18 



Brandegee, one of her sons, who says he 

 helped to pick the leaves to feed the worms, 

 and|that the silk was reeled by his mother and 

 wove in that town. The fabric is even and 

 the surface is smooth and lustrous, the colors 

 bright and fast. The sample of one dress is 

 wove of red and black, and was intended for 

 a present to the lady of General Washington, 

 but for some cause not remembered was never 

 presented to her. 



In all the other New England states, with 

 the exception of Maine, perhaps, more or less 

 attention has been given to the silk culture. 

 In Massachusetts great attention has been 

 paid to it within the last few years, and the art 

 of manufacturing the article has, perhaps, 

 been brought to greater perfection there than 

 in any other part of our country. Mr. Cobb, 

 of Dedham, in the vicinity of Boston, began the 

 cultivation of the Mulberry tree in 1826, and 

 since that time, notwithstanding the nature of 

 the soil, which is not the most favorable, has, 

 extended his operations so much as to be able 

 to bring his manufactured silk to the Boston 

 market to the amount of about one hundred 

 dollars per week." Mr. Cobb's factory has 

 lately been merged in a new company, with a 

 capital of $100,000, called the New England 

 Silk Company, whose sole object is the manu- 

 facture of silk under the superintendence of 

 Mr. Cobb. Another company has been form- 

 ed with a capital of $200,000, and have al- 

 ready commenced the erection of a factory 

 for the manufacture of silk at Northampton, 

 and it is their intention to supply themselves 

 with food for the worms from a plantation of 

 their own Mulberry trees. In the county of 

 Essex, it is stated that some years since, in 

 consequence of the recommendation of the 

 agricultural society, several farmers planted 

 the Mulberry tree very extensively, and that 

 there are at this time growing there, in full 

 vigor, upwards of 100,000 trees, which would 

 yield silk amply sufficient to supply that coun- 

 ty with silk, besides being a supply for expor- 

 tation. 



Capt A. Holcomb, of Sterling, Mass., has 

 a fine orchard of Mulberry trees now 10 years 

 old, upon which he fed his silk worms the 

 present season. 



The Legislature of Massachusetts, in a 

 just spirit of enlightened patriotism, has passed 

 a law granting a bounty of 50 cents for every 

 pound of silk reeled or thrown from cocoons 

 raised in that state. This act is to continue 

 in force for two years, and will doubtless 

 tend to stimulate the farmers of that state to 



enter into the culture of silk with all becom- 

 ing zeal, as this bounty will at least cover the 

 expense of reeling, and thus enhance the profit 

 to the grower. Having alluded to the profit 

 of the culture in the state of Massachusetts, 

 we shall mention a fact which we find in the 

 Silk Worm, a most excellent and well con- 

 ducted monthly publication, edited by S. Bly- 

 denbwgh,, of Albany, New York. It is there 

 given as being comprised in the " Instruc- 

 tions" upon the silk culture, issued by the 



Hamilton county agricultural society of Ohio, 

 last year. 



" Four acres of ground planted in Mulber- 

 ry trees, near Boston, afforded enough food, 

 in one season, for the support of as many silk 

 worms as produced four hundred and twenty 

 pounds of silk, worth three dollars and fifty 

 cents per pound, amounting to $1,470. All 

 the labor was performed by four girls, whose 

 attention was required but a small portion of 

 the year." This fact contains one of the 

 most powerful arguments in favor of the cul- 

 ture which we have yet seen. We find four 

 girls farmers' daughters, or helps, as hired 

 persons are called to the eastward, success- 

 fully attending to four acres of Mulberry 

 trees, gathering the leaves, feeding the worms 

 and performing all the labor incident to the 

 business, and what is the result? Why at 

 the depressed price of $3 50 per pound they 

 made silk enough to bring $1,400, or $350 

 to each hand : now if the present price which 

 prevails in Massachusetts, $4 per pound from 

 the purchaser, and fifty cents from the state, 

 had then prevailed, each of those females 

 would have averaged $472 25, or the whole 

 have made, in the aggregate, $1,890, and in- 

 dependent of the state bounty, the J20 Ibs. of 

 silk would have brought $1,680, or $420 to 

 each of the females engaged in the feeding of 

 the worms. And as on an average 3,000 

 worms, completing their cocoons, will make a 

 pound of silk, there were but 1,260,000 

 worms fed on these four acres, whereas that 

 quantity of land is competent to produce 

 leaves enough to support 2,160,000 worms; 

 thus it is evident, that the produce here re- 

 corded is far from being a large one, for had 

 the orchard been planted to the extent of the 

 capacity of the ground, 720 Ibs. of silk might 

 just as readily have been raised as the 420 

 Ibs. 



In this state, several laboratories, or as 

 the silk worm houses are familiarly called, 

 cocooneries, have been established, and more 

 are contemplated. Amongst the most important 



