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AlV HISTORICAL. REVIEW 
 
 RISE, PROGRESS, PRESENT STATE, AND 
 PROSPECTS, 
 
 SILK CULTURE, MANUFACTURE, AND 
 TRADE, 
 
 EUROPE & AMERICA. 
 
 Being an articlk extraoted from the American ciuarterly 
 
 REVIEW FOR DEOEMBER, 1831. 
 
 y . 
 
 PHILADELPHM : 
 PRINTED BY LYDIA R. BAILEY^ 
 
 NO. 26 NORTH FIFTH STREET. 
 
 1831. 
 
bX 
 
 ^^ 
 
 
SIL.K. 
 
 [From the American Quarterly Review for December, 1831.] 
 
 Art. VII. — Essays on »fimerican Silk, and the best means of 
 rendering it a source of Individual and National Wealth ; 
 with directions to Farmers for raising Silk-worms. By John 
 D'HoMERGUE, Silk Manufacturer, and Peter S. Dupon- 
 CE Au, Member of the American Philosophical Society. 1 2mo. 
 Grigg: Philadelphia: 1830. 
 
 We have selected this work to be placed at the head of this 
 article, out of a great number of publications that have appeared 
 on the subject of silk, within the last five years, in America and 
 Europe, because, of all we have seen, it contains, condensed in a 
 small space, the most of those facts that are interesting to the 
 people of these United States. At the time when that work ap- 
 peared, very little was known in this country of the various pro- 
 cesses through which silk passes from the cocoon to the loom ; 
 the Essays of M. D'Homergue, without pretending to instruct us 
 practically in the modus operandi of those processes, have ex- 
 plained in a clear and perspicuous manner, the nature and object 
 of each of them, and the effects which they produce, and thus 
 cleared the way for those who would wish to engage in the cul- 
 ture or manufacture of that valuable production. 
 
 This work, indeed, has not only been favourably received by 
 the public at large, but has attracted the attention of the National 
 Legislature, who have thought the recommendation that it con- 
 tains to disseminate the difficult art of extracting the raw silk 
 from the cocoons throughout the United States, worthy of being 
 taken into their serious consideration ; and for that purpose, a bill 
 was presented to the House of Representatives on the 12th of 
 March 1S30, by their committee on agriculture, presided by the 
 venerable Ambrose Spencer, late chief justice of the state of 
 New-York, which has hitherto been prevented, by the pressure 
 of other business, from being acted upon ; but which, it is expected, 
 will be resumed by Congress at their approaching session. 
 
 We have said that a great number of works have been publish- 
 ed on the subject of silk within the last five years in America 
 and Europe; we might have added, in every part of Europe; 
 for we have books before us, and in no inconsiderable number, 
 published within that period, in England, France, Italy, and in 
 various parts of Germany. Sonic of those books treat of the cul- 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 ture, others of the manui'acture of silk, and not a few of the silk 
 trade and of political economy as connected with it, according to 
 the real or supposed interest of each particular nation. Thus in 
 England, the question is warmly agitated whether thrown silk, 
 like raw silk, ought to be allowed to be imported free of duty, 
 (raw silk pays only in England, Id per pound) while in Pied- 
 mont, where the exportation of the raw material has been hither- 
 to prohibited, it is questioned whether that prohibition should 
 not be taken off. In France, means are sought for to guard against 
 the competition of the neighbouring states, particularly Switzer- " 
 land, which begins to be considered as a formidable rival, and 
 whose silk manufactures have already found their way into this 
 country, where they are imported in pretty large quantities. In 
 Austria, some attention, indeed, is paid to the culture and manu- 
 facture of silk in the Italian provinces; but as it is not certain 
 that these will remain long annexed to the Imperial crown, great 
 efforts are making to introduce those branches of industry into 
 the hereditary dominions, particularly in Hungary, and if we be- 
 lieve the Chevalier von Heintl, the author of an interesting work 
 on silk lately published at Vienna,* these efforts are not without 
 success. In Bavaria, Prussia, and the other parts of Germany, 
 the same object is pursued. 
 
 Indeed, the serico-mania, if we may so express ourselves, is 
 carried so far every where in Europe, that attempts are making 
 to naturalize the culture of silk in the north as well as the south. 
 France is making experiments in lier northern departments, Eng- 
 land is repeating those, which she has hitherto so many times, 
 since the reign of James I., unsuccessfully made ;t Belgium has an 
 establishment for that purpose in the vicinity of the town of Mh, 
 in llainault; the King of Prussia has appropriated the garden of 
 the invalids at Berlin, to the cultivation of mulberry trees, un- 
 der the care of a Signor Bolzani ; and where the culture of the 
 material is not attempted nor thought sufficiently advanced, ma- 
 nufactures, at least, are introduced ; they are numerous in the 
 Prussian dominions, and Sweden herself has so far advanced, that 
 
 * UiUcrricht im Seidenbaue, von Franz, Ritter von Heintl. Wien, 1829. 
 
 \ Since writing tlie aliove, we have seen Dr. I.ardner's Treatise on Silk, being 
 the 22d Vol. of his Cabinet Cyclopedia, which appeared at London on the 1st of 
 September last, in which he informs us that the Society for the Encouragement 
 of Arts, 8<.c. after having for a series of years proffered rewards to stimulate the 
 culture of silk in England, has at last abandoned these attempts, and now limits 
 itself to promoting the culture of silk in the colonics and in India, p. 324, note 
 Z. So late as the year 1825, thousands of white mulberry plants were imported 
 into England, — the newspapers of the following year announced that 8000 iiad 
 been already planted. In 1827, the Silk Society offered those plants to all who 
 would purchase them, at Ad a piece. An Italian writer, calculating the expense 
 of 200,000 plants which they expected to have and sell at that price, computed 
 that Ihcy would lose, on tiie whole, one million seven hiHidred and fitly thousand 
 lire, equal to upwards of 250,000 dollars. 
 
( 5 ) 
 
 she has thought fit to prohibit tho importation of French manu- 
 factured silks, with which she was formerly abundantly supplied. 
 
 It may not be uninteresting to trace the progress of this state 
 of things ; perhaps it may best be done b}'- a rapid sketch of the 
 history of silk to the present time. 
 
 Silk, generally believed to have originated in China, was 
 known to the ancients. It was brought to them across Asia from 
 the country of the Seres, a Scythian people, whom some suppose 
 to have been Chinese Tartars ; but that is not ascertained. They 
 probably received it but seldom, and in small quantities, as it al- 
 ways bore an enormous price. They were entirely ignorant of 
 the origin of this production. They ascribed it to a kind of spi- 
 der or beetle, which drew the thread from its bowels, and wound 
 it round the small branches of trees. This animal, called by the 
 Greeks o^p or s^pa, but to which the Seres gave another name, 
 fed on millet during four years, and during the fifth, which was 
 the last, on a kind of green cane, in which it much delighted. 
 The people would open it, and extract balls of silk from its 
 bowels. See Pausanias, lib. vi. in fin. The accounts given by 
 Pliny, (Hist. 1. 6. c. 17.) and Ammian Marcellinus, (1. 23. c. G.) 
 are not more satisfactory. The Romans had no word for silk in 
 their language ; they said Jila serica, nema sericum, vestis se- 
 rica, subserica, &c. Aristotle called it by the more appropriate 
 name of Sofievxia. It seems the Greeks had some knowledge of 
 it in his day. 
 
 Thus things remained until the reign of the Emperor Justini- 
 an. Every body knows how the eggs of the silk-worm were 
 brought by two monks in a hollow cane from India to Constanti- 
 nople, and how silk manufactures were established in time at 
 Athens, Thebes, and Corinth ; so that Greece, for a long time, was 
 the only country in Europe where silk was produced. It is also 
 well known, that the Peloponnesus lost its ancient name and took 
 that of Morea, from the mulberry trees with which that country 
 abounded. 
 
 About the middle of the twelfth century, Roger, King of Si- 
 cily, having made a successful war against Manuel, Emperor of 
 the Greeks, brought from Athens, Corinth, and other places 
 which he conquered, experienced workmen, under whose direc- 
 tion he established a silk manufacture at Palermo, and another 
 in Calabria, whence the culture of silk gradually spread through 
 the peninsula of Italy. 
 
 M. Lencisa, the Intendant of the province of Novi, in Pied- 
 mont, in a learned and interesting memoir presented to the Royal 
 Academy of Sciences of Turin, in March 1829,* tells us, that 
 
 * Memorie della Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino. Tom. xxxiv. Classe 
 di Scienze Morali, Storichc e filologiche, p. 137. 
 
( 6 ) 
 
 it is generally believed, (in Italy, we suppose) that silk was in- 
 troduced from Sicily into the Spanish peninsula, about the mid- 
 dle of the eleventh century, which is impossible, since the con- 
 quest of G^reece by King Roger was in the twelfth; but we must 
 do that sensible writer the justice to say, that he does not concur 
 in that general belief; for he observes that it appears indubitable, 
 from various historical relations, that in the year 1099, there 
 were in the kingdom of Jaen only, more than six hundred towns 
 and villages, which flourished by the culture and manufacture of 
 silk, which had reached its highest degree of perfection, precisely 
 at the time when it is said to have been introduced there from 
 Sicily. It is probable also, that the word eleventh, instead of 
 twelfth, or thirteenth, century, in the passage referred to, is an 
 error of the pen or of the press. 
 
 It is most probable that the culture of silk was brought into 
 Spain and Portugal, by the Moors, their conquerors ; at any rate, 
 it is certain that they greatly encouraged that branch of indus- 
 try. About the middle of the thirteenth century, their silk 
 manufactures exceeded in perfection and beauty, all that were at 
 that time known. It is said that when the Moors were expelled 
 from Granada, there were several thousand persons employed in 
 the filature and manufacture of silk in that city only, whence it 
 had extended to Toledo, Murcia, Valencia, and several other 
 places. The raw silks of Valencia, called tramas, are still es- 
 teemed. But the discovery of America, and the East Indies, 
 soon produced their deleterious effects, by encouraging avarice 
 and discouraging industry. In the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- 
 turies, Spain was still reckoned among the nations trading in silk ; 
 in the eighteenth century, she ceased to be considered of that 
 number. 
 
