Vol. X.— No.ll. 



AND Horticultural JouRiVAf.. 



m 



equal to that of all other products of that country 

 taken tngeilier, and thsit tljHie is no production of 

 the e.irth in the markets of Europe, which com- 

 jiared to its natural value or prilrie cost, offers to 

 the producer a greater net profit than the article 

 of silk. 



If then in Italy, the land of corn, wine and oil, 

 the profits on exported raw silk be equnl to double 

 the amount of all the other productions of the 

 Italian soil tak in tonretlier, it is eviilent that the 

 same if not greater advantages must result to this 

 Country, particularly to the Norihern and Middle 

 States, whose productions, are not so rich as those 

 in the south of Europe. 



Every person will easily niulerstand that the 

 profits on raw silk will in a certain deffree he pro- 

 ])ortioned to the extent of the nicitns of those en- 

 gaged in its preparation, and of their establish- 

 ment for that purpose. If it be on a large scale 

 the machinery may be moveil by water, or steam 

 power, which will add greaily to the economy of 

 the busines. It is now three or four years since 

 the Italian reel was imported into Philadelphia, 

 and there it still lies, like a fine musical instrument 

 waiting for the hand of the master. Nobody has 

 yet succeeded in making mercUantnhle raw silk 

 either by means of that instrument or similar in- 

 struments which have been imported into this 

 country. Many attempts have been made, none 

 of which have been successful. I do not hesitate 

 to affirm that all similar attempts, without the nec- 

 essary instructi(m and the skill to be acquired by 

 habits of patience, i»i7/ybreti6r prowe unsuccessful. 

 The great degree of skill and di'xterity that is nw- 

 cessary lor the management of the cocoons, and 

 for .producing :he various qualities of silk accor- 

 ding to their numerous degrees of fineness, may 

 be cornjiared to the difterent numbers by which i 

 the various qualifies of cotton threads used for 

 sewing are designated. 



The extent of a filature is calculated from the 

 nnndier of reels that are employed — from ten to | 

 five bundreil or m<ne. To each reel there must 

 1)6 a woman to wind the silk, and a little girl to 

 turn the crank, unless they are all turned hy wa- 

 ter or steam. The cocoons, I suppose, may be 

 purchased for twcntyfive cents the pouml, anil 

 eight pouiuls will yinhl a |)ound of silk. The 

 fuel, the cauldron, tlie pipes, the basin, and ne- 

 cessary apparatus to carry the water to the reders, 

 and the wages of the people, are the internal ex- 

 penses of the establishment. A good reeler, on 

 a hand reel, can turn out three pounds of silk per 

 day. 



The current price of raw silk in England and 

 France is about seven dollars th ^ poimd ; and if 

 it shall be well prepared in the manner required 

 .by those manufiicturcrs, and the quality of Amer- 

 ican si'k shall continue to be as much superior to 

 the silk of other cnuntries, as the few specimens 

 have proved to be, which have been sent to those 

 countries, the value may be increased. The Con. 

 necticut sewing silk after it is reeled, twisted, col. 

 orcd, and carried to market, sells for four didlars 

 the pnunil. In consequence of their want of 

 knowledge of the art, aiul the necessary mai'hine- 

 ry, they cimsnme 16 pounds of cocoons to produce 

 one pound of silk — with ten days' labor expended 

 upon it. If the 16 pounds of cocoons can be 

 sold for 25 cents per pound, they will produce 

 rile same amount, and save the labor and expense. 



V. 



The object of the following remarks is princi- 

 pally to explain, what is nieaiu by Fiiosis Silk, 

 bow made, its use, &c. We hope it will prove inter- 

 estinnr to more than one description of our readers. 



When Mr D'Hoiriergue arrived in this country, 

 upwards of two years ago, it was said that he 

 had been sent for by a society in I'hilad^lpbia, lo 

 reel silk from the cocoons, and make floss ami sew- 

 ing silk. If this he true, it shows how little was 

 known at that time of the (liftVireut arts, whirh 

 together cooperate in the inamifacttnte of silk. To 

 reel silk from the cocoons, is the business of a 

 female reeler, and if the thing is to be undertaken 

 on a large scale, of a director of a filature. To 

 make floss and sewing silk, is the employment of 

 a silk throwster. — For the former business, noth- 

 ing is wanted but a few reels, with their furnaces 

 and basins, and the work is done in the suininer 

 only, under a shed, open to the free circulation of 

 air; the latter on the contrary, requires an expen- 

 sive and complicated set of machinery, and the 

 labor is performed throughout the year in a large 

 room, of siiflicient space to contain the apparatus. 

 Directors of filatures and silk throwsters are men 

 of difl^erent professions, and nothing is more rare 

 than to find a person competent to both. The 

 society we allude to, do not seem lo have been 

 aware of all this. They probably believed that a 

 single person, and that person a mere operative, 

 might do all these things, with the aid of some 

 simple machinery. Indeed, from a publication of 

 theirs, which appeared in the newspapers at that 

 time, it appears that they sent for such a person 

 from Europe, on failing to obtain a female silk spin- 

 ner fro 11 Connecticut. 



