May 21, 1863, Charleston Mercury
We recollect the silk excitement of twenty odd years ago, which, under the stimulus of Yankeeizing speculation, was turned into the murus multicaulis mania, the unlucky consequence of which brought discredit upon the really laudable enterprise in which it originated. We had believed that the silk culture in the South was completely broken up, but we are happy to learn by the following notice in the Atlanta Commonwealth, that we were mistaken:
We have received two skeins of beautiful sewing silk manufactured by Mrs. Thomas Gibson, near Mayfield, Warren County, Ga. It is smooth, strong and glossy, and sufficiently fine for all practical uses. We learn that Mrs. Gibson in 1831 procured about 10,000 eggs, and put up about forty cuts on a common reel of about 120 yards each. This she put into skeins to the number of 500. This year she has about 30,000 worms, and if they do as well as they did last year, she will have 1500 skeins of silk. She has disposed of all she made except a few skeins. She has a sufficient amount of mulberry trees to feed 200,000 worms. We take peculiar pleasure in noticing this successful experiment in silk culture, and trust that it may be an incentive to others to engage in the same laudable work.