Silk in America
Silk in America from The Story of Silk and Cheney Silk published 1916.
The story of the silk industry in America dates to the earliest English settlers in Virginia. James I tried to
compel Virginia tobacco planters to stop cultivating tobacco, plant mulberry trees and sustain silk worms to
supply raw silk to English factories. As early as 1623, he decreed that a planter would be fined £10 if he did not
cultivate at least ten mulberry trees for every 100 acres of his plantation. Bounties were extended in 1657:
10,000 pounds of tobacco for every £200 worth of silk or cocoons in a single year. The bounty was extended,
dropped, extended again and abandoned. No one wanted to "farm" silk when they could grow tobacco. Silk
was too labor-intensive.
Silk culture was tried again in Georgia in 1732. In 1759, 10,000 pounds of cocoons were received at the
processor or filature in Savannah, but eventually silk culture gave way to cotton. Chalk up another failure for silk
cultivation.
South Carolina was the next colony to attempt the raising of the mulberry tree and silk culture. In 1755, a Mrs.
Pinckney carried with her to England, enough silk of her own raising to weave three dresses, one of which was
presented to the Princess Dowager of Wales. Never the less, silk from South Carolina was very much a
novelty. Strike three for silk culture in the South.
In New England, Governor Leete, of Connecticut who died in 1683, had raised silk and had a suit made from
this silk. The mulberry was mentioned in legislation in Connecticut in 1732. Dr. N. Aspinwall sent trees to New
Haven and Mansfield, along with the eggs of the silkworm, in 1762. The Connecticut Assembly offered a
bounty for mulberry trees planted and another cash bounty for silk produced. Cultivation increased. Dr. Stiles,
the president of Yale, grew silk from 1758 to 1790. A woman and three children could make ten pounds of raw
silk worth $50 in five weeks. Silk processing was spreading throughout the state. As late as 1810 the three
chief silk counties produced $28,5000 worth of raw and sewing silk, plus half of that value in waste silk for
spinning.
Dr. Aspinwall also introduced silk culture into Pennsylvania in 1767 or 1768. A filature was built in Philadelphia
about 1770.
In the early decades of the 19th century, silk culture continued to entice investment. No one hit it big but people
kept trying. There was tremendous speculation in the 1830s. A new variety of mulberry was introduced from
China by way of the Philippines, then France and into Baltimore. Gideon B. Smith planted the first trees there in
1826. Growth was more rapid and the leaved were several times larger. When news spread, nurserymen
were inundated. The demand soon exceeded supply and a wild rush took place.
Several of the Cheney brothers of South Manchester, Connecticut began experimenting with sericulture around
1833. The first nursery was established in South Manchester, Connecticut. Records of the time show that
moris multicaulis, seedlings of the new species, sold for about $4 a hundred in 1834 rose to $10 in 1835 and
to $30 a hundred seedlings in 1836. A shipment from Marseilles arrived in April 1836. Only 15,000 of the
original 70,000 shipped survived. No more would arrive until the autumn. The Cheney brothers planted in May
and the shoots shot forth in great abundance. Some 6,000 silkworms were fed beginning in June and yielded
three bushels of cocoons. The boom was on. In November 1836, the Cheney brothers leased land in
Burlington, New Jersey, and started a nursery and cocoonery. Another was started in Cincinnati, Ohio. 1837
was a bountiful year. The Cheney brothers sold about $14,000 worth of trees from Burlington and had about
50,000 on hand. A man from nearby Monmouth, New Jersey made a clean profit of $3,000 from a $400
investment. The rage continued unabated through the Panic of 1837. Investment in silk was solid. By
January 1839, the price of a mulberry tree ranged from a dollar to five dollars. At the same time it became
apparent that the mulberry was not hardy enough to be raised in the North and hard times spread to silk. By
1840, the crash was complete. No one wanted the trees at any price. Importers could not even pay the freight
on shipments from abroad. See also the page devoted to Nonotuck.