 The silk culture flourished in Mexico, long after the conquest 
 of that country. Cortez introduced there the cultivation of the mul- 
 berry tree. Towards the end of the sixteenth century, taffeties 
 were manufactured there, which were said to excel all other stuffs 
 of the same kind. But some time in the last century, the com- 
 pany of the Philippine Islands, who imported every year a large 
 quantity of raw silk into that country, persuaded the govern- 
 ment to prohibit the culture of that material ; so that no silk is 
 produced at present in Mexico ; and if it were, they have no 
 persons skilled in the art of extracting it from the cocoons. They 
 have throwsters and weavers, who manufacture chiefly sewing 
 silk, shawls, and sashes, out of raw silk, imported from Cliina, a 
 great part of which passes through the United States. It is said 
 that their government is endeavouring to introduce the culture 
 of silk among them. 
 
 It is not, however, through Spain or Portugal, that the culture 
 and manufacture of silk were introduced into the other part^ of 
 
( 7 ) 
 
 Europe, but through Greece, in the first place, and Italy after- 
 wards. It is useless to relate here how these branches of indus- 
 try passed from Sicily and Na])lcs into the Roman states, and 
 from thence to Genoa, Venice, Lombardy, Tuscany, and Pied- 
 mont. During five centuries, Italy enriched herself by the mo- 
 nopoly of the silk trade. Her stuffs were admired and sought 
 for every where. The principal manufactures were carried on 
 at Genoa, Bologna, and Venice. The velvets of Genoa acquired 
 and long maintained a well deserved reputation. The throwst- 
 ing mill was invented at Bologna, but at what period we are not 
 informed. 
 
 To this admirable machine, the manufacture of silk is princi- 
 pally indebted for the high perfection which it has attained. It 
 is not sufficient to reel the silk from the cocoons, to make it fit to 
 be employed in manufactures. It must be afterwards wound, 
 doubled and twisted ; and this is done by means of the throwst- 
 ing mill, and of various engines connected with it. After it has 
 undergone these operations, it is called thrown silk ; before, it 
 is only raw silk. The business of a silk throwster is entirely dif- 
 ferent from that of reelers. It is carried on, and to a very great 
 extent, in countries where silk is not produced ; as for instance, 
 in England. There are also throwsting establishments in silk 
 producing countries, which thus enjoy a double advantage. In the 
 United States, the business of silk throwing was unknown until 
 the present year, when a few throwsting mills have been set up 
 by English emigrants; but they are obliged to work foreign silk, 
 imported chiefly from China, as the silk culture, and above all, 
 the difficult art oi filature, are not sufficiently advanced to sup- 
 ply them with the native raw material. 
 
 These explanatory remarks have been thought necessary, to fa- 
 cilitate the intelligence of what is to follow, as we shall often 
 have to speak oirawnn*! thrownsWk^s contradistinguished from 
 each other. We may now resume our narrative. 
 
 From Italy, the silk culture, with difficulty, penetrated into 
 France. Under the reign of Charles VIII., between 1483 and 
 1498, some gentlemen imported a quantity of mulberry plants 
 from Calabria ; nevertheless, the culture of silk did not make any 
 remarkable progress until the reign of Henry the Fourth, who 
 took it under his special protection. He invited, says Mr. D'Ho- 
 mergue, ohe Michaeli, from Italy, into his dominions, and gave 
 him, for the purpose of forming an extensive plantation of mul- 
 berry trees, the castle of the Marquis de Fournes, situate on the 
 river Gardon, in the vicinity of Nismes, which still bears the 
 name of Michaeli's castle. But the art of filature, and the throw- 
 ing of silk, were unknown at that time; and the same writer tells 
 us, that at Nismes, his native town, tradition has preserved the 
 memory of millions sunk, by rich individuals, in the attempts 
 
 B 
 
( « ) 
 
 which they made to establish silk manufactures. It was reserved 
 for the great Colbert, in the brilliant reign of Louis XIV., to 
 place the silk trade on a solid foundation. He imported the 
 stocking-loom from England, and above all, he invited into his 
 dominions one Benay, a silk throwster from Bologna, who intro- 
 duced the throtvslinff mill, for which important service he was 
 nobly rewarded, <' II fut," says the Dictionnaire Universel du 
 Commerce, verbo Organsin, ''gratific, pensJonne et ennobli."* 
 We shall see presently, that England, long afterwards, rewarded 
 not less munificentl}^, the individual who benefited his country 
 by importing into it that invaluable machine. 
 
 The revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which took place short- 
 ly after the death of Colbert, gave a severe check to the silk trade 
 in France, by compelling her manufacturers to fly to other coun- 
 tries, who enriched themselves by her loss. England, as we shall 
 see, was not the last to profit by it. France, however, recovered 
 from the shock, and after various vicissitudes, her silk manufac- 
 tures, by means of her extensive commerce with Spain and the 
 Levant, and of the colony of St. Domingo, were in a highly 
 flourishing state at the beginning of the revolution, and until the 
 year 1791, when the subversion of that colony began, and all 
 the evils by which France was subsequently afflicted. 
 
 The throwsting mill was not introduced into England until the 
 year 171 9, and then by one John Lombe,as will be presently stated. 
 Yet we find a company of silk throwsters, existing in that coimtry 
 so early as 1562, who were incorporated in 1629, and so pros- 
 perous had their business become, that it is said in the preamble 
 to a statute passed in 1666, (13th and 14th Cha. II. c. 15.) that 
 they had at that time no fewer than 40,000 individuals in their 
 employment.! It would be curious to know by what processes 
 they prepared their silk for the loom, as the throwsting mill was 
 yet unknown among them. In 1685, the revocation of the Edict 
 of Nantes brought to England a great number of silk manufac- 
 turers, who established themselves at Spitalfields ; which, says 
 the Edinburgh Review, has continued ever since the principal 
 seat of the British silk manufacture. Yet, though the throwsting 
 mill had been for some time in use in their country, it seems that 
 they did not bring with them either a model or a drawing of 
 that machinery. More than thirty years elapsed, before England 
 at last came in possession of it. 
 
 An Englishman, of the name of John Lombe, (the name of 
 such a benefactor to his country cannot be too often repeated,) 
 about the year 1717, went over to Italy, for the purpose of obtain- 
 ing a model or drawing of the throwsting mill. Notwithstanding 
 
 * He received pecuniary rewards, a pension, and a title of nobility. 
 , t Ediub. Itev. vol. iliii. Nov. 1«25, p. 17. 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 the vig;ilance of the Italians, he succeeded, and came home with 
 the full knowledge of all the parts and dimensions of the machine, 
 and all its apparatus. On his arrival in England, he obtained a 
 patent, and erected his mill at Derby, where it still remains. 
 Three or four years afterwards he died, and it was suspected that 
 three Italians, two men and one woman, wliom he had brought 
 with him, had got rid of him by poison ; but there is little pro- 
 bability in that story. The woman, it is said, was brought before 
 a magistrate and examined ; but nothing transpired, says my au- 
 thority, except ivhat strengthened suspicion* This story seems 
 very apocryphal. 
 
 Be that as it may, in the year 1732, the patent having expired, 
 his cousin and heir. Sir Thomas Lombe, who had, it is said, ac- 
 cumulated by it £80,000, applied to the Parliament for a renewal. 
 The Parliament refused to grant it, but purchased his right for 
 £ 14,000. Thus he was, as we have observed, not only liberally, 
 but generously rewarded. 
 
 The Edinburgh Review, in the Article cited, very justly ob- 
 serves, that the year 1719, when the patent was granted, is ''an 
 important epoch in the history of the British silk manufacture." 
 From that time it began to flourish, until it reached the high state 
 of prosperity to which it has arrived. 
 
 The British nation, however, were not satisfied with possess- 
 ing the means of manufacturing silk to any extent ; they wanted 
 also the production of the raw material. So earl)' as the reign of 
 James I., efforts had been made to introduce the silk culture into 
 England. But, says the historian Hume, adverting to this fact, 
 ''the climate seems unfavourable to the success of this project."! 
 That prince, who hated tobacco as much as he loved silk, tried 
 to introduce the latter into the colony of Virginia, but in that he 
 also failed. He gave instructions to the Earl of Southampton, to 
 urge the cultivation of silk in that colony, in preference to to- 
 bacco. His instructions were obeyed, and his successors renewed 
 them ; the Colonial Legislature also, by rewards and encourage- 
 ments, and even by inflicting fines, endeavoured to promote the 
 scheme ; but nothing resulted from it, except the planting of a 
 great number of mulberry trees, many of which still remain in 
 the eastern parts of the state. 
 
 Since this unsuccessful attempt, we perceive no other effort 
 of the British nation or government, to introduce the culture 
 of silk into their colonies, until the year 1732, the same year 
 when the government purchased of Sir Thomas Lombe, for the 
 use of the nation, his patent right to the newly imported Ihrowst- 
 Jng mill. This, it would seem, produced considerable excitement; 
 
 * Hlsloiy of Derby, by W. Ilutton. London, 1791. 
 f Hist, of England, note to James I. 
 
( 10 ) 
 
 for in that, year, the settlement of the colony of Georgia was be- 
 gun, and measures were immediately taken to introduce silk into 
 it. They were in a great degree successful, because the proper 
 means were adopted. It was understood that the planting of mul- 
 berry trees, and raising of silk worms, would not be long continu- 
 ed, if there were not some sufficient encouragement to induce the 
 people to persevere ; and the best encouragement was to provide 
 the means of converting the silk of the cocoons to a profitable 
 use. A filature therefore was established at Savannah, under the 
 direction of a Piedmontese, skilled in the art. That filature was 
 the property of the trustees of the colony, who resided in Eng- 
 land, and had an agent on the spot to manage it for them. He 
 purchased the cocoons of the planters, and had them reeled for 
 the benefit of his employers. It is said, that in 1735, the third 
 year from the first settlement of the colony, eight pounds of raw 
 silk were exported to England, and there made into a piece of 
 stuff, which was presented to the queen. This system, however, 
 was not found to answer very well ; in the year 1751, another 
 plan was adopted. A public filature was erected, where the 
 planters brought their cocoons to be reeled for a fixed price, and 
 sold their raw silk to the merchants of the place, who exported 
 it to England. Yet this did not succeed so well as might have 
 been expected, for we find, that between 1755 and 1772, a period 
 of seventeen years, only 8,829 pounds of raw silk were export- 
 ed, which makes little more than 500 pounds per annum. At the 
 revolution it ceased, and no traces of it have remained. The art 
 of reeling silk from the cocoons, is as little known in Georgia as 
 in the other states. This comes from the monopolizing system 
 of the trustees, who, if they had disseminated that art, instead of 
 keeping it to themselves, would have greatly benefited the colo- 
 ny, and at the same time the mother country. But perhaps they 
 foresaw the separation which since took place. 
 
