FESSENDEN'S 



AND 



]>cYoted to the Culture of Silk, Ag^riculture, and Rural Economy. 



VOL. 1. 



BOSTON, NOVEMBER, 1835. 



NO. 7. 



PUBLISHKn MONTHLY BY 



GEORGE C. BARRETT, 

 51 4- 52 jYorth Market St., at the JV. jG. Farmer Office. 



T. G. FESSEiNDEN— Editor. 



Fifty cents per year — twelve copies for five dollars 

 — always in advance. 



[Ij' Postmasters and Agents allowed 10 per cent on 

 all subscribers. 



BOSTON, NOVEMBER, 1835. 



FACTS AND OBSERVATIOXS REIiATIVE TO 

 THE CUL.TUKE OF SII^K. 



HKATI.^G COCOONS KOR RKELING SILK. 



In the last number of our Silk Manual, page 82> 

 we gave a brief notice of an apparatus, invented 

 by the Editor, for the purpose of heating cocoons 

 for reeling silk; and promised a more definite 

 description of our invention in a succeeding num- 

 ber. We now proceed to redeem our pledge. 



^. in the cut, repres<:nts a vessel which may 



be made of tin, copper, or other suitable material.* 

 The top, or visible part is about five and a half 

 inches high, and sixteen inches in diameter. Its 

 bottom is closed, in part, by a plate of the same 

 metal, turning horizontally inwards, so as to form a 

 shoulder, which rests on the upper edge of the 

 boiler B. This plate is perforated by a circular 

 hole, about ten and a half inches in diameter, and 

 a short open cylinder of two inches in length, 

 is soldered to the edge of the hole or perforation 

 above-mentioned. The lower edge of this short 

 cylinder rests in a shallow, horizontal groove in 

 the interior of the boiler, about two inches below^ 

 its top, or ui)per extremity. This groove, as soon 

 as the water is made to boil, is filled with water 

 of condensed steam, which eflfectually prevents 

 the escape of steam from the boiler before it is 

 conducte<! up the sides of the cylinders, above 

 described, and the little steam, which is not con- 

 densed on its passage hj said cylinders, and a 

 vessel which contains the cocoons, to be hereafter 

 described, escapes from the edge of the upper 

 cylinder. 



The cocoon-heater, or vessel containing the 

 water for heating the cocoons is a short cylinder 

 placed within that which has been described, and 

 is not shown in the above cut, closed at the bot- 

 tom, and resting on the edge of the exterior ves- 

 sel or steamer, by a rim or flange. About a 

 quarter of an inch of space is left between the 

 steamer and the cocoon-heater, for the purpose of 

 admitting steam from the boiler^ to heat the vessel 

 containing the cocoons. The cylinder in which 

 the cocoons are heated is divided into four parts 

 by tin partitions, which cross each other at right 



* In warm weather, or whenever warming the apart- 

 ment is not desired, this vessel may be of wood, lined 

 inside. 



