From 1656 to 1669 various acts were passed by the Virginia assembly to levy penalties for not planting mulberry trees and to provide rewards to encourage silk production. For example, bounties were offered for the production of mulberries and cocoons in 1658, and in 1662 every landowner was ordered to plant ten mulberry trees for every 100 acres of land he owned. Thus, Silkworm culture became the part-time occupation of many Virginia farmers. In 1654 Armenian silk experts were brought in. One member of the Assembly produced evidence of having 70,000 mulberry trees growing in 1664. In New England silk culture was introduced about the year 1660 by a "Mr. Aspinwall" who grew nurseries of mulberry trees at New Haven and on Long Island. In his efforts to introduce silk culture in Connecticut, Aspinwall was aided by Reverend Doctor Styles, an early president of Yale College. The progress of silk culture in these areas was halted by the American Revolution.
从1656年到1669年，弗吉尼亚议会通过了多个法案，对不种植桑树的人征收罚款，并对丝绸生产提供奖励。例如，1658年，弗吉尼亚对种桑养蚕和茧农提供奖赏。1662年，弗吉尼亚要求土地拥有者每百英亩土地种植10棵桑树。因此，许多弗吉尼亚农民开始兼职养蚕。1654年，弗吉尼亚引进了亚美尼亚丝绸专家。议会成员提供了在1664年有70,000棵桑树生长的证据。在新英格兰，丝绸文化大约是在1660年由一位在纽黑文和长岛种植桑树苗圃的“阿斯宾沃尔先生”引入的。阿斯宾沃尔在将丝绸文化引入康涅狄格州时，得到了耶鲁大学早期校长斯泰尔斯牧师博士的帮助。丝绸文化在这些地区的发展因美国革命而停止。
In the Eighteenth Century, further impetus to sericulture came from various quarters. In South Carolina, acts of 1736 and 1744 offered large rewards for silk production; French Huguenot immigrants later entered the picture, and for a time sericulture became fashionable in South Carolina, which produced excellent silk in small quantities. Benjamin Franklin encouraged silk production in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and silk was produced there from 1771 until the Revolution.
十八世纪，蚕种桑养蚕在各个方面的推动下有了进一步的发展。1736年和1744年南卡罗来纳州的法案为丝绸生产商提供了巨额奖励；后来，随着法国胡格诺派移民进入了美国，种桑养蚕在南卡罗莱纳流行起来，促使那里生产出了少量的优质丝绸。本杰明·富兰克林也在鼓励宾夕法尼亚和新泽西的丝绸生产业，从1771年到独立战争期间，这两个州一直在生产丝绸。
The London Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Commerce and Manufactures tried to encourage sericulture in the American colonies. The first premiums were offered in 1755: "ten pounds to the person who shall plant and properly fence the greatest number of white mulberry trees on his own plantation. The bounties were paid and the next year offered in Georgia also. A premium for silk was offered in 1757 and advertised. Again in 1758 the premiums were offered in the colonies of Georgia, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania and also in North Carolina in 1762. In the same year an additional award was offered "for the greatest quantity of good merchantable raw silk, not less than one hundred pounds weight, produced in any of the British American colonies."
伦敦艺术、商业和制造业促进协会尝试鼓励人们在美国殖民地养蚕。1755年提出第一次奖励：“在自己的种植园种的白桑树最多并保护的很好，谁就可以可获得10英镑。”第一次的赏金支付了，于是第二年乔治亚州也开始提供赏金。1757年，种桑养蚕可以获得奖金，这种奖励被传播开来。1758年，佐治亚、康涅狄格和宾夕法尼亚等殖民地也开始提供这种奖励，1762年，北卡罗来纳州也开始提供奖励。同年，“在任何英属美洲殖民地生产的优质可销售生丝数量最多，重量不少于100磅的生丝”也可以获得额外的奖励。
来源：JSTOR数字图书馆
翻译：世界丝绸网实习编辑 侯笑宇
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