Over a thousand pounds of cocoons were raised at Ebenezer, and seventy-four pounds two ounces raw silk made, producing (the price being then thirty shillings) over 110l. sterling. As illustrative of the luxuriant growth of the mulberry, it may be interesting to state, that two trees in front of the Parsonage, ten years old, measured three feet eight inches in circumference. In December of this year, eight more copper basins were received, and public confidence in the success of the undertaking seemed revived, notwithstanding Mr. Camuse and family had left the Province, and settled at Purysburgh, in South Carolina.

On the 25th December, 1750, Mr. Pickering Robinson, who, together with Mr. James Habersham, had been appointed the preceding August a commissioner to promote more effectually the culture of silk, arrived in Savannah.

Mr. Robinson had been sent to France, at the expense of the Trustees, to study the management of filatures and the necessary processes for preparing the article for market, and thus, though no operative, was qualified to take the directorship of so important a branch of industry. His salary was 100l. per annum; 25l. for a clerk, and a tract of land was also granted him, which, in 1763, sold for 1300l.

Mr. Robinson brought with him a large quantity of silkworm seed, but all failed, save about half an ounce; the commissioners determined at once to erect a filature, which should be a normal school to the whole province, and it was their opinion that it would be "a sufficient nursery to supply, in three or four years, as many reelers as will be wanted, when we make no doubt of many private filatures being erected, which can only make their culture a general staple." The dimensions were thirty-six feet by twenty, rough boarded, with a loft or upper story, for the spreading out of the green cocoons. It was commenced on the 4th of March, 1751. On the 1st of April, the basins were put up, and on the 8th of May the reeling began. To encourage the colonists, the Trustees proposed to purchase all the balls, and wind them at their own expense, and paid from 1s. 6d. to 2s. 4d. per pound for green cocoons. The Commissioners separated the cocoons into three sorts: 1st, perfect cones; 2d, the spongy and fuzzy; and 3d, the spotted, stained, and dupions. This arrangement, however, gave great offence to some of the residents in Savannah and Purysburgh, and Messrs. Robinson and Habersham requested the Vice President and assistants to determine the respective prices and publicly announce the same, which they did on the 26th April, by a proclamation, wherein by way of bounty, they promised to pay for cocoons delivered at their store in Savannah, the following sums, namely, for cocoons made by one worm, hard, weighty and good substance, 2s. per pound; for the weaker quality, pointed, spotted, or bruised, 1s. 3d.; for dupions (those made by two worms), 6d.; for raw silk, from 1st quality cocoons 14s. per pound; for that made from 2d quality, 12s.; the product of the double cones, 6s. per pound; and they also offered, if delivered at the filature, for best cocoons, 3s. 6d.; for middling 1s. 8d.; and for inferior 1s. 1d., a series of prices truly astonishing, when we reflect that the real merchantable worth of a pound of cocoons is scarcely ever 6d.

Experiments were made at the filature to ascertain the relative quantity of each of these qualities, in a given weight of cocoons, and the results were, that in fifty pounds of green cocoons, there were twenty-seven pounds of the first sort, ten pounds four ounces of the second, and twelve pounds twelve ounces of the third. After curing or baking, these fifty pounds weighed only forty-six pounds five ounces, showing a loss in ponderosity of nearly eight per cent. Beside the arrangement above specified, the cocoons were still further divided for the purpose of reeling into white and yellow, and these again, subdivided into five each, namely, 1st, hard and weighty; 2d, little woolly and weaker; 3d, very woolly and soft; 4th, spotted and much bruised; 5th, double worms.

Mr. Camuse, son, and daughter, who, it appears, gave the commissioners no little trouble by their perverse conduct, returned to Savannah and were engaged to labor at the filature, at three shillings per day, at which Mr. Habersham exclaims, "monstrous wages!" The reelers now advanced with much proficiency, and five of them, on the 10th of May, wound off eleven pounds of cocoons each. The proportion of raw silk to the cocoons, appeared, on a variety of trials, to be nearly in this ratio:—

oz. 10th May, 1751, 55 lbs. cocoons, 1st quality, produced 117-7/8. 11th " " 8 " " " " 6-9 per thread 18-1/2. 13th " " 11 " " " " produced 21-1/2. 15th " " 55 " " 2d " " 109. 18th " " 20 " " " " " 24. 22d " " 15 " " 1st " " 20-3/4. " " " 10 " " 2d " " 13-1/2.