 In the year 1770, as says Mr. Lencisa,* or 1772, as is stated 
 by Dr. Lardner, in his valuable treatise, which has just come to 
 our hands, the British East India Company, with the view of 
 rendering the silk of Bengal, which at that time was of the com- 
 monest kind, and fit only for inferior purposes, acceptable to the 
 English manufacturer, sent proper machinery, and competent 
 persons, to that country, for the establishment of filatures on the 
 Italian system.! It was not, says the last mentioned author, until 
 the year 1776, that any material advantage could be derived from 
 that system. During ten years from that time, the average im- 
 portation of raw silk from Bengal, amounted to 560,283 pounds 
 
 • Memorie della Reale Accademia, &.C. p. 109. 
 
 t Lardiier, on the Origin, progressive Improvement, and present State, of tlie 
 Silk Manufacture, p. 11. 
 
( 11 ) 
 
 fe.r annnm. But the silk was considered greatly inferior, and 
 prior to 1794, it was thought applicable to a very limited number 
 of uses. The company then sent silk throwsters, to convert it 
 into organzinc, which measure was strongly opposed by the im- 
 porters of foreign silks; who, at last, understood their own inter- 
 est, and employed organzined East India silk for many of their 
 best fabrics. 
 
 At the commencement of the French Revolution, Italy, France, 
 and Great Britain, were the only Christian countries of Europe 
 engaged in the silk trade. Spain, indeed, cultivated and manufac- 
 tured silk, but not enough to supply herself and her colonies ; the 
 deficiency was furnished by France. The manufactures of Italy 
 were no longer what they had been, and her trade in them was 
 very circumscribed. She sold her raw and thrown silks to Eng- 
 land and France ; in some parts, as in Piedmont, the exportation 
 of the former was prohibited, as it still is. The same prohibition 
 existed, and still exists, in France. 
 
 Of the silk trade of England at that epoch, we cannot say much. 
 When we received Dr. Lardner's treatise " on the origin, pro- 
 gressive improvement, and present state of the silk manufacture," 
 which we have mentioned above, we expected to have found in 
 it the materials to fill up this chasm ; but on this subject the au- 
 thor says but little. He tells us, (p. 71) that in the year 1794, 
 the quantity of silk organzined in the English mills did not ex- 
 ceed 50,000 pounds weight annually ; the residue, therefore, must 
 have been made up of Italian thrown silks, from whence we infer 
 that her silk trade was not any thing to be compared to what it 
 has become since. The organzines of Bengal were still discourag- 
 ed by the importers of Italian silks, and the resources of that dis- 
 tant possession had not been sufficiently proved. By the com- 
 mercial treaty of 1786, the silk manufactures of France were 
 allowed to be imported into England on liberal terms; but the 
 revolution, a few years afterwards, put an end to this branch of 
 commerce. 
 
 France, at that time, was the country where the silk trade 
 most flourished. Dr. Lardner informs us, (p. 48) that in that 3"car, 
 Lyons alone employed 15,000 looms, which appears below the 
 mark; for the Chevalier von Heintl, (p. 15) asserts, that in 
 1789, there were in Paris, 30,000 looms for velvet, satin, and 
 taffeties; 20,000 stocking, and 30,000 ribband looms, which pro- 
 duced the annual amount of 27,000,000 of florins; and yet Dr. 
 Lardner says, that in that year, in consequence of the incipient 
 revolution, the silk manufacture had fallen off in France, to one 
 half of what it was three years before. This would appear in- 
 credible, if we were not satisfactorily informed, that the same 
 thing happened on the invasion of France by the allies in 1814, 
 and on the return of Napoleon from Elba. At the last epoch, at 
 
( 12 ) 
 
 NIsmes, 3,000 silk looms were reduced to less th.in 1,000. This, 
 however, wns but temporary ; but it shows the terrible effects of 
 wars and political shocks on the industry of nations. 
 
 Such was the state of the silk culture and trade in Europe, at 
 the beginning of the French Revolution. We shall pass over 
 those disastrous times, and give a cursory view of what has taken 
 place since the pacification of 1814, most of which had its source 
 in the events of the revolutionary war. The remainder of this 
 article shall be devoted to our own country. 
 
 The continental system, which the Emperor Napoleon con- 
 ceived would have turned to the advantage of France, and to the 
 detriment, nay, to the destruction of Great Britain, produced 
 effects directly opposite, particularly in what concerns the silk 
 trade. Great Britain, no longer able to supply herself in sufficient 
 quantities with the raw material from Italy and Turkey, and with 
 organzined silks from the former country, turned her thoughts 
 seriously to the East Indies. The continental nations of Europe, 
 no longer supplied with silk manufactures from any country but 
 France, and she not being able to satisfy their wants, began to 
 think of manufacturing for themselves ; and even, as we have 
 seen, to raise the raw material in their own countries, however 
 the scheme might be opposed by their climates. While the wars 
 were raging, their efforts were not considerable; but some years 
 after the peace was confirmed, a general impulse towards the cul- 
 ture and manufacture of silk, was felt throughout Europe, 
 
 The Chevalier von Heintl, in his excellent treatise, which we 
 always cite with pleasure, expresses himself thus: "a new era 
 has begun in the history of the silk culture. Every where go- 
 vernments are at work, to turn the minds of their people towards 
 this branch of industry ; this epoch will be very important, be- 
 cause the benevolent views of the governments will be promoted 
 by the agricultural societies which exist every where." (p. 57.) 
 
 The same author continues, and gives a view of what is doing 
 in the different states of Germany, and in the north of Europe. 
 "Extraordinary exertions," he says, " are making in the German 
 states, who observe the flourishing silk culture in the hereditary 
 dominions of Austria. Bavaria, Wurtenberg, Baden, Hesse, Nas- 
 sau, Saxe-Meiningen, and Prussia, who at present draw their silk 
 from the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, are making every exer- 
 tion to produce it themselves." 
 
 This writer then proceeds to state in detail the measures taken 
 by different governments to introduce the culture of silk into 
 their dominions, but our limits do not permit us to follow 
 him in those particulars. Speaking of Prussia, the Netherlands, 
 and Sweden, he mentions the facts that we have already no- 
 ticed. In the latter country, he says, that "3,000 mulberry 
 
( 13 ) 
 
 trees have been planted at Ladugaardsholm, by order of King 
 Charles John XIV., with a view to the raising of silk worms. 
 But whether this project will succeed in that northern country is 
 not yet ascertained. In France, Charles X. , with a view to ex- 
 tend the culture of silk to the northern departments, purchased, 
 in 1825, an estate at Corbeil, not far from Versailles, for a plan- 
 tation of mulberry trees. Russia is making great efforts to intro- 
 duce that culture in her newly acquired Asiatic possessions." 
 We know, from good authority, that she has already expended 
 immense sums of money in that project, and that her success is 
 yet doubtful. Lastly, he speaks of the efforts of Great Britain, 
 both in England and Ireland, for the same object, which Dr. 
 Lardner tells us, have proved abortive. And he concludes with 
 saying, that 'Hhe extension of the culture of silk is an object 
 which has attracted the attention of the ivhole world.'''' (p. Gl.) 
 
 If the efforts of the nations of Europe to introduce the culture 
 of silk even into their most northern latitudes, do not seem to 
 promise to be attended with success, it is not so with their ex- 
 ertions to introduce the silk manufactures, which have already 
 succeeded beyond all expectation. In order to form an idea of 
 this, we must hear the complaints of M. de Teste, a late French 
 writer, to whose able work on the present state of the silk trade 
 in France,* we have frequently had recourse in the pursuit of 
 these investigations. "Our neighbours," says he, "animated 
 with the spirit that inspired Henry IV. and Colbert, neglect 
 none of the means by which to increase the prosperity of their 
 silk manufactures. Do we not see already England advancing 
 in India with gigantic steps; Zurich, rivalling by her competi- 
 tion, our manufactures of plain silks; Naples and Belgium, ap- 
 propriating to themselves the commerce of sewing silks ; Vienna 
 annihilating our fabrics of handkerchiefs ; Sweden, prohibiting 
 »)ur silk manufactures, and Stockholm endeavouring to supply 
 her own consumption and that of Norvvay; Moscow, with larger 
 establishments than our own, fabricating silk tissues of every 
 kind ? Have we not seen of late years agents from the Pacha of 
 Egypt, enticing French manufacturers away from our country, 
 and do we not see every day our machinery clandestinely trans- 
 ported to foreign lands?" A volume could not tell us more than 
 this French writer does in these few lines. How different this 
 state of things from that which existed before the French Revo- 
 lution ! 
 
 The silk manufacturers of Lyons, in a memorial presented to 
 the minister of commerce and manufactures, in 1839, t hold the 
 
 * Da Commerce dcs Soies et Soieries en France, considerc dans ses rapports 
 avec celui des autrcs Etats. Par Leon de Teste, Avignon, 1830: 8vo: pp. 180. 
 
 f Memoire presentc i\ S. E. le Ministre du Commerce et des Manufactures par 
 Ics tatiiicaiis d'eloH'cs dc Suic dc la Villc dc i-}oii. L^on, 182y: 4to. pp. 46. 
 
( M ) 
 
 same language. The prosperity of their city, they say, is every 
 day declining, not from transient and accidental circumstances, 
 but from active nnd. permanent causes, which strike their manu- 
 factures in the very principles of their existence. These causes 
 do not proceed from some local abuses which they point out, and 
 are easy to be remedied, but from the competition of their neigh- 
 bours, particularly Switzerland, which being poor and indus- 
 trious, and consequently able to afford her merchandise cheaper 
 than France, and being nearer to the Italian markets of raw and 
 thrown silks, supplies Germany and America with her manufac- 
 tures, and threatens those of Lyons with destruction. 
 
 It is certain that many of the silk goods which commonly pass 
 here for French manufacture, come from Switzerland. They 
 are chiefly what are called plain stuffs, such as silk for umbrel- 
 las, Icvantines, taffeties, florences, ribbands, and some gros de 
 Naples. They come through the ports of France, where they 
 are allowed a transit, and also through Hamburg. It is to be 
 presumed that they also find their way into Mexico and the 
 South American states. 
 
 While the continental nations of Europe are thus making ex- 
 ertions to appropriate to themselves the benefits of the silk cul- 
 ture and trade, Great Britain is not unmindful of her interest in 
 that particular. Indeed, the great advances she has made since 
 the beginning of the present century, are well worthy of exciting 
 attention. Her importations of raw and thrown silks from all 
 parts of the world, have trebled since the year 1800. It will be 
 curious to trace her progress during that period. For that pur- 
 pose we have made the following abstracts from detailed tahles 
 in the work of M. De Teste. He states them to have been made 
 at Milan, by one J. De Welz. The weights are given in Italian 
 pounds of 12 ounces. — We can say nothing of their accuracy, 
 except that we should not suppose that an Italian or a French- 
 man would be disposed to exaggerate the commercial advantages 
 of Great Britain. 
 
