Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-01-19

ing silk is, that it them kind of crculat ing medium--skens of silk of size regulated by their acts of Assembly supplying the place of coir and bank notes, through pretty large extent oi country. If they knew how to prepare their silk fo
 exportation, or for the manufacture of those llgh
 stuffs that are so much in use through the United
 States, their condition, think, would be much i'm proved by more profitable sources of gain and 1
 greater influx of money. l found in that State
 disposition to extend the culture of silk; and argt
 orders have even been sent from thence to this city
 for the purchase of mulberry plants.
 On my return home, caused ten reels to be made
 on an improved plan of M. D'EIomergue's, mucl
 simplifed from that of Piedmont, and which were found to work extremely well. also caused n con venient shed to be erected for the filature, unde which the reels were placed, with their furnaces anC other necessary apparatus.
 On my leaving Connecticut, had left orders tC an agent to purchase large quantity of cocoons.- From some misunderstanding, it happened that tha order was not executed in time, so that obtained from thence much lesser quantity than expected
 By means of advertisements in the newspapers inserted however, too late in the season, and moi extensively enough, obtained cocoons, in various quantities. from the States of New-York, New-Jer- sey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, and North Carolina; q few were even sent to me from the States of Mississippi and Louisiania; from the last of those States, and from South Carolina, would have received some considerable quantities, If the rivers had been navigable in the interior. On the whoIe could only collect during the last season, about 420 pounds of various qualities; but have mo doubt that next year, by taking proper measures in due tiIne sufficient quantity may be obtained for any reasonable purpose, and that quantity will be ln- creasng every year; although the reellng season IS over, am still receiving some from different parts of the Union The last have purchased came from the vicinity of Richmond, in Virginia and expect every day six bushels from South Carolina found no difficulty in procuring women to work at my ex- permental flature they offered themselves in abun- dance, and those whom employed were well pleas ed with the business; they like it much better than working in the cotton factories, because the labor is lighter, and they have the advantageofthe open air for silk cannot be reeed to advantagein close room That work must be done under shed into which the air has full and free on all sldes except where the sun shines with too much power; and that is provided against by curtains or slides.
 1 employed, at first six and gradullly afterwards so many as twenty women at the rels, who have acquired more or less skill in the art If winding silk from the cocoons, and ill general dlt very well uu der direction. M. D'Homergue praises very highly the adroitness and intelligence of hefemaes of this country and has no doubt but that hey will in time make excellent reelers
 With the aid of those women, M D'Homergue made, in the of the season, about fifty pounds of fine raw silk. When we considerthe small quan- tity of cocoons out of which this WIS made, that large portion of them were bad ones, and the con siderable waste that must have resulted from the want of skill of women just intiaed in the art it will be seen that the superiority ascribed to Ameri- can silk is not imaginary, but hasa real and solid foundation.
 While these operations were gong on, every de- cent person who wished it was admitted to see the flature, and the manner in which the women proceeding in theirwork. Nothing was done in se- cret it was, on the contrary, the wish of M. D. Homergue, and my own, that every thing should be open to the public eye. Nor were our women bound by any kind of engagement to make secret of the knowledge they acquired, or not to hire themselves to others if they thought proper. They were left perfectly free, and are so st now that the season is at an end and that they are no longer in our ploy. At the same time, Sir, it is but fair to say that they have not yet reached that proficiency the art which would enable them to profit by their labor without being under the direction of person skill ed in the business. The time will come when they will be able to set up for themselves small domestic flaures: larger ones must always be carried un- der the inspection of men otherwise, they will ruin those who undertake them. It is in large filatures that women to be instructed, to spread the in the required degree of perfection through the land.
 It had been my wish to have made at least one hundred and fifty pounds of raw silk, in order to make fair trial of the respective markets of Eng land, France, and Mexico; but l soon discovered that it would be impossible in the first season, and therefore determined to put the silk to another test It was evident that if it could be manufactured here into fine stuffs to an equal nearly equal degree of perfection with those imported from Europe, it might be also manufactured elsewhere, and there fore there could be no defect in the mode of reeling it. therefore engaged NJ. D'Iiomergue to weave several tissues out of part of the silk that he had reeled and the result was perfectly satisfactory. As
 sample of that result, have had the honor of pre- senng the flag of the United States to the honora- ble House of Representatives; it will be no doubt accessible to the public eye it does not belong to to pass judgement upon its workmanship. Part of the machinery with which it was wove made on a model imported by me from Europe for the purpose
 Thus, Sir, while I only meant to show to the na- ton the importance of the art of reeling, and the ability of M. D'Homergue in that branch of the silk business, circumstances, which had not foreseen, have led me to demonstrate also the possibility, nay, the facility, of introducing among us the manufac ture of those fine stufs for which we pay so large tribute annually to Europe; so that our citizens will have the choice of exporting or manufacturing their raw silk, as experience shall show to them the ad vantage of either
 Nothing proves better the excellence of American silk, than that the various webs which M. D'Ho mergue has woven out of it have not undergone the operation which is called hro,cing hroirsng. and yet that their texture possesses the necessary even ness and strength. To understand this fully, some explanation is necessary; and beg to be excused for briefly stating the different processes which silk undergoes in Europe, from the cocoon to the web.
 l. The first and most essential operation is that of reeling. Itisperformed by women, either by them- selves in their domestic ilatures in large fatures under the inspection of men capable of directing them. The men never reel, but merely superintend the work of the women, to make them produce in their highest perfection the various qualities of silk required for the different manufactures.
 ?. From the laure the silk goes to the silk hro,o ster, to be Mro,cn, it is called. The throwster partly by the aid of women, and partly of men or boys. winds cleans doubles or mites more than two