SILK GROWER'S MANUAL. 88 



doubtedly many children, aged and infirm slaves, and 

 mothers, who are of little or no value to their own- 

 ers in the production of sugar and cotton, perhaps it 

 would be safe to say, on almost every estate, the labors 

 of one or several able-bodied field hands are consumed 

 in supporting those whose labor is of no considerable 

 value on the plantations, who cannot because they are 

 physically unable, perform the labor which alone is 

 required. Now if these could be furnished with an 

 employment by which they could simply support them- 

 selves, what a vast saving it would be to the planter. 

 But "how much more would his interest be promoted if 

 it is demonstrated that the labor of such a class, when 

 applied to silk, is even more profitable than the labor of 

 the most athletic field hands ; and that this will be the 

 case every enterprising planter who will make the ex- 

 periment will unquestionably find. In the present state 

 of the cotton trade, this is an aspect of the subject of 

 the deepest importance to every cotton grower. 



I know much mystery hangs around the whole sub- 

 ject of producing silk, in the minds of most of our farm- 

 ers; accustomed to deal in the heavier products $f 

 the soil, the delicacy .of the article causes them to dis- 

 trust their ability and skill in its production ; they 

 read or have heard of large and expensive cocooneries 

 with nicely adjusted shelves, and spinning frames, with 

 furnaces and flues, with hygrometers and thermome- 

 ters, and verometers, and hourly feeding by day and 

 night, and they are actually frightened from the under- 

 taking, or even from an honest and serious examination 