 Importations of raw and thrown silks into London and Liver- 
 pool, since the year 1800. 
 From 1800 to 1808, a period of nine years: — 
 
 Founds weight. Totals. 
 
 Importations from Italy, 9,824,640 
 
 from India & China, 7,149,400 
 
 16,974,040 
 
 Average for each year, 1,886,004 lbs. 
 From 1809 to 1817, nine years: — 
 
 Importations from Italy, 10,369,320 
 
 from India & China, 10,898,600 
 
 Average for each year, 3,363,102 lbs. 
 
 21,267,920 
 
( 15 ) 
 From 1818 to 1S2(), nine years: — 
 
 Pounds weight. Totals. 
 
 Importations from Italy, 17,333,540 
 
 from India & China, 19,721,600 
 
 Average for each year, 4,1 17,237 lbs.* 
 
 Importations in 1827: — 
 
 From Italy, 2,695,180 
 
 India & China, 1,855,800 
 
 Persia and the Levant, 408,000 
 
 Into Liverpool, 316 
 
 37,055,140 
 
 Importations in 1S28: — 
 
 From Italy, 3,311,940 
 
 India, 1,422,200 
 
 China, 372,200 
 
 Persia and the Levant, 762,000 
 
 Spain, 14,800 
 
 Into Liverpool, 228,140 
 
 4,959,896 
 
 Importations in 1829 ; — 
 
 From Italy, 1,460,300 
 
 India and China, 2,895,600 
 
 China, 215,600 
 
 Persia and the Levant, 294,200 
 
 Spain and Teneriffe, 6,400 
 
 Into Liverpool, 122,400 
 
 6,111,280 
 
 4,994,500 
 
 The reader will have observed, that a great part of the importa- 
 tions of the raw material by Great Britain, particularly of late 
 years, are from her East India possessions. In the above tables, 
 the importations from India are in general mixed with those from 
 China; but in the table for 1828, tliey are fortunately separated, 
 and the latter appear trifling in comparison with the former. 
 
 Of the rise and progress of the British filatures in India, we 
 have but a very scanty knowledge. Dr. Lardner informs us that 
 the reeling machinery was sent thither from England in 1772, 
 but that until 1794, the quality of the Company's silk was con- 
 sidered to be very inferior to that produced in Italy and Turkey, 
 and was thought applicable only to a very limited nimil)er of 
 uses. From that time, he says, that the importations of India silk 
 
 * This would seem exaggerated; in tlie Edinburgh Review, vol. xliii. p. 
 80, Nov. 1825, there is a table, siiowing the lni|)()rls ot raw and throw n silk from 
 5lh January, 1823, to 5th Januar}', 1824, which amount only to 2,811,772 lbs.; 
 of which 1,218,661 from Ueiigal, 196,787 from Italy, and 392,717 from China 
 and Persia. The ditterence Ijetween Italian pounds and pounds avoirdupois, 
 docs not sulliciently account for tiial wiiich aiipcars htre. 
 
 c 
 
( Ifi ) 
 
 have been gradually improving in quality, until it now ranks, for 
 the most part, very little below the Italian organzines, and in 
 some few instances has even sold for the highest prices afforded 
 by the market, (pp. 71, 72.) 
 
 He informs us further, (p. 73,) that Bengal silk is distin- 
 guished by two appellations — country tvoimd ?lx\A filatures, the 
 former being furnished by native adventurers, who employ none 
 but the rudest methods for winding it; while the latter is pro- 
 duced by the servants of. the East India Company, and treated 
 according to the most approved European methods. Throwsting 
 mills have also been introduced into India, where the silk is or- 
 gan/,! ned. Tlie best of the filature silks of India, are those of 
 Radnngoro and Cossindjazar, which again are excelled by those 
 of Gonatea and Comarcolly. In the last of these, a system has 
 been adopted, (wc presume by means of Crcnsoul's celebrated 
 aj)paratus,) of giving the necessary degree of heat to the cocoons 
 wiiile Ijcing wound, by means of steam. 
 
 Thus much Dr. Lardner. But in this distant country, we 
 should like to know more of this silk establishment, begun so 
 early as 1772, and which for a long time made such a slow pro- 
 gress. We have been informed from other sources, that their 
 late success is owing to their having obtained a good director 
 of a filature from Novi, in Piedmont, who taught their people 
 the art of reeling silk from the cocoons, whence the best Bengal 
 silks are quoted in the London prices current by the name of 
 Novi; but at what period this Italian was brought into that coun- 
 try, and what course he pursued, notwithstanding the inquiries 
 we have made, we have not been able to learn. We are told 
 that the natives of Bengal are unwilling to abandon their imper- 
 fect methods of filature, which is the cause of the diifercnce in 
 price that exists between what are called the Company's and the 
 native raw silks. 
 
 Although great quantities of India raw silks arc yearly im- 
 j)orted into England, it seems those importations are chiefly 
 from the native filatures, and that the silks of the Company are 
 yet very scarce. And it would seem also that the latter have 
 not yet obtained the degree of estimation, in which those of 
 France and Italy are held ; for Mr. Badnall, a late intelligent 
 English writer, tells us (p. IG.) that " notwithstanding all the 
 attention and care which the East India Company have devoted 
 to an amelioration of their filatures, the only silk calculated for 
 the manufacture of the richest qualities of broad goods, is 
 that produced in Italy, or in the southern provinces of 
 France.^'-^ 
 
 • A view of tlie silk U'adc, witli remarks on the recent measures of govern- 
 ment, ill regard to tliat brancli of manufacture, Uy Iticliaril Badnall Esquire. 
 London, 1828. pp. 108. 8vo. 
 
( 17 ) 
 
 Although Great "Britain imports yearly such lar2;c quantities 
 of raw and thrown silk IVoni different countries, we must not 
 suppose that the whole of it is employed in her manufactures; 
 we are informed that she sells a great part of it to other nations, 
 and even to France, who supplies herself in a considerable de- 
 gree with raw silks, at the London market. Therefore, to judge 
 of the relative state of the silk manufactures, and of the trade 
 arising from them in Great Britain and France, we must lose 
 sight of the importations of the raw material hy the former, and 
 confine ourselves to what tl'iey both actually manufacture. France 
 imports no raw or thrown silks, except for the use of her manu- 
 facturers. 
 
 M. De Teste has supplied us with materials, which, if they are 
 to be relied on, Avill help us in a great measure to make this in- 
 teresting comparison, by two tables, showing the quantity of 
 pounds of silk manufactured by England and France respective- 
 ly, in the course of one year, and showing the countries where the 
 silk is raised, or from whence it is imported. He assures us that 
 the first of these statements is taken from the Registers of the 
 English Custom-houses. As these two tables are short, we in- 
 f?ert them here. 
 
 I. Statement of the Silks manufactured by England, from the 
 1st of April 1822, to the 20th of March 1823. (De Teste, 
 p. 133.) 
 
 Pounds weight. 
 Organzines of Piedmont and Italy, - 327,886 
 Raw silks of Italy, - - - - 542,556 
 Fantaisies, . _ . _ . 45,965 
 
 Raw silks from the Levant, - - 224,054 
 Raw silks from India, . - - 1,215,005 
 
 2,355,466* 
 II. Table showing the quantity of silk manufiictured in France, 
 in the course of one year. (Do Teste, p. 128.) 
 
 Kilo.^rams. 
 French raw silk, . _ . 416,666 
 
 Organzines of Piedmont, - - 222,000 
 
 Raw and thrown silk of upper Italy, - 185,000 
 Silk from Naples, Sicily, the Levant, and 
 
 India, . . _ . 360,000 
 
 1,183,666 
 
 * When we compare this amount with that of 2,811,772, given in the Edin- 
 burgh Review, as mentioned in a note above, as that of the impnrf.nfimis of (irea.t 
 IJritain, in the year 1823-4, we aie at a loss to conceive how tliis could be the 
 manufactured amount in tiie next preceding year. Yet M. De Teste tells us 
 tiiat his statement is exU'acted from the Books of the English Custom-houses. If 
 ifis extracts arc of im])()rts, instead of tnanufaclured goods, then England must 
 manufacture much less than France, which the Edinburgh Review will not allow. 
 
( IS ) 
 
 The kilogram being somewhat, more than two pounds, (say 2 
 pounds 5 drachms and a half) the above amount is something more 
 than 2,367,332 pounds, making, with but a trifling difference in 
 favour of France, the same quantity of silk which M. Dc Teste 
 states to be annually manufactured in England. 
 
 The same author, however, tells us, (p. 131) that France con- 
 sumes only one fourth of the silk she manufactures, and exports 
 the remainder to foreign countries, while England, on the con- 
 trary, (p. 13()) consumes at home three-fourths of her silk manu- 
 factured goods, and sells to foreigners only one-fourth. We are 
 willing to give credit to this very able writer for what he says 
 respecting his own country ; but we must acknowledge that we 
 are not satisfied with his statements respecting British importa- 
 tions and manufactures — nor are we completely satisfied with the 
 information that we receive from English writers. Taking for 
 granted the fact, which we believe cannot be denied, that England 
 imports more raw and thrown silks than she manufactures, we 
 ought to have the means of taking a comparative view of what 
 she converts into goods, and of what she disposes of in the unma- 
 nufactured state. This might easily be ascertained from the Regis- 
 ters of the British Custom-houses, as the drawback system requires 
 the entry of the exportations as well as importations. 
 
 Until after the month of July 1S26, the importation of foreign 
 silk manufactures was prohibited in England. Since that period, 
 by virtue of an act of Parliament passed in 1824, they are admit- 
 ted under a protecting duty of 30 per cent. There are those who 
 attribute to this measure the recent inci-ease of the English silk 
 trade. Others ascribe it to the improvement of the British fila- 
 tures in the East Indies. This is a question which we are not 
 called upon to decide. 
 
 France has a graduated rale of duties on imported silk manu- 
 factures ; it is laid on the weight of the article. The lowest on 
 plain stuffs, is 16 fr. per kilogram. The highest, on gold and sil- 
 ver tissues, is 31 fr. on the same weight. There is a small dis- 
 criminating duty on silk stuff's imported in foreign ships or ves- 
 sels. 
 
