The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-17
SILK CULTURE IN
 THE UNITED STATES
Has Tried for Three Centuries
 to Be Successful
PROFIT NOT FORTHCOMING
Story of the Efforts Made In America to Encourage the Little Worm Which Feeds on the
 Mulberry.
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN.

BY FREDERIC J. HASklN.
 Although the United States stands at the head of the list of nations in re- sourcefulness and productivity it Is a
 ingular fact that the first industry ,ransplanted from the Old World to the soil of this country has never been com mercially successful. Silk culture was begun in Virginia when the colony was but two years old, long before the May flower landed in New England The Jamestown colonsts had given themselves over to the raising of tobacco, but James
 l., that king who never saod foilish thing and never did wise one, was the implacable foe of the plant. After at tempting to discourage it's use in Eng land by his famous "Counterblast Against Tobacco" he resolved that the fertile soil of Virginia should be put to bet ter use than that of raising the obnox- ious narcotic weed
 So 1t was that he sent silk worm eggs and mulberries to Virginia with printed instructions concerning silk culture. The colonsts were required by law to plant mulberry trees and the silk worm eggs were distributed free of charge. That was three centuries ago. Te United States government today not only fur nlshes mulberry trees and silk worm eggs free to anybody who will undertake the work of growing silk, but tt will also buy the cocoons and provide for ship ping them in small quantities to Wash ingto1 without cost to the grower. No other industry has ben so fostered and cared for by the government both in colonial and later days, yet 1t is lamentable fact that the United States does not produce enough silk to make the industry of the slightest commercial importance. Yet the silk mills of the United States annually import from fifty to sixty million dollars worth of raw silk from other countries.
 Despite the Encouragement of 300 years of failure, the belief in the future of the silk culture business io 10, and at this particular Is are being launched than ever before. Tn, mess In this country can In that it is hist, ery little while some IT. CTS rushes Into the a silk worm suspende d of silver gauge and s millions in it.''
 1Aoout hundred alter King James reign had ended and the Vir- ginians had forgotten all about silk worms in the pursuit of the tobacco worm, Governor Oglethorpe introduced the silk business into Georgia, again under the fostering care of the government. Mulberry trees were planted in the pub lie gardens at Savannah and bounty was granted to silk growers. Everybody was going to get rich. For twenty-five years the Georgians devoted themselves to silk A flature for reeling the threads from the cocoons was erected in Savan- nah. In l759 Georgia sold s75O00 worth of raw silk on the London market. That was the high water mark. never again reached In this country, and Georgia's product fell off steadily until the Revo- lutianary war stopped it altogether. Hu- suenot refugees from the silk growing country of France brought the indus try into South Carolina, where 1t thrived in a modest way for some time, only to perish with English rule. All of the colo nies made some experiments President Stiles of Yale being at the head of the New England enthusiasts.
 Mrs Pinckney of South Carolina grew  one of which was presented to the Dow ager Princess of Wales, another to Lord Chesterfield. and another she wore her self. Her gown Is preserved as one of the most treasured heirlooms of the Hor- ry family of South Carolina. Mrs. Su- sannah Wright of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, wove sixty yards of cloth from the product of her homegrown silk worm, and this oath was made into a court dress for Queen Charlotte, consort of George III. Silk culture after the Revolution was not entirely aban- doned but it was merely a domestic manufacture, and silk was grown for home spinning. just as wool and fax in the north and flax and cotton In the south.
 In the early twenties Congress ex- pressed interest in the silk industry and caused the translation of a German book on the culture of the six form fofr the benefit of American growers. Various state legislatures took up the question, and once again silk culture was under