moval of the duty would be on the woven goods. The aid that Con gress, 
- through this Department, should, in my judgment, give to silk-reeling, 
and thereby to silk-production, may be supplied by private and beney- 
- olent means. 
* %* * * ¥* # e 
The obstacles which I have set forth are none of them permanent or 
- insuperable, while we have some advantages not possessed by other 
countries. One of infinite importauce is the inexhaustible supply of 
Osage Orange (Maclura aurantiaca) which our thousands of miles of 
_ hedges furnish ; another is the greater average intelligence and inge- 
nuity of our people, who will not be content to tread merely in the ways 
of the Old World, but will be quick to improve on their methods ; still 
another may be found in the more spacious and commodious nature of 
the barns and outhouses of our average farmers. [Every year’s experi- 
ence with the Maclura confirms all that I have said of its value as silk- 
worm food. Silk which I have had reeled from a race of worms fed on 
it, now for eleven consecutive years, is of the very best quality, while 
the tests made at the recent silk fair at Philadelphia showed that in 
some instances a less weight of cocoons spun by Jlaclura-fed worms 
was required for a pound of reeled silk than of cocoons from mulberry- 
fed worms. 
CO. Ve 
WASHINGTON, D. C., February 20, 1882. 
