100 



laws prescribe the size of the boilers, and the form and 

 proportions of the reel, &c. &c. ; and a quantity of silk 

 less than five hundred pounds is not allowed to be 

 reeled in a single filature. Hence the celebrity of 

 Piedmontese silk. 



However seemingly beneficial these restrictions and 

 usurpations of the government of Italy may at first sight 

 appear, yet their direct tendency is to create odious mo- 

 nopolies. The large and wealthy proprietors are bene- 

 fitted at the expense of the cultivators, who being thus 

 unjustly prohibited from the conversion of their own 

 produce into the most profitable form for sale, have be- 

 come paralyzed by oppression, and their industry lan- 

 guishes. 



In France, where no such arbitrary restrictions exist, 

 much less regularity indeed prevails ; and silk is reeled 

 by a variety of modes, some more or less defective, and 

 of every quality. Here are innumerable domestic fila- 

 tures ; yet in some parts of France, particularly in the 

 department of Gard, the produce of some of the filatures 

 is considered nearly equal to the very best of Italy. Also 

 in the upper department of Ardeche, there is produced 

 a description of white silk of a quality so superior, that 

 it is purchased for the lace manufacturers of Normandy, 

 for more than 50 francs, or $9 20 a pound ; but a few 

 years since it commanded a price as high as 150 francs, 

 or $27 60 a pound. Yet it is stated that with the ex- 

 ception of these filatures, and of one or two others which 

 are destined to produce organzine by the proprietors 

 themselves, there is little or none of the silk of France 

 which possesses the desirable regularity of fibre which 

 serves to distinguish the silk of Briance. 



As to the cocoons which can never be reeled, the 

 souiflons are boiled half an hour ; the pierced cocoons 

 which produce the best silk, are boiled longer. These 

 are first dried, and then pounded to separate them from 

 their chrysalides, which are reduced to powder. They 

 are then opened by drawing them out at arm's length, 



