REELING. 87 



SECTION XXXIII. 

 TRANSPORTING COCOONS. 



Cocoons when sent to market, or to the filatures at a 

 distance for reeling, must be put up with a suitable de- 

 gree of care. Particular attention is necessary in hand- 

 ling and packing, that they be not dented or flattened, 

 as this would be highly injurious. The cocoons when 

 perfectly dry, are to be packed in tight and perfectly 

 dry boxes, or barrels, and sufficiently pressed down to 

 prevent chafing, but not so hard as to alter their form. 

 Thus managed they may be safely transported to any 

 distance by water or by land. 



SECTION XXXIV. 

 REELING. 



IN silk countries, an establishment for reeling is called 

 a filature, and the winding of the cocoons is generally 

 conducted as a separate business, distinct from that of 

 raising silk-worms, and the silken balls become an 

 article of traffic, as soon as the chrysalide within has 

 been destroyed. 



Everything, it is admitted, depends on reeling. So 

 important, indeed, is this branch considered, that an 

 essential portion of the profit depends on its being pro- 

 perly performed. If the reeling has been but indiffer- 

 ently performed, the silk may not sell for more than four 

 dollars a pound, but if well reeled and skillfully executed, 

 it may bring from six to seven dollars, possibly more, 



