MORUS MULTICAULIS, OR, SILKWORMS MUST EAT
By ROBERT PRICE
Acres of mulberry trees--multitudes of
silkworms--mills
booming--a corner on the world's silk
market! It would be a
fantastic dream indeed for an Ohioan
today, a vision such as this
of wealth to be derived from a monopoly
on raw silk, but in 1836
such hopes were stirring hundreds of
people not only in Ohio but
throughout the East and South. By 1838,
at least seven states,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Maryland, New Jersey,
Maine, and Vermont, were paying large
bounties for each pound
of silk raised by their citizens, and in
Ohio a petition was being
circulated which would ask the General
Assembly to do likewise.
By 1841, John W. Gill and Thomas White
had erected a mill near
Mount Pleasant in Jefferson County which
was weaving the first
figured silk and silk velvet, so it is
claimed, ever made in these
United States. Henry Clay was to wear a
silk suit made in this
factory, the first American flag ever
unfurled in China was to
come from the same source, and an
exhibit of the Mount Pleasant
silk shown at an exposition in London
was to send European
competitors home in a panic of dismay.
A decade later, however, the boom was
over, and hundreds of
mulberry plantations scattered over
this and other states were
the only conspicuous evidence that it
had ever existed. In fact,
in Ohio the mulberry trees seem to have
been in some ways the
most conspicuous feature of the whole
movement. Thousands
upon thousands of the young trees
changed hands during the first
fever of the silk furor, and whether or
not their purchasers ever
realized any gain from the silkworms
which the mulberry leaves
were to feed, it seems very likely that
many a nurseryman, pro-
vided he got into and out of the game
soon enough, must have
cashed in at least to a small
extent. In Ohio, it is pretty safe
to assume that mulberries rather than
silk proved the more prof-
itable venture.
In the papers of Orren Bryant,1 who
engaged in the business
1 Preserved by Fitch C. Bryant, New York, N. Y., and by the Alexandria Local
History Committee.
(265)
266 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
of mulberry nurseryman during the period
of 1836-1842, on a
farm just east of the village of
Alexandria, Licking County, there
are many references to his work of
rearing and selling trees,
which throw valuable light on the extent
of the mulberry-silk
interest in Ohio. Bryant, a kinsman of
William Cullen Bryant,
had come West from Chesterfield,
Massachusetts, in July, 1835.
He may have brought an interest in silk
production with him.
Anyhow, by the summer of 1836, when he
had become estab-
lished with relatives near Alexandria,
he had acquired an en-
thusiasm and was planning to devote his
"principal attention" to
the business.
In June, 1836, Lewis Ford of Cummington,
Massachusetts,
where Bryant had lived, wrote the latter
as follows:
We are getting considerably engaged
about the mulberry business
here. Cyrus has sowed about 3/4 of an
acre, Mr. Tucker about the same
and many of us have sowed some. James
Dawes has put out 6 or 700
Morus multicaulis trees. Cyrus and Tucker 200 each, some others a few.
While the price of trees keeps up the
business will be good, but probably
in a few years there will be a supply
and trees may be bought for what
it costs to grow them. Please tell me
next fall what the white mulberry
and Morus multicaulis trees are
worth in Ohio of 1, 2, and 3 years growth
and whether any considerable quantity of
them may be sold.2
A few days after this letter, Bryant
wrote of the new indus-
try to his father in Chesterfield,
Massachusetts:
I have sowed thirteen oz. white mulberry
seed which has come up
and looks well. I also planted fifty
cuttings of Chinese mulberry, but
worms have destroyed most of them. I
think of making of silk my prin-
cipal attention.3
The white mulberry (Morus alba), which
had been intro-
duced from Europe, and the Chinese
mulberry (Morus multi-
caulis) were the two species which figured most prominently in
the production of American silk. Both
varieties were preferred
to our native red mulberry (Morus
rubra), the leaves of which
were considered quite inferior for the
feeding of silkworms, and
of the three the multicaulis was
considered by far the best. A
standard silk manual of the period, The
American Silk Grower's
Guide, describes the Morus multicaulis as
"possessing such de-
2 Lewis Ford to Orren Bryant, June 26,
1886, Orren Bryant MSS. (in possession
of Fitch C. Bryant).
