70 



those of Syria, 15 to 20 ; and those of Saloniki and the 

 Morea, he says, are still worse. That gentleman re- 

 quires two years for the American women to learn to 

 reel silk in perfection ; but there is no doubt that they 

 will learn in a much shorter time. The silk reeled last 

 year at Philadelphia, by women, under the direction of 

 Mr D'Homergue, was pronounced in England to be a 

 fair beginning. At the last news received from that 

 country, it had not yet been thrown, except a small sam- 

 ple at Manchester, which was said to have undergone 

 every test, and produced a result highly satisfactory. 

 In quality it was said to-be superior to most Bengal silk, 

 and equal to the silks of Friuli and Trent. 



Mr Richard Radnell, a late English writer, in his view 

 of the English silk trade, published at London in 182S, 

 states the average waste in different silks to be as follows : 

 French, silks 4 to 10 per cent ; Lombardy silks 4 to 

 12 per cent; Friuli silk, 4 to 15 per cent. So that it 

 would seem that French silk is better reeled than Ital- 

 ian silk, which is different from the opinion before gene- 

 rally entertained. On silk from Persia, the waste is es- 

 timated from 8 to 20 per cent ; and on Brutia silk, from 

 4 to 18. 



As to Bengal silk, that which is reeled in the Com- 

 pany's filatures, which is distinguished by the name of 

 Novi silk, because it is reeled under the direction of an 

 Italian, from Novi, in Piedmont, is estimated to lose by 

 waste from 4 to 8 per cent, which would make it supe- 

 rior to French silk ; while that reeled in the native fila- 

 tures as they are called, is estimated to lose from 5 to 

 15 per cent. See Radnell's View, p. 34. 