 But it is time we should turn to our own country. We have 
 given, as well as we have been able, a general view of the silk 
 culture, manufacture, and trade, in Europe, before the French 
 Revolution, and of the changes that have taken place to the pre- 
 sent time. We have selected the most important facts to lay 
 before our readers, particularly those which have a bearing on the 
 interest of the United States. It now remains for us to take a 
 view of our own prospects, for prospects only they are at present, 
 and to show in what manner this country, to which Providence 
 has been so bountiful, may avail herself of the gifts she has re- 
 ceived from the hands of her Creator, to reach the end to which 
 
( 19 ) 
 
 she appears destined, and become a rich silk-growing and silk- 
 manufacturing country. 
 
 It is a fact now well ascertained, that the white Italian mul- 
 berry tree will grow and thrive in every part of the United 
 States. Silk worms and cocoons have been successfully raised 
 as far north as Kennebeck, in the State of Maine. In Connecti- 
 cut, the mulberry trees abound, and cocoons are annually pro- 
 duced to a great amount, which are manufactured into sewing 
 silk by the industrious females of Tolland and Windham coun- 
 ties, principally — the cocoons are very fine, and some of the 
 worms produce two crops in the year. There is a considerable 
 nursery of the white Italian mulberry in the vicinity of Phila- 
 delphia, and cocoons are raised in several counties of this State. 
 We have seen some very fine produced in Indiana county. They 
 are of the white species, compact and hard, and promise to 
 yield much silk. The finest and the best that we have seen, are 
 from South Carolina and Louisiana; of the latter, 14 lb. G oz. 
 produced, on being reeled at Philadelphia, of course, after the 
 chrysalis had been killed, 3 lb. 11 oz. of fine raw silk, spun for 
 organzine, which will hardly be credited in Europe, where eight 
 pounds, at least, of such cocoons, are required to produce an ounce 
 of raw silk. We have seen some from South Carolina, which pro- 
 duced nearly the same results. The more northern cocoons, as 
 far as has been observed, require about six pounds to one pound 
 of silk. Further experiments, however, remain to be made. 
 Much depends on the manner in which the silk worms are raised 
 which make the* cocoons, and those which we have mentioned 
 from South Carolina and Louisiana, had been raised with great 
 care, by persons well acquainted with the most approved me- 
 thods. 
 
 The silk of the United States has been judged by experienced 
 manufacturers in England to be equal in quality to that of Ben- 
 gal. In France it has been found equal to some of their best 
 silks. We have seen samples of gros de Naples, manufac- 
 tured this year at Manchester, in England, out of raw silk sent 
 from the filature at Philadelphia. It yields to none in beauty and 
 lustre. The great characteristics of American silk, as of that of 
 Bengal, are nerve and strength, in consequence of which it pro- 
 duces less waste in reeling and throwing, and the stufTs made out 
 of it will exceed all others in durability. 
 
 We have seen in a preceding part of this article, the efforts 
 that were made by the British government to introduce the cul- 
 ture of silk into Virginia, and those of the trustees of Georgia to 
 establish it in that colony. — The former entirely failed, because 
 no substantial encouragement was given to the colonists to induce 
 them to produce cocoons ; the latter, though it succeeded for a 
 time, produced no lasting advantage, because the art of reeling 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 or spinning Iho silk wns nnl, (lififusod amonc; tlio pooplo, and con- 
 sequently, .it the revolution, was lost to the coulltr3^ Wc shnll 
 now speak of similar attempts made by individuals in Pennsyl- 
 vania and Connecticut, with a view to the same object, the one 
 of which, though begun on correct principles, failed in conse- 
 quence of an event which could not have been foreseen, and the 
 other, though it succeeded, has been productive of no material 
 advantage to the country. 
 
 In the year 176.9, while the government of Great Britain were 
 contemplating the introduction of the filature of raw silk into 
 their possessions in India, Dr. Franklin, who watched every 
 thing of the kind with an eagle's eye, and never lost sight of the 
 interest of his country, vi^rote a letter to his friend, the late Dr. 
 Cadwallader Evans, in which he recommended a plan for intro- 
 ducing the culture of silk into Pennsylvania. That letter was 
 communicated to the American Philosophical Society, of which 
 Franklin was then President, and that learned body immediately 
 determined on submitting the plan to the colonial legislature, 
 and requesting their aid to carry it into execution. On the 6th 
 of February, 1770, they presented a petition to the House of 
 Assembly, then sitting in Philadelphia, in which they set forth: 
 "That in this province, where the mulberry tree is of sponta- 
 neous growth, and which is well adapted to the raising of silk 
 worms; what seemed chiefly wanting to promote the culture of 
 silk, was — that the cocoons or balls should be vnadc a mer- 
 chantable commodity to all ivho choose to sell them, and that 
 there be a cheap and easy method of winding them for those 
 who may choose to work up their silk for their own use." They 
 therefore proposed : " That a public filature be established a1 
 Philadelphia (and afterwards at such places in the province as 
 might be thought necessary) for winding cocoons, and that pro- 
 per managers of the filature be appointed, with power to employ 
 a fit person, at reasonable rates, to wind the cocoons belonging to 
 all who may choose to work their own silk, and to purchase and 
 wind for the jjublic account all cocoons that may be offered for 
 sale at the filature."* For which purpose they desired appropri- 
 ations of money to be made, the details of which are not im- 
 portant. 
 
 This was exactly the plan pursued by the trustees of Georgia, 
 in which their two successive systems were combined ; the one of 
 converting cocoons into raw silk for a fixed price, the other of 
 purchasing them for the government. The former was in favour 
 of those who should wish to work their own silk, of which they 
 could have only made coarse and imperfect stuffs, as the British 
 
 * Votes and Proceedings of the Mouse of Representatives of Pennsylvania, 
 vol. vi. p. 216. 
 
( ^1 ) 
 
 ji;overninent would not, probably,, at that time, have permitted the 
 introduction of throwsting mills into the country; the other was 
 entirely for the benefit of the owners of the fdature, who would, 
 of course, have sold their raw silk to the merchants to be ex- 
 ported to England. No one then seems to have thought of dif- 
 fusing the art of reeling silk through the province, for the bene- 
 fit of all, or perhaps circumstances rendered it difficult, at that 
 early period, to carry such a plan into execution. That of Dr. 
 Franklin, however, as well as that of the trustees of Georgia, 
 were both placed on the right foundation, tho.t o( beg'inmng ivitk 
 the art of reeling the silk from the cocoons; which the pro- 
 duction of these would soon follow. 
 
 It does not appear that the Legislature acted at all on the Phi- 
 losophical Society's petition; that learned body, however, were 
 not discouraged ; they raised money by private subscriptions, 
 and erected a filature at Philadelphia, in which it is said, a skil- 
 ful Frenchman was employed; but we have not been able to dis- 
 cover his name, or what became of him or of the filature at the 
 revolution, which put an end to the scheme. All our endeavours 
 to obtain further particulars have been fruitless. 
 
 Ten years before that period, in 1760, while war was still rag- 
 ing in America between Great Britain and France, a Mr. Na- 
 thaniel Aspinwall, who, from all accounts we have of him, was 
 a zealous patriot, undertook to introduce the culture of silk into 
 the colony of Connecticut. He had planted on Long Island, a 
 lai-ge nursery of mulberry trees ; he planted another at New- 
 Haven, and was very active in obtaining acts of the legislature, 
 granting liberal bounties not only to those who should plant and 
 raise mulberry trees, but also to those who should produce given 
 quantities of raw silk. Neither Mr. Aspinwall, nor the legis- 
 lature of Connecticut, seem to have been aware of any difficulty 
 in the preparation of that article, of any art to be learnt by in- 
 struction and experience, or of any peculiar machinery to be em- 
 ployed, to give that form to the raw material, which alone could 
 fit it to be employed in manufactures, and thus become a source 
 of riches to the country ; on the contrary, they obtained legisla- 
 tive encouragement for the use of rude and imperfect methods, 
 which it will be found hereafter difficult to eradicate. Their 
 only object, perhaps, was to promote domestic industiy, not to 
 produce riches. 
 
 The effect was such as might have been foreseen, if the pro- 
 moters of this scheme had possessed the knowledge which it seems 
 they wanted. Mulberry trees were planted in various parts of the 
 colony, but chiefly in what is now the counties of Windham and 
 Tolland. Silk-worms then were raised, and cocoons produced, 
 and the industrious females immediately set to work, not only to 
 spin the raw material, but to convert it into sewing-silk. For 
 
( ^2 ) 
 
 these operations they used no other machinery than their com- 
 mon spinning-wheels, and it is but justice to them to say, that it 
 is astonishing how well they succeeded in producing an article, 
 which, though not merchantable in our great commercial towns, 
 serves them for a great number of domestic purposes. But it 
 must be said also, that during seventy years, that the manufac- 
 ture has been carried on among them, it has not at all improved, 
 nor is it likely to improve, until they shall adopt different me- 
 thods and different machinery. 
 
 In fact, the making of sewing-silk, in countries where the silk 
 manufactures are known and practised, employs persons of two 
 different professions, entirely distinct from each other. The reel- 
 ing of the silk, as it is called, that is to say, the extracting of the 
 raw material from the cocoons, and spinning it into hanks or 
 skeins, is performed by women, either in large filatures, under 
 the direction of an overseer, or on a small scale, in the farmers' 
 houses, by females who have had long practice and experience. 
 This art, simple as it appears, is nevertheless difficult, because of 
 the great evenness required in the threads, and of other requi- 
 sites, which demand a great deal of skill and dexterity, as well 
 as jjractice. The machinery for this process, however, is simple, 
 and not very costly. 
 
 From the hands of the reelers, the silk passes into those of the 
 throwster, who converts it into sewing-silk. The machinery 
 which he uses, is costly and complicated. His two principal 
 operations are winding the raw silk from the skeins upon bob- 
 bins, which is done by a machine called a winder, and afterwards 
 twisting it backwards and forwards several times, in thethrowst- 
 ing mill. If the threads stick too much to each other, by means 
 of the gum with which they are impregnated, (which happens 
 from the unskilfulness or inattention of the reeler) those threads 
 frequently break in the operation of winding, and if there is also 
 too great a degree of inequality in the silk, the weak parts break 
 in that of twisting, and from these and other defects arise what 
 is called waste, which produces considerable loss. Mr. Badnall, 
 the English writer above cited, informs us, (p. 34) that the best 
 Italian and French silks, lose only by waste, from 4 to 10 per 
 cent. ; the American silk reeled at Philadelphia under Mr. D'Ho- 
 mergue's direction, and sent to Manchester to be manufactured, 
 lost only, as we are assured, 3|. per cent., which is astonishing, 
 considering that it was the first essay of American women, in an 
 art till then entirely unknown to them. 
 
