HP ^15 ,c55 W)~ THE SILK INDUSTRY .•* % * " OF THE UNITED STATES / Fbom 1766 to 1874 . By A. T. LILLY. / THE SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES From 1766 to 1874. By A. T. LILLY. NEW YORK : Jenkins & Thomas, Printers, 8 Spruce Street. 1882. e THE GETTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE LIBRARY THE SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES FROM 1766 TO 1874. By A. T. LILLY. As the following sketch is largely composed of personal rem¬ iniscences, no reference will be made to early efforts at silk culture and manufacture in Georgia, and elsewhere at the South, during colonial times, which have been already recorded in history. No attempt will be made to describe the praiseworthy labors at Phil¬ adelphia of Mr. Hoeckly in 1793, and Mr. William H. Horstmann in 1815. The present retrospect will be confined to the origin and growth of the silk industry in a locality with which the writer was thoroughly acquainted. A peculiar interest gathers around the early struggles of a manufacturing art which has since been estab¬ lished at numerous sites far from its obscure birthplace, and has now become of national importance. An extract from Barber’s “ History of Connecticut ” (published in 1836) may fitly serve to introduce further details. Under the head of “ Mansfield ” is the following :— A larger quantity of silk is manufactured here than at any other place in the United States. This branch of industry was introduced into this country by Dr. Aspinwall, of this place, about 1766, who established the raising of silk-worms in New Haven, Long Island, and Philadelphia. At this period (1766) half an ounce of mulberry seed was sent to every parish in Connecti¬ cut, and the legislature for a time offered a bounty on mulberry-trees and raw silk. Two hundred and sixty-five lbs. were raised in 1793, and the quantity has been increasing ever since. In 1830, 3,200 lbs. were raised. Two small silk factories have been established in this town by an English manufacturer. The double wheel-head was invented by Mr. Horace Hanks, about the year 1800, for the purpose of spinning silk. It was first used in the family of Mr. Wright. The first silk reeled from cocoons was the work of the wife of the Kev. Mr. Martin, who had been in France, and had seen the operation in that country. The growth of silk culture in Mansfield, as indicated above, steadily rising from 265 lbs. in 1793 to 3,200 lbs. in a period of thirty-seven years, was continuous until 1843-44, when a blight of the mulberry-trees and other concurrent misfortunes led to an abandonment of the business of raising silk, not only in that local- 2 SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. ity, but throughout the country. The growth of the trees proba¬ bly dates from 1766, when there was a general distribution of mulberry seed throughout the State of Connecticut. Mansfield seems, however, to have been the only locality where raising silk became a fixed industry. This must be attributed rather to the interest taken in the matter by the inhabitants of the town than to any peculiar advantage of soil or climate. Until the blight of 1844 killed the mulberry-trees, they were growing throughout the town¬ ship. Here and there portions of land, quaintly termed “ mulberry orchards,” were entirely devoted to them, and they stood in rows, being planted fifteen or twenty feet apart. Elsewhere, and not unfrequently, they shaded the sides of the roads leading to the farm-houses, they adorned highways and by-ways, and fringed the edges of the cultivated fields. The mulberry-tree interfered little, if at all, with the use of the land for other purposes, while it fur¬ nished the means of a considerable income to its owner. The silk obtained by a single family sometimes amounted to 130 lbs. in a season. The labor required was light, as the processes were sim¬ ple and invariably successful, and women and children performed all the work, except during the sixth or last week of the life of the worms, when the men usually gave assistance. Sometimes the owner of trees let them on shares for the season ; sometimes he sold their leaves at a given price per pound, to be picked by the purchaser. This constant source of income to the owner of mul¬ berry-trees was for fifty years a demonstrated fact. There is no reason why it should not again be possible, and not in a restricted locality, but throughout the breadth of our country. The deficien¬ cy is not of climate or soil, but of willing hands. Not only the care of the silk-worms, but the manufacture of silk, and in most cases its sale, were part of the business of the matron of the house. The silk was reeled irom the cocoons by a process of the most primitive description; and so crude was the product thus obtained that it could only be spun by hand. It may well be doubted w'hether silk so reeled could be used by a manufacturer, if aided by all the ingenious machinery of the present day. The hand- wheel, on which previous to the year 1800 all spinning was per¬ formed, was exceedingly simple. A band carried the motion di¬ rectly from a large wheel turned by the operator to the “ whur ” on the spindle ; and many revolutions of the wheel were required to give the needful twist. In the year 1800 Horace Hanks invent- SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. 