In 1844, a fatal blight affected almost all the trees in the country. Growers were driven out of business. Even in
Mansfield, Connecticut, where it had been most prosperous, the culture was finally abandoned. Writing in
1916, Manchester said,” The fundamental reason for this is, not that mulberry trees and silkworms cannot,
though with difficulty, be raised in this country, but that the production of raw silk (cocoons) is essentially a
household and hand process, still requiring, as in the days of ancient China, infinite patience and an
disproportionate amount of human labor. Even in Italy, during the silkworm season, the whole house including
the bedrooms and beds, is given over to the worms, upon which the women lavish every attention from daylight
until late at night, - and for all this trouble and work, they net only six or seven cents a day. In Japan and China
such household labor may bring as low as two or three cents a day.”
“Silk cannot be grown by the highly paid labor of the United States in competition with such meagrely (sic)
rewarded Oriental drudgery, nor can household hand labor compete here with other industries in which most of
the energy is furnished by power and most of the work done by machinery.”
In Colonial days, whatever silk was manufactured here, was made entirely in the home. It was reeled by hand,
thrown or twisted and doubled by hand, and woven on the crude foot-powered loom of that period by the
women of the family. All early attempts in the 18th century at silk manufacture using the factory system were
failures.
Rodney and Horatio Hanks began the first silk mill in the United States at Mansfield, Connecticut in 1810. The
“mill” was only 12 ft by 12 ft in size. The mill made sewing thread by adding twist on machines of their design
run by waterpower. The mill and two others associated with this venture were abandoned in 1828 because the
machinery was too crude to produce commercial sewing thread. In 1815, William H. Horstmann, built a mill in
Philadelphia for production of trimmings and ribbons. He imported a Jacquard loom in 1824. The Mansfield
Silk Company, begun in the center of the silk growing district, made use of waterpower for reeling, but was
unsuccessful in attempts at weaving. The mill failed as a result of failure in the speculation with the morus
multicaulis.
The first really successful manufacturers in the United States were the Cheney Brothers. The original mill was
begun as the Mt. Nebo Silk Mills, South Manchester, Connecticut, in January 1838. Although somewhat
neglected during the time of the morus multicaulis speculation, it is the only mill established before that date
that was permanently successful.
Source: Manchester, H. H., The Story of Silk and Cheney Silk, Cheney Brothers, South Manchester,
Connecticut, 1916.
The story of the silk industry in America dates to the earliest English settlers in Virginia. James I tried to
compel Virginia tobacco planters to stop cultivating tobacco, plant mulberry trees and sustain silk worms to
supply raw silk to English factories. As early as 1623, he decreed that a planter would be fined £10 if he did not
cultivate at least ten mulberry trees for every 100 acres of his plantation. Bounties were extended in 1657:
10,000 pounds of tobacco for every £200 worth of silk or cocoons in a single year. The bounty was extended,
dropped, extended again and abandoned. No one wanted to "farm" silk when they could grow tobacco. Silk
was too labor-intensive.
Silk culture was tried again in Georgia in 1732. In 1759, 10,000 pounds of cocoons were received at the
processor or filature in Savannah, but eventually silk culture gave way to cotton. Chalk up another failure for silk
cultivation.
South Carolina was the next colony to attempt the raising of the mulberry tree and silk culture. In 1755, a Mrs.
Pinckney carried with her to England, enough silk of her own raising to weave three dresses, one of which was
presented to the Princess Dowager of Wales. Never the less, silk from South Carolina was very much a
novelty. Strike three for silk culture in the South.
In New England, Governor Leete, of Connecticut who died in 1683, had raised silk and had a suit made from
this silk. The mulberry was mentioned in legislation in Connecticut in 1732. Dr. N. Aspinwall sent trees to New
Haven and Mansfield, along with the eggs of the silkworm, in 1762. The Connecticut Assembly offered a
bounty for mulberry trees planted and another cash bounty for silk produced. Cultivation increased. Dr. Stiles,
the president of Yale, grew silk from 1758 to 1790. A woman and three children could make ten pounds of raw
silk worth $50 in five weeks. Silk processing was spreading throughout the state. As late as 1810 the three
chief silk counties produced $28,5000 worth of raw and sewing silk, plus half of that value in waste silk for
spinning.
Dr. Aspinwall also introduced silk culture into Pennsylvania in 1767 or 1768. A filature was built in Philadelphia
about 1770.
