Vim SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
83 
weighed ttevsn thousand nine hundred and eighty 
three pounds, and there were spuneisht hundred 
and thirty-nine pounds. Mr. Ottolonghe was 
now honored with the full appoint-neni of “ •''u- 
perintendent of the silk culture inGeorgii,’’ with 
a salary appropriate to his station. 
Five'thousand three hundred and s ; ven pounds 
of cocoons, and three hundred and thirty-two 
pounds of raw silk were produced in 17dl. Go- 
vernor vVight, under date 1.1th of July, says: 
“The great. St appearance that ever they had 
here was destroyed in two nights’ time, by ex- 
cessive hard and unseasonable frosts, and there 
is likewise a degeneracy in the seed, as Mr. Otto- 
lenghe tells me.” These frosts occurred on the 
5th and 6th of April. Parliament, this year, 
mode a grant of £1000 towards defraying the 
expenditure for the silk culture, and it was an- 
nually renewed untd about 1766. By means of 
this gratuity, i\Ir. Ottolenghe was enabled to give 
a high price to the rearers of cocoons, and thus 
sustain the encour.igement so judiciously com- 
menced. 
In 1762, fifteen thousand one hundred and one 
pounds of cocoons were delivered at the filature, 
and one thousand and forty-eight pounds of raw 
silk reeled, which Mr. O. declared to be the finest 
and best silk ever produced in Georgia. 
The year 1763 showed an increase of cocoons 
but a decrease of silk, there being fifteen thou 
sand four hundred and eighty-si.x pounds of the 
former and only nine hundrel and fifty-three 
pounds of the latter. The occasion of this dis- 
parity was a season of cold, rainy weather, to- 
wards the close of April, by which the later co- 
coons were injured, and rendered almost useless. 
There were delivered at the filature, in 1764, 
fifteen thousand two hundred and twelve pounds 
of cocoons, notwithstanding the season svas so 
untavorable, that Gov. Wright mentions the case- 
of one man who expected to make from five to 
seven hundred pounds, who only succeeded in 
raising one hundred pounds of cocoons. Eight 
thousand six hundred and ninety-five pounds 
were sent by the Saltzburgers, and the wh de 
amount yielded eight hundred and ninety-eight 
pounds of raw silk. 
In addition to the grant of Parliament, a soci- 
ety instituted in London, for the encouragement 
of arts, manufactures and commerce, ofiered cer- 
tain premiums for tho advantage nf the British 
American dominions, among which were ; 
“For every pound of cocoons produced in the 
provinces of Georgia and South Carolina, in the 
year 1764, of a hardy, weighty and good suo- 
stance, wherein only one worm has spun, 3d. ; for 
every pound of cocoons produced in the same 
year, of a weaker, lighter, spotted or bruised 
quality, 2d. ; for dupions, Id.” These premiums 
were to be paid under the direction oi Mr. O., 
with proper vouchers that the s ime were raised 
in either of the provinces specified. 
It was agitated in 1765, to re iuce the price of 
cocoons from 3s. to Is. 6J. per pound, a measure 
which produced much dissatislactio:), and as a 
consequence there was a considerable falling olT 
in the amount of balls and silk, only twelve 
thousand five hundred and fourteen pounds of 
the former, and seven hundred and twelve pounds 
of the latter, together with seven hundred and 
twenty pounds of filosele being produced. To 
prevent the depression consequent on this reduc- 
tion, Governor Wright suggested, that instead oi 
so much per pound, as formerly, that the ten 
largest quantities should receive, the highest 
£50, the next greatest parcel £45, and so on, 
gradually decreasing with the decrease in weight, 
until you reached the lowest quantity, to which 
£10 would be awarded; thus, \vhile the expense 
would be greatly lessened to the Trustees, the 
stimulus of reward would be suificiently sus- 
tained. This advice was not adopted, though 
owing to the urgent remonstrances of those best 
acquainted with the business, the reduction in 
the bounty was only 9d. instead of Is, 6d. On 
the 25th April, 1765, the following order was pub- 
lished in the “ Georgia Gazette:” 
“• r^otice is hereby given to all whom it may 
concern, that by direction of the Right Honora- 
ble the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plan- 
tations, the price usually paid for cocoons is now 
reduced, and that no more than 2s. 3d. per pound 
will be paid for cocoons raised in this province, 
and delivered at the public filature this s ason. 
“By order of Hi- Excellency the Governor. 
“Geo. Baillie, Commissary.” 
