SILK CULTURE. 15 



Nvill be duly published in the newspapers. The cocoons can be sent to 

 those places and sold, or the silk reeled at a small cost. In the meantime 

 reelers will be trained, who will impart the necessary knowledge to others. 



Raw silk is divided into three classes, " organzine," "tram" and 

 "floss." " Organzine" is well twisted and is the choicest; "tram," made 

 from inferior cocoons, is but slightly twisted ; "floss" is made from loose 

 silk carded and spun like cotton. The persons reeling silk are generally 

 women, one of whom sits or stands before each basin of which she has 

 entire charge. The basin is made of tin or copper, heated by a charcoal or 

 oil fire. In large establishments the water is heated by steam. 



The cocoons are plunged into the water when it is near the boiling 

 point, and moved about so that the gum which fastens the threads is thor- 

 oughly softened. They are then stirred or beaten with a small bunch of 

 birch twigs with split ends, or with pieces of broom corn tied in a bunch, to 

 which the ends of the threads will attach themselves. The reeler will then 

 shake the cocoons till each one hangs by a single thread. She now takes 

 up five or more threads, according to the quality of silk wanted, unites 

 them, and puts the combined strand through a little glass eye, or large glass 

 bead, fastened on one side of the reel-frame. She then forms a similar 

 strand and puts it through another eye on the other side. The strands are 

 then brought together, twisted several times, separated above the twist and 

 put through two other glass eyes or wire loops through which they run one 

 to each end of the reel, which is kept revolving in a steady, rapid manner, 

 and to which is given a side-way motion which crosses and re-crosses the 

 silk in such a manner that it will not stick or glaze. The uniformity of the 

 thread depends entirely .on the skill of the reeler, who must attach a new 

 thread as soon as one breaks or a cocoon gives out. This is called nourish- 

 ing the silk and is done by dexterously attaching the new thread to the 

 combined strand to which it immediately adheres. In this much judgment 

 must be used, for as the silk on a cocoon gets lighter and finer as it nears 

 the end, the uniformity of the strand does not entirely depend on the num- 

 ber of individual threads forming it. When the silk comes off the cocoon 

 in bunches the water is too hot ; when it unwinds with difficulty it is too 

 cold, and it must be regulated as the operator sees it is necessary. This is 

 the operation of reeling, but before the skeins as they come from the reel are 

 ready for the manufacturer, they must be passed through a cleanser — a clasp 

 lined with cloth which catches any loose silk or other matter adhering to it. 

 It is further cleansed by being passed through four similar cleansers, twisted , 

 about 500 times to the yard,. doubled and again twisted 400 times to the 

 yard. It is finally run on reels about one and a half feet in diameter — then 

 taken off and twisted in knots or hanks in a peculiar manner. Through 

 all these operations the oscillating motion is continued, to produce the 