The whole amount of cocoons raised in the province, was six thousand three hundred and one pounds, of which two thousand pounds came from Ebenezer, and four thousand pounds were made at Whitefield's Orphan-house. Two hundred and sixty-nine pounds and one ounce of raw silk, and one hundred and sixty-one pounds of filogee, were prepared, notwithstanding over three hundred and eighty pounds were lost by vermin, fire and mould. The expense of the culture was large this year, owing to the erection of the filature, &c., which swelled the sum to 609l. 9s. 8-1/2d. sterling. The private journals of that day kept at Savannah and Ebenezer, acquaint us, in some measure, with the arduous nature of the commissioners' labors, and the difficulties they encountered from the want of funds, the intractableness of laborers, the novelty of the attempt, the imperfections of machinery, and the bitter opposition of those who should have sustained and encouraged them. The public duties of Mr. Habersham prevented his constant attention to this business; but the whole time of Mr. Robinson was devoted to the filature, directing the sorters, aiding the novices, advising the reelers, and in every way exerting himself to obtain success. His engagement with the Trustees expired on the 30th of August, 1751, but finding that his intended departure depressed the friends of the culture, he was solicited by the local government to remain another year, and, generously sacrificing private to public interests, he complied with their request. Mr. Habersham thus speaks of Mr. Robinson. "I think him the most prudent as well as the most capable person I ever knew, to undertake such a work, and if he could be continued here, I doubt not but that he would turn out a number of well instructed reelers, who would be able to conduct filatures at Ebenezer, Augusta, and other parts of the province." So great was the confidence which the Trustees had in him, that he was appointed an assistant in the government at Savannah; an honor which he declined, and in the same letter stated, "If due encouragement be not given to the culture of raw silk, for the term of at least fourteen years, I positively cannot think of settling in America." These gentlemen recommended the building of a house, sixty feet by twenty-six, as a cocoonry, great loss having been experienced for the want of such a structure.

In 1752, Mr. Robinson returned to England, and his place was partially supplied by Joseph Ottolenghe, a native of Piedmont, and a proficient in his art, who came to Georgia on the 18th of July, 1751, and took charge of the filature in April, 1753. In a letter to Lee Martyn, dated September 11, 1753, Mr. Ottolenghe says, that "there were fewer cocoons raised this year, as the worms mostly hatched before the trees leaved," and that "the people were willing to continue the business." One hundred and ninety-seven pounds of raw silk were made this year, and three hundred and seventy-six pounds in 1754, besides twenty-four pounds of filosele. The people of Augusta became interested in this manufacture, and entered with considerable spirit into the undertaking, promising to send hands to Savannah, yearly, to learn the art of reeling: their enthusiasm, however, soon evaporated.

On the 29th of March, 1755, a certificate, signed by thirty-nine eminent silk-throwsters and weavers, was given to the "Commissioners for Trade and Plantations," stating that after examining three hundred pounds of raw silk, imported from Georgia, "we do sincerely declare that the nature and texture is truly good, the color beautiful, the thread as even and as clear as the best Piedmont (called wire silk) of the size, and much clearer and even than the usual Italian silks;" and furthermore, "it could be worked with less waste than China silk, and has all the properties of good silk well adapted to the weaver's art in most branches."

In 1755, five thousand four hundred and eighty-eight pounds of cocoons were raised, and four hundred and thirty-eight pounds of raw silk spun. The good effects of the filature were now happily evident in the increased interest of the planters in the subject, who sent both their daughters and young negroes to acquire the art of reeling. In 1756, three thousand seven hundred and eighty-three pounds and one ounce of cocoons were received at the filature, and two hundred and sixty-eight pounds of raw silk reeled.