 It is by the degree of waste that it suffers in throwing, that its 
 good or bad reeling is judged of, and its value chiefly estimated. 
 We are informed by the Manual published in 1S2S, under the 
 authority of Congress, that the raw silk, produced by the Vv'o- 
 nien of Connecticut, according to their present method, loses, on 
 
( 23 ) 
 
 being thrown, 371 per cent., a proportion of waste far bcj'ond 
 any experienced elsewhere. See Manual, p. 214. 
 
 The sewing-silk of Connecticut, is not twisted by throwsters, 
 but by the same women who extract it from the cocoons, and 
 with the same domestic machinery. The operation of dyeing, 
 which follows, wants also the perfection which it would receive 
 from the masters of the art. 
 
 However disposed we may be, (and none, surely, are more so 
 than ourselves) to praise the talent, ingenuity, and industry of 
 our fair countrywomen, we cannot be so blinded by our prepos- 
 session in their favour, as to believe that they can perform im- 
 possibilities. We admire them for what they have done, which 
 is a great deal more than could have been expected under such 
 circumstances. But we are bound to say, that they have been led 
 into a wrong course, the proof of which is, that the silk districts, 
 which ought to be the richest, are the poorest parts of the state 
 of Connecticut. 
 
 The sewing-silk made in that state, in the manner we have 
 described, is sold by the farmers to the country merchants or 
 traders, who sell, or commit it to ])ccllars, who hawk it about the 
 country and exchange it for all sorts of ])roduce. Very little cash 
 is employed in these transactions. Skeins of silk, of which the 
 length has been fixed by an act of the legislature, to prevent 
 frauds, are taken in payment as money, in the shops or stores, at 
 a fixed price, for the articles that the farmers stand in need of, 
 and thus it has become a sort of currency. According to the Ma- 
 nual, the price of those skeins was, in 1828, at the rate of four 
 dollars per pound. See the Manual, page last above cited. 
 
 We have been informed by persons who reside on the spot, 
 that the sales of sewing silk in the two counties of Windham and 
 Tolland, including the town of Mansfield, amount annually to 
 ^ 15,000 or $ 18,000. This is, of course, nominal, as the sales are 
 made almost entirely by way of barter. We learn also, from the 
 same source, that this amount is produced by 8000 pounds of raw 
 silk, each of which is made out of 20 pounds of cocoons, and which 
 we suppose will make in the whole, about 4000 or 4500 pounds of 
 sewing silk. From these data, it is easy to show how it happens that 
 those silk districts remain so poor in the midst of their riches ; and 
 how much more they would gain, if they were only to confine them- 
 selves to the sale of their cocoons. Forty cents per pound have been 
 given for good cocoons in the city of Philadelphia, during the two 
 last summers, and it is probable that this price will be kept up at 
 least for some years. But let us suppose them to be worth only 25 
 cents per pound ; 8000 pounds of raw silk require 160,000 pounds 
 of cocoons, which, at 25 cents, would give ^40,000, and at 40 cents, 
 {?G4,000. Deduct from cither of these sums, ^18,000, and see 
 what a difierence it will make in favour of the Connecticut far- 
 
 D 
 
( 24 ) 
 
 mer! And this not to be paid for in barter or on credit, but in 
 ready money, and in good gold or silver coin, or in bank notes. 
 
 We know, that from time to time, puffs are inserted in our news- 
 papers, to mislead the public as to the real state of the silk cul- 
 ture and manufacture in Connecticut, in which every fact is 
 grossly exaggerated. What we have said above is from good 
 authority ; indeed, we obtained it at Mansfield, during a short 
 stay that we made there in the course of last summer. We have 
 thought it necessary to be rather prolix on this subject, because 
 we find this sewing silk mania extending fast through almost 
 every state in this Union, and as we think it will only tend to in- 
 troduce an unprofitable business, and what is worse, bad methods 
 of reeling and twisting silk, into our country, we could not say tea 
 much to put our fellow-citizens on their guard against an evil 
 Wiiich we sincerely deprecate. 
 
 About the year 1790, the same Mr. Aspinwall made some ef- 
 forts to introduce the silk culture into the states of New-York, 
 New-Jersey, and Pennsylvania. He produced a temporaiy excite- 
 ment, which resulted in the planting of a considerable number of 
 mulberry trees, but his endeavours, active and zealous as they 
 were, had no other effect; because, says the author of the manual, 
 " there was no inducement for the people to raise cocoons — there 
 was no market for them.'''* For, very judiciously observes the 
 same author, " there can be no hesitation in saying, that a ready 
 sale for cocoons, is alone wanting to establish the silk culture as 
 a regular employment in the United States." (Manual, p. 17.) 
 
 And how is a market for cocoons to be established? Not by 
 telling the people that they must plant mulberry trees, and raise 
 silk-worms ; not by publishing manuals to instruct them in the 
 best methods of producing the cocoons; but by introducing effec- 
 tually into the country those arts which alone can make that cul- 
 ture profitable. When this is done, the mulberry trees, and the 
 silk worms, and the cocoons, and the manuals, will come of them- 
 selves. 
 
 The period which Mr. Aspinwall chose for introducing the 
 silk culture among us was not well chosen. The French Revo- 
 lution had begun, and Europe was on the point of being involved 
 in a general war. Commerce in the north, and the culture of cot- 
 ton in the south, engrossed the whole attention of our citizens. 
 Therefore it is no wonder that his project failed, even if it had 
 possessed all the requisites that were wanting to make it succeed. 
 No more was heard of silk in this country until about the year 
 1825. 
 
 At that time the silk 7nania was, in Europe, at its greatest 
 height. Great Britain had just been compelled to abandon her 
 long cherished prohibitory system, to protect her own silk trade 
 against the competition of her rivals. There is seldom a great 
 
( 25 ) 
 
 excitement in the civilized parts of the other hemisphere, hut it 
 is feit more or less in this country. It was so in this instance. 
 Many other reasons concurred. The cotton trade was declining; 
 silk had every where taken the place of muslins, as an article of 
 female clothing, and our importations of those rich tissues already 
 amounted to many millions, which our exports of hread stuffs 
 did not compensate. The attention of the ])cople of the United 
 States was once more drawn towards the silk culture, as the hest 
 and the most efl'ectual means of advancing, at the same time our 
 agriculture, our manufactures, and our commerce, and thus shak- 
 ing off our too great dependance on the manufacturing nations of 
 Europe. 
 
 On the 29th of Decemher 1S25, on the motion of Mr. Miner, 
 a memher from Pennsylvania, it was resolved hy the House of 
 Representatives of the United States: "that the committee on 
 agriculture he instructed to inquire, whether the cultivation of 
 the mulberry tree, and the breeding of silk worms, for the pur- 
 pose of producing silk, be a subject worthy of legislative atten- 
 tion, and should they think it to be so, whether any legislative 
 provisions were necessary or proper to promote the production 
 of silk." — The committee were, moreover, authorized to report 
 such facts and opinions as they might think useful or proper. 
 
 On the 2d of May 1S2G, the committee made an elaborate 
 report, in which, after showing by a variety of facts, that excel- 
 lent silk might be produced in every part of the United States, 
 from north to south, they proceeded to prove not only the ex- 
 pediency, but the indispensable necessity of encouraging that cul- 
 ture, and among the reasons which they adduced for this mea- 
 sure, they relied principally on the enormous amount of our 
 annual importations of silk goods, compared with our exports of 
 bread stuffs. — They presented the following statement of silk 
 goods, imported and exported in five years, from 1821 to 1825, 
 both inclusive. 
 
 Years. 
 
 Imported. 
 
 Exported. 
 
 1821, 
 
 .^4,486,924 
 
 ^1,067,233 
 
 1823, 
 
 6,480,928 
 
 1,016,^62 
 
 1823, 
 
 6,713,771 
 
 1,512,449 
 
 1824, 
 
 7,203,344 
 
 1,816,325 
 
 1825, 
 
 10,271,527 
 
 2,565,742 
 
 
 ig 35,156,494 
 
 g 7,978,011 
 
 In 1817, they added, the exports of bread stuffs amounted to 
 g! 20,374,000. In 1818, to ^15,388,000. In 1824, to i5 6,799, 
 246. In 1825, to ^5,417,997. 
 
 Upon this, the committee exclaim: "An importation of ten 
 millions of dollars of silks; an exportation of five millions of 
 
( 26 ) _ 
 
 bread stuffs! The facts speak the importance of the subject, and 
 indicate the necessity tliat exists of awakening the slumbering 
 agricultural resources of our country, by introducing new and 
 profitable articles of production." 
 
 But how were these slumbering agricultural resources to be 
 awakened? How was this profitable production, silk, to be in- 
 troduced? " Knowledge," said the committee, " is power in agri- 
 culture no less than in politics; information is capital and the 
 means of valuable improvement." On the strength of these very 
 correct and valuable maxims, they recommended in general, in the 
 body of their report, the collecting of every possible information, 
 from all parts of our country, respecting the actual state of the silk 
 culture, and the best means of improving it, and concluded with 
 proposing to the House, the following resolution, which was 
 unanimously adopted : 
 
 "Resolved, That the secretary of tlie treasury cause to be prepared a well 
 digested manual, containing' the best practical information that can be collected 
 on the growth and manufacture of silk, adapted to tiie dift'crent parts of the 
 Union, containing such facts and observations in relation to the growth and ma- 
 nufacture of silk in otiier countries, as may be useful, and that the same be laid 
 before Congress at the commencement of tlieir next session." 
 
 In pursuance of this resolution, and of the general recommen- 
 dation of the committee, the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. 
 Rush, addressed a circular letter to all such persons in the United 
 States, as were thought to be acquainted with the culture or ma- 
 nufacture of silk, containing pertinent questions, which they 
 were ref[uested to answer, and committed to Ur. James Mease, of 
 Philadelphia, the task of compiling the manual which the House 
 had ordered to be prepared. This manual was reported to the 
 House, on the 11th of February 182S. Six thousand copies of it 
 were ordered to be printed. 
 