3 Orren Bryant to Col. Patrick Bryant,
July 4, 1836, ibid.
MORUS MULTICAULIS 267
cided supremity over all others that it
will speedily be substituted
for them all in every region of the
globe."4
An ounce of mulberry seed, this manual
states further,
would usually produce from five to eight
thousand plants. Good
seed would sink to the bottom after
steeping a short time in water.
These would then be soaked for
thirty-six hours in warm milk
or water, then drained on a sieve and
rolled in plaster of Paris or
ashes. They were then sown immediately
in rich, well prepared
soil, in a "warm sequestered
situation," in "drills or rows fifteen
inches asunder," and at an average
depth of one-half inch. May
was the recommended planting time in the
North, April in the
South. When two years old the seedlings
were to be transplanted
to rows four feet apart, ten inches or a
foot distant in the row.
Five years from seed, when the trees were seven or eight
feet
high, they were ready to be stripped for
silkworm feeding. Once
a nursery stock had been established,
layering and cutting greatly
expedited the process of multiplication.
If Bryant's thirteen ounces of mulberry
seed produced ac-
cording to minimum specifications, he
should have had some 65,000
tiny trees growing during the summer of
1836. Anyhow, he
retained his enthusiasm and wrote his
father in October as follows:
Was at Columbus last week and in Co.
with D. Ford purchased one
hundred Chinese mulberry trees (it being
all we could obtain although the
Co. of which we purchased had 50,000.
The trees were of this year's
growth averaging about three feet high
with several branches each. I
intend trying my luck with them next
season to some extent.5
By the following February, Bryant, who
had not yet ac-
quired any land of his own in Ohio, was
dickering with James
Taylor of Newport, Kentucky. for the
rental of from fifteen to
thirty acres of land along the Ohio
River for a mulberry nursery.
Taylor's letter of reply said in part:
As I am willing to patronize the growth
of these trees, I would rent
that inclosure ... at the rate of five
dollars per acre for any time you
wish not to exceed five years, provided
you or the tenant will build your
own house.... I assure you I think I
offer a great bargain and would
not take the offer I now make but for
the purpose of a mulberry nursery
or gardens.... You must let me
know by the middle of next month ...
4 William Kenrick, The American Silk Grower's Guide, or the
Art of Raising
the Mulberry and Silk and the System of
Successive Crops in Each Season. 2nd
ed.
(Boston. 1889).
5 Orren Bryant to Col. Patrick Bryant,
October 23, 1836, Bryant MSS. (in
Alexandria Local History Committee
Library).
268
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
if you can hold this letter for the basis of the contract.... I really
think
a mulberry nursery and orchard would do
well in this quarter. We have
an act of incorporation for a silk
manufactury, and I would probably go
with a Co. into the business.6
Bryant continued at Alexandria, however,
and the next July had
begun the culture of the silkworms
themselves. He wrote to
A. S. Chene (?) of Columbus for
information concerning the
purchase of eggs, and in reply received
the following detailed
word picture of the whole silk and
mulberry business at the
time:
COLUMBUS, July 13, 1837.