3 ed the double wheel-head. In this device the band passed from the large wheel to a counter-shaft, and thence to the spindle “ whur,” giving an increased speed of 145 turns to one as com¬ pared with the old wheel-head. The new invention, under Hanks’s patent, was hailed by the matrons of that day with enthusiasm as a labor-saving contrivance, and found due appreciation in spinning- silk, wool, and cotton. American sewing-silk was at that time sold by the skein instead of by weight. For convenience twenty-five skeins were tied in a bunch, and four bunches were fastened together, thus giving a merchantable package of one hundred skeins,—a unit of trade on which the price was based. Uniformity in length of thread was secured by act of the legislature, which declared that there should be forty yards in a skein. The act was enforced with the follow¬ ing penalty :— Any person or persons who shall sell or offer for sale any sewing-silk, unless each skein consists of twenty threads, each thread of the length of two yards, shall forfeit the sum of seven dollars to any person who shall prosecute the same to effect. Yankee ingenuity soon discovered a method of evading the statute. Only twenty yards being put in each skein, the seller was careful to speak of them as lialf-skeins ; but, as they passed from hand to hand, perhaps some vender neglected this precau¬ tion, or perhaps the “ half-skein” was too faintly spoken to be heard. As the fine went to the informer, if the purchaser wished to take this advantage he might perhaps be willing to be imposed upon for the sake of recovering the fine. Thus, with both buyer and seller there w r as a possibility of advantage in the half-skeins, and it is quite certain that they were popular. The loss by such fraud, we may suppose, ultimately fell on the consumer. Probably then as now, in respect to skeins as to spooled silk, the purchase, if weighed in the balance, would frequently be found wanting. Aside from the half-skein system, there was the inducement to make the thread, by extra labor, go as far as possible. The only limit to the fineness of the thread was the fear that it might be unsalable. As the fair’spinners themselves sold their product, they doubtless gauged the fineness of their thread by their capacity as sales¬ women. Trade of that period took largely the form of barter. Having dyed her silk with her own hands, the matron repaired to the 4 SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. country merchant to exchange it for dry goods or groceries. The ‘ shopping ” of the present day must*be regarded as tame in com¬ parison with those cheery contests of old between buyer and seller, when the value of the offered silk was a question of more delicate adjustment than that of the goods on the shopkeepers’ shelves. In contests such as these the man full often discovered that the wo¬ man was his equal. The merchant had to find a market for the accumulated silk in the city. He, too, now wanted to exchange it for goods, but the personal charms of the vender no longer as¬ sisted the sale of the skeins. Compared with the Italian sewing- silk, the American was inferior, and often a drug in the market. Consumers found the thread too fine and of an uneven size, that gave it a rough appearance. Frequently the great objection was urged that there was too much floss upon it. The color was often defective, both as to shade and permanence. Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, however, its silk production gave to the town of Mansfield an income of not less than $50,000 per annum. The labor which produced this sum interfered little with the other work of the household, and was vastly more profitable. Such were the characteristics of the silk industry in this country prior to the introduction of machinery that was to supersede the spinning-wheel. A lad employed as a “ throwster ” in an English silk-mill was the means of bringing about this great change. In 1827 or 1828, Edmund Golding, of Macclesfield, England, deter¬ mined to seek his fortune in the United States. He was then seventeen years of age, and he exj>ected to find ready employment as a “ throwster ” in an American silk factory. Great was his dis¬ appointment at finding there was nothing of the sort in this coun¬ try ; and that even at Mansfield, the headquarters of the silk in¬ dustry, no process but that of hand-spinning had been adopted. He sought employment in the town in vain ; and he had reached his last sixpence, and was in threadbare garments, when Mr. Wil¬ liam A. Fisk, a trader, offered to give him food and shelter for whatever work he could do—an offer that was gratefully accepted. A neighbor of Mr. Fisk, Mr. Alfred Lilly, a manufacturer of screw- augers and auger-bits, took an interest in the lad, and invited him to spend the evenings at his house. Golding there described his previous occupation. The mode of spinning s ilk by machinery, as then practised in England, was thus in a general way explained to Mr. Lilly,—Golding making rude sketches of the winding, dou- SILK INDUSTKY OF THE UNITED STATES. 