The liberal policy of the commissioners, who had no private ends to answer, caused them to recommend the establishment of additional filatures, and in their letter to the Trustees, June 12th, 1751, they advise the erection of one at Ebenezer, and another contiguous to Savannah, but Mr. Ottolenghe opposed this course and arrogated to the one in Savannah the entire monopoly of the culture. Jealousy appears to have been very conspicuous in Mr. Ottolenghe's character, and his opposition to the Saltzburgers and depreciation of their efforts, arose from this suspicious trait. He aimed to render himself solely necessary, and aspersed everything which seemed to militate with his fancied superiority. This appears not only from letters of Governors Reynold and Ellis, but from his own correspondence, where this caution and fear of rivalry is plainly discernible. His course gave offence to the Ebenezer people, who had already erected a filature in their village; who had been at great sacrifice to send their wives and daughters to learn the art of reeling in Savannah, and who had hoped to carry on the manufacture under their own supervision and for their own benefit. Mr. Ottolenghe, however, overruled their views and required all cocoons to be delivered at Savannah and to be reeled there. Each basin at the filature had two apprentices, besides others who were employed in sorting the balls, &c., and the various operations connected with the trade, employed nearly forty persons.

In 1757, over five thousand pounds of cocoons were received at Savannah, and three hundred and sixty pounds of raw silk spun, which, says Governor Ellis, would have been more, if the eggs had not failed; and in a letter, dated 11th of March, 1757, he says "the raising of silk seems to be no longer a matter of curiosity, it employs many poor people, and is approaching towards a staple."

Seven thousand and forty pounds of cocoons were deposited in the filature in 1758, but while the friends of this business were rejoicing in the assured success of their experiment they were saddened by the destruction of the filature, which took fire on the 4th of July, and was totally consumed. The wound silk, which had not yet been shipped, amounting to three hundred and fifty pounds, was saved, but several thousand weight of silk balls, together with much of the reeling apparatus, were destroyed. Another and more capacious building was immediately erected and was ready for use the ensuing season.

In 1759, ten thousand one hundred and thirty-six pounds of cocoons were raised in Georgia, four thousand pounds of which were from Ebenezer, and the proceeds of their culture alone, for the season, reached 700l. sterling. The opinion of those engaged in the culture, as expressed to Dr. Jared Elliot, was, "that it was more profitable than any other ordinary business."

The cocoons delivered at the filature in 1760, weighed seven thousand nine hundred and eighty-three pounds, and there were spun eight hundred and thirty-nine pounds. Mr. Ottolenghe was now honored with the full appointment of "superintendant of the silk culture in Georgia," with a salary appropriate to his station.

Five thousand three hundred and seven pounds of cocoons, and three hundred and thirty-two pounds of raw silk were produced in 1761. Governor Wright, under date 13th of July, says, "The greatest appearance that ever they had here was destroyed in two nights' time, by excessive hard and unseasonable frosts, and there is likewise a degeneracy in the seed, as Mr. Ottolenghe tells me." These frosts occurred on the 5th and 6th of April. Parliament, this year, made a grant of 1000l. towards defraying the expenditure for the silk culture, and it was annually renewed until about 1766. By means of this gratuity, Mr. Ottolenghe was enabled to give a high price to the rearers of cocoons, and thus sustain the encouragement so judiciously commenced.

In 1762, fifteen thousand one hundred and one pounds of cocoons were delivered at the filature, and one thousand and forty-eight pounds of raw silk reeled, which Mr. O. declared to be the finest and best silk ever produced in Georgia.

The year 1763 showed an increase of cocoons but a decrease of silk, there being fifteen thousand four hundred and eighty-six pounds of the former, and only nine hundred and fifty-three pounds of the latter. The occasion of this disparity was a season of cold, rainy weather, towards the close of April, by which the later cocoons were injured and rendered almost useless.

