with the Trustees expired on the 30th of August, 1751, but finding that his intended departure depressed the friends of the culture, he was solicited by the local government to remain another year, and, generously sacrificing private to public interests, he complied with their request.  Mr. Habersham thus speaks of Mr. Robinson.  “I think him the most prudent as well as the most capable person I ever knew, to undertake such a work, and if he could be continued here, I doubt not but that he would turn out a number of well instructed reelers, who would be able to conduct filatures at Ebenezer, Augusta, and other parts of the province.”  So great was the confidence which the Trustees had in him, that he was appointed an assistant in the government at Savannah; an honor which he declined, and in the same letter stated, “If due encouragement be not given to the culture of raw silk, for the term of at least fourteen years, I positively cannot think of settling in America.”  These gentlemen recommended the building of a house, sixty feet by twenty-six, as a cocoonry, great loss having been experienced for the want of such a structure.

In 1752, Mr. 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 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.  The people of Augusta became interested in this manufacture, and entered with considerable spirit into the undertaking, promising to send hands to Savannah, yearly, to learn the art of reeling:  their enthusiasm, however, soon evaporated.

On the 29th of March, 1755, a certificate, signed by thirty-nine eminent silk-throwsters and weavers, was given to the “Commissioners for Trade and Plantations,” stating that after examining three hundred pounds of raw silk, imported from Georgia, “we do sincerely declare that the nature and texture is truly good, the color beautiful, the thread as even and as clear as the best Piedmont (called wire silk) of the size, and much clearer and even than the usual Italian silks;” and furthermore, “it could be worked with less waste than China silk, and has all the properties of good silk well adapted to the weaver’s art in most branches.”

In 1755, five thousand four hundred and eighty-eight pounds of cocoons were raised, and four hundred and thirty-eight pounds of raw silk spun.  The good effects of the filature were now happily evident in the increased interest of the planters in the subject, who sent both their daughters and young negroes to acquire the art of reeling.  In 1756, three thousand seven hundred and eighty-three pounds and one ounce of cocoons were received at the filature, and two hundred and sixty-eight pounds of raw silk reeled.