5 bling and spinning frames. Mr. Lilly readily comprehended the details of the manufacture, and foresaw no great difficulty in at¬ tempting it. The three thousand pounds of raw silk which were then annu¬ ally produced in Mansfield could only be disposed of when con¬ verted by hand-manufacture into sewing-silk, and for the most part had to be offered in barter. Mr. Lilly hoped that by means of machinery a sewing-silk could be made equal to the Italian, and, like it, capable of being sold for cash, instead of being ex¬ changed for goods at irregular valuations. He was fully acquaint¬ ed with the praiseworthy efforts which his townsmen, Messrs. Hanks, had already made in endeavoring to spin silk by ma¬ chinery ; he was further apprised of their utter failure, both in demonstrating that the manufacture of sewing-silk by machinery was practicable, and in awakening a public interest that might have carried forward the undertaking. Not discouraged by these facts, he brought the subject before Captain Joseph Conant and Messrs. William A. Fisk, William Atwood, Storrs Hovey, and Jesse Bingham, and with them eventually formed a copartnership, under the name of the Mansfield Silk Company, for the manufacture of silk by machinery. Each member of the company was required to pay $50 at once, and could be assessed from time to time for further payments till he had contributed $700 to the concern; having reached this limit, he could not be required to pay more. Mr. Atwood was chosen as treasurer and business agent. He was a competent man of business, besides having some special knowledge of silk. He had produced for several years on his farm an annual average of not less than 130 pounds of raw silk, which he had disposed of to advantage after it was made into sewing-silk and button-hole twist. Mr. Lilly had charge of procuring the machinery. A por¬ tion of this was made in his own shop, and the remainder was obtained from regular machinists. A room and power having been temporarily provided, the machinery when ready was put in motion, under the direct charge of Edmund Golding. Afterwards the company purchased a building and power (which had been used for the manufacture of wool) situated in Gurleyville. Thither they moved their machinery. To this day the building is known as “The Williams Silk Mill.” The serious difficulties of manufacture soon became manifest. 6 SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. The machinery was very crude, and a Yankee “throwster” of seventeen to-day would scarcely recognize it as bearing any rela¬ tion to the work. It was capable of doing all that Mr. Golding had claimed for it, but it proved inadequate for the manufacture of American silk as that was then reeled. Finding themselves unable to carry out their original project, since Mr. Golding could give them no hint at improving the reeling, they took his advice in importing raw silk from England. Mr. Ezra Goodridge, of New York, was the importer through whom a small quantity of ordinary reel Taysaam, Brussia, and long-reeled Canton raw silk was obtained. This purchase was a great curiosity in Connecticut, and the manner of working it was a mystery to outsiders. Mr. Golding proved competent in the art of winding the silk, and also in teaching it to a few girls, though they found difficulties in their work which would be laughed at by a winder of the present day. But Golding’s lack of knowledge about reeling—his chief acquaint¬ ance being with the business of winding and spinning organzine and tram—made their attempts to compete with the Italian sew¬ ing-silk unsatisfactory, although their product was superior to the home-made skeins. The company were cheered by the hope of better success in weaving silk, and in this branch of business Mr. Golding was bet¬ ter able to encourage their hopes. In the spring of 1829 the Mansfield Silk Company was incorporated by the Legislature—a circumstance which directed public attention to their efforts, and occasioned wide-spread interest in the growth and manufacture of silk. People made long journeys to see the machinery in opera¬ tion, and letters of inquiry were numerous. Among the visitors was a Mr. Brown, by birth an Englishman, who was engaged in the tassel manufacture at Boston, and w r as anxious to obtain his stock as cheaply as possible. He was familiar with the true pro¬ cess of reeling, and explained it to the company. They had a reel constructed under his direct supervision. The unquestionable success of the new reel gave fresh life to the enterprise. The company advertised their willingness to pur¬ chase all the cocoons that might be offered, and their purchases were large. A small building, with power, was devoted to reeling. Improvements were rapidly made, patented, and adopted, in the reels driven by power. Not only was the reeling perfectly suc¬ cessful, but the native silk was found to be of superior quality and SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED 8TATES. 