There were delivered at the filature, in 1764, fifteen thousand two hundred and twelve pounds of cocoons, notwithstanding the season was so unfavorable, that Governor Wright mentions the case of one man who expected to make from five to seven hundred pounds, who only succeeded in raising one hundred pounds of cocoons. Eight thousand six hundred and ninety-five pounds were sent by the Saltzburgers, and the whole amount yielded eight hundred and ninety-eight pounds of raw silk.

In addition to the grant of Parliament, a Society, instituted in London, for the encouragement of arts, manufactures and commerce, offered certain premiums for the advantage of the British American dominions, among which were:

"For every pound of cocoons produced in the province of Georgia and South Carolina, in the year 1764, of a hardy, weighty and good substance, wherein only one worm has spun, 3d.; for every pound of cocoons produced in the same year, of a weaker, lighter, spotted or bruised quality, 2d.; for dupions, 1d." These premiums were to be paid under the direction of Mr. O., with proper vouchers that the same were raised in either of the provinces specified.

It was agitated in 1765, to reduce the price of cocoons from 3s. to 1s. 6d. per pound, a measure which produced much dissatisfaction and as a consequence there was a considerable falling off in the amount of balls and silk, only twelve thousand five hundred and fourteen pounds of the former, and seven hundred and twelve pounds of the latter, together with seven hundred and twenty pounds of filosele being produced. To prevent the depression consequent on this reduction, Governor Wright suggested, that instead of so much per pound, as formerly, that the ten largest quantities should receive the highest, 50l., the next greatest parcel 45l., and so on, gradually decreasing with the decrease in weight, until you reached the lowest quantity, to which 10l. would be awarded; thus, while the expense would be greatly lessened to the Trustees, the stimulus of reward would be sufficiently sustained. This advice was not adopted, though owing to the urgent remonstrances of those best acquainted with the business, the reduction in the bounty was only 9d. instead of 1s. 6d. On the 25th April, 1765, the following order was published in the "Georgia Gazette:"

"Notice is hereby given to all whom it may concern, that, by direction of the Right Honorable the Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, the price usually paid for cocoons is now reduced, and that no more than 2s. 3d. per pound will be paid for cocoons raised in this province, and delivered at the public filature this season.

"By order of His Excellency the Governor.

"GEO. BAILLIE, Commissary"

This bounty was still further reduced in 1766, when by order of the Board of Trade, only 1s. 1d. was paid per pound. The dependence of this culture on the weather, was signally instanced this year, from the fact that though many who had hitherto raised cocoons, abandoned it at the reduction of the bounty, yet such a large crop had never been produced before; over twenty thousand three hundred and eighty pounds of cocoons being delivered at the filature, which, however, only produced one thousand eighty-nine pounds of raw silk, and eight hundred and fifty pounds of filosele. This amount of reeled silk was not at all proportionate to the weight of the cones, resulting, as Mr. Ottolenghe said in a letter to Governor Wright, October 2, 1766, "to the badness of the seed, and consequent inferiority of the worms." In 1760, the cocoons weighed only seven thousand nine hundred and eighty-three pounds, and yet eight hundred and thirty-nine pounds of raw silk were spun; at which rate, the product this year should have been about two thousand pounds.

On the 26th of June, Henry Kennan made proposals to the Board of Trade, for carrying on the filature; but they were of a nature not at all advantageous to the culture, and Governor Wright, in his reply, on the 21st of October, disapproved of the plan, and exposed the fallacy of his scheme, which was in consequence abandoned.

In 1767, ten thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight pounds of balls were raised, and six hundred and seventy-one pounds nine ounces of raw silk spun; the decrease of cocoons being caused, first, by withdrawing of the Purysburgh cocoons, which last year amounted to five thousand five hundred and fifty-one pounds; and second, by the reduction of bounty, so that while last year the cocoons were delivered in by two hundred and sixty-four different persons, only one hundred and sixty individuals were this year devoted to the culture. The silk, however, was of a better quality, and sustained its high reputation in the London market.

