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Robinson returned to England, and his place was partially supplied by Joseph Ottolenghe, a native of Piedmont, and a proficient in his art, who came to Georgia on the 18th of July, 1751, and took charge of the filature in April, 1753. In a letter to Lee Martyn, dated September 11, 1753, Mr.
Ottolenghe still styled himself "Superintendent of the Silk Culture in Georgia," and in consideration of his long and faithful service in that office, received an annuity of 100l.
Barnard, of Augusta, he assures me, that from two years experience in raising cocoons there, he lost none from sickness, which frequently destroys two-thirds of the worms here;" and he further says, that Mr. Ottolenghe told him that the silk reeled from the Augusta cocoons "made the strongest and most wiry thread of any raised in these parts."
Ottolenghe, however, overruled their views and required all cocoons to be delivered at Savannah and to be reeled there. Each basin at the filature had two apprentices, besides others who were employed in sorting the balls, &c., and the various operations connected with the trade, employed nearly forty persons.
This amount of reeled silk was not at all proportionate to the weight of the cones, resulting, as Mr. Ottolenghe said in a letter to Governor Wright, October 2, 1766, "to the badness of the seed, and consequent inferiority of the worms."
The cocoons delivered at the filature in 1760, weighed seven thousand nine hundred and eighty-three pounds, and there were spun eight hundred and thirty-nine pounds. Mr. Ottolenghe was now honored with the full appointment of "superintendant of the silk culture in Georgia," with a salary appropriate to his station.
Five thousand three hundred and seven pounds of cocoons, and three hundred and thirty-two pounds of raw silk were produced in 1761. Governor Wright, under date 13th of July, says, "The greatest appearance that ever they had here was destroyed in two nights' time, by excessive hard and unseasonable frosts, and there is likewise a degeneracy in the seed, as Mr. Ottolenghe tells me."
These frosts occurred on the 5th and 6th of April. Parliament, this year, made a grant of 1000l. towards defraying the expenditure for the silk culture, and it was annually renewed until about 1766. By means of this gratuity, Mr. Ottolenghe was enabled to give a high price to the rearers of cocoons, and thus sustain the encouragement so judiciously commenced.
The liberal policy of the commissioners, who had no private ends to answer, caused them to recommend the establishment of additional filatures, and in their letter to the Trustees, June 12th, 1751, they advise the erection of one at Ebenezer, and another contiguous to Savannah, but Mr. Ottolenghe opposed this course and arrogated to the one in Savannah the entire monopoly of the culture.
Ottolenghe says, that "there were fewer cocoons raised this year, as the worms mostly hatched before the trees leaved," and that "the people were willing to continue the business." One hundred and ninety-seven pounds of raw silk were made this year, and three hundred and seventy-six pounds in 1754, besides twenty-four pounds of filosele.
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