VOL. XV. NO. 30. 



AND G A R D E N E B ' S JOURNAL 



237 



American production, is equal to t!iat of Italy, 

 and the abundance and low [)rice of lands, assure 

 us that its production will cost no more tlian in 

 Europe ; and the Conmiittee believe it will cost 

 much less. At present a large profit is obtained 

 by the production of Silk at $4 per pound. — 

 Hereafter it may become more profitable to pur- 

 chase the cocoons, or the reeled Silk, thus pre|)ar- 

 ed in the family of the farmer ; than to purchase 

 •cocoons at 25 cents per pound, as they now sell. 

 Three hundred and ten good cocoons make one 

 pound, and eight pounds of cocoons will give one 

 pound of reeled Silk. — At that rate, the reeling 

 being done at the manufactory — the cost of the 

 Silk will be about $3 per pound. When cocoons 

 are produced in abundance, the Committee are 

 disposed to believe that at twelve cents per pound, 

 the raising of them will be as profitable as grow- 

 ing cotton at fifteen cents per pound. 



For two or three years after the establishment 

 of a Silk Manufactory, it must be in part supplied 

 by foreign raw Silk. Thjs can always be readi- 

 ly obtained. Large quantities of raw Silk are 

 imported into the United States, principally in- 

 tended to be exported to Mexico, where it is man- 

 ufactured. Any portion of this can be arrested 

 on its way, and use<l here ; and the constant and 

 rapid intercourse with England and Italy, will 

 always secure its import, as it may be required, 

 in a short period of time. 



The present prices of foreign raw Silk, are 

 Bengal, $4,25 to $6,00 per pound. China, $5,50 

 to $6,00. Italian, $6,00 to $7,00 per pound. 



The amount of manufactured silks imported 

 into the United Slates, in the year ending on the 

 30th of September, 1835, was $17,497,900. 



Silk is manufactured in France principally by 

 adult labor, but the introduction of machinery in 

 the manufacture of silk, which is in the ratio at 

 90 per cent, in the hundred, which reduces the 

 cost of manufacture from 50 to 80 per cent. Eng- 

 land, by the use of machinery, has become the 

 successful rival of France, in many articles of silk 

 manufacture. Let the ingenuity of America be 

 applied to silk machinery, as it hasjbeento the 

 machinery for making cotton and woolen goods, 

 and its success will he the same. The higher 

 cost of adult labor in the United States, will thus 

 be rendered comparatively unimportant. 



The cost of a manufactory, and the amount of 

 capital necessary to conduct it will depend much 

 upon the extent of the building, the cost of the 

 ground, and the amoimt of Silk proposed to be 

 manufactured. The expenses of machinery are 

 not heavy, as Silk machinery it always light in 

 its construction, and requires no great power to 

 keep it in ujotion. A six horse power steam en- 

 "ine will move the machinery to manufacture two 

 hundred pounds of raw Silk per week ; and a 

 building of 30 feet in width, by 225 feet in length, 

 3 stories high, will be sufiicieut for all the purpo- 

 ses of manufacturing, tjyeing and packing that 

 quantity of Silk within its walls. It is proper 

 also to observe that the expense of machinery, 

 will depend much on the kind of work to be done. 

 Many articles manufactured from Silk, require 

 machinery of but little cost ; and the estimate is 

 made with confidence, that an establishment for 

 the manufacture of Silk into plain and ordinary 

 articles, will cost no more than about one eighth 

 of a cotton factory, to turn out the same number 

 of dollars worth of work ; and with equal if not 

 greater profit. 



(To b« contlnuel.) 



Progress of Silk Manufacture im the U. 

 S. — Silk was raised and manufactured in Con- 

 necticut seventy years since ; but for many years 

 the spinning was done on the common hand 

 wheel, and the reeling on a reel, both to great dis- 

 advantage. The first regular po.ver machinery 

 used in that State for the manufictnre of silk, was 

 constructed in Mansfield, in 1829, under the im- 

 mediate superintendence of Mr Edmund Golding, 

 who came over that year, anrl brought the patterns 

 with him from Manchester, England, where he 

 had worked at the silk business from his earliest 

 childhood. In the same year, (1829) similar ma- 

 chinery was put up in Dedham, by J. II. Cobb, 

 Esq. — and since that time the two establishments 

 of Mr Cobb and Mr Golding have probably turned 

 out a quantity of silk goods, larger in amount than 

 all the rest ever manufactured in the U. States. 

 These mills were kept running until about a year 

 since, when the original proprietors sold the whole 

 of their machinery to the New England Silk Com- 

 pany — took shares in the stock, and both are now 

 ofiicers of that Corporation — Mr Cobb as Gen- 

 eral Superintendent, and Mr Golding as Manufac-^ 

 turing Agent. 



The New Rngl.ind Company's Mill, just e|-ected 

 here, is the largest silk mill in America. — The 

 machinery, with which it is fast filling up, is of 

 the most approved models, and made in the most 

 thorough and workman-like manner. It is chiefly 

 made here, under the superintendance of Messrs 

 Golding and Cobb, but the spinning frames are 

 built at Mansfield, by Mr Nathan Rixford, an in- 

 genious machinist, who assisted Mr Golding in 

 constructing the first silk machinery which he 

 erected in that town, and thereby became acquain- 

 ted with the business. 



