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

besides; the commo 1ity will become so
cheap, that the consumption will increase
as i. has done with cotton, beyond all cal.
culation yielding certain profit like cotton,
to al! concerned, even more to the manufac.
turer than the planter. Illustrations abound
un!ilthe question is which 10 choose. In 4
paper Of the morning, which lies before US,
We read:
The Merrimack Manufacturing Compa.
ny Of Lowell, have made dividend 0: 40
per cent. on their canital ofa million and
half, besides reservlng 100000 for the
purchase of new machinery
Nothing can be more true than that, il
all were to continue growing trees, and
none 60 10 making silk, the mulberry tree
speculation mus! soon blow up---and ought
to blow up--but does it not occur to those
who entertain doubts on this subject, if that
may properly be called doubt, where there
has been no inquiry--where no thought has
BEEN bestowed--does it not, We say, occur,
that out Of the large investments already
made in trees, and the benefit to the thou
sands who are Interested in keeping up their
value, there must spring up an adequate
motive, and an impulse strong enough TO
insure extensive establishments for feeding
,yorms and producing silk and this brings
US 10 the main question after all, 10 wit ::
wha, has been done. and what is about be.
ing done towards making this famous, so
much talked Of high. priced, polypus.lIke
morus multicaulis tree available? Here lies
the marrow of the whole question. On this
depends The value Of the tree and the claim
which this new branch Of national industry
has to public attention and patronage-or
TO be called q humJug. Now, we answer
q, once 10 the point, that it has already, in
numerous instances, been demonstrated by
as shrewd end clearIeaded, and sober-sided
men as any in all Yankee land, that, after
leaving the trees at present prices out Of
view, the production of silk, as business
of itself, constitutes the most profitable use,
by far, ,ha, can be made, Of land, labour,
aud capital combined. Yes, worthy reader,
unless all arithmetic be delu>ion, no pro-
position was ever more clearly demonstra-
beihan that a given amount, invested in trees
to give The food and in eggs to give worms
for converting that food into silk, will yield
u greater per centage, in shorter time, and
give employment and support to a larger
proportion Of otherwise helpless people, and
therefore more benevolent in its effects.
than any other money making enterprise in
which land enters as ali element OF the bu.
siness. All that at present obstructs the
general admission of this truth, IS that it is a
nec thing. The knowlege Of the facts, pro.
cesses, and facilities, some Of them, and
the most important, Of recon, origin, conuec.
ted with the subjecr, are as yet known, com.
paratively speaking, to very few. This in.
dustry is in our country, and as connected
with these facilities, in its infancy. The
light is only beginning to dawn, and as
well Judging friend IT letter before us,
Justly remarks, those who now push the
business, will make great fortunes in short
time,' while those who have investigated
the matter, and on whom this rising light
las moi yet beamed, when told Of its practi
cability and great profits will Continue TO lift
I'D their hands in as!onisment, asking what
wonder is this Is this another sheep or
or tulip mania? But what will be the state
OF the case when BY means Of the Journal
Of the American Silk Society, and others,
that knowledge which is now confined 10 a
few, but which is spreading as rapidly as do
any discoveries that give new directions to
labour, and work revolutions in property -
what, we ask, will be the state of the case
when that knowledge of silk making and its
profits, comes to be uidey difused? Then
will he heard the same regre;s as now about
the trecs-cvery one who Iags behind, will
say-,web I wish l had gone into 1t last
year,
Have we not experienced greater Difficult.
ties at the commencement Of the lntroduc-
ton to our country Of many other arts and
far more complicated, and
ten times the capital that this
does. Look at our great iron founderles
and glass manufactures. How much more
forbiddins and impracticable mus, have ap-
peared, al first view, the project for the in.
PRODUCTION Of these vast establishments-re.
quiring immense outlay, and the importation
of foreign artists, with all their accumulated
treasures Of experience and Of science -
These enterprises, TOO, were doubtless con.
81 !ered by the prudent and wary, as imprac.
ticable humbugs! Bu. without going fur.
ther to Prove that the making Of silk is not
mere specula,iou--a on.en'Ity-we can
shcw that it is already thing in esse. The
work is begun. The tree is no, only plant.
ed, but we are already gathering and en-.
joying its rich fruits.
It must be admitted that silk making has
heretofore been confined almost exclusively
to a small portion of New England. In
Mansfield and the cotiguous towns, silk has
been one of the staples-makiog fair bu.