262 THE CULTURE 



things which will be found ufeful, even lit 

 this bufinefs. 



One cannot confider attentively the man-* 

 ner in which the filk is reeled from the 

 pods, without obferving that the fmgle filk- 

 hairs of which the thread is compofed, are 

 liable to fufFer very different degrees of 

 ftretching as they are winded from the 

 pods. If the balls are not forted well, 

 this different degree of extenfion will be 

 the greater, and, even when they are fort- 

 ed, they muft ftill be fubjedl to different 

 Itretching, becaufe fome are a little longer 

 in the water than others and therefore give 

 their fiik eafier j and alfo becaufe the weak 

 latter end of fome pods wind off with the 

 flrong firfl part of others. rt 



The hairs being thus flretched unequal- 

 ly, will occafion (when the fkain is taken 

 from the reel too fuddenly) thofe hairs 

 which are mofl: ftretched to contrad: more 

 than the others, by which their union will 

 be in fome meafure deffroyed, and the 

 thread compofed of them rendered lefs 

 compa6l and firm, the fingle hairs appear- 

 ing in fever al places disjoined from one 

 another. 



