The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1892-09-02
RAWSILK IN AMERICA
ITS CULTURE BEGAN WITH THE
EARLIEST COLONIZATION.

EARLIEST COLONIZATION.
Though siik Mills Flourish, This Coun-
try Fails to Produce the Raw Material.
fourths of the Country.
II w. W. Cleaver, Of Unadilla, who Is
reported as having 25000 silkworms Al
work, can demonstrate the possibility
making 800 month by silk culture on IL
small scale, he may bring on another craze
like that of 1888. After nearly 800 years Of
experiment 1t is pretty well established
that the silkworm may be made to thrive
in this country and over quite three
fourths OF its area; but In spite of this the
silk manufacturing industry has grown to
great proportions In the United States
without material aid from growers Of ma
tive silk, and tho native product cuts no
figure in the consumption of the mills.
The experiment Of growing raw silk has
gone on persistently almost since the day
that the first permanent colonist set foot
upon the continent. Cortez brought silk
worms to Mexico In 1872, and James tried
to send eggs to Virginia in 1909, only two
years after the settlement of jamestown,
but failed because Of shipwreck. Ten
years later Virginians were urged to raise
silk, and penal statutes were passed en-
joining the industry upon the colonists.
Nearly every state in the Union has
sought to encourage silk culture, and all
sorts of societies have been formed to pro-
mote the industry. The victims Of John
Laws West India scheme were allured
with the hopo of successful silk culture in
America. When Georgia was settled in
1882 grants of land were made, with the
stipulation that for every ten acres 1GC
white mulberry trees should be planted.
Georgia developed the industry TO greater
degree than any other colony. The FIRST
shipment of Georgia silk to England was
made in 17S5. 1t weighed eight pounds.
A iilature for reelinR raw silk was estab
lished at Savannah in 1850, and In l759
Georgia exported 10000 pounds of silk to
England. After that cotton came in, and
being more profitable than silk drove the
latter out, just as tobacco had driven il
out in Virginia more than 100 years before
Some silk was raised In Georgia even dur.
ing the Revolutionary war, and there was
a small export trade ms late as 1890
For nearly 100 years there was a deter
mined effort to grow silk in Connecticut
In 1910 five tons of raw silk were grown at
Mansfield, and for several years the value
of Connecticut's raw silk product exceeded
100000 per year. President Stiles, of Yale
college, grew silkworms and wrote a book
on silk culture. During the last twenty.
! five years of the colonial period expert
ments in silk culture were made In Penn
| sylvania, New York, New Jersey and
Maryland. The Revolutionary war, how
/ t,,ta ,.st. "A h.. 4
plan of Benjamin Franklins to build q
flature for reeling silk in Philadelphia
was given up.
The industry had so much decreased IL
/ 1856 that newspaper Of the day mentions
as II remarkable fact that family In
Maryland hud 1000 silkworms at work
! Now, an ounce of fertile eggs will produc,
nearly 10000 worms. In 1900 there WERE
! fifty families in New Haven raising silk
worms, and a local paper hoped it woult
soon he disreputgble for a lady or gentle
man to be found wearing thick silk not o.
native growth A company in Rhod,
=, Island had 10000 mulberry trees growing
in 1850, and the Legislature offered bounty
7 of fifty cents pound on raw silk grow
within the state. A newspaper declared
that Rhode Island was likely to take til,
lead in the manufacture OF silk as of cot
i ton.
In 1910 so greatly had the industry
| grown that the United States exported
81 552 pounds Of raw silk, and in 1874 near
i ly 100000 pounds but in 1850 the export
was only ,763 pounds 1t was in til,
period between 1925 and 1850 that the great
craze for silk raising seized the middle
states. A company with the president Of
- learned society at its head was formet
for the furtherance of the industry in Penn
! sylyania. A Frenchman came out iron
Lyons to teach the art of managing silk
J worms, and elaborate instructions wer
printed. The craze spread into Delawar
:, and Maryland 1t WAS urged that this in
dustry could be carried on at home, an,
that it furnished easy and profitable worl
p for women and children. In those day
American women were more easily i'm
, pressed with the glamour of royalty, and j
was represented that royal ladies in al
times had been deeply interested in sill
(; culture. Hundreds of homes became tn
scene Of the industry and dainty girl
Z sedulously gathered mulberry leaves I
feed those rayenous worms. Everybod
was in hutter Of excitement at the pro-
pect. Thousands of mulberry trees WEI
planted, and some of them OF their d,
, scendants still linger.
An almost fatal disaster, attended wit
l. curious manifestations overlook the sill
growers of Pennsylvania in 1852 1t W,
represented that the Chinese or South Sc
#, mulberry was i'll every way as suitab
!. as the white mulberry to feed sill
worms. Thereupon there began to be
l. great speculation in the Chinese mulberr
|. One nurserynlan ordered 100000 of Il
plants from France, and sent over $50, o
= in gold to bind the bargain. Tiny twii
brought one and two dollars apiece, al
v were sold two or three times in rapid su
cession, each time ut an advance. III
speculation was like that which ragged
the days of the tulip craze. 14ate in IS
il, the collapse came, and in the spring
~ 1870 the Chinese mulberry sold at two al
X three cents each. While the speculate,
III was at its height 100000 changed han
D. for plants during one week in Philad,
~ phia alone.
NJ In 1874 many Of the Chinese mulber
Is plants were killed by severe frost, al
=, even Connecticut was discouraged.
was then that the New England capital.
set about building mills and importii
raw silk.
The hope Of growing raw silk has p,
Gir sistently maintained foothold in Phi
- Ielphia, and that city is the home of /
Is Woman's Silk Culture association. Lol
OF Blodgett told the Franklin institute abo
oh ten years ago that there could lie no dou
n that it was possible to grow raw silk
~ this country at moderate profit.