The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-12-09
The Silk Industry in America.

ent generation in Massachusetts a silk
cocoonery would be a novel sight; but
there are many older persons who re-
4 member the time when numerous farm
ers and several enterprising clergymen
throughout the State had few silk
worms in their houses or barns, whose
care was sometimes intrusted to the
women and children of the family. For
although at the beginning of this century
the silk culture in this country had al
most died out, yet strong efforts were
made to revive it. Indeed, for two hun
dred and fifty years this branch of in
/ dustry has been seeking foothold in
America through a series of periodical
and enthusiastic revivals, each of which
has been followed by are-active failure.
Such revival took place some fifty
years ago. 1t extended over all the
Eastern and Middle States. Congress
even was affected by it, and appointed
a committee to report ON the culture of
the mulberry with reference to the silk
worm. Massachusetts, took fire. Its
legislature in 1881 appropriated $500
for the publication and distribution OF
manual on silk, which was prepared
by Jonathan H. Cobb, of Dedham, who
was one OF the most earnest. silk cult
urlsts in the State. We are reminded
of the enthusiasm of the author of the
| e Virginia Silk-Worm'', when we read in.
the report of the Legislative committee
/ that they were satisfied beyond a
doubt that we have power to produce
and manufacture silk in this common
4 wealth to an immense extent, and that
no difficulty is to be encountered either
!. from soil or climate" The argument
for the cultivation of silk was enforced
by the alarming fact that about this time,
1925, the export of breadstuffs was only
about One-haf the value Of the silk inn
ported. ...ss.as,.,.,-,s .,,:r,.,,.., .F,,...s
SILK culture soon took the form OF a
feverish speculation and grew into a
surprisingly large bubble. This lntla-
ton was brought about through the
purported discovery that the Morus
naulticaulis, or many -branched mulber-
ry, was the best of all treee for silk
worms. An intense rage for this tree
sprang up. The most extravagant
prices were demanded. DR.. Brockett t
tells lis, in his Centennial History of
the Silk Trade" that young trees or
cuttings came to be worth twenty-five,
fifty, one hundred, two hundred and
even five hundred dollars hundred.
Immense numbers were imported from
France. But suddenly, in 1899, the
bubble burst. Not few nurserymen
were utterly ruined, and the next spring
multicaulis trees were offered in vain
to the neighboring farmers at dollar a
hundred, for pea br.ish.n This branch
of the industry has never recovered
from that disaster, and to-day there is.
less silk raised in all the United States
than there was in Georgia one hundred
and twenty years go.
The result of m any experiments in
silk culture in this country has been to
prove that as fine a quality of silk can
be raised in the United States as in any
part of the world. But it has also as
positively proven that the silk cam OF
be raised here and reeled as cheaply as
the raw silk can be imported from China (
and Japan. 1t may be done in g Ulti-
mate America" but with the present
relations of labor and capital it cannot
easily be done now. Silk raising must
preferably be confined to countries
where there is a dense population. In
ohN ASNNiAS3 oSooOh ~ AC4uiICS all
mense amount Of labor, which comes
all at once. To give wages for feeding
silk-worms, anything like the wages
that are given for work in our mills,
would not pay any more than it would
to set men to feeding chickens. Where
ever the experiment of raising silk
worms on large scale has been tried,
it has failed They are too liable to get
diseased. They do better in isolated
communities or families. The only way
in which silk raising can be carried on
without loss in this country is for each
farmer, where the climate will permit,
to raise moderate quantity of cocoons
yearly, sending them to large flatures,
where they may be successfully reeled.
Years ago, reeling was done in the fam
lily where the silk was raised. 1t is
now, fortunately, separate branch of
the business. Even in China and Japan
this has come to be the case, the large
filatures, with improved machinery,
doing the work better than it could be
done at homes. j. Burro,0s, in allan
tic Monthly. '' - '''ts5si'i' iil@ @t'I'
| Leon Belmont, a handsome young
person. went to Minn eapolis two years