This bounty was still further reduced in 1766, 
when by order of (he Board of Trade, only Is Id. 
was paid per pound. The de endence ot this 
cultur.' on the weaiher. was signaMy instanced 
this year, fro.n (hi fact that though many who 
had hitherto raised cocoons, abandoned it at the 
reduction of the brnnty, yet such a large crop 
had never been produced before ; over iw'cnty 
th )us ind three hundred and eighty j)ounds of 
cocoons being delivered at tlu filature, whicli, 
however, on;y produced one thousand eighty- 
nine pounds of raw silk, and eight hundred and 
fifty pounds of filosele. This amount of reeled 
silk was not at all proportionate to the weight of 
the cone-, resulting, as Mr. Ottoienghe said in a 
letter to Governor Wright, October 2, 1766, “to 
the badness of the seed, and consequent inferi- 
ority of the worms.” In 1760, the cocoons 
weigh d i.,nly seven thous-and nine hundred and 
eignty three pounds, and yet eight hundred and 
thirty-nine pounds of raw silk were spun; at 
which rate, the product this year should have 
been about tsvo thousand pounds. 
On the 26th of June, Heury Kennan made 
proposals to the Board of Trade, for carrying on 
the filature ; but they were of a nature not at all 
advantageous to the culture, and Gov. Wright, iti 
his reply, on the 21st ol October, disapproveil of 
the plan, and exp-osed the fallacy of his -cheme, 
which was in consequence abandoned. 
In 1767. ten thousmd seven hundred and six- 
ty-eight pounds of bal s were raised, and six huri- 
d ed and seventy-one pounds nine ounces of raw 
silk spun; the decrease of cocoons being caused, 
first, by withdrawing of thePurysburgh cocoons, 
which last year amounied to five thousand five 
hundred and fifty-one pounds; and second, by 
the reduction of ttounty, so that while last year 
the cocoons were delivered in by two hundred 
and sixty-four different persons, only one hun- 
dred and sixty individuals were this year devoted 
to the culture.' The silk, however, was of a bet- 
ter quality, and sustained its high reputation in 
the London market. 
In 1763, another plan was proposed by Mr. Oe- 
lamar, “ in order the more effectually to establish 
the growth of raw silk in America.” His propo- 
sal was, to pay a bounty of 203. per pound on 
every pound of gooi, clear raw silk imported 
from any of His Majesty’s dominions in .imeri- 
ca, to be nail on the price such silk might sell 
for at public sale in London ; at the expiration of 
ten years, ten per cent, bountv was to be allow- 
ed; the ensuing five years at five per cent., after 
which time the bjunty was to cease. This was 
the general feature of his plan ; it was not, how- 
eve'^, adopted, though in many respects its pro- 
visions were highly judicious and a,npropriate. 
But this branch of industry and commerce 
was fast waning before the increasing culture 
of more sure and lucrative products, and only 
one hundred and thirty-seven diffirent persons 
brought cocoons to the filature this year. Gov- 
ernor Wright in his official letter to the Earl of 
Hillsborough, July 1, 1763, says, “ I am persua- 
ded that few, or none but the very poorer sort of 
people, will continue to go upon that article. — 
Several substantial persons, who did mean to 
make it an object when the price was higher, 
have, to my knowledge, given it over. The rea- 
son, my Lord; is evident; for people who have 
their fortune to raise or make, will always turn 
themselves in such a way, and to the raising and 
making of such commodities, as they think will 
answer best ; and it is very clear to me, that 
those who have negroes, may employ themselves 
and negroes to better advantage, &c., than by 
raising cocoons at Is. 6d. per pound, although 
that is, as I have said, 7, 8 or 9d. more than they 
are intrinsically worth.” 
Cluny, in his “American Traveller,” printed 
in London 1769, says, “ The oiimate of Georgia 
has been f)und to agree, in every respect, with 
the silk worm.” Experience, however, proved 
that the climate was not sufficiently equable to 
secure permanent and continued success. Gov- 
ernor Wright, in the letter quoted above, says, 
“ the varia-'le and uncertain weather in spring, 
makes it precarious,” and facts amply confirm 
this statement. Only five hundred and forty-one 
pounds of raw silk were mads this year, a small- 
er amount, wi'h one exception, than had been 
produced for ten years. In 1769, the quantity 
was still mo'e decreased, both from the reluc- 
tance of the people to raise worms, and the un- 
tavorable weather in spring Governor Wright, 
on the 20tti of J une, 1769, says, “ We had a most 
extraordinary prospect, till the middle of April, 
when I thought every thing safe, yet we had 
very cold rains on the 17th and 18lh, which were 
succeeded by haid black frost on the 19th and 
20th, and destroyed a great part of the worms, 
and will reduce the silk very much.” 
