Item 19 - Letter from Thomas Pinckney on plantation of mulberry trees in Carolina and Georgia

Transcription: ‘Ripley, April 1st 1755\nDear Sir,\nI was this morning favoured with Yours concerning the Treatise on the Management of Silkworms which I have not yet seen but such a Piece of it be wrote with tolerable Judgement and the Author has Skill in his Subject which one must suppose that he had must be of service in both the Carolinas and Georgia where they are laying foundations to proceed in that Manufacture; and which in Time I have no doubt they will succeed in if they are but properly encored by their Mother Country as to be shure (sic) they will as all things of that Sort must ultimately so greatly abound to her own Benefit and Advantage and the distressing her Rival Traders in so considerable a Branch of her manufacture, and altho it cannot be expected that any great progress can be made by us, in this Article whilst labour continues so dear as it is in our three Southernmost Colonies on the Continent, yet as it is a Work in which all the Weaker hands in the familys may be as usefully imployed as they Stronger, and as in the process of half an Eye more the old and Young hands in these provinces will very greatly increase I have such Sanguine Expectations, as leave me not the least doubt but your Children and mine will live to see all the Silk we now import from france, imported from these Colonies, as effectually as you and I shall see all the Indico that used to be imported from these hated Rivals The french, made by and --ported from our own people. And this must be the Case if we only considered why Nature has pointed out these Climates for the peculiar growth and products of the White Mulberry Tree, the natural and only food for the Silk Worm; where it Grows, I had almost said, Spontaneusly; but certainly which such a Superior force of Vegetation as it almost incredible. I indeed am afraid to mention an instance of it with in my own knowledge least I shall be accounted a Traveller, but it is a certain fact, that in the Middle of the month of May, when the Fruit of these Trees with us is Ripe, I ordered a good deal of the fruit to be gathered, and the Seed sown in my garden, and in the latter End of the following August they were grown to be plants of three feet in highth (sic). Can any thing then more strongly point out that Nature intend these Climates to be Silk Countries, in which She has so liberally provided the only proper food for the Silkworms - And we have our won Experience to demonstrate the little Silk hitherto made in these Countries is as good as is made in any part of the World. The piece that I had the honour to present to her Royal Highness the Princes of Wales for a suit of Cloaths the last winter was of Mrs Pinckneys own making on my Plantation near Charles Town in South Carolina, and was as good in the Judgment of the Manufactures & Mercers, as any ever made of the Sort; and I have now by me another piece of y own making also equally good. I am, with Mr Pinckneys and my best Compliments to your good Lady.\nSir\nYour most obedient humble Servant \nC Pinckey \n[copy]’\n\n

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Creator Victoria 07/08/1998