7 strength, winding and doubling with greater facility and less waste than China or Brussia silk. Instead of being a drug in the market, American silk now be¬ came an object of demand, and the company took measures to in¬ crease the supply. The hardy native white mulberry was the sole source of food for the silk-worms. The seed of this tree was carefully gathered in Mansfield for the company, and in the spring following they took measures for extensive planting. Their agents were sent into different sections of Connecticut and neighboring States, with instructions to lease for a term of years suitable land ' for nurseries, and to arrange with the owners of the land for aid in planting, and for subsequent care. The agents were to revisit the nurseries from time to time, as often as might be necessary to ascertain that they had proper attention, and to secure successful growth. In the Spring of 1832 the company appeared before the legis¬ lature to ask State aid for encouraging the culture and manufac¬ ture of silk. The Governor, with members of a legislative com¬ mittee, visited the company’s silk mill, and took great interest in examining the materials used, and the machinery and processes of manufacture. Some specimens of the goods made—such as vest patterns and handkerchiefs—were presented to the visitors. The result was an act of the legislature containing the following provi¬ sions:— Whoever shall transplant one hundred white mulberry trees of three or more years’ growth on his, her, or their land, within this State, adapted to the growth and cultivation of the same, at such distances from each other as will best favor their full growth and the collection of their leaves, shall receive at the end of two years next after said trees shall have been trans¬ planted as aforesaid, one dollar, and in the same proportion of a greater number transplanted as aforesaid, upon proof and certificate thereof as here¬ after prescribed, and that such trees were, at the end of two years after trans¬ planting as aforesaid, in a healthy and growing condition. It was also enacted that, where silk was reeled from cocoons by the improved method, fifty cents per pound should be paid to the person reeling it, or causing it to be reeled. A bounty of $1,500 was bestowed upon the Mansfield Silk Company. A general interest in silk culture was excited by this legislative action; and Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maine, following the example of Connecticut, offered bounties for cocoons and raw silk raised within their borders. 8 SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. Among those who closely observed the principles of the machin¬ ery employed in the silk mill was Nathan Rixford. He had just established himself as a builder of machinery at Mansfield Hollow. Scarcely was the machinery of the mill complete, when this young man projected considerable improvements upon it, and began con¬ struction accordingly. Doubling and winding frames and a spin¬ ner made upon his plans were a notable advance on the English machinery of Golding, and many marked features then introduced by Mr. Rixford are retained among the improvements of the silk manufacture of to-day. His success attracted attention. He soon began to receive orders from different parts of the country, and for several years was the principal builder of silk machinery. Prominent among the earlier silk culturists and manufacturers were Jonathan H. Cobb, of Dedham, Mass.; the Nantucket Silk Company, of Nantucket, Mass.; Samuel Whitmarsh, of Northamp¬ ton, Mass.; and Cheney Brothers, of Manchester, Conn. Mr. Whitmarsh and others introduced new varieties of mulberry-trees, prominent among which was the much-vaunted Multicaulis , and of less celebrity, though more value, the Alpine and the Brussia, the two latter being really worthy of cultivation in this country, while the former, by its utter and widespread failure, after being absurdly overrated, brought loss and disgrace on the entire silk industry of the United States. A few words may be devoted to the “multicaulis fever.” Haste to be rich led the way. Instead of the old method of planting mulberry orchards with the well-known and hardy varieties of the tree, the system was adopted of securing from trees of a single season’s growth leaves fit for feeding. For this purpose, planting in close hills or in hedges was necessary, and the Morus multicaulis was the favorite tree. Its luxuriant growth, when stimulated, was indeed remarkable. Its leaves, fed to the worm, produced a silk that was not equal in quality to that from the white mulberry. The trees had to be housed in winter, either in cellars or in earth- vaults. Notwithstanding the objections to it, the multicaulis grew rapidly in popular favor. Rarely was a garden or a cultivated spot to be seen without this tree. A demand for the trees them¬ selves sprang up,—a demand that gave them an absurd and facti¬ tious value. Prices ranged for trees produced from one bud or cutting, and of a single season’s growth, from five cents to ten, twenty, fifty cents, one dollar, and in some instances five dollars SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. 