STATISTICS. The accompanying table on the silk production of the world was OODIpiled by Consul Hughes, of Coburg, from statistics issued by the Merchants' Union Silk Syndicate of Lyons. According to the Twelfth United States Census there were in the country at the close of 1000 -483 silk factories, with a combined capital of $31,082,201, which used 9,760,770 pounds of raw silk. The rapid growth of the industry dur ing the last half of the nineteenth century is shown by the fact that in 1850 there were only sixty-seven silk factories, having a capital of $673,300 and a product of $1,309,476.
In 1900 there was a total of 44,430 silk looms in the United States, of which 20,572 were in New Jersey, 12,940 in Pennsylvania., 5263 in New York, 2975 in Connecticut, and 1040 in Massachusetts. During the year forty-three silk mills were built, and one-third of the silk prod uct of the world was consumed in the United States. Returns for the year 1901 for the State
of New Jersey gave the total number of silk establishments in that State as 152; riverage number of men and women employed therein, 26,046; wages paid, $10,544,948; gross value of product, $41,199,395.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Most of the recent literature Bibliography. Most of the recent literature on silk manufacture is in French or German. Sniffler, Industrial Organic Chemistry (Phila delphia, 1900), eontains a brief but thorough dis cussion of the physical processes involved. while Posselt, Structure of Fibres, Yarns, and Fabrics (Philadelphia, 1890), contains a concise account of the methods and machinery employed in the modern silk factory. Silk-weaving from the historical side is treated in Coles. Ornament in European Silks (London, 1899). See, also, bibli ography under SiLKwortm. See SILKWORM; SPINNING; TEXTILE MANUFACTURING; WEAVING.