178 9ILK. 



there is a hundred pounds of silk to be sulphured, two 

 pounds of brimstone should be put into a dish and set 

 on fire. All windows and doors must be shut, and 

 the silk left exposed to the fumes for fifteen or six- 

 teen hours. The doors and windows should then be 

 opened and the room well ventilated, before any per- 

 son attempts to enter, when the silk may be taken 

 down If it should not be white enough for the pur- 

 pose intended, it may be subjected to repeated fumi- 

 gations. 



MANUFACTURE OF SEWING SILK. 



The great consumption of sewing silk in this coun- 

 try, will ever render the manufacture of it profitable ; 

 not only in large factories, but in the cottages of our 

 country. For many years the manufacture of sew- 

 ing silk has been carried on in Connecticut, and the 

 industrious wives and daughters of that State haye 

 rendered themselves profitable to their husbands and 

 fathers. They did this too, with the spinning wheel, 

 having none of the machinery now used, to facilitate 

 the process. The Italians seldom use the best silk in 

 making sewings or twist, whereas in the above State 

 it is always used. So far, however, our people have 

 never rivalled the sewing silk of Italy, for their raw 

 silk commands a higher price than our manufactured 

 article. They use the Piedmontese reel, and all their 

 silk is reeled upon it. There are reckoned three 

 ways of manufacturing silk into sewings and twist. 



