, and worn in these counties is not 

 taken into the account; and it is affirmed that 

 they may be fairly estimated at half of that 

 sum. In 1885, it is stated that the silk culture 

 had increased so much in Windham county as 

 to be double what it was in 1 8 1 0. In the let- 

 ter of the Hon. Ambrose Spencer of Albany, 

 of New York, to S. M. Hopkins, Esquire, of 

 Geneva, of the same state, dated the 7th 

 April, 1835, he introduced the following as 

 facts, on the authority of the Burlington Free 

 Press : that raw silk was produced in the town 

 of Mansfield, Connecticut, to the amount of 

 over $6O,OOO in 1834; and that the 

 county of Windham produces five tons of silk 

 annually, valued at $5<MMMIO, and that if 

 reeled would be worth double that sum. This 

 statement the judge fully believes is substan- 

 tially true. Whether the other counties en- 

 gaged in its culture in Connecticut have been 

 blessed with an equal ratio of increase, we have 

 no present means of ascertaining; but from 

 the general reputation for sagacity and thrift 

 of the people., we rest assured that there has 

 been no standing still in the prosecution of a 

 business offering so many inducements of 

 pleasure, interest and profit. In 1828, the 

 Hon. Zalmon Storrs stated in answer to a cir- 

 cular addressed to him by the Secretary of 

 the treasury, " that three-fourths of the fami- 

 lies in the town of Mansfield were engaged in 

 raising silk, and make annually from o to 10, 

 20, and 50 Ibs. in a family, and one or two 

 have made each 100 Ibs. in a season ; it is be- 

 lieved that there are annually made in Mans- 

 field and the vicinity from three to four tons. 

 The farmers there, considered, at the period 

 of which we are speaking, the amount receiv- 

 ed for their sewing silk as so much clear 

 gain, as the business did not interfere with the 

 regular farm work of the men, or the domes- 

 tic duties of the females, upon whom with the 

 aged and youthful members of the family, the 

 care of the worms, and the making of the 

 sewing silk chiefly devolves." 



A new factory has just been erected at. 

 Hartford, called the Connecticut silk factory, 

 with a capital of upwards of 40,000 dollars; 

 the building is 120 feet long by 44 feet wide, 

 two stories high, with a basement story. This 

 factory has about 100 silk looms with ma- 

 chinery, the whole to be operated by a steam 

 engine of 8 or 10 horse power. For want of 

 3 ' 



raw silk, the company has been compelled td 

 go into the manufacture of Tuscan straw, 

 gimps, fringes, tyc. articles in which but lit- 

 tle raw silk is incorporated. A circumstance 

 which shows that the demand is very far in 

 advance of the supply: and another is going 

 into operation at Concord ; the latter estab- 

 lishment has commenced the cultivation of 

 the Mulberry. 



Mr. Harvey Johnson, in a letter to the edi- 

 tor of the Silkworm, states, that his father as 

 far back as 50 y^ars ago planted " 2000 trees 

 and carried on the silk business in Connecti- 

 cut for a number of years, that though it was 

 difficult to find workmen who understood dye- 

 ing, weaving or manufacturing, they made a 

 number of pieces of cloth for women and men's 

 wear, one piece of handkerchiefs, and a num- 

 ber of pairs of stockings, some knit and some 

 wove, and some pairs of gloves, and he has 

 still a pair of gloves which he believes were 

 made 35 years ago." 



Societies having for their object the intro- 

 duction and extension throughout the respec- 

 tive counties, of the knowledge and practice of 

 raising Mulberry trees, of feeding and manag- 

 ing silk worms, and reeling silk from the ca- 

 coons in the most approved methods, have 

 been formed in the counties of Hartford, New 

 Haven, Middlesex and Fairfield. In Nor- 

 wich a company has been formed, who have 

 planted 1,000 trees, and fed the last season 

 1 20,000 worms. 



The Legislature with a most laudable de- 

 sire to promote the interests of the state, have 

 passed a law giving a bounty of one dollar for 

 every hundred Mulberry trees properly plant- 

 ed and cultivated until they are five years old, 

 and also fifty cents for every pound of silk reel- 

 ed in the present improved mode ; and still fur- 

 ther to extend its fostering care to this pecu- 

 liar branch of industry, in chartering the Ex- 

 change Bank, they rendered it obligatory upon 

 that institution to furnish every county i-n the 

 state, applying therefor, with 8 Ibs. of Mul- 

 berry seed, and also wish eggs of the silk 

 worm not exceeding 100,000; one reel for 

 the purpose of reeling the silk, as also a per- 

 son capable of teaching the art and mystery of 

 raising the Mulberry, and reeling the silk, 

 which service is to be continued for five 

 years. 



The edhorof the Silk Culturistsaysthathe 

 has in his possession several samples of beau- 

 tiful changable silk made in Berlin, Connec- 

 ticut, in 1791, by Mrs. Elishama Brandr.gee, 

 taken from dresses now in the family of Mr. 



