REARING SILKWORMS. 99 



SILK IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



From the time of Edward III. until the year 

 1824, the English government sought from time 

 to time to promote the silk- weaving industry* by 

 acts of Parliament, and the imposition of duties 

 upon manufactured silks. However, these acts 

 did not tend to promote the silk business in 

 England. They have also made many attempts 

 to produce silkworms in England, but the cool- 

 ness and almost constant humidity of the climate 

 forbid its success from time to time. King 

 James II., in A. D. 1605, spent $4,675 in planting 

 mulberry trees round his palace. He offered 

 packets^ of mulberry seed to any who would sow 

 them, for the purpose of raising silkworms. This 

 royal patronage rendered the tree so popular, 

 that to-day in many private gardens in England 

 may be seen mulberry trees planted in the seven- 

 teenth century. About this time, one hundred 

 thousand of the black mulberry species were 

 brought over from France, and planted in Eng- 

 land and Wales. 



In 1669, King James strongly advocated silk- 

 production in his kingdom, but with little 

 success. This same monarch ordered the plant- 

 ing of the mulberry in the American colonies, 