In 1768, another plan was proposed, by Mr. Delamar, "in order the more effectually to establish the growth of raw silk in America." His proposal was, to pay a bounty of 20s. per pound on every pound of good, clear raw silk imported from any of his Majesty's dominions in America, to be paid on the price such silk might sell for at public sale in London; at the expiration of ten years, ten per cent. bounty was to be allowed; the ensuing five years at five per cent., after which time the bounty was to cease. This was the general feature of his plan; it was not, however, adopted, though in many respects its provisions were highly judicious and appropriate.

But this branch of industry and commerce was fast waning before the increasing culture of more sure and lucrative products, and only one hundred and thirty-seven different persons brought cocoons to the filature this year. Governor Wright, in his official letter to the Earl of Hillsborough, July 1, 1768, says, "I am persuaded that few, or none but the very poorer sort of people, will continue to go upon that article. Several substantial persons, who did mean to make it an object when the price was higher, have, to my knowledge, given it over. The reason, my Lord, is evident; for people who have their fortune to raise or make, will always turn themselves in such a way, and to the raising and making of such commodities, as they think will answer best; and it is very clear to me, that those who have negroes, may employ themselves and negroes to better advantage, &c., than by raising cocoons at 1s. 6d. per pound, although that is, as I have said, 7, 8, or 9d. more than they are intrinsically worth."

Cluny, in his "American Traveller," printed in London, 1769, says, "The climate of Georgia has been found to agree in every respect with the silk worm." Experience, however, proved that the climate was not sufficiently equable to secure permanent and continued success. Governor Wright, in the letter quoted above, says, "the variable and uncertain weather in spring, makes it precarious," and facts amply confirm this statement. Only five hundred and forty-one pounds of raw silk were made this year, a smaller amount, with one exception, than had been produced for ten years. In 1769, the quantity was still more decreased, both from the reluctance of the people to raise worms, and the unfavorable weather in spring. Governor Wright, on the 20th of June, 1769, says, "We had a most extraordinary prospect, till the middle of April, when I thought every thing safe, yet we had very cold rains on the 17th and 18th, which were succeeded by hard black frost on the 19th and 20th, and destroyed a great part of the worms, and will reduce the silk very much."

The silk business was now on the irretrievable decline, though it still maintained a nominal existence, and received the encouragement of Parliament. The special bounty which had hitherto been paid on cocoons, over and above their merchantable value, was suspended, and by a statute of 9 Geo. III., c. 38, a premium of twenty-five per cent. from the 1st of January, 1770, to the 1st of January, 1777,—of twenty per cent, from the 1st of January, 1777, to the 1st of January, 1784,—and of fifteen per cent. from the 1st of January, 1784, to the 1st of January 1791, on the ad valorem value of all silk produced in America and imported into Great Britain in vessels regularly navigated by law, was substituted in its place.

The inhabitants of Ebenezer resumed the culture, which with them had long been dormant, and its revival at that time was principally owing to the influence of a very worthy man and magistrate, Mr. Wertsch, who, sanguine himself of ultimate success, had imparted to the Germans a portion of his own enthusiasm.

In 1770, they shipped two hundred and ninety-one pounds of raw silk, the result of their own industry, and as the filature at Savannah was discontinued in 1771, the Earl of Hillsborough, ever anxious to advance the produce, warmly commended the zeal of the Saltzburgers, and directed President Habersham to distribute "the basins and reels that were left in the public filature, to such persons as Mr. Wertsch shall recommend to be proper objects of that bounty;" and in the same letter he promised that he would endeavor to procure for them, this year, "a small sum from Parliament, to be laid out in purchase of utensils for the assistance of the poor sort of people in your province." This promise he redeemed.

So popular had the silk business become at Ebenezer, that Mr. Habersham, in a letter dated the 30th of March, 1772, says, "some persons in almost every family there, understand its process from the beginning to the end." In 1771, the Germans sent four hundred and thirty-eight pounds of raw silk to England, and in 1772, four hundred and eighty-five pounds, all of their own raising. They made their own reels, which were so much esteemed that one was sent to England as a model, and another taken to the East Indies by Pickering Robinson. The operations at Savannah were now totally discontinued, though Mr. Ottolenghe still styled himself "Superintendent of the Silk Culture in Georgia," and in consideration of his long and faithful service in that office, received an annuity of 100l.

