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"Manufacture of Silk Not New in New England" from New England Farmer
(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Some individuals were successful in making silk in America, as Anne Clark's letter from September, 1833 notes. Silk making was difficult and expensive and few actually experienced success. Many hoped to make money from it since silk was an expensive import. The advice offered in these pages and the bills passed in state legislatures helped promote the manufacture of silk. Many individuals in New England attempted to enter the silk industry, having some small-scale success. But a huge speculative bubble occurred in 1838-39 around the sale of mulberry trees that ruined many potential farmers in the northeast. This was followed by hard winters and a devastating blight in 1844 that ruined the domestic silk industry.
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