238 THE CULTURE 



The four bars have been generally made 

 round, but I would recommend, as a bet- 

 ter method, to form them firft re6langu- 

 lar, about one inch by two, and then to 

 plane down the edge, which is to be the 

 outerm.oft and receive the filk, to any an- 

 gle lefs than a right angle j for being plac- 

 ed thus edgeways on the crofs fupporters, 

 they will refift the fpring of the filk as 

 joiils do the weight of a floor 3 for one 

 could fcarce imagine, if he had not tryed 

 it, how great a power a thick fkain of 

 filk has to warp and bend the bars of the 

 reel. Another advantage of planeing their 

 outer edge down to lefs than a right angle, 

 is, that in this cafe the filk will only touch 

 the bars in a point, v^^hereas if they were 

 round, it would lie upon one half of the 

 circumference of each bar, which would 

 caufe a good part of the flcain to be flat, 

 and the threads to be m.ore glued together 

 in the four different parts which lay upon 

 the four bars. The angle however fliould 

 not be left iliarp and cutting, but fliould 

 have its edge a little rounded. And the 

 bars fliould be made of wood which is 

 pretty hard and fmoothly poliflied, for if 

 it has any fplits, or rou^^hnefs, the threads 



of 



