19 



of these, we would mention those of Mr. 

 Whitmarsh, Dr. Seeger and Dr. Stebbins. i 

 That of the first named gentleman is calcula- 

 ted to accommodate nearly jive millions of 

 worms, but at present his number does not ex- 

 ceed eight hundred thousand. The capacity 

 of Dr. Seeger's is but for 16,000, and that of 

 Dr. Stebbins for 20,000: but the companies 

 to which we have before reverted will have 

 still more extensive ones, as their means of 

 supporting worms may be developed. The 

 number of large establishments, is, however, no 

 criterion to judge of the magnitude of the 

 silk business in this state ; for almost every 

 farm-house is or soon will be, a greater or 

 lesser laboratory, each farmer making the silk 

 culture a branch of his system of husbandry, 

 which is mainly attended to by the women 

 and children, who are thus made the most 

 productive portions of each establishment. 



In the state of New York no large results 

 have as yet taken place, though for several 

 years an active spirit of inquiry has been very 

 laudably kept alive by the enterprising agricul- 

 turists; and during the late war the culture 

 was carried on to some extent by Mr. Samuel 

 Chidsey, Cayuga county, who manufactured 

 during that period sewing silk to the amount 

 of $600 per annum; and this gentleman also in- 

 troduced the culture of the Mulberry into the 

 town of Scipio, on its first settlement. The 

 success which have attended the exertions of 

 their neighbors, has, however, a wakened a feel- 

 ing of emulation, and associations have already 

 been formed, and are forming, for the purpose 

 of extensively carrying on the business. A com- 

 pany is already in operation at Poughkeepsie, 

 at the head of which is the Hon. Mr. Tall- 

 madge, U. S. Senator, and a society has be"en 

 established in the. city of New York with 

 similar objects. The silk business has been 

 recommended to be introduced into the Peni- 

 tentiary, so that the state will soon bepome 

 interested in its success, and although we 

 doubt the propriety of bringing the labor of 

 convicts into competition with that of the 

 honest husbandmen of the country, in so beau- 

 tiful and delicate a business, we have no doubt 

 that good may grow out of what we view in 

 the light of a wretchedly short-sighted expedi- 

 ent. 



In Rhode Island, the business is becoming 

 popular, and a company is already in exist- 

 ence at Providence, who have a plantation of 

 30,000 trees, from four to five years old, from 

 six to eight feet high. Of the productiveness 

 of the trees of this plantation, we have seen 



some very sanguine calculations, such as that 

 each tree, for the next five years would aver- 

 age half a pound of silk, making in the ag- 

 gregate 1 5,000 Ibs. of silk: this, in our belief 

 is greatly beyond what those trees would 

 produce even at 20 years old, and at present 

 by at least in the proportion of 2 to 1. The 

 highest estimate of the quantity of foliage 

 produced by trees of the age of the above, is 

 30 Ibs. which would only support 600 worms 

 during the feeding season, and as it takes 3,000 

 cocoons to make a pound of silk, it would 

 take 2| of these trees to make a ^ pound, 

 so that 6,000 pounds is much nearer the 

 amount of their probable yield than 15,000, 

 as assumed in the statement whence we take 

 this. 



In Vermont and New Hampshire many far- 

 mers' wives and daughters have fed worms 

 for several years as matter of curiosity more 

 than of profit ; but within the last few years 

 they are beginning to turn their attention to it 

 as a lucrative business, having the past spring 

 been engaged in arranging 4heir orchards, 

 and although less favourably circumstanced 

 as to climate than the other New England 

 tates, there is no question that the enterprise 

 of the people of these states, will, at least, 

 succeed in maktog it a profitable branch of 

 their system of agriculture. 



In Maine, as far as we can learn, little or 

 nothing has been done , but it is not to be pre- 

 sumed that a hardy, industrious and intelligent 

 population like that of Maine, will sit with 

 folded arms and see the palm of victory borne 

 in triumph by their neighbors, without at 

 least placing themselves in a position to con- 

 tend for the rich prize. 



In Kentucky and Ohio, many individuals 

 have been for some years engaged in hatch- 

 ing small numbers of eggs, and feeding the 

 worms, In the latter state a very efficient 

 society has been formed with a view of col- 

 lecting and disseminating information. In In- 

 diana, where the Agricultural Societies are 

 invested with chartered rights, and where 

 from the very nature of the enactments which 

 give them being, they must exercise a health- 

 ful influence, the business of the Mulberry 

 and silk culture is especially taken up by the 

 General State Board, as a matter of primary 

 concern, and we have no doubt the happiest 

 effects will spring from their praiseworthy 

 exertions. In Illinois, while inhabited by 

 the French, silk is said to have been raised by 

 that notable people; but to what extent we 

 have no present means of ascertaining ; nor 



