47 



holes, and working woollen and cotton stuffs. The one 

 is for the use of tailors, the other for milliners and mantua- 

 makers. Tailors employ it only in the more delicate 

 works. The raw silk for these purposes is extracted from 

 the bad cocoons, reeled and wound into skeins, according 

 to its different degrees of fineness, in the same manner 

 and by the same process (varying only in details) as that 

 intended to be used for the manufacture of fine stuffs. 

 It is sold in market under the name of raw silk, but does 

 not bear so high a price as the other. 



There is a loose, furzy substance on the outside of the 

 cocoons, wh'ch is neither fit for use in the silk manufac- 

 tory, nor for sewing silk. This is commonly called floss. 

 To this are added all which either form some defect in 

 the cocoons or from the awkwardness of the reeler, either 

 break or come out uneven, or are otherwise unfit for use, 

 and which are called waste silk. This mass boiled in 

 soap and water, and afterwards carded and spun on the 

 spinning wheel, makes excellent yarn for stockings. 



Mr D'Homergue classes the different kinds of silk ex- 

 tracted from the cocoons into six different kinds, viz. 



Jst, Silk of the first quality or singles. 



2d, Silk of the second quality or organzine. 



3d, Silk of the third quality or tram silk. 



4th, Sewing Silk of the first and second quality. 



5th, Cordonnet or twist Silk of the first and 2d quality. 



6th, Floss Silk. 



The whole of the labor of extracting these different 

 silks from the cocoons, and all the preparatory work until 

 it is put to the mill is done in France by women, who 

 have separate tasks assigned to them in each of the 

 yarious complicated branches of this business ; the work- 