MR. ORRIN BRYANT--
DEAR SIR,
Your favor of the 10th ins. is just
reed. I regret to tell you I am
unable to furnish you the Eggs you wish
for, or to tell you where they
may be procured in season for an early
crop. Eggs may be procured here
in any quantities for the next season,
and if artificial means are used to
force them to hatch I suppose they can
be procured here in abundance say
by the 1st of Augt. but as it would be
as late as the 15th before you could
expect to hatch them it might be
doubtful whether prudence would direct
you to hatch the number you wish to. I
would, however, suggest to you
that the 400 worms you are now feeding
might be forced into a second
crop. 400 millers being half male and
half female will give you 60,000
Eggs. Let them lay the Eggs on white
linen or muslin cloths and about
one week after they are laid, put them
for 4 or 5 days in an Ice House
or Cold Cellar, then moisten the cloths
and scrape the Eggs off with a
blunt edgd. Base Knife, wash them with
great care in clean cold water
and dry them carefully with a towel,
then expose them in a room where
they may be kept constantly as warm as
82 degrees of farenheit, letting
the heat vary as little as convenient
and they will probably hatch in a
few days. If you try this experiment
please to write to me the result.
The Company have pledged themselves to
purchase all cocoons offered.
In their advertisement in the Ohio State
Journal prices will vary according
to quality from 2 to 4 dolls. per bush.,
or 25 to 50 cts. per lb. When
brought to market they should be stript
of all their floss.
The Chinese Mulberry in my private
nursery this season are the best
I have ever seen. I have 300 trees about
6 feet high, with many shoots
and thick tops, 350 trees about 30
inches high growing rapidly, several
thousand cuttings from 2 to 20 inches
high, and several thousands of
layers from 2 inches to 3 feet in
height. My private nursery is much more
thrifty, forward and valuable than is
the Company's owing to the great
care I take of it personally. I attend
it with my own hands and spend
much time in it. I have also many
thousands of seedlings of the Broosa
Mulberry which are growing finely. From
this you will observe that I
have already lay seed [?] many plants. I
am not quite done but hope to
finish this week. I shall take much
pleasure in shewing you my nursery
6 James Taylor to Orren Bryant, February
28, 1837, ibid.
MORUS MULTICAULIS 269
when you next visit Columbus. It is now
small, but will be much extended
next season.
What success has Mr. Ford with his Morus
Multicaulis?
I am very Respectfully
Yours &c.,
A. S. CHENE [?]7
Bryant's personal silkworm venture
probably never devel-
oped, for all future references in his
papers are to the mulberry
business alone. In August he wrote his father of his
nursery:
I have 20,000 white mulberry trees two
years old, the finest in the
country and shall have this fall 3 to
5,000 of the Morus multicaulis, 500
multicaulis seedlings and 300 Chinese, all doing well, but what the
market
will be or whether I shall make anything
on them is yet uncertain.8
No record of the Bryant nursery remains
for 1838. He had
by now purchased a farm of his own at
Alexandria and was no
doubt busy enough with much besides
mulberries. At Massillon,
though, D. Ford had found it a good year
for the nurserymen.
He wrote Bryant on the day after
Christmas:
Well, Sir, the tree business has been as
good or better than we ever
anticipated. Ours all sold, our highest
at 80??, smallest 40??, last sales, no
mistake except the Hartwell expedition.
We now must prepare for the
next year's campaign on future
operations--help us & yourself all you
can ... [Respects to] Mr. Tyler.
Tell him to hold on, & hold out in the
M.M. concern & not to faulter--no
mistake.9
The "Mr. Tyler" who was to be
urged to hold out in the
"M. M. concern (Morus
multicaulis)," may have been George R.
Tyler of Alexandria who set out a
mulberry orchard on his farm
southwest of the village and engaged in
silk culture for a time,
feeding the worms in a spare upper room
of his home. Another
Alexandria family, the Thralls, also
entered the business. Rows
of their mulberry trees were growing
until quite recently in the
Raccoon bottom two miles west of the
village.
The letter of Ford just quoted had been
written on a
printed circular issued in the interest
of silk culture by a "Cor-
responding Committee" appointed at
a recent meeting of Stark
County citizens. The purpose of the meeting and the ensuing
correspondence had as their chief aim to
press the Ohio Legisla-
ture for material recognition of the
mulberry and silk businesses
7 A. S. Chene (?), to Orren Bryant, July 13, 1837, ibid.
8 Orren Bryant to Col. Patrick Bryant,
August 5, 1837, ibid.
