The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1882-07-06
The New Silk Industry,

The greatest incentive to engage
in silk culture is the knowledge
that there is home market fo1
$15, 100000 worth of floss, which
manufacturers are obliged to i'm
port from foreign lands. The 9th
er consideration is, that silk cul-
ture furnishes women and children
in the rural districts, with q congo
nial occupation that does not re-
quire constant attention, and so
will mot interfere with household
duties.
In view OF these facts the Wo-
mems Silk Culture Association of
Philadelphia was organized two
years ago. for the purpose of call
ing the attention of the women of
the country to the opportunity Civ
en- them to establish q new indus
try, both suitable and profitable;
and also to give the necessary in
structions TO all desiring to engage
in silk culture.
The success of this pioneer asso-
| citation is remarkable; there has
been aroused wide spread interest
in the cultivatioH of eocoons, that
must 90 on increasing until the
aim of the asso4iatien3s fulfilled.
The fact swas most .forcibly pre-
scented at the last exhibition of the
association, at which the display of
lcocoons was very fine and inter
esting. The chief feature of the
exhibition was the display of spec
linen cocoons by the twenty six
contestants for the Strawbridge q
Clothier premiums. The first one
of which, by the way, was carried
off by Mrs. Rebecca Taylor, (moth-
er of the late Bayard Taylor) who
is over 80 years Of age, and n suffer.
er from paralysis.
The association announced that
through the liberality of Messrs.
Strawbridge d Clothier the well
known dry goodsl merchants of
Philadelphia, it is again enabled to
offer to the silk culturists the sum
of five hundred dollars in ten pre-
miums, as follows: First premium,
800; second premium, $75; third
premium, 500; fourth premium,
500; fifth premium, $50; sixth pre-
MUM, $45; seventh premium, $40;
eighth premium, $4S; ninth premi-
um, $25; tenth premium, $40. For
these premiums any resident of the
United States may contest. From
the ten largest amounts of cocoons,
one pound will be taken, without
selection, and the test of reeling APP
Piled; the quantity and quality will
be the conditions for premium. Ap-
plication for competition must be en-
dorsed and the amount ofthis' years
cocoons raised by the culturist,
testified to by some responsible
person. Stock must be sent not
later than December l, 1882.
Anyone with sufficient land to
grow a few mulberry trees can add
the rearing of silk worms to the
daily care and find it a source Of
pleasure and profit. The work oc-
cupies but a small portion of the
year, and u child can attend to the
daily gathering ofleaves and feeding
the worms. If a supply of mulber-
ry leaves connot be had, an Usage
orange hedge will answer every
purpose. The osage orange leaf is
admirable food for the silk worm
from which they spin splendid silk.
A very interesting event of ma
tional interest, connected with this
subject of silk culture, has just oc-
Cured in Philadelphia. The Wo-
mems Silk Culture Association Sc
lected silk from twenty-siX families
living in fourteen states; had it
spun on a yankee" reel, made into
a web of twenty-eight thousand
threads of silk, and woven rs a bro
cade on a jacquard loom, requiring
three thousand six hundred nee
dies to form the original and strilI-
ing design. This is the first bro
cade ever woven in America OF
American silk; and probably the
heaviest in texture of any brocadC
ever woven. 1t is known as the
Garfield dress, as it is the intention
of the association to present this
magnificent fabric to Mrs. James
A. Garfield.