Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1879-11-01

er has children to place out, and when
they are lucky enough to find III stores or
hotels places for their daughters at Sl.5O |
per week they accept with JOY. Not one |
of them selling corn at IA TO .lG cents per
bushel, or cotton at to lO cents per
pound has means to pay workman and
scorcely to dress his children deccntly.--
Lack of consumers and high treishts, |
these are the causes OF poverty in the
midst of plenty. Let us see wi ether in
this State sericultnre would not be OF
some use, without caring whether the
japanese or Chinese are paid by ten cents
or by ten blows on the soles of their feet.
IL has been proven that one man can
raise in u very limited space--a conner OF
his barn or his cottage-a hundred kiio-
grammes Ga little over 200 lbs.) of cocoons.
To be quite within compass let us give
him four children. If there are four chill.
drcn, from the 1st of April to the 10th OF
May these, on 40 acre of mulhctT.es oi
good stock these four chiidrcn would
pick 200 pounds OF fresh cocoons. No
doubt about it; but then arises the qnes-
| ton OF the Silk Association in particular,
and every body iu general. What viii
they do with it? Where's the market!
a spinning factory cannot exist and flour
| ish unless the country fnr forty OK htty
miles can supply an abundance OF CO
coons.
II is not more than fifteen years ago
since the silk growers OF the CeVenhes,
III France, We're spinmiuS their own CO.
cUons, auG they were in Il prosperous
condition.. We might du the same here !;
every farmer, for the sum "t 80 or $40,
mi sht fit up a spinning wheel. lis slN-
teen- year-old daughter could run it. An
other could teuu the Iuc!, and III three
weeks they Will run Of four to six, then
eight to te. ounces Il day of White or yel-
low cocoous of good quality. There We
have three pounds Il week We VIII not
put the p.ice ut $i2 Il pound (Which wa:
offered us in 1876 although the spinner
IL Yankee girl, had had only two months
practice. We had better PIT it at curren
rates, say $3.50 pound. The Iigure
quoted 10y the association Itself are = L
80 a pound At his rate three l,oun'.s o
silk will brings ST in money 10 the IAN
ilv stock Ten o. clevnn pounds OK Tres
? cocoors will make one pound Of silk, til
same as three aui, 4 half totour pounds ,
, dry cocoous. Thus 400 pounds OF COCOON
uickea bv four children ia iour wee.
would give from thirty six to forty pound
ofsilk, or $3.50 in full. This would nay
cn!ployed two girls for nine or ten Week
e. uuder the mothers eye We simply p1
these firures. and need not ask fathers (
s, families whether they would prefer I'll
position to that which hard times lmpo
es on them.
When the production Of cocoohs is II
enough to induce any one to start Ii iac'
ry. there certainly would be sp2cu!at"
h, VINO could estimate the cost OF Il small
Ii cine for leatiny The water for 3)o hasi
and do away with the hands OF 3oo or ]
bows almost by the same power. ii
would be self evident when they re!ne'
Der that the detective cocoons an" otl
o waste are worth at tlle lowest price -
81 so per kilogramme and pay 1"r a 9"
deal of the labor. At first the spun
Il would have to gather lis coco"hs
ul- small quantities for perhaps hundreds
" miles, and with IL heavy charge toy I;
IL road fares. He would have to train We
he women that might waste stock ana ne
ar be worth their teaching, or Wonii l';
Ne him at last to go off and act as teach
lb in new shops. He might have Il lou OF
ar nrentices to train, and his product Wo
cts he inferior to that produced by III
| it skillful hands. For these reasons 1t Wo
der he exp,dient that for the first ten Ee
MS whether the industry bc'in the hanhs
lcir farmers or large capitalists, it shouli
to nrotc.t46 by Il tax on raw silk, the s.
the as now or manufactured silk, 50 thiU
ady manufacturer should pay far prlce
han the raw material. Here the as'ocia
md would cry aloud, of course We TO
ion them to the quick Then let us try ;ioo
rem way. In place of duties, why n"' pay
,wn silk-raiser premium OF 50 cents t" "
SIC, dry cocoous,g ,gor 81 o!Sl.5o for spun SAL
this way the difficulty ofenconE"GihS
II of duction without injuring mann1ac''
han would be avoided.
toll. And now tor u word abont tho muI
per ~. The mulberry ''c'oih i'''ii'' -10
two to the highest range of temperature
h 8 will y,cw on any soil that is not swan
can In old times only the back mulberry
it, known. The old nat"r"ls'S' f'inS
.ess. Diosocorides. make no mention OF
Our white mulberry (morus albal. lii 1877
silk MercuriaH, Il physician of Forli, III l
in attributed the tardy development OF
kely culture to their only having the blac'
lint rietv. of which the giowth is $50"
TIA difficult and the SILK !It!et'"i' liz