9 D. Ford to Orren Bryant, December 26, 1838,
ibid.
270
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
in the State. Evidently the boom was
just about at its peak. The
circular read as follows:
MASSILLON, STARK COUNTY, OHIO,
December 21, 1838.
SIR:
The undersigned, a Corresponding
Committee, appointed at a meet-
ing of Stark county, held at Massillon,
on the 11th Dec., to correspond
with such individuals throughout the
State of Ohio and elsewhere, as are
interested, for the purpose of obtaining
information on the subject of
cultivating the MULBERRY and the
manufacture of SILK, have taken
the liberty to address you on the
subject.
The undersigned, believing that, ere
long, the cultivation of that im-
portant article of clothing will
constitute one of the principal branches of
American industry, would suggest the
necessity of memorializing the Legis-
lature of Ohio, at its present session,
praying for such enactments as will
direct public attention to it
particularly.
From the fact that his Excellency, Gov.
Shannon, has recommended
the attention of the Legislature to the
subject, the undersigned feel con-
fident that it will receive an impetus,
hitherto unknown in the Western
country.
While the States of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,
Delaware, Maryland,
New Jersey, Maine, and Vermont, are
paying large bounties for each
pound of silk, raised by their citizens,
Ohio has not, as yet, manifested a
disposition to encourage its
introduction within her borders.
The interest we feel on the subject, in
connection with many of our
citizens who are largely engaged in
cultivating the Mulberry, will, we trust,
be a sufficient apology for addressing
you at this time. It is desirable
that your county take some steps in this
matter, and we feel confident that
you will use your efforts to obtain
signatures and forward memorials to
the members representing your county.
You will have the goodness to
inform us, whether the subject has
received any attention in your section,
and to what extent--also the names of
such individuals as will give it
their aid.
The undersigned are, with sentiments of
respect, etc.,
JAS. L. REYNOLDS,
ROBT. H. FOLGER,
B. G. BUSWELL,
CYRUS FORD,
Corresponding Corn.
The next spring Bryant made his first
sales, of which he
wrote his father in this wise:
I do but little. My operations are
mostly confined to the cultivation
of the mulberry in which business I have
thus far been successful although
I have [not succeeded] like some
who commenced the business at an earlier
period. Yet it has yielded me a fair
return for my labor. I have made no
sales yet except the thousand dollar
contract which I filled last spring of
which you have had notice. My trees look
fine now and if the drought
does not injure them, I shall have a
good growth. I shall have fifteen or
twenty thousand for sale this fall but
what price they will bear I do not
know.10
10 Orren Bryant to Col. Patrick Bryant, August 4, 1839, ibid.
MORUS MULTICAULIS 271
He now began to push his wares and wrote
S. C. Parkhurst,
a dealer of Cincinnati, on the matter of
selling on commission.
Parkhurst replied:
I am not engaged in any way in the
mulberry tree trade other than
to sell for others on commission. I have
none now on hand & do not expect
to have any at present if at all from
any quarter this fall. I should not
therefore object to sell some for you if
you wish me to. I am told there
is a fair supply expected this fall from
the East beside a good many now
growing in the vicinity. I am also told
that some small sales have been
made at 50¢ or 75¢ per plant (of the multicaulis)
according to size. The
sales in my opinion will be slow at
these prices. The winter and spring I
think will be the best season to sell,
particularly if the River is navigable
a part or all the winter months.11
There were more sales, almost a year
later, but business was
slow and collections slower. Bryant
wrote his father in the usual
August letter:
I have two acres of mulberry trees
growing containing some 30 to
40,000 trees which are 3 to 6 feet high,
but I expect no sales. I have sold
the last two years sixteen hundred
dollars worth but have received but
250 cash, the remainder $1350.00 is in
good hands and will come when the
time comes that we shall have a
circulating medium. At present but very
little cash circulates here. $650.00
against Elias Howel, Esq., formerly
a member of Congress from this district
is now due.12
It is not likely that Bryant, or any
other nurseryman, made
any considerable profit out of mulberry
trees after this time.
