the indifference manifested in England, notwithstanding the able
proclamation of King James on the subject, commanding its cultivation;
the Trustees for the settlement of Georgia determined to make one more
effort, which, if successful, would enrich both the province and the
mother country. The views which they entertained, however, of making
Georgia supplant every silk-growing country, were extravagant and
erroneous; they expected, in fact, to supply all Europe, and to
produce an article of equal strength, beauty and value, with any made
on the Continent. The Piedmontese, thought they, who pay half of their
silk for the rent of the mulberry trees and the eggs of the worm, or
the peasants of France, burdened with political difficulty and stinted
for conveniences, could not cope with the settlers of Georgia, where
the mulberry (morus alba) trees would grow in the greatest luxuriance,
where timber for their fabrics was no expense, where room was abundant
and the reward sure. By this transfer, in addition to a direct saving
to England of over 500,000_l_. which she paid for this article to
foreign countries, twenty thousand people were to find employment in
rearing it in Georgia, and as many more at home in preparing it for
market.

Among the first emigrants who sailed with Oglethorpe from England in
November 1732, was Mr. Amatis, from Piedmont, who was engaged by the
Trustees to introduce the art of silk-winding into the colony, and who
for that purpose brought with him several Italians and some adequate
machinery. White mulberry trees were planted in a portion of land on
the eastern border of the city, called the Trustees' garden; eggs were
hatched, and silk spun "as fine as any from France or Italy." They
soon, however, came to a mutual rupture, and the whole process was for
a time suspended by the treachery of those employed, who broke the
machinery, spoiled the seed, destroyed the trees, and then escaped to
Carolina. Sufficient, however, had been wrought to test its value,
and they were not discouraged by this inauspicious commencement. The
Trustees still adhered to their design, and the more effectually to
advance it, required of every settler that there should be on his
grant, ten mulberry trees to each acre.

Mr. Camuse and his wife, both Italians, were now entrusted with this
business, in which they were continued six years; the two first at a
salary of 60_l_. per annum, and the four last at 100_l_. besides the