 But, neither the manual, nor (as far as we know) the answers 
 to the circular, pointed out the true and only means of introduc- 
 ing, with effect, the silk culture into this country. The primary 
 importance of the art of reeling or s])innlngthe raw material, and 
 the difficulty of obtaining it, do not seem to have occurred to any 
 one. It was not considered that when an art is exclusively in 
 the possession of foreigners, it is from foreigners only that it 
 can be acquired. It was not recollected that France imported 
 from Italy the reel and the reelers, and the tlu-owsting mill and 
 the throwsters, and that before she did that, immense sums of 
 money were sunk b}^ her capitalists, in the vain attempt to suc- 
 ceed without that aid ; nor was it remembered that in Georgia, 
 an Italian, in Philadelphia, a Frenchman, and in Bengal, a Pied- 
 montese, had been thought necessary to be placed at the head of 
 their filaliu'es, and that wherever a different system had been 
 ])ursued, the attempts to introduce the culture of silk, had uni- 
 formly fiiiled, or, as in Connecticut, had produced bad methods, 
 
{ 27 ) 
 
 which it will take years to eradicate. Some persons thought tliat 
 it would he sufficient to import the macliinery, without reflecting; 
 that machines do not work alone, and that they require to he 
 put in motion hy skilful and experienced hands. In short, as the 
 committee of the House of Representatives well understood, 
 light was wanted, and light at last came. 
 
 In the summer of 1839, the work which we have placed at the 
 head of this article appeared at Philadelphia, in successive num- 
 bers, which were published in the National Gazette, and were 
 signed " J. D'Homergue." They attracted universal attention, 
 and were republished in most of the newspapers throughout the 
 Union. M. D'Homergue is a foreigner and a young man, the 
 son of an eminent silk manufacturer of Nismes, in France, by 
 whom he was educated in his profession, which he, however, af- 
 terwards relinquished. Being in the city of Philadelphia, in the 
 month of July, he made experiments on American cocoons, 
 which produced astonishing results, and showed our silk to beat 
 least equal, if not superior to any in the world. Indeed, in one 
 respect, in the quantity of silk produced by a given weight 
 of cocoons, its superiority could not be denied. He communi- 
 cated these facts to the President of the American Philosophical 
 Society, Mr. Duponceau, who encouraged him to make them 
 publicly known, and as he did not understand the English lan- 
 guage, Mr. Duponceau lent him his aid, and the results of Mr. 
 D'Homergue's experiments were published as we have stated 
 above. 
 
 It was not intended at that time, to publish any thing more. 
 Rut in the subsequent conversations which Mr. Duponceau had 
 with Mr. D'Homergue, he became convinced of the importance 
 and the difficult}'^ of the art of reeling silk, which opinion he 
 found confirmed by the best European writers on that subject. 
 He saw, at the same time, as he pursued his inquiries, that that 
 art was variously practised in diflerent silk countries, and that the 
 value of the article in foreign markets, depended in a great mea- 
 sure on the perfection of the reeling ; and he saw also that in 
 countries where an imperfect method had obtained, improvement 
 was in vain to be expected. Thus the raw silk of China, the 
 country of its origin, bears a much inferior price to that of Italy 
 and France ; and that of Greece, the first country in Europe 
 where silk was first introduced, is still inferior. 
 
 To introduce, therefore, an uniform and a perfect method of 
 reeling silk, into the United States, appeared to him an object of 
 the first importance. The first thing to be done to attain that end, 
 was to enlighten the public mind, by giving a clear view of the 
 various processes which silk undergoes from the cocoon to the 
 loom. To this he found Mr. D'Homergue's knowledge perfect- 
 ly adequate ; and availing himself of it, Mr. Duponceau embodied 
 
{ 2S ) 
 
 ihe informal ion lie received from him with his own ohservalions, 
 in the form of the essays whicli successively appeared. 
 
 The success which those essays met with, induced Mr. Du- 
 ponceau to collect and publish them, in the joint names of Mr. 
 D'Homergue and his own, in the form of a pamphlet, to which 
 he wrote a preface, in which he urged the importance of the art 
 of reeling, and made known Mr. D'Homergue as the only person 
 in this country, qualified to give instruction in it. He showed 
 the difficulty of procuring from Europe persons thus qualified ; a 
 difficulty which experience has sufficiently proved, by the fact, 
 that during two years that have since elapsed, silk throwsters, 
 silk dyers, and silk weavers, have come in numbers to this coun- 
 try from Europe, and not one reeler, either male or female. 
 
 The manual labour of reeling is, as we have said before, per- 
 formed in Europe by women, of the lowest class, who are very ig- 
 norant, and unwilling to leave their native villages. Even if they 
 could be induced to come, they would be very unfit instructers 
 in the art. As to directors of filatures, there are not many of 
 them ; they are in general men of advanced age, with families, and 
 whose situation is such, that it would not be a small considera- 
 tion which would induce them to change it. We believe that such 
 another person as Mr. D'Homergue, would be difficult to be 
 found, even in France. 
 
 The essays having been thus published, a copy was presented, 
 as a mark of respect, from the authors, to each of the two Legisla- 
 tive Houses of the United States. The House of Representatives 
 referred the work to their Committee on Agriculture, who, con- 
 vinced from its perusal, of the importance of the art of silk fila- 
 ture, and the necessity of introducing it in an uniform manner into 
 our country, conceived the idea of establishing a normal school of 
 that art, on national principles ; and by their Chairman, wrote to 
 Mr. Duponceau, to be informed of the terms on which Mr. 
 D'Homergue would consent to be placed at the head of it, in the 
 capacity of instructer. After conferring with that gentleman, 
 Mr. Duponceau submitted in answer, a plan to the committee, 
 of which the following are the outlines. 
 
 For satisfactory reasons, which Mr. Duponceau explained, and 
 which met with the approbation of the committee, the school 
 was to be located at, or in the vicinity of Philadelphia. The 
 number of pupils, young men between the ages of eighteen and 
 twenty-five, to be sixty, to be sent from the difterent states, in 
 proportion to their representation in Congress, and to be selected 
 by the President, on the recommendation of the Executive of 
 each state. The time of instruction to be two years, that is to 
 say, two summers or reeling seasons, from the first of July to the 
 middle or end of November, in every year. The pupils to board 
 themselves at iheir or their friends' expense ; but to be gratui- 
 
( 29 ) 
 
 tously instructed in the theory and practice, and in the mercan- 
 tile as well as the mechanical parts of the business. A filature, 
 in which twenty women, at least, should be employed, to be 
 kept going at the same time, that the pupils might see and learn 
 how such an establishment is to be directed and managed. 
 
 For this service, to be rendered to the nation at large, and for 
 the benefit of every state in the Union, Mr. D'Homergue asked 
 the sum of forty thousand dollars, to be paid in different instal- 
 ments. For this sum he would undertake not only to teach the 
 pupils, but to be at all the expense of erections and machinery, and 
 at the end of the two years,his undertaking having been performed, 
 the buildings, implements, machinery, and money, (if any) which 
 should remain, to be his absolute property. A sufficient guaran- 
 tee was offered to guard against the misapplication of the money. 
 
 This plan met with the full approbation of the committee, and 
 was reported by them to the House, in the form of a bill. But 
 the session was drawing to a close, and the consideration of the 
 bill was necessarily postponed. The House, however, ordered 
 it to be printed, as well as the committee's report and Mr. 
 Duponceau's letter to them, in which the plan was fully de- 
 veloped. 
 
 The encouragement which these proceedings held out to Mr. 
 D'Homergue, with the pressing exhortations of Mr. Duponccau, 
 induced him to stay one year longer in this country. It was 
 thought that that year could not be better employed, than in malc- 
 ing further experiments, calculated to show to Congress and to 
 the nation at large, the advantages which might be derived from 
 the adoption of the contemplated plan. A filature of ten reels 
 was erected, cocoons were purchased from all parts of the United 
 States, women were employed in reeling the silk, and a quantity 
 of the raw material was produced, chiefly calculated for the ma- 
 nufacture of fine stuffs. But that was not thought sufficient. Mr. 
 Duponceau suggested to Mr. D'Homergue the idea of manufac- 
 turing some of it into stuffs, and it was determined to make out 
 of it a flag of the United States. But there were difficulties in 
 the way, which it was thought at first could not be conquered. 
 There was no t/iruwsting mill, with which to give the silk the 
 necessary preparation of throiuing, before manufacturing it. To 
 have had one made, would have not only occasioned great ex- 
 pense, but also loss of time, which could not be afforded. The 
 weaving apparatus, too, required a different construction. All 
 these difficulties Mr. D'Homergue overcame by dint of labour 
 and perseverance. He wound and twisted his raw silk as well 
 as he could, with the instruments that he had at hand. Some of 
 the weaving machinery, which he had previously ordered from 
 France, fortunately arrived in time ; a suitable loom was con- 
 structed, and he succeeded, at lust, in making not one Hag only, 
 
( 30 ) 
 
 l)ut two, one of which was presented by Mr. Duponceau to the 
 House of Representatives of the United States, and the other to 
 that of Pennsylvania. Those flags were each twelve feet long 
 and six feet wide ; one of them was woven entirely of one piece. 
 Tlie whole was the work of Mr. D'Homcrgue, except the dye- 
 ing, whicli was done by an artist of Philadelphia. 
 
 These flags were received b}^ the legislative houses to which 
 they were presented, with honourable marks of satisfaction. 
 They were ordered to be suspended in some conspicuous part of 
 the hall of their respective sittings, and that presented to Con- 
 gress now waves over the full length picture of the illustrious 
 Lafayette. This was at the beginning of the session 1830-31. 
 
 It was then expected that the bill reported by the Committee 
 on Agriculture at the former session, would have been decided 
 on. The trial of Judge Peck, at which all tlie members of the 
 House of Representatives attended, took up the greatest part of 
 the session, which ended on the 4th of March. Notwithstanding 
 this, and the great pressure of other business, a day was appointed 
 by a large majority for taking the silk bill into consideration. An 
 unexpected circumstance prevented its being taken up on that 
 day, and the session being near its end, it could not be brought 
 on again. A general impression, however, appeared among the 
 members in favour of this bill. 
 
 Notwithstanding this disappointment, Mr. D'Homerguc was 
 persuaded to stay another year among us, and to await what 
 another session of Congress would produce. The greatest part 
 of the last summer has been employed in reeling silk, but not 
 on such an extensive scale as during the last season. Fewer 
 women were employed, but they had improved, and produced 
 nearly the same quantity of raw silk that a greater number had 
 done the preceding year, and with a less quantity of cocoons. 
 A throwsting mill, by this time, had been established at Manay- 
 unk, near Pliiladelphia, under the direction of an excellent 
 English silk throwster; it was determined that he should throw 
 the raw silk reeled at the Philadelphia filature, and that it should 
 be woven into difierent stuffs, by different silk manufacturers, 
 many of whom have lately arrived in this country from Europe. 
 But the silk throwster, Mr. Stratlon, being in the employment 
 of another person, for whom he throws China silk, could not give 
 much of his time to Mr. Duponceau and Mr. D'Homergue. On 
 the other hand, the foreign workmen, being poor, and not yet 
 established in their business, it was found to require too much 
 expense to purchase for them the necessary apparatus. All, 
 therefore, that has hitherto been effected, has been the making 
 of some yards of silk plush, for hats, or for waistcoats, which 
 have succeeded very well, and been found superior to any im- 
 ported. 
 
