Cheraw gazette and Pee Dee farmer. [volume] (Cheraw S.C.) 1838-1839, 1839-04-26


quent numbers. Have we not however,
already exhibited facts enough 70 shew, that
the culture ofslk, as a business Of itself,
IS already progressing with good head way
Tor be it remembered that those extensive
arrangements for feeding ll,e worms. are
but the growth of the past year-vhst
hundreds on a smaller scale, and in more
:domestic way, will be started mex. summer
all over the country.
In the meantime, it is well asccrtained by
correspondence with The manufactures and
silk dealers in England and France, that
they stand ready to take from fifty to sirty
millions of dollars acorth of our raU silk an.
nuaHy--and it is on all hands agreed tha,
| our raw silk is.worth twenty. .fyea pArseas.
more than the foreign arlicle--may we not
then ask is not the field for enterprise un.
bounded Under these circumstances
may we not repca. the emphatic obscrva.
ton of Mr.. o instead in the convention
tiat the specimens of silk there exhibited
were as good guarantee for the sale Of the
trees, until the whole country is supplied
with the ar,icle, as the specie in their vaults
for tho sale of our bank notes and the in.
vestment much more safe even than bank
stock ? agreeing with him that were it not
for this firm foundation of intrinsic value, the
bubble, it may be admitted would burst, like
the Dutchman's tulips.
With these gimmerings oflight which a
short time, and as yet but limited opporu.
mites Of research and reflection have en-
abled US to throw on the subject what can.
did reader will now say that the silk business
in the United Safes is mere humbug?
P.S. Hark here comes voice, and a
potent one too, from old Virginia, and when
she speaks, as Governor Floyd once said
on the floor Of Congress, let all other ma
tons give ear.
From the Richmond Enquirer Of February IL.
THE SILK CuLTuRE.-The spirit is GER
tainly moving our fellow citizens.f On
Thursday, there was evidence submitted 10
the public, which was calculated to shake
the scepticism of the most increduous. Mr..
Olmstead, from East Har,for Connecticut,
appeared in the capitol with table on
which were spread the most splendid speci.
mems Of silk we ever beheld; all from
American worms, fed on American leaves,
by American hands. Thers. was raw, twis.
ted and sewing silk, Of various colours
Among them were forty -four large hanks
Of silk, Of the most glossy appearance
The dyes were ,nguia,ly delicate and rich,
particularly the lilac. These skeins are
eoua', if not superior, to the finest French or
Chinese silks. The weight OF the whole
was probably between four and five pounds,
[ (besidcs specimen of woven and sprIgged
satin from loom in Beaver, Pennsylvania. }
The whole was raised on the one sixteenth
part Of an acre ofland.
The specimens Of silk which Mr.. O. ex.
hibited were manufactured on his own farm,
during the las, year, by Mr.. J. Danforh.
So rapid is the production, that the morus
multicaulis, on whose leaves the worms
we're fed, were planted Us lale as between
the fifteenth and twentieth of May last, and
they commenced gathering the leaves and
feeding about the tenth Of July, when the
trees were four or five feet high. 'The guam
ity of leaves gathered amounted TO l,l64
lbs. The quantity of silk worms fed, $4,000;
and the quantity Of cocoons produced, nine
bushels--yislding nine pounds of silk;
waste silk and floss, one pound. About
5000 ofthe worms were fed on $50 pounds
| of leaves, and the product Of them was two
bushels Of cocoons, or two pounds Of silk
This establishes the fact, that ninety pounds
of leaves Of the morus multicaulis are suffi.
ciert TO produce one pound Of silk. He
thinks the products of the eigth Of IN acre
would have been more than 1900 pounds
Of leaves; but being shor, Of worms he had
use for no more than 1854 lbs. live take
the estimate Of 1000 lbs of leaves 10 The
eigth OF an ucre, as a basis, the product Of
an acre would be over 100 lbs. of silk; but
allowing even 100 lbs. to the acre, the silk
as manufactured in sewing silk, bring worth
$40 per pound, the produce Of one acre of
land would be $1,000 besides multiplying
the trees for market
thine states, not yet including Maryland,
have already (l2th February offered bounty
to their citizens for the production of silk
Georgia going ahead Of all that have preceded
her.
HuMBUGs. MULTIcAULIS SEED AND CHINESE
CORN.
1t would seem that the Information which
we have aimed 10 furnish 10 our readers and
The public is very little priced nor is avail
ed OF even when it would prevent the most
barefaced and shallow yet successful and
gainfu deceptions, which are continually
imposed upon the agricultural public. 1t
has oeen about five years since we first
published the fact that the seeds Of the null
ticaulis would not Reproduce their kind, and