ORGINZINN.
The culture of silk varies but little in different countries; it does not require any great degree of skill, or a great capi tal : and as it is well kown that the silk worm, with proper care, will breed and thrive very well in England, it is not surprising that attempts should have been made to establish the culture of it in this country. The success of Henry the Fourth of France, in extending the cul ture of silk, which before his time had been confined to a few districts of that kingdom, excited in James the First an active zeal for the introduction of it here. With this view, in 1608, he caused a cir oular letter of his own writing, to be sent to the Lord Lieutenant of every county, in which he held forth the ex ample of France as affording ground to hope for equal success here. He like wise observed, that from the experience of many private persons, who had bred silk-worms for their pleasure, nothing had appeared to cause a doubt that they may be nourished and reared in England, if provision was made for planting mill berry-trees; and for this purpose the persons to whom the letter was address ed, were directed, at the Quarter Ses sion, or some other public meeting, to persuade and require those of ability to buy and distribute in the county the number of 10,000 mulberry plants, which were to be delivered in London at the rate of three farthings a plant. The King likewise caused printed instructions to be published for planting and propogating the mulberry trees, and for breeding and feeding the worms; and though, at first, most persons were probably averse to such a new undertaking, by the con tinuance of the royal sanction and sup port, and the consideration of the great advantages reaped by other European nations from their silk manufactures, many people in the course of a few years, became very earnest for the propogation of the silk-worm, and of the white mul berry-tree for feeding it.
In 1629, Charles the First granted to Lord Aston the keeping of the garden mulberry.trees, and silk-worms, near St. James's ; but this royal undertaking soon declined, and the project does not ap pear to have been renewed, on an ex tensive scale, till many years after.
In 1718, a patent was granted to John Appletree, Esq. for producing raw silk of the growth of England, and for raising a fund for carrying on the same. The capi tal of the undertaking was divided into shares of 51. each ; a deed of trust was executed and enrolled in Chancery ; di rectors were chosen by the subscribers for managing the affairs of the company: and Chelsea-park being thought a pro per soil for the purpose, and tn a conve nient situation, a lease was taken of it for 122 years. Here upwards of 2000 young mulberry trees were soon planted, and extensive edifices were erected for car rying on the work; this number of trees was however, but a small part of what the company intended to plant, if they were successful.
In 1719, Mr. Henry Barham, who was probably a member of this company, pub lished "An Essay upon the Silk-worm," in which he thinks all objections and dif ficulties against this "glorious undertak ing" are shown to be mere phantoms and trifles ; the event, however, proved that the company met with difficulties of a real and formidable nature ; for though the expectation of Mr. Barham, who questioned not that in the ensuing year they should produce a considerable quan tity of raw silk, may have been partly ac complished, the violent stock jobbing speculations of that period, which involv ed the shares of all projects of this na ture, must have produced many changes among the proprietors, and deranged the origional design, in consequence of which it soon went to decay. From that time there has been no public undertak ing of the kind; but indviduals have continued to rear the silk-worm as an object of curiosity, and have generally been successful, as it is easy to bestow a degree of care and attention on a small number, which could not be extended to a large concern. The insurmountable obstacle to raising silk in Great Britain is the climate, which is too cold and wet; and though expedients might be adopted to obviate those inconveniences, they would render the culture of the article on a large scale, by far to ex pensive.