The prospective silk producers were now
well stocked up and
their orchards were becoming old enough
to test the possibilities
of the investments. In the mulberry
business, sales and prices
slumped. There was a slight return of
interest, no doubt, after
the opening of the Mount Pleasant
factory in 1841 and the pub-
licity accompanying some of its rather
striking achievements, but
not enough to bring back top prices.
Whereas in 1838 trees had
sold at from 40?? to 80?? each, in 1842
they could be bought at $5.00
per thousand. This is learned from a
letter to Bryant, Septem-
ber 23, 1842, by E. W. Wells, a merchant
of Delaware, Ohio,
who wrote:
MR. BRYANT:
I understand you wish to sell some of
your Multicaulis trees. I wish
to procure some twenty thousand perhaps.
I am offered them near Worth-
ington at $5 dollars per thousand which
is only 15 miles from Delaware.
If you can afford me some of yours at a
less price that will justify me in
coming this far after them you will
please write me a line in a day or two
11 S. C. Parkhurst to Orren Bryant,
September 16, 1839, ibid.
12 Orren Bryant to Col. Patrick Bryant,
August 29, 1840, ibid.
272
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
directed to E. W. Wells, merchant,
Delaware, O., and say what is the
lowest price you will take for about 20
thousand in the ground and we
will haul them away.12
Bryant's correspondence contains no more
references to mul-
berries or silkworms. Probably he closed
out his tree business at
the earliest opportunity for he was too
business-like and thrifty a
farmer for his affairs to have been tied
up long to an undertaking
that was now definitely outmoded.
13 E. W. Wells to Orren Bryant,
September 28, 1842, ibid.
MORUS MULTICAULIS, OR, SILKWORMS MUST EAT
By ROBERT PRICE
Acres of mulberry trees--multitudes of
silkworms--mills
booming--a corner on the world's silk
market! It would be a
fantastic dream indeed for an Ohioan
today, a vision such as this
of wealth to be derived from a monopoly
on raw silk, but in 1836
such hopes were stirring hundreds of
people not only in Ohio but
throughout the East and South. By 1838,
at least seven states,
Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware,
Maryland, New Jersey,
Maine, and Vermont, were paying large
bounties for each pound
of silk raised by their citizens, and in
Ohio a petition was being
circulated which would ask the General
Assembly to do likewise.
By 1841, John W. Gill and Thomas White
had erected a mill near
Mount Pleasant in Jefferson County which
was weaving the first
figured silk and silk velvet, so it is
claimed, ever made in these
United States. Henry Clay was to wear a
silk suit made in this
factory, the first American flag ever
unfurled in China was to
come from the same source, and an
exhibit of the Mount Pleasant
silk shown at an exposition in London
was to send European
competitors home in a panic of dismay.
A decade later, however, the boom was
over, and hundreds of
mulberry plantations scattered over
this and other states were
the only conspicuous evidence that it
had ever existed. In fact,
in Ohio the mulberry trees seem to have
been in some ways the
most conspicuous feature of the whole
movement. Thousands
upon thousands of the young trees
changed hands during the first
fever of the silk furor, and whether or
not their purchasers ever
realized any gain from the silkworms
which the mulberry leaves
were to feed, it seems very likely that
many a nurseryman, pro-
vided he got into and out of the game
soon enough, must have
cashed in at least to a small
extent. In Ohio, it is pretty safe
to assume that mulberries rather than
silk proved the more prof-
itable venture.
In the papers of Orren Bryant,1 who
engaged in the business
1 Preserved by Fitch C. Bryant, New York, N. Y., and by the Alexandria Local
History Committee.
(265)