In the early decades of the 19th century, silk culture continued to entice investment. No one hit it big but people
kept trying. There was tremendous speculation in the 1830s. A new variety of mulberry was introduced from
China by way of the Philippines, then France and into Baltimore. Gideon B. Smith planted the first trees there in
1826. Growth was more rapid and the leaved were several times larger. When news spread, nurserymen
were inundated. The demand soon exceeded supply and a wild rush took place.
Several of the Cheney brothers of South Manchester, Connecticut began experimenting with sericulture around
1833. The first nursery was established in South Manchester, Connecticut. Records of the time show that
moris multicaulis, seedlings of the new species, sold for about $4 a hundred in 1834 rose to $10 in 1835 and
to $30 a hundred seedlings in 1836. A shipment from Marseilles arrived in April 1836. Only 15,000 of the
original 70,000 shipped survived. No more would arrive until the autumn. The Cheney brothers planted in May
and the shoots shot forth in great abundance. Some 6,000 silkworms were fed beginning in June and yielded
three bushels of cocoons. The boom was on. In November 1836, the Cheney brothers leased land in
Burlington, New Jersey, and started a nursery and cocoonery. Another was started in Cincinnati, Ohio. 1837
was a bountiful year. The Cheney brothers sold about $14,000 worth of trees from Burlington and had about
50,000 on hand. A man from nearby Monmouth, New Jersey made a clean profit of $3,000 from a $400
investment. The rage continued unabated through the Panic of 1837. Investment in silk was solid. By
January 1839, the price of a mulberry tree ranged from a dollar to five dollars. At the same time it became
apparent that the mulberry was not hardy enough to be raised in the North and hard times spread to silk. By
1840, the crash was complete. No one wanted the trees at any price. Importers could not even pay the freight
on shipments from abroad. See also the page devoted to Nonotuck.
In 1844, a fatal blight affected almost all the trees in the country. Growers were driven out of business. Even in
Mansfield, Connecticut, where it had been most prosperous, the culture was finally abandoned. Writing in
1916, Manchester said,” The fundamental reason for this is, not that mulberry trees and silkworms cannot,
though with difficulty, be raised in this country, but that the production of raw silk (cocoons) is essentially a
household and hand process, still requiring, as in the days of ancient China, infinite patience and an
disproportionate amount of human labor. Even in Italy, during the silkworm season, the whole house including
the bedrooms and beds, is given over to the worms, upon which the women lavish every attention from daylight
until late at night, - and for all this trouble and work, they net only six or seven cents a day. In Japan and China
such household labor may bring as low as two or three cents a day.”
“Silk cannot be grown by the highly paid labor of the United States in competition with such meagrely (sic)
rewarded Oriental drudgery, nor can household hand labor compete here with other industries in which most of
the energy is furnished by power and most of the work done by machinery.”
In Colonial days, whatever silk was manufactured here, was made entirely in the home. It was reeled by hand,
thrown or twisted and doubled by hand, and woven on the crude foot-powered loom of that period by the
women of the family. All early attempts in the 18th century at silk manufacture using the factory system were
failures.
Rodney and Horatio Hanks began the first silk mill in the United States at Mansfield, Connecticut in 1810. The
“mill” was only 12 ft by 12 ft in size. The mill made sewing thread by adding twist on machines of their design
run by waterpower. The mill and two others associated with this venture were abandoned in 1828 because the
machinery was too crude to produce commercial sewing thread. In 1815, William H. Horstmann, built a mill in
Philadelphia for production of trimmings and ribbons. He imported a Jacquard loom in 1824. The Mansfield
Silk Company, begun in the center of the silk growing district, made use of waterpower for reeling, but was
unsuccessful in attempts at weaving. The mill failed as a result of failure in the speculation with the morus
multicaulis.
The first really successful manufacturers in the United States were the Cheney Brothers. The original mill was
begun as the Mt. Nebo Silk Mills, South Manchester, Connecticut, in January 1838. Although somewhat
neglected during the time of the morus multicaulis speculation, it is the only mill established before that date
that was permanently successful.
Source: Manchester, H. H., The Story of Silk and Cheney Silk, Cheney Brothers, South Manchester,
Connecticut, 1916.
Copied from The Story of Silk and Cheney
Silk. Image courtesy of Peter Metzke
Silk. Image courtesy of Peter Metzke