9 apiece. The value of trees became greater than that of the silk that could be obtained by them; the trees were worth too much to be used for silk culture, and the raising o*f these trees became a speculative business of great activity. The excitement reached its culminating point in 1839, when the fortunes of many thrifty men who had embarked in the enterprise were wrecked in bankruptcy. Even then, although the failure of the multicaulis was assured, the mania for raising mulberry trees was not abated, hardier varieties being its objects. The writer was witness to an instance of the height to which this excitement carried prices, and places the facts here as a matter of record. Two trees of one season’s growth, raised by Elder Sharp, of North Windham, Conn., were sold, standing in his nursery, in August, 1842, after due advertisement, at auction. The first one offered brought $100, the second $100; and further sales were withheld because the bidding was not con¬ sidered as sufficiently spirited. Disaster followed this baseless speculation, as might have been anticipated, when the price of the trees exceeded the worth of the product; and in 1843-44 the fab¬ ric of artificial values collapsed. A deep reaction in popular feel¬ ing took the place of the former excitement; and the whole busi¬ ness of silk culture sank into disfavor, along with the costly and now neglected mulberry trees. A blight of a general character, to which even the hardy white mulberry yielded at last, gave the fin¬ ishing blow, and silk culture in America ceased t > exist. From 1828 to 1844 the members of the Mansfield Silk Company passed through sixteen years of varied experience, which must remain for the most part unwritten. They were men not wanting in thrift or enthusiasm; but they lacked capital, and their ignor¬ ance of the business of manufacture frequently made them the dupes of unwise experiment. Their attempt at weaving, though they succeeded with vest patterns, handkerchiefs, and some other goods, must be pronounced a failure, both as to the quality desired, and from a pecuniary point of view. They exceeded their first limit of $700 assessment, and each paid in more than $1,000, besides devoting abundant time and effort; but the result was at last disastrous. Before their final dissolution, the company let their establishment to others who carried on the silk manufacture. But to the original company must be accredited the honor of having originated the business, and the popular interest in it which has since carried it onward. 10 SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. Mr. Lilly was himself the first to sever connection with the com¬ pany. He failed in his regular business in 1835, and attributed his misfortune to his interest in silk manufacture. It was, per¬ haps, the last straw on the camel’s back. He was past the meridian -of life, and his wounded feelings never recovered from the shock of his failure. His interest in the company was appraised and ■sold, in the settlement of his estate, for $350. The dissolution of the company took place in 1839,—William A. Fisk, Jesse Bingham and Storrs Hovey withdrawing altogether from the business. A small but prosperous enterprise was carried on by Captain Conant and William Atwood, associated with Harvey Crane, in the manu¬ facture of sewing-silk and button-hole twist. About the year 1840 the New York and Northampton Silk Company employed Captain Conant as their agent. They had then been in existence since 1834, and hoped that the Captain could retrieve their waning fortunes. In this he did not succeed; but he spent several years in Northamp¬ ton, principally engaged in the silk business; at last returning to Mansfield. In 1853 he built a small silk-mill and dye-house upon ground newly broken for the purpose. A few houses have gather¬ ed around this site, and it is known as Con mtville. The company formed by Messrs. Atwood and. Crane with Captain Conant dis¬ solved at his departure, and Mr. Atwood built a small mill (using the Rixford machinery), a dye-house, and other appropriate struc¬ tures, on Mount Hope River. His undertaking was crowned with success. Mr. Atwood was at the time of his death, in 1851, the leading silk manufacturer of the town, which still bears the name of Atwoodville. To close this portion of our history, it is only necessary to fol¬ low the fortunes of Mr. Golding. After the dissolution of the Mansfield Silk Company, he was associated with Messrs. Zalmon Storrs & Son, and in 1843 had been for some time engaged with them in the manufacture of sewing-silk. They built a small, neat mill in Mansfield Hollow, equipping it with the Rixford machin¬ ery. During ten years their associated efforts were prosperous. After they dissolved company Mr. Golding bought land and water¬ power at a site one mile to the north-east of Mansfield Centre, and there broke ground for a new silk-mill. The canal was partly excavated, and some of the stone had been gathered for the build- ing, when Mr. Golding was taken ill, and, after a brief illness, passed away. The gathered stone and ground broken for the 8ILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. 