i6 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



blaclrs to perform — we do not want the trouble of 

 it. We Iiave showed sibove thut it is nol so diffi- 

 cult to reel as is ima<fiiied. It is to be sure an art, 

 and the perfection of its products requires nicely 

 and some degree orsl<ill ; but ail of which is easily 

 acquired by any ordinary capacity. It is not liie 

 real difficulties of reelini^ ihat prevent any one 

 from reeling ; but the imaginary ones. Let any 

 one determine that he will reel, and he shall reel, 

 and that two in a time of apprenti.;eship that will 

 astonish even himself. 



There are some rules to be observed in reeling 

 that we may as well lay down here while on the 

 subject. They are generally found in the books, 

 but' so mixed up with other matter that they es- 

 cape attention. 



1st. The cocoons of each particular crop should 

 be kept by themselves. Several parcels should 

 not be mixed together ; so that the age of all the 

 cocoons of one parcel may be the same ; for co- 

 coons of different ages require water of different 

 temperatures. 



2d. The first thing in the morning, the reeler 

 must select her cocoons, putting the best in one 

 basket, second best in another, and the balance in 

 a third. 



3d. She nlust have clear rain or river water, 

 and it is best, if it be river water, that it be placed 

 over night to settle its sandy particles. 



4lh. She must acquire a knowledge of the tem- 

 ■perature required by different cocoons, so that she 

 will instantly know whether the water be too hot 

 or too cold. There is no circumstance that causes 

 so much bad silk as a want of this knovvledge, or 

 carelessness in applying ii. if the water be too 

 hot, the silk comes off in burs or ganglions, and 

 when this is discovered, the cocoons already in the 

 water are injured by the extraction of the gum, 

 and the silk is thereby rendered uneven and knotty. 

 If the water be too cool, the cocoons will rise up to 

 the plate, and the fibres be broken. This is not 

 difficult to learn. 



5th. She should always know how long the 

 fcocoons have been produced, that is, how old 

 they are ; and in what manner they have been 

 tured, whether baked, steamed, or cured in the sun, 

 ns all these require water ofdifferent temperatures. 

 Very old cocoons require water nearly boiling, 

 while those just produced and not cured requiring 

 it little more than milk-warm. Baked cocoons of 

 whatever age require water nearly boiling, while 

 steamed cocoons require it of a temperature accor- 

 ding to their age, and generally a little higher than 

 those cured in the sun. 



6th. Of whatever size ihe thread is to be, she 

 must keep the number of cocoons regularly the 

 same, or as near it as possible. If she is to produce 

 thread of eight to ten fibres, she must begin with 

 ten cocoons to each thread, and keep that number 

 as steadily running as possible. She will not be 

 able to keep the exact number, but she will never 

 be obliged lo allow them to vary more than two, 

 so that the thread will be called " eight to ten 

 fibre." This is regular enough for ail practical 

 purposes. 



7th. After stopping the reel for any purpose, she 

 must wet the thread thorou<rhIy where it crosses, 

 and thence down to the basin, by sprinkling it 

 with hot water from the basin, before she begins 



agam. 

 8th. 



She must change the water in the basin as 



fast as it becomes foul — two or three iimes a day, 

 when steadily at work. 



9lh. While the reel is going she must keep her 

 attention steadily u|)on the cocoons in the basin, so 

 that when one is exhausted or breaks she may 

 have another ready to be added. 



lOih. The reel must be turned as rapidly as the 

 cocoons will unwind, so that as little gum as pos- 

 sible may be left in the water. 



11th. The person turning the reel must keep his 

 eye upon the thread between the traversing bar 

 and the bars ot the reel, so that he may see and 

 brush off any moles that may appear on it. 



12th. Bear in mind that care and skill in reeling 

 will make the silk worth two or three dollars a 

 pound more than that produced by a careless reeler 

 — therelbre, that the careful reeler gets one dollar 

 a pound lor her industry, and two dollars for care- 

 fulness. G. B. S. 



SEARCH FOR CALCAREOUS MANURES. 



From tlie Maine Farmer; 



The subject of calcareous manures, although 

 somewhat understood and prized in former years, 

 has become more systematically understood on 

 account of the laws which govern its action be- 

 ing more fully developed by the researches of 

 Ruthn, the editor of the Farmers' Register. 

 The publication of his work containing as it does a 

 full code of the principles which should govern 

 the application of lime, whether comliined with 

 clay in tlie form ol' marl, or combined with 

 other materials, was an important event in the 

 history of agriculture, and every farmer who 

 makes the latest pretensions to skill in his prefess- 

 ion, or has the least desire to be enlightened or to 

 receive benefits from the experience of othersj 

 should read the work. 



The Kennebec County Agricultural Society pro- 

 cured a number of them to be distributed in pre- 

 miums, as they did not arrive quite in season they 

 were not offered last spring but will be the ensuing 

 year. In the mean time we would suggest to the 

 trustees of the Society to procure more of them, 

 and not only the trustees of this but every other 

 agricultural society in the union. They cannot 

 dispose of their funds in a better manner. 



A five dollar bill will procure ten of them. And 

 one of them bestowed in the form of premium, is 

 worth more, and will do much more good and be 

 of more lasting benefit, than the whole five dollars 

 given in cash. 



But to our subject. Chemical analysis proves 

 that lime, either as a corrector of acids in the soil, 

 as an improver of the texture of the soil on which 

 it is put, or as a pabulum or food of a great num- 

 ber of plants, is almost constantly active in the 

 process of vegetation ; and an active and healthy 

 vegetation is the liirmer's "sheet anchor" — the 

 foundation of his posterity and wealth. How ne- 

 cessary then it is that he enquire into this branch 

 of his business, and look about him for a source 

 and a supply of this mineral. Wherever there 

 are limestone formations — or, in more common 

 language, wherever there is lime rock, you will 

 often find either a few inches immediately above 

 the rock, or on one side, a dark colored layer of 

 earth resting immediately in contact with the rock 

 and varying in thickness. This is produced by a 



