106 SILK GROWER'S GUIDE. 



are then boiled, adding a small quantity of soft soap, or 

 ley of wood ashes, to cleanse them from the gum ; they 

 are then ready for dyeing. 



" Silk twist is spun in the same manner, except that it 

 is always of three cords. The winding of the twist is 

 done on a machine imported from England. 



" We have a small establishment for spinning by wa- 

 ter, with a machine similar to a throstle frame of a cot- 

 ton mill. The silk is first spooled by hand on bobbins, 

 which are placed on the top of the frame, the thread of 

 raw silk passing from it under a wire through a trough 

 of water, then through rollers to the spindle. A single 

 frame may contain from thirty to fifty spindles, and can 

 be attended to by one person. The doubling and twist- 

 ing may be done by the same frame at the same time, by 

 giving the bands to a part of the spindles a contrary di- 

 rection. As many threads are put to a spindle as are 

 required to make a thread of two or three cords. Silk 

 spun in this way is far superior to that done by hand. 

 The machine will spin from two three pounds in a day. 

 A pound of silk after being spun and cleansed, will 

 weigh about ten ounces, and form one hundred and 

 seventy skeins the threads of sufficient size to sevr 

 woollens. If spun finer, it would make more. It in- 

 creases little or nothing in weight when dyed. 



" Silk is sold by the skein, one hundred of which 

 will measure one-third more than half a pound of Italian 

 or English silk, of the same sized threads. One woman 

 can make from twelve to fifteen pounds of raw silk in a 

 season of six weeks." 



Brooks' spinning and reeling machine is highly 

 spoken of. It was invented by Amos Brooks of Scitu- 

 ate, Mass., who has obtained a patent for the invention. 

 They can be made with any number of spindles which 

 may be desired, and may be purchased at the agricultu- 

 ral warehouses in our chief cities, at a price varying 

 from $20 to $30. 



The following description of Brooks' spinning ma- 