11 mill still remain untouched,—a sad monument to this pioneer of the silk manufacture of America. It was not proposed in this rapid sketch to name all those whose efforts in the infancy of the silk business contributed, through years of struggle and difficulty, to its ultimate success; nor is it possible here to assign the share of honor that is due to each, where all devoted their best endeavor. But the important relation which the dyeing of silk bears to this industry makes it necessary that some incidents connected with that branch of the business should be placed on record. The first in this country to make a business of silk-dyeing, and to improve its processes, were Edward Vallentine and Lewis Leigh, who had been practically engaged in this occupation in London, England. They came to the United States in 1838, and in August of that year Mr. Vallentine began business as a silk-dyer at Gurleyville, Conn. He soon obtained the patronage of most of the silk manufacturers in that vicinity, gaining a reputation by the use of new and brilliant colors and a permanent black, that were much admired. About 1839-40, doubtless under inducements held out by the New York and Northampton Silk Company, Mr. Vallentine removed to Northamp¬ ton, Mass., where he carried on the business of silk-dyeing success¬ fully. Although of apparently robust constitution, he did not sur¬ vive the meridian of life. His death occurred in 1851. Mr. Leigh, who is still living, is regarded by the craft as a master in the art of silk-dyeing ; and to his and Mr. Vallentine’s efforts must be given the credit of having done much to establish this branch of industry. At least one incident connected with the importation of raw silk deserves mention. When the American raw silk was properly reeled, it took precedence of any that was imported, being more easily worked. At the suggestion of Mr. William Atwood, about the year 1840, Mr. Ezra Gfoodridge, of New York, sent a sample skein of American silk to China, with an order for a few bales of an ar¬ ticle to be similar in all respects. In compliance with this order, an invoice came of silk described as “ re-reeled Canton. ” The skeins were fac-similes of the American sample. They gave great satisfaction ; and up to the present time, silk of this character has been the subject of large importation. The amount of our imports of raw silk may now be taken as the measure of the silk industry, which," as we have seen, began with 12 SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED STATES. home growth and a home manufacture originally dependent upon the native product, and gained sufficient foothold to survive the extinction of American silk culture. The earlier importers of raw silk in New York exhibited commendable enterprise in fostering our infant silk manufactures, and. bore their share of the losses which usually attend new enterprises. At the present day the number of importers is largely increased, to meet the demands of a business amounting to 1,250,000 lbs. of raw silk annually, of a gold value of $7,500,000. Among the large manufacturing establishments which create the demand for these importations, may be mentioned that of Messrs. Cheney Brothers, at Manchester, Conn., which has arisen out of the ashes—destruction having likewise overtaken their earlier ef¬ forts in raw silk culture. They are now the leaders in the Ameri¬ can silk industry, and are successful in spinning, weaving, dyeing, and all other branches of the manufacture. The Nonotuck Silk Company’s establishment at Florence, Mass., which is an out¬ growth upon the ruins of the New York and Northampton Silk Company, next deserves mention. Sewing-silk and machine-twist are the specialty of this concern, which gives employment steadily to more than 400 operatives, manufacturing more than 80,000 lbs. of raw silk annually. There are in all, at the present time, 156 silk factories in the following States: New York, New Jersey, Pennsyl¬ vania, Maryland, California, Kansas, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont. They give employment to about 12,000 operatives. The production of raw silk in this country, which in 1828 amount¬ ed in Mansfield alone to 3,200 lbs., and which ceased entirely in 1844, has since been revived in California, meeting there with a modified success. There is no good reason why it should not be again extended throughout the United States. Since the in¬ troduction of the mulberry seed by Dr. Aspinwall in 1766, the history of this culture has been pregnant with encouragement, and only a fortuitous conjunction of misfortunes checked it. American silk, the quality of which is known to be superior to any that is imported, would have to-day a cash value and an in¬ exhaustible home market. The subject of silk culture in the United States deserves special consideration from the Silk Association of America. Florence, Mass., February, 1875. J GETTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE