VoL. Ill 
AUGUSTA, GA., JUNE, 1845, 
No. 6, 
A BRfEF HISTORY OF THE SJI.K 
' CUf.TCJRE IIV GEORGIA. 
By the Rev. William R. Stevens, of the University of 
Georgia. [From Harris’s Memorials of Oglethorpe.] 
One of the principal de.signs which influenced 
the settlement of Georgia, was the hope of there- 
l>y creating a silk-growing province, where that 
material, for which England had so long been in- 
debted to France, Italy and China, could be pro- 
duced in this colonial dependency. 
As early as 1609, the subject engaged the at- 
tention of the adventurers to Virginia, an i in a 
pamphlet, called “Nova Brlttania offering most 
excellent fruites by planting in Virginia,’’ pub- 
lished that year, the writer says: — “there are 
silke-wormes, and plenty of mulberie trees, 
whereby ladies, gentlewomen, and little children, 
(being set in the way to do it,) may bee all im- 
ploied with pleasure, making silke comparable 
to that of Persia, Turkey, or any other.’’ In 
1650, Mr. Samuel Hartlib published a work enti- 
tled “ Virginia Discovery of Silk Wormes, with 
their Benefits,” in which he endeavored to show 
that the raising of silk was a thing very pra ;tica- 
ble in Virginia, and even asserted that as i sta- 
ple, it might be made superior to tobac ;o, in 
which opinion he was confirmed by the judg- 
ment of several others. That they made some 
advances in this culture, is evident from the fact 
that the coronation robe of Charles II., in 1660, 
was made of silk reeled in that colony, and even 
so late as 1730, three hundred pounds of the raw 
material were exported from Virginia. Tobacco, 
however, soon assumed and maintained the as- 
cendency, to the exclusion of this more useful 
and beautiful produce. j 
In 1703, Sir Nathaniel Johnson introduced the | 
silk culture into South Carolina, but the aston- 1 
ishing success which rewarded the casual intro- | 
duction of rice into the plantation, about eight | 
years before, precluded a just interest in the un- j 
dertaking, and as a public and recognised com j 
modityit soon came to nought, though several | 
persons, more fur amusement than profit, still 
gave their attention to it; and as late as 1755, j 
Mrs. Pinckney, the same lady to whom the pro- | 
vince v/as indebted tor the first cultivation of in- j 
digo ten years before, reeled sufficient silk in the , 
vicinity of Charleston to make three dresses, one | 
of which was presented to the Princess Dowa- ! 
ger of Wales, another to Lord Chesterfield, and i 
the third, says Ramsay, who narrates the cir- I 
eumstance, “is now (1809) in Charleston in the { 
possession of her daughter, Mrs. Horrey, and is 
remarkable for its beauty, firmness and strength.” | 
But notwithstanding these failures and the 
known difficulty of introducing a new branch of 
agriculture into a country, as was evidence! by 
the compulsion which was necessary bv Henry 
IV. to introduce it into France, against the united 
voices of the merchants, traders, and even in op- 
position to the Duke of Sully, and also the in- 
difference manifested in England, notwithstand- 
ing the able proclamation of King James on the 
subject, commending its cultivation; the frus- 
tees for the settle nent of Georgia determined to 
make one moreelfort, which, if successful, would 
enrich both the province and the mother country. 
The views which thev entertained, how-ever, of 
making Georgia supplant every silk-gro ving 
country, were extravagant and erroneous; iliey 
expected, in fact, to supply all Europe, an 1 to 
produce an article of equal strength, beauty and 
value, with any made on the Continent. The 
Piedmontese, thought they, who pay half their 
silk for the rent of the mulberry trees an! the 
eggs of the worm, or the peasants of France, 
burdened with political difficulty and stinted for 
conveniences, could not cope with the settlers of 
Georgia, where the mulberry trees (morus al a) 
would grow m the greatest luxuriance, where 
timber for their fabrics was no expense, where 
room was abundant and the reward sure. By 
this transfer, in addition to a direct saving to 
England of over £500,000, which she paid for 
this article to foreign countries, twenty thousand 
people were to find employment in reaiing it in 
Georgia, and as many more at home in prepar- 
ing it for market 
Among the first emigrants who sailed with 
Oglethorpe from England in November, 1732, 
was Mr. Amatis, from Piedmont, who was en- 
gaged by the 'i’rustees to intioduce the art of 
silk-winding into the colony, and w’ho, for that 
purpose, brought wuth him several Italians and 
some adequate machinery. White mulberry trees 
were planted in a portion of land on the eastern 
border of the city, called the Trustee’s garden ; 
eggs were hatched, and silk spun “ as fine as any 
from France or Italy.” They soon, however, 
came to a mutual rupture, and the whole process 
was for a time suspended by the treachery of 
those employed, who broke the machijiery, spoil- 
ed the seed, destroyed the trees, and then escap- 
ed to Carolina. Sufficient, however, had been 
wrotight to test its value, and they were not dis- 
couraged by this inauspicious commencement. 
The Trustees still adhered to their design, and 
the more effectually to advance it, required of 
eveiy settler that there should be on his grant, 
ten mulberry trees to each acre. 
Mr. Cainiise and his wife, both Italians, svith 
their two children, and two other individuals, were 
now entrusted with this business, in which they 
were continued six years; the two first at a sa- 
lary of £60 per annum, and the four last at £100, 
besides the rent of a dwelling house and garden. 
In June, 1734, Gen. Oglethorpe carried eight 
pounds of raw silk, the first produced in Geor- 
gia, to England, which was followed by a small 
trunk full of the same article, on the 2d of April, 
1735, and after being made into orgazlne bv 
the engine of Sir Thomas Lombe, at Derby, 
who said that it “nroved exceedingly good thro’ 
.all the operations,” was sent up to London on the 
14th of August, 1735, when the Trustees, to- 
gether with Sir Thomas Lombe, waited on her 
Majesty Queen Caroline, and exhibited to her the 
elegant specimen of Georgia silk. The Queen 
selected a portion of this parcel to be wove into 
a pattern, and being again waited on by these 
gentlemen and iMr. Booth, the silk weaver, on 
the 2lst of September, she expressed “ a great 
satisfaction for the beauty and fineness of the 
silk, the richness of the pattern, and at seeing so 
early a product from that colony ;” and to express 
her pleasure at such a favorable result, a comidete 
court dr ss was made from it, and on His Ma- 
jesty’s next birth day, she appeared at the levee 
in a full robe of Georgia silk. 
On the return of Oglethorpe, in 1735, he re- 
newed his endeavors to bring it into active opera- 
tion. For the purpo'-'e of obtaining a sufficient 
quantity of seed, he allowed no silk t) be reeled 
that year, but let the worms depo.-it their eggs. 
He required, also, that the Italian women should 
teach a nutnberof the colonists, and thus render 
general the knowledge they could impart. The 
Salfzburgers atEbenezer were the most forward 
to adopt his views, and in March 28. 1736, Rev. 
Mr. Bolzius gave one tree to each inhabitant as 
a present from Oglethorpe, and two of his con- 
gregation were instructed in the art of reeling, 
by .Virs. Camuse. B it though Oglethorpe gave 
Mr. Bolzius trees, silk worms, and a bo -k of in- 
structions, yet he confesses ihat he felt no inter- 
est in the business, nor inclination to pursue it. 
In July, 1739, fllr. Samuel A ugspourger carried 
over a parcel of raw silk which he received from 
Mr. Jones, the Trustee’s store keeper in Savan- 
nah, and which was declared by eminent judges 
to be “ equal to any Italian silk, and worth lull 
twenty shillings per pound.” 
On May 11, 1741, Mr, Bolzius in his journal 
states that twenty girls, during the last two 
months, succeeded in making seventeen pounds 
of cocoons, which were sold on Friday last at 
Savannah for £3 8s. During this year. General 
Oglethorpe advanced to Bolzius £5, for procur- 
ing trees, for which sum he obtained twelve hun- 
dred, and distributed twenty-two to each family 
in his parish. 
On May 1. 1742, fourteen pounds and fourteen 
ounces were sold, which brought £2 19s. fid. 
Nearly half of the silk worms died at Savannah, 
owing, as was then supposed, either to poisoned 
dew or warm weather. 
December 4, 1742, General Oglethorpe .=enr 
five hundred trees to Ebenezer, with the promise 
ol more if required. The indifference of the 
good Mr. Bolzius had by this time passed away, 
and he was now a zealous advocate for its exten- 
sion. A machine was erected near his house, 
and two women succeeded very well, by which 
the people were stimulated to renewed exertions, 
and a public Filature was contemplated. The 
enterprise of these Germans, seemed to excite 
the envious disposition of Mrs. Camuse, with 
whom had been placed two women from Ebene- 
zer; but the conduct of Mrs. C. in withholding 
inforriialion, rendered their acquirement inade- 
quate, and Mr. Bolzius wuthdrew them from her 
charge. The first parcel of silk made, was sent 
to trie Trustees, who expressed themselves pleas- 
ed with its quality. In 1745, the weight of co- 
coons w'as two hundred and fifty-three poi nds, 
and of s,,un silk sixteen and three quarters. In 
1746, the weight of cocoons was three hundred 
and forty-four pounds, and of ?pun silk eighteen 
pounds. Early in this year a machine fur wind- 
ing, and coppers for baking, together with ap- 
propriate treatises on the art, w’ere sent over by 
the Trustees, but the people were indifferent and 
apathetic. 
The Germans, however, were as active as for- 
merly, and Mr. Bolzius, in a letter to Von Munch, 
dated May 6, 1747, says, that “the people last 
winter planted more mulberry trees than for thir- 
teen years before,” for which he promised them 
a bounty of one shilling for every tree which 
yielded one hundred pounds of leaves. The silk 
balls raised at this place this year, were over four 
hundred pounds, three husdred and sixty-six 
pounds of w'hlch sold for £36 12s. lOJd. The 
amount raised in the whole colony, was eight 
hundred and forty-seven pounds of cocoons, and 
sixty two pounds of spun silk. In 174?, the 
Saltzburgers reared four hundred and sixiy-four 
pounds, but their small tices were destroyed, and 
some of the larger ones injured, by the late frost. 
Thev this year succeeded admirably in spinning 
twenty-four pounds of raw silk, the want of a 
chimney and proper basins, which had impeded 
them before, in their rude building, having bten 
remedied. The President, writing to Secretaiy 
Martyii, December 11, 1746, says : “The funda- 
mental cause of its stagnation, is the unaccount- 
able backwardness of si me of our dames ar.d 
damsels to employ themselves in attending to the 
worms during the time of feeding, which I have 
frequently taken notice of, and it cannot be im- 
puted to the want of Raves.” 
During the same period only thirty-four pounds 
of spun silk were raised by the Trustees’ agent 
in Savannah. Mr. Bolzius, under date of Feb- 
ruary 15th, 1749, thus writes : “The weather be- 
ing now warm and pleasant, the mulberry trees 
have put forth their young leaves, and our people 
are now turning their minds towards makfi g of 
silk,” and then, after expressing his surprise 
that so lew w^re di-sposed to this culture, adds ; 
