1352

ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM.

PART III.

workmen from Italy to settle in France. The manufactures, thus established,were, however, at first entirely supplied with their raw silk from Piedmont andSicily. In 1494, several of the great landed proprietors who had followedCharles VIII. in his Italian wars, brought with them, on their return fromNaples and Sicily, some plants of the white mulberry, which they planted inProvence, in the vicinity of Montelimart. In 1520, Francis I., having takenpossession of Milan, prevailed on some artisans of the city to establish them-selves at Lyons; and, to encourage them to remain there, he granted themespecial privileges and immunities. Henry II. and Charles IX. appear tohave been the next sovereigns who endeavoured to promote the culture of themulberry and the silkworm in France; and in the reign of the latter monarch,in 1564, Francois Traucat, a gardener of Nismes, formed a large nursery,expressly for raising white mulberry plants, from which he supplied all thesouth of France. Henry IV. was no sooner established on the throne, than heexerted himself to promote the culture of the silkworm throughout his domi-nions ; and by his desire, Olivier de Serres, seigneur de Pradel, in 1601, formeda plantation of white mulberry trees in the garden of the Tuileries, wherea large building for the silkworms was erected. (Ann. d’Hort., vol. xviii.p. 130.) In 1603, an edict was passed for encouraging the planting of mulberrytrees throughout France; promising to reward such manufacturers as hadsupported and pursued the trade for twelve years with patents of nobility. ( SeeM‘Culloch’s Did. of Commerce , p. 1029.) Under Louis XIII. the silk manu-factures of France were neglected; but they were again brought under theattention of the government in the reign of Louis XIV.; whose minister, Col-bert, seeing the advantages that might be drawn from the culture of mulberrytrees, resolvSd to enforce it by every means in his power. He reestablishedthe royal nurseries; gave plants to all who desired them ; and even plantedby force the lands of those proprietors who were not willing to cultivate thetrees voluntarily. This arbitrary measure disgusted the proprietors, and themulberry plantations were soon suffered to decay. Colbert now tried moregentle measures; and he offered a premium of 24 sous for every mulberrythat had stood in a plantation three years. This plan succeeded; and, inthe course of a few years, mulberry plantations were general throughoutFrance. (See Nouv.Cours d’Agricidl., art. Murier.) At present the silk manu-factures of France constitute a very important part of her commerce; andsome idea may be formed of the silk goods annually sent to England from thatcountry, from the fact, that the quantity on which duty was paid, from 1688 to1741, averaged 500,00(W. a year. ( M‘Cu/loch .) It is, however, remarkable, that,notwithstanding the great quantity of silk now raised in France, the manufac-turers of that country still import to the annual value of 30,000 francs of rawsilk from Piedmont and Italy. The culture of silk was first introduced intoGermany by Frederick II., who had mulberry trees planted extensively in dif-ferent parts of his dominions ; and the example was soon afterwards followedin Saxony, Austria, and in some of the smaller states. In Bavaria, the silkculture was commenced under the auspices of government, and of the MunichAgricultural Society, about 1820, at the recommendation of a highly patrioticindividual, M. Hazzi. A great many mulberry plants have since been raisedin the government nurseries, and distributed throughout the provinces (seeGard. Mag., vol. v. p. 424.); but, on the whole, neither in this part of Ger-many, nor in any other, have the silk manufactories ever been considerable.In many of the southern states, pollarded mulberry trees may be seen border-ing the highways; and in some of the cities silk goods are made fromGerman silk ; but the only establishments of this kind worth mentioning areat Vienna, at Roveredo in the Tyrol, at Creveldt, at Cologne, and at Berlin.The culture of silk has been introduced into Belgium (Ann. d’Hort. de Paris,vi. p. 368.), with every prospect of success ; and the tree has also been plantedin the southern states of Denmark. In Sweden, an attempt has been madeto introduce silk culture in the southern provinces; but, as far as we havebeen able to learn, with very little success. In Russia, silk culture has been