( 31 ) 
 
 In the mean time, some of the raw silk which was reeled in 
 the preceding year, was sent to England, some to France, and 
 some to Mexico ; that sent to England was pronounced there to 
 be a fair beginning, and to promise much for the future. It was 
 manufactured at Manchester into beautiful gros de Naples, of 
 which the samples sent to this country have been much admired; 
 and what is most extraordinary, it produced only 3i per cent, 
 waste in throwing, while French and Italian silks lose from four 
 to ten per cent, and some other silks as much as twenty; a proof 
 of the strength and nerve of the silk of our country, and a proof 
 also of the little progress which the people of Connecticut have 
 made since seventy years, in the art of reeling, who with such 
 silk, lose by waste, thirty -seven and a half per cent. That sent 
 to Lyons, is yet under trial. That shipped to Mexico was coarse 
 silk, and sold there for ^4 . 75 a pound. It had not been tried in 
 the throwsting mill, and no report has yet reached us of the re- 
 sults that it did produce. 
 
 Thus we have given to our readers, as briefly as we have been 
 able, a rapid sketch of tlie History of Silk in Europe and Ame- 
 rica, to the present time. If we have been rather prolix in what re- 
 lates to our own country, it is no more than should have been ex- 
 pected. Our own concerns interest us more than those of the rest 
 of the world. 
 
 We are among those who believe that the future success of the 
 United States in the silk culture, manufacture and trade, depends 
 on the adoption of a plan proposed by Mr. Duponceau. It is 
 eminently national, since the art of reeling is not by it to be con- 
 fined to one state, but to be diffused at once, in the same degree 
 of perfection, through all the states of this widely extended 
 Union. The effects to be expected from it are these ; the sixty 
 young men who are to be tauglit at Mr. D'Homergue's school, 
 after their two years' instruction, will return to their own states, 
 where, with their own means, or connecting themselves with 
 capitalists, or rich planters, they will erect filatures, and instruct 
 women, who, after acquiring a sufficient degree of skill and ex- 
 perience, will reel silk for themselves on a small scale, or hire 
 themselves out to the silk-growing farmers. In the planting 
 states, a female slave, skilled in the art of reeling silk, will com- 
 mand a price proportioned to the advantage which their know- 
 ledge will produce to their owners. 
 
 Notwithstanding all that has been said and published within 
 the last two years, there are still some persons (very few, in- 
 deed,) who will not yet believe that there is any considerable 
 difficulty in the art of reeling, and who, at any rate, think, that 
 this difficulty may be surmounted by gradual improvement, with- 
 out preliminary instruction. Experience, and tlic authority of 
 the best writers on the subject, sufficiently prove the contrary. 
 
 ' E 
 
( 32 ) 
 
 We think it will not be out of place to cite here a few of the 
 authorities to which we allude. 
 
 Tlie Chevalier von Heintl, in the work which wc have already 
 often cited, has a chapter (p. 141,) on tlie subject of reeling silk 
 from the cocoons, in which, after giving a short description of 
 the process, he says : " But a mere description of this art, can 
 never supply the place of ocular instruction." 
 
 M. De Teste, in the work above cited, also gives a description 
 of the process of reeling, after which he says : " after reading this 
 description, it will certainly be believed that the management of 
 a fdature is a very easy thing ; if the theory is easy, there is 
 nothing so difficult as the practice." And further he says, " silk 
 is always too dear, when it is not well reeled." De Teste, pp. 
 58, 59. 
 
 M. Pitaro, a celebrated Italian writer on the silk culture, ex- 
 presses himself thus : " Every body in Italy and France, say 
 some ill informed theorists, knows how to reel silk from the co^ 
 coons, and yet the manufacturers in Italy, as every where else, 
 continually reproach the directors of filatures with receiving from 
 them raw silks, which they can with difficulty make use of, and 
 which they find difficult to employ in the various tissues required 
 of them. Besides the irregularity and inequality of the silk in 
 strength and in size, their silk is very often crispy. But these 
 directors, deaf to all observation, or ivaniing the necessary know- 
 ledge^ take no notice of what is said to them ; whence it follows, 
 that their filatures can only degenerate, and the silk trade be de- 
 stroyed." La Science de la Sctifor'^, ji. 117. 
 
 The silk manufacturers of Lyons, in their above cited memo^ 
 rial to the French Government, speaking of ill reeled silks, say : 
 " whatever may be the skill of the French throwsters, it is im- 
 possible with such raw silk, to produce thrown silk of good 
 quality. The best method of throwing silk, cannot give to that 
 which is badly reeled, the qualities that it wants; in the same 
 manner, a bad method of throwing, does not deprive silk, which 
 being well reeled, is neat, equal and nervous, of those indispen- 
 sable qualities for the good and easy fabrication of silk stuffs." 
 Memoir e, p. 25. 
 
 Our gallant Commodore Porter, being lately at Mahon, where 
 he saw a woman reeling silk in the domestic way, wrote to his 
 friend Mr, Skinner of Baltimore, expressing his surprise at the 
 simplicity of the process, and the little trouble attending it. A 
 few days afterwards, after a more attentive examination, and pro- 
 bably information received from persons on the spot, he held a 
 different language in another letter to the same friend. In that 
 last letter, he says: "In reeling the cocoons, it is of the utmost 
 importance to find a skiljul jierson ; for if they be reeled by one 
 who has not had great practice, the loss that will be sustained is 
 
( 33 ) 
 
 inconceivable^''' These letters have been published in the Ameri- 
 can Farmer, the Baltimore Gazette, and in several others of our 
 newspapers. 
 
 We might multiply these citations; but we think our position 
 sufficiently proved, and that the art of reeling silk is not so easy 
 as some would pretend — as to expecting gradual improvement, 
 where a bad method has been once introduced, it is sufficient to 
 refer to the example of Connecticut, where, in seventy years, no 
 improvement in the method of reeling has taken place, and that 
 of the natives of Bengal, whose silk (though the same in quality) 
 bears a price so inferior to that which is reeled by the agents of 
 the East India Company, because the latter make use of a more 
 perfect process, while the former adhere to the routine of their 
 ancestors. A single glance over the London prices current, will 
 show the diffijrence in those of silks, from different countries, and 
 even in the same country, from different filatures, which differ- 
 ence proceeds much more from the method of reeling employ- 
 ed, than from the quality of the material. The silks of Greece 
 and Turkey, are admitted to be excellent, and yet their prices 
 are much inferior to those of Italy and France, where the best 
 methods of reeling are known to be employed. 
 
 It is the opinion of the authors of the "Essays on American 
 Silk," that we ought to proceed with silk as we have done with 
 cotton; and, for some years at least, content ourselves with prepar- 
 ing the raw material as an article of exportation to foreign mar- 
 kets, and postpone the undertaking of silk fabrics, until a more 
 distant period. But the spirit of manufacturing is abroad, and it 
 will be difficult to check it for any time. Already, as has been ob^ 
 served, silk manufacturers of every description have come to this 
 country from Europe, and throwsting mills, which two years ago 
 were unknown, are erected and at work upon foreign raw silk, in 
 different parts of our Union. China silk, which, formerly, only 
 passed through this country to go to Mexico, begins to be im- 
 ported in larger quantities, and part of it remains here to be ma- 
 nufactured, after being thrown, into a variety of common articles, 
 such as suspenders, coach lace, fringe, and the like. These things 
 must be left to take their own course; but it remains certain, that 
 unless we learn the art of reeling our own silk, our throwsters 
 and manufacturers will be at work upon tliat of other countries, 
 and that nothing but the knowledge of that art is wanting, to 
 enable us to vie with other nations, at least in our own mar- 
 kets. There is every reason to hope that it will not be long be- 
 fore this deficiency shall have ceased to exist, and that the art of 
 extracting silk from the cocoons, in the forms best suited to the 
 various manufactures of that material, will be generally known 
 and disseminated through our country. 
 
 In the mean while, our citizens should l)e active in planting 
 
( 34 ) 
 
 mulberry trees, and raising silk worms, for the production of co- 
 coons. This should be encouraged by the legislature of every 
 state in the Union. The best plan for that purpose would be, in 
 our opinion, the granting a bounty to those who should produce 
 a given number of plants of the white Italian mulberry tree, of 
 at least three years' growth. It is thought that fifty dollars for 
 every three thousand would be sulTicicnt. The expense upon the 
 whole would not be very considerable. 
 
 We have already exceeded the limits that we had prescribed 
 to ourselves, and therefore we shall put an end to this already 
 too long article. In conclusion, we shall recommend to our 
 readers, as the manual on the culture of silk the best calculated 
 for the farmers of our country, that which has been lately com- 
 piled by order of the Massachusetts Legislature, by Jonathan H. 
 Cobb, Esq. and is for sale at Boston ; and for a more enlarged 
 work, particularly on the subject of manufactures, we know of 
 no better one than that of Dr. Lardner, above frequently cited, 
 and which we understand is now about to be republished by 
 Messrs. Carey & Lea. 
 
 Note. — Since this article was written, and while it was in the 
 press, we have received from England a copy of the Report of a 
 Committee of the House of Lords, on the Silk and Wine Trade, 
 of the month of June, 1821, in which we find it stated, that it 
 was about 1770 that the Italian mode of preparing silk was first 
 introduced into the British East Indies, and that it was not until 
 1812, (a period of more than forty years) that there was any con- 
 siderable improvement in the Bengal raw silk. This, if it is not 
 to be attributed to an endeavour on the part of the East India 
 Company, (which we cannot suppose,) to monopolize the Italian 
 mode of reeling to themselves, can only be ascribed to the diffi- 
 culty of inducing the people of that country to abandon their im- 
 perfect method, and adopt a new one, which we find even at this 
 moment is doing very slowly, as the native silk, as it is called, 
 still bears a much inferior price to that reeled under the inspection 
 of the agents of the Company. This shows the importance of 
 introducing a good method at once, and uniformly, through this 
 country. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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