Thomas Boreman
A Compendious Account of the Whole Art of Breeding, Nursing, and the Right Ordering of the Silk-worm. Illustrated with Figures engraven on Copper: Whereon is curiously exhibited the whole Management of this Profitable Insect
London: Printed for J. Worrall, at the Dove in Bell-Yard, near Lincolns-Inn; Olive Payne, in Round Court in the Strand; Thomas Boreman, on Ludgate-Hill, 1733
32 pp.

The first interest in silk culture in colonial America stemmed from the discovery of native mulberry trees growing in Virginia. King James I, seeking a way to avoid the heavy importation charges, promoted the development of sericulture in Virginia and sent the colonists detailed instructions and materials for silk cultivation. The attempt was not successful, but it did not discourage other colonies from undertaking this unfamiliar and labor-intensive process. Silk culture was one of the main considerations in the settlement of Georgia, and Thomas Boreman dedicates his Compendious Account to the "trustees for establishing the colony of Georgia in America."

Boreman's instructions described the more elaborate methods then used in European silk-making. There, moths laid their eggs on cloth (not trees), and the worms were then gathered and fed on shelves of mulberry leaves, as shown in this plate. After the worms spun the cocoons, the cases were gathered and the silken fiber of the cocoon was spun into thread. Two years after the publication of this book, Georgia exported eight pounds of silk and over a thousand pounds in 1759. Although advocates of the Georgia colony predicted that it was the ideal place for the silk culture to thrive, the lack of skilled labor thwarted the dream of huge savings on silk imports.

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