The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1880-10-14
For the FARMER AID MECHANIC.
CONCER MING SILK CULTURE
An Article on Silk Culture by an
Experienced Writer.

An Article on Silk Culture by an
Experienced Writer.
Mr.. Editor. = My attention has been
drawn TO a communication on Silk Culture.
which recently appeared in a prominent
Northern journal, the Philadelphia Record.
1t is so replete with erroneous statements
and assertions not warranted by facts that
[ would be doing violence to my sense of
duty were | to let ii pass unnoticed.
| am Of the opinion that the author of
said article is connected with, or interested
in, the manufacture Of silk. And when it
is borne in mind that raw or gregg silk is
imported free of duty. and that silk culture.
if allowed to become an important branch of
our national industries might, and probably
would, demand from the general government
to be fostered and protected by an import
iIty on raw or gregg silk, the motives
hat inspired our writer are plain to See
The gist of the article is, hat silk culture
never was and hence never could be made
profitable in this country. The want of
cheap labor being assigned as the ''insur-
mountable obstacle"
Granted for the sake of argument that
silk culture never was profitable in this
country, the inference that it can not be made
SO is not a legitimate one, on the contrary,
~ IL W I'LL! iuiuu very poor ioelc. Dul Tue
assertion is as variance with the history of
six culture in the United States for it is
4 we'll known fact that, up to the revolution
lry war, it had taken considerable foothold
In some of the Southern, Middle and New
England States.
There We're at that period hundreds Of
prosperous and successful silk growers.
But owing t. the war the means of i'm
porting the silk were cut off, and for want
II a market at home and abroad, this branch
u agriculture had to be abandoned.
The subsequent failures in silk culture
must he attributed to causes of a transient
character. and can, in no wise, be brought to
bear against the fact that silk culture. if
properly directed, would become in this
country, what it is in France, one of its
richest industries, scattering prosperity to
thousands of homes and adding greatly to
the wealth CT the nation.
And this brings me to say that the morris
multicautis mania is, no doubt, within the
memory Of many ofthe readers ofthe Farmer
and Mechanic. With what madness people
would embark in silk culture, without even
the faintest knowledge of the ma
ture and treatment of the silk worm,
looking upon 1T as a bonanza where
a fortune was to grow on every null
berry tree! Others, in true 60 ahead Amer
lean style, would plant mulberry trees by the
hundred and thousand, erect costly build
ings, appoint superiDtendants with big sal
aries, never for a moment realizing that,
more than any other branch of agriculture,
silk culture requires the closest personal at
~tcntion, AMI that misfortune is inevitable
when carried on beyond a reasonable limit of
extension.
That our soil and climate are admirably
adapted to silk culture w have lrretutable
proof. In many States of the Union the
mulberry is indigenous and to be found 10
great abundant e. The quality Of our silk
too, whenever put to a test, has proven of a
very superior texture, infinitely better than
that of China or Japan.
Our advantages over other silk grOwi ~
countries are indeed great and manifold,
and if we will but follow the exam
pie of France in making Of small crops,
employing the otherwise u%nproductive labor
of the household, as the women, the aged
aud the children, we will then have sur
mounted the ''insurmountable obstacle of
cheap labor of our writer.
To what extent silk culture when properly
conducted, can be made remunerative, even
without a market at home, the following
facts and figures, a deduction from my own
experience, will show.
100 lbs. of cocoons at $3.50, $240
Freight from Raleigh to New York, 80
New York to Marseilles, 1906
Primage, SO
Drayage and MARRIAGES, 2.75
Insurance., 40
Brokerage and Sundries in Marseilles, 800
Packing and incidentais, 4. 90