In a message of Sir James Wright, to the Commons House of Assembly, 19th of January, 1774, he says, "The filature buildings seem to be going to decay and ruin; may it not, therefore, be expedient to consider what other service or use they may be put to?" and the Assembly answered, "We shall not fail to consider how it may be expedient to apply the filature to some public use;" and henceforth it was used as an assembly or ball-room, a place where societies held their meetings, and where divine service was occasionally conducted: more recently, it was converted into a dwelling-house, and was thus appropriated at the time of its destruction by fire, on the afternoon of March 25, 1839.

Thus ended the grand project for raising silk in the Province of Georgia; for though some few individuals, together with the people of Ebenezer, continued to raise small quantities, yet, as a branch of general culture, it has never been resuscitated. The last parcel brought to Savannah was in 1790, when over two hundred pounds were purchased for exportation, at from 8s. to 26s. per pound.

On reviewing the causes which led to the suspension of this business, after so many exertions and such vast expense, which, it must be remembered, the profits of the culture never reimbursed, we find, first, the unfriendliness of the climate, which, notwithstanding its boasted excellence, interfered materially with its success. Governor Wright, frequently speaks of its deleterious influence, and the fluctuations in the various seasons, evidenced, to demonstration, that the interior was better adapted to the agricultural part of the business, than the exposed and variable sea-board. Mr. Habersham, in a letter to the Earl of Hillsborough, dated "Savannah, 24th of April, 1772," thus expresses himself on this point. "Upwards of twenty years ago, if my memory does not fail me, Samuel Lloyd, Esq., of London, who was one of the late trustees for establishing this colony, and was fourteen years in Italy, and very largely concerned in the silk business, wrote to me, that the best silk was produced at a distance from the sea-coast, owing, I suppose, to the richness of the soil, which made the mulberry leaf more glutinous, nutritive and healthy to the silk-worm; also, to their not being obnoxious to musquetoes and sand-flies, and probably, likewise, to the weather being more equal and less liable to sudden transition from heat to cold: and on a conversation this day with Mr. Barnard, of Augusta, he assures me, that from two years experience in raising cocoons there, he lost none from sickness, which frequently destroys two-thirds of the worms here;" and he further says, that Mr. Ottolenghe told him that the silk reeled from the Augusta cocoons "made the strongest and most wiry thread of any raised in these parts."

Second, the expensiveness of living, and the dearness of labor, which was as high as 1s. 8d. to 2s. per day, whereas 2d. or 3d. was the usual price paid the peasant in silk-growing countries. Governor Wright, in a letter to the Earl of Hillsborough, frankly told him that, "till these provinces become more populous, and labor cheaper, I apprehend, silk will not be a commodity, or an article, of any considerable amount."

Third, the great reduction of the bounty, which, being the stimulus to exertion, ceased to operate as an incentive, when from 3s. 3d. it fell to 1s. 3d., and finally to a mere premium on the general quantity imported. The poor could not subsist on these prices, and the rich could employ their lands to much better advantage than in cultivating an article which would not repay the expenses of labor: and lastly, the increasing attention, bestowed on rice and cotton, sealed the fate of the silk culture, and the planters soon learned to consider the latter of no importance in comparison, with the large and lucrative crops yielded by these more staple commodities. Other reasons might be mentioned, but these sufficiently account for its decline there, and its total neglect even to the present day. During the morus multicaulis epidemic, which spread over our country in 1838, Savannah, it is true, did not escape, and for a time the fever raged, with much violence, but the febrile action soon subsided, leaving no permanent benefit and only a few fields of waving foliage, as a deciduous memento of this frenzied excitement.

That silk can be produced in Georgia equal to any in the world, does not admit of a doubt, but whether it will ever be resumed, and when, is among the unknown events of the future.

THE END