The silk business was now on the irretrievable 
decline, though it still maintained a nominal ex- 
istence, and received the encouragement of Par- 
liament. Tne special bounty which had hitherto 
been paid on cocoons, over a. id above their mer- 
chantable value, was suspended, and by a sta- 
tute of 9 Geo. III., c. 33, a premium of twenty- 
five per cent, from the 1st of January, 1770, to 
the 1st of January, 1777; of twenty per cent, 
from the 1st of January 1777, to the 1st of Janu- 
ary, 1734; and of fifteen percent, from the 1st 
of January 1784, to the 1st of January, 1791, on 
the ad valorem value of all silk produced in 
America and imported into Great Britain in ves- 
sels regularly navigated by law, was substituted 
in its place. 
The inhabitants of Ebenezer resumed the cul- 
ture, which with them had long been dormant, 
and its revival at that time was p.incipally owing 
to the influence of a very worthy man and ma- 
gistrate, Mr. Wertsch, who, sanguine himself of 
ultimate success, had imparted to the Germans 
a portion < f his own enthusiasm. 
In 1770, they shipped two hundred and ninety- 
one pounds of raw silk, the result of their own 
industry, and as the filature at Savannah was 
discontinued in 1771, the Earl of Hillsborough, 
ever anxious to advance the produce, warmly 
commended the zeal of the Saltzburgers, and di- 
rected President Habersham to distribute “ the 
b isins and reels that were left in the public fila- 
ture, to such persons as Mr. Wertsch shall re- 
commend to be proper objects of that bounty;” 
and in the same letter he promised that he would 
endeavor to procure for them, this year, “a small 
sum from Parliament, to be laid out in purchase 
of utensils for the assistance of the poor sort of 
people in your province.” This promise here- 
deemed. 
So popular had the silk business become at Eb- 
enezer, that Mr. Habersham, in a letter cated 
the 30th of March, 1772, says, “ some peisons in 
almost every Hmily there, untierstand its process 
from the beginning to the end.” In 1771, the 
Germans sent four hundred and thirty-eight 
pounds of raw silk to England, and in 1772, four 
hundred and eighty-five pounds, all of their own 
raising. They made their own reels, which 
were so much esteemed that one was sent to 
England as a model, and another taken to the 
East Indies by PjcKering Robinson. The opera- 
tions at Savannah were now totally discontinu- 
ed, though Mr. Ottoienghe still styled himself 
“ Superintendent of the Silk Culture in Georgia,” 
and in consideration of his long and faithful ser- 
vice in that office, received an annuity of £100. 
In a message of Sir James Wright, to the 
Commons House of Assembly, 19th of January, 
1774, he says., “ The filature buildings seem to be 
going to decay and ruin ; may it not, therefore, 
be expedient to consider what other service or 
use they may be put to 2” nd the Assembly 
answered: “ We shall not fail to consider how it 
may be e.vpedient to apply the filature to some 
public use;” and henceforth it was used as an 
assembly or ball-room, a place where societies 
held their meetings, and where divine service 
was occasionally conducted : more recently, it 
was converted into a dwelling house, and was 
thus appropriated at the time of its destruction 
by fire on the afternoon of March 25, 1839. 
Thus ended the grand project for raising silk in 
the Province of Georgia; for though some few 
individuals, together with the people of Ebene- 
zer, continued to raise small quantities, yet, as a 
branch of general culture, it has never been re- 
suscitated. The last parcel brought to Savannah 
was in 1790, when over two hundred pounds 
were purchased for exportation, at from 8s. to 
26s. per pound. 
On reviewing the causes which led to the sus-* 
pension of this business, after so many exer- 
tions and suefi vast expense, which, it must be 
remembered, the profits of the culture never re- 
imbursed, we find, first, the unfriendliness of the 
climate, which, notwithstanding its boasted ex- 
cellence, interfered materially with its success, 
Gov. Wright frequently speaks of its deleterious 
influence, and the fluctuations in the various 
seasons, evidenced, to de.Tionstration, that the in^ 
terior was better adapted to tfle agricultural part 
of the business, than the exposed and variable 
