Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1902-09-05
PROFIT IN SILK RAISING
Steps Taken to Encourage the
Industry In America.
THE RULE OF CULTURE IS SIMPLE

of the Domestic supply Could be
Raised by the Wives and Dangh-
ters of Farmers-How European
Peasants Are Aided by the Industry.
Secretary Wilson has secured an ap.
preparation of $4,000 from congress
! for the purpose of making experiments
In the raising of silkworms and the
production Of raw silk, says William
E. Curtis, the Washington correspond
ent of the Chicago Record Herald. We
are now importing about $4,000 600
worth of raw silk annually, and Mr..
Wilson thinks that 1t is possible for us
to raise a good deal Of the supply In
our own country IL the wives and
daughters of the farmers and people
who live in the villages will take up
the industry. 1t is particularly suit
able for women and children, and the
wives and daughters on the farms and
In the villages, by spending a little
time every day, might earn a liberal
supply Of pin money without interfer-
ing with, their household duties or
their education or their pleasure. In
France not less than 10000 families
are engaged in the cultivation of silk
without interference with their other
duties. In Italy nearly as many cf the
| peasants are engaged in the same in
dustry. In that way the girls earn
| and save money for their marriage
| dowrles SILK raising is simple enough
for any one of ordinary intelligence to
! carry on. 1t is no more difficult than
| keeping chickens or bees. and the
profits are very much larger.
There have been many attempts,
however, TO introduce silk culture into
the United States, but they have al
ways failed because other crops have
paid better and 1t has never been nee
essary for the women and children OF
our farm population to earn their own
living. They Lave always been sup
ported by their fathers aud brothers.
England introduced sllkworms into
Virginia, which accounts for the mul-
berry trees around Williamsburg and
on the old plantations of the Kappa
hammock and the james. 1t didn't
pay. Tobacco and cotton We're much
more profitable crops. For the same
reason similar experiment was aban-
doned in New England the latter part
of the eighteenth century
There Is no question as to the ability
to raise silk wherever the mulberry
tree will grow, and ii will thrive any
where between the gulf and the great
lakes and the Atlantic ocean and the
arid plains. But the worms require n
great deal of attention and detailed
work, which the American people are
not accustomed to perform. In Japan,
China, France, Italy, Switzerland, Tur,
key and other countries children are
expected to look after the silkworms
under the direction of their mothers.
In those countries even the little ones
are always expected to pay their share
of the household expenses and carry
their share of the load. The children
y
to that necessity, although no doubt it
would be good thing for them.
Secretary Wilson thinks that silk
raising ought to be introduced into
the south because the climate Is espe-
cially adapted for it and the colored
women and children could earn good
deal of money that way.
The census has disclosed some very
interesting and surprising information
concerning the manufacture of silk in
the United States and shows that we
are second to France only in the an
nual value of our silk production.
Only few years ago we We're de-
pendent entirely upon France and
Italy, but during the last ten years ev-
cry weave, every article and quality
known to silk manufacturers has been
produced In this country as well and
generally better than in Europe, and
we now furnish practically everything
except a few specialties and novelties
in the way of fancy dress goods, vel
vets and ribbons, which still come
from France.
During the year 1900, 70 per cent OF
the silk dress goods worn in the United
States were manufactured here and S5
per cent of the ribbons. In 1900 we
produced $1O7, ,25625S worth of silk
goods and imported only $26,S03,549.
There are now In operation in the
United States two and one-half times
as many looms as there were ten years
ago. Some of our mills turn out a
hundred thousand pieces of sixty yards
to the piece every year. More raw
silk is sold annually in New York
than is consumed in France, which Is
the largest silk consuming country in
Europe, and the United States now
ranks second to France among the silk
producing nations in the value of silk
goods produced. Connecticut takes the
lead, Massachusetts Is second and New
Jersey third.
There is no longer any competition
from abroad in machine twist, sewing
silk and other threads. The manufac-
lures Of the United States surpass the
world In that particular. They took
tie highest awards at the Paris ex-
position, and their goods bring better
prices than those Of any other country,
In Paris, London, Berlin and other
great commercial centers. There is
shop in Berlin where nothing else is
sold but American machine silk, but
it is purchased only by the wealthy
classes, the expensive milliners and
dressmakers and the manufacturers
of high grade gloves, clothing and 9TH
er articles for which silk is used. Con-
necticut takes the lead in sewing silks