The mill is furnished with a first rate steam en- 

 gine of seven horse power, built by Mr Hinckley, 

 of Boston. The power has been applied to the 

 machinery this week, and is found to work admi- 

 rably well. The mill will be in regular operation 

 in a week or two. The number of hands emjiloy- 

 ed will be small at first, but will be gradually in- 

 creased as additiims are made to the machinery. 

 Mr John Golding will act as overseer of the spin- 

 ning room, and Mr Samuel Edgerly as overseer of 

 the winding room. 



By a gentletnaii who has lately visited the sev- 

 eral silk establishments at Hartford, Northamp- 

 ton, New Bedford, Nantucket and Poughkeepsie, 

 N. Y., we are informed that the works of the Ded- 

 ham establishment, besides being more extensive 

 and superior in every respect, are also in a state 

 of greater forwardness at the present time than any 

 of the silk works above mentioned. The work of 

 making and fitting the machinery proceed slow- 

 ly in all the mills ; and the reason is said to be 

 because so few in this country have any practical 

 knowledge of the business of manufacturing silk 



or constructing silk machinery Dedham Mver- 



tiser. 



mer and Silk Culturist have excited the attention 

 of some individuals hereto the culture of silk and 

 the sugar beet. We have commenced operations, 

 and shall ' go ahead ' next spring. By way of 

 experiments, I fed a few thousand iilk-worms hist 

 summer, on the foliage of the white mulberry 

 trees, distant two miles. My family loved the 

 dearlittle insectsso well, that nothing for the com- 

 fort and growth of the worm was neglected. The 

 parlor was used for a cocoonery ; a fire was kept 

 in ti^e room during tlie cold storm, and the win- 

 dows raised in hot weather, for the benefit of air. 

 Some of the worms measured four inches on the 

 hurdles. Two thousaiul of tiie cocoons measured 

 a bushel, with the floss removed, and the length 

 of thread from one selected, 2,500 fi'Pt. From 

 published accounts, I supposed c6coons, so large 

 and fine, could not be raised from the white mul- 

 berry — that no other than the most tender foliage 

 of the Morns multicaulis could be made to pro- 

 duce such large cocoons. — Silk Ciil. 



Manufacture of Beet Sugar. — In our last 

 number we gave an account of a sugar factory in 

 France, on a very small scale, and furnished with 

 a very rude apparatus, in which from 40 to 50 Ihs. 

 were made daily. We have since been informed 

 of an experiment by a gentleman of Dayton, Ohio, 

 which produced 2 1-2 pounds good brown sugar 

 from 29 1-2 pounds of mangel wurtzel,by, if pos- 

 sible, a more simple ])rocess. The experimenter 

 thus describes the manner in which he proceeded. 

 " I bruised the roots with the head of an axe, and 

 poured upon the pulp scalding water, and put the 

 whole into a coarse liag, and wrung out by hand 

 all the juice that I could obtain. 1 then put it 

 over a fire in a brass kettle, adding milk to raise 

 the scum — after which I added a little blood, 

 while the sirup was warm, which caused the sed- 

 iment to settle at the bottom of the kettle, where 

 the whole stood an hour. I poured off the sirup 

 as carefully as I could — placed it over the fire 

 again, and gave it a stove heat, and testing it as 

 they do sirup of maple molasses, began to stir with 

 a wooden spaluta off from the fire, till it was 

 grained off very handsome, and was much admir- 

 ed by those who saw it." — 76. 



Lakge Cocoons. — Dr Jonathan Sweet, of 

 Ridgeway, N. Y. has made an experiment. of feed- 

 ing silk worms the past season, on the foliage of 

 the white mulberry, which has resulted in the pro- 

 duction ot cocoons altogether beyond his expec- 

 tations. If enterprising farmers, who have hith- 

 erto been a little skeptical, would follow the ex- 

 ample of the Doctor, we should see them all de- 

 termined to " go ahead," with him and his neigh- 

 bors. A communication in the Genesee Far- 



New Hampshire Beet Sugar. — The enter- 

 prising citizens of New Hampshire are about en- 

 gaging in the cultivation of the beet and the man- 

 ufacture of sugar. Several companies have been 

 incorporated by the Legislature for that purpose, 

 among which are the Grafton and Derry Beet su- 

 I'ar manufacturing companies. Though the state 

 of New Hampshire, compared with some other 

 sections of the country, is a hard and sterile soil, 

 yet many portions of it are wel' adapted to the 

 culture of the beet, particularly the bottoms, OD 

 the Connecticut, Merrimack and other rivers. 

 There are indeed but small tracts of land that 

 should be considered uncultivated — most will 

 yield to the persevering efforts of the husbandman, 

 and become productive under a correct and thor- 

 ough course of agriculture. The farmers in New 

 Hampshire are hardy, energetic and laborious,and 

 all that is wanting to insure them success in their 

 vocation, is a knowledge of the capability of the 

 soil, and the best methods of developing it. La- 

 bor judiciously applied, and efforts well directed, 

 will produce astonishing results. — lb. 



.\uthority is for children and servants. 