Since that period, a great deal of light has been 

 thrown upon the subject. The publications which 

 have appeared in this country, have made their 

 way to Europe, and in consequence of it, silk man- 

 nfacturcrs of all descriptions have come to our 

 shores. — A corresponding impulse' has been felt 

 in this country, and of all this we are beginning 

 to feel the hap|)y effects. Silk throwsters (whose 

 denomination two years ago was hardly known) 

 are now established in several of our cities ; for- 

 eign raw silk has been imported in larger quanti- 

 ties than before ; for the first time, this year, it 

 has been purchased at our public sales, and it 

 now undergoing the regular process of throwing, 

 in order to be converted into some kind of man- 

 ufacture. The first that the public voice Keenis 

 to call for, are floss and sewing silk ; the former 

 because much of it is employed by fringe and 

 coach lace makers, of whom numbers have been 

 fiir a long time estahlislied in our large towns, 

 working silk, iniporteil from foreign countries ; and 

 the latter, because it is an indispensable article in 

 all families for domestic use. We shall therefore, 

 make a few remarks on the manufacture of these 

 two artii-'lcs. 



1. Floss Silk. — Mr D'Hoinergiie, in his essays, 

 calls by that name the kind of silk which the 

 French call flo elle, and which is made out of 

 the floss or outside low and coarse fibres of the 

 cocoons. But he said nothing of what is called 

 floss silk ii. this country, either because he did not 

 Ihink it of snflScient importance, or because it is 

 not so iininediately connected with the subject of 

 reeling. Whatever his motive may have been, 

 we shall try to supply this deficiency. 



Floss Silk, in the sense that we speak of is what 



the French call Suie plulte (flat silk,) so named from 

 its being flat and not round like other silk. It is 

 used in almost every kind of coacb-lace and fringe 

 makers' work, in embroidery, and iu the mannfae 

 tore of stockings, gloves, and iu general of hosie- 

 ry. It is reeled like other silk, generally of from 

 15 to 5)0, or from 20 to 25 cocoons ; after reeling,, 

 it is sent to the throu^stcr, who gives it tliat pre- 

 paration which constitutes _/?»ss silk. lie doubles 

 the threads according to the size wanted, and 

 twists them in his mill, not like other sdk, several 

 times, backwards and forwards, from left to right 

 and afterwards from right to left, but twists it 

 only on one side, and very lightly, so that when it 

 is afterwards boiled by the dyer in order to dis- 

 solve the gum with which it is impregnated, it be- 

 comes partly untw'tsted, so as to give it a flat ap- 

 pearsuce, without, however, making it crispy and 

 unfit for winding, which would be the case, if it 

 had not been twisted in the throwing mill. After 

 boiling it is dyed, and in that state is lit for use. 



We have been told of floss silk having been 

 made by some ingenious ladies in the south ; which 

 undjed and unwound bad been deigned by coach- 

 lace makers, in this city, superior to imported silk 

 of the same kind, and even purchased in thai 

 state at 13 dollars a pound, while foreign floss silk, 

 dyed and wound on bobbins, sold only for ten. 

 We are not disposed to controvert this fact; and 

 shall only say that we have beard but of one or 

 two pounds ihus purchased tv^o or three years 

 ago, and we have been told that the ladies, who 

 made that small quantity, soon gave up the under- 

 taking ; no doubt in consequence of the enormous 

 length of time tb?.t it took them to [)rodu<'e that 

 result, and the waste of the material that it occa- 

 sioi'ed. We have heard no more since of similar 

 attempts. 



2. Seii'iii^ Silk. — We have little to add on the 

 subject of this article, lo what has been said by 

 I\Ir D'Homergue in his essays, and since in vari- 

 ous other publications. It is well understood that 

 sewing silk is made from raw silk reeled from 20 

 lo 2.5 and even to 40 or 50 cocoons according to 

 the size wanted, and if we believe Mr Bonclier, it 

 is more difficult to reel silk out of many than out 

 of a few cocoons — after reeling, it is made into' 

 sewing silk by the throwster, and requires a great 

 deal more twisting backwards and forwards, and a 

 stronger kind of twist than any other silk. 



We are told that there is no throwsting mill 

 yet ."et up in this country, of sufficient power to 

 twist sewing silk. Neither that of Mr Edward 

 Brown, at Dedham, Massiichusetls, which has 

 twenty spindles, nor that of Mr Ripka, at Manay- 

 iink, near Philadelphia, which has sixty, are siifli- 

 cient fnrtliat purpose. But we are also informed 

 that this will soon be remedied, and that a |)roper 

 set of throwsting machinery is even now in pre- 

 paration at Philadelphia. There is no doubt that 

 all these things will henceforth be certain'y pro- 

 gressing in our country ; the art of reeling is all 

 we want to set all the rest in motion. For this we 

 look to Congress, on whom alone depends the pro- 

 moting or the checking of this astonishing pro- 

 gress. 



Lahge Onions. 



A gentleman of Austinlown, has made us a present o( 

 Onions of an extraordin-.iry growth. They have grown, 

 from the seed, the present sea-Jon, to be the largest we 

 have seen, some of them being more than fourteen inches 

 n circumference, and weighing thirteen ounces each. 

 AuUintown pa. 



