PRACTICAL FARMER. 



31 



On the qualities and preparations of Rate Silk^ 

 chiejly compiled from the Essays of Mr D'HoM- 



ERGUE. 



Silk directly from the reel is called raw silk, on 

 account of its being in an unmanufactured state. 



There are three qualities of raw silk, graduated 

 according to their different degrees of fineness. 

 While in that shape and until they have undergone 

 -the operations that are to fit them for the loom, 

 they are called first, second, and third, beginning 

 with the finest. They assume other names as 

 soon as they have been prepared and made fit to 

 he used by the manufacturer, "hen they have 

 ceased to be called single, organzine, and tram 

 si k, according to their different degrees of firm- 

 ness and the manner in which they have been 

 passed through a certain machine called a mill. 



Singles, or as it is termed in French, le poil, that 

 is to say hair silk, are niade of the first quality of 

 raw silk, consequently the finest, as the name suf- 

 ficiently implies. They are made of a single 

 thread or fibre. 



Organzine is the next in firmness ; it is employ- 

 ed in weaving to make the warp of those stuffs 

 that are made entirely of silk. 



Tram silk is the coarest of the three, and is 

 used for the wool (filling) of silk stuffs. 



Of the three qualities of raw silk, of which 

 those different threads are made, the second, that 

 which makes organzine, is the most in demand. 

 Tfe silk I have extracted (says Mr D'Homergue,) 

 from American cocoons, is of that quality. In 

 performing those operations, I have, for the first 

 time discovered the superior finenesss of the Amer- 

 ican silk, by finding, to my great astonishment, 

 that it required a much greater quantity of threads 

 to produce the different qualities of raw silk ahove 

 mentioned, than the cocoons of Europe. Singles 

 or hair silk, made of the same number of threads, 

 or fibres, as in Italy or France, would be almost 

 impalpable and entirely unfit for use. This su- 

 premacy will give to the American raw silk a great 

 advantage over all others. 



Raw silk (continues the same writer,) is an ar- 

 ticle of commerce of great value to the countries 

 that |jroduce it. Great Britain imports it for the 

 use of her manufactures from Bengal, China, Tur- 

 key and Italy, to the anjountof one million eight 

 hundred thousand pounds sterling, or $7,772,000 

 annually, and France imports it to the amount of 

 100,000,000 francs, or $18,750,000, and makes it 

 herself lo the amount of between three and four 

 millions of dollars more. 



There are, then, six different kinds of silk ex- 

 tracted from the cocoons by processes of various 

 kinds, or which differ more or less from each 

 other in the manner of using them ; and all of 

 which require not only skill and dexterity, but 

 knowledge acquired by long (iractice. I shall re- 

 capitulate them in their order, according to their 

 degrees of fineness. 



1. Silk of the finest quality, or singles. 



2. Silk of the second quality, or organzine. 



3. Silk of the third quality, or tram silk. 



4. Sewing silk of the first and second quality. 



5. Cordonnet, or twist of do. 



6. Feloselle, or floss silk. 



IMr Comstock, in his practical treatise on the 

 culture of silk, (a work which I would earnestly 

 recommend to the perusal of every adventurer in 

 the silk business,) concludes his article on raw 

 silk thus : 



The following articles, on the preparation of 



S'lk from the al)ove inctitioncd " Tiealise," by 



Mr Comstock, arj adapted to proceedings upon a 

 large scale ; but they may be easily reduced to 

 such small proportions as may be required in do- 

 mestic operations. 



CLEANSING SILK. 



Though cleansing silk comes more appropriate- 

 ly within the province of the manufacturer than 

 the culturist, yet, as the manufacture of sewing 

 silk and twist may be profitably connected with 

 the growing, we subjoin the method by which it is 

 cleansed and prepared for dyeing. 



Silk, as left by the worm, contains certain im- 

 purities which tnust be separated from it, espe- 

 cially when it is intended for particular kinds of 

 fabrtcs. Yellow silk contains gum, coloring mat- 

 ter, wax, and an oil similar to the essential oils of 

 many vegetables. VV^hite silk also contains gum, 

 wax, and an oil slightly tinged with coloring mat- 

 ter, resembling the liquid in the chrysalis of the 

 worm. By chemical experiments it has been as- 

 certained that the amount of gum is from 23 to 24 

 per cent. It is dry, friable, and, when pulverized, 

 of a yellowish red color — soluble in water. The 

 coloring matter is resinous, but exists in a very 

 small proportion — supposed to be frq^n l-58th to 

 l-60th per cent. The wax is hard, but brittle, and 

 slightly colored. Its proportion is one half per 

 cent. These substances affect the whiteness an(i 

 flexibility of silk, and the process by which they 

 are extracted is called " cleansing silk." It is also 

 varied according to the nature and kind of the ar- 

 ticle for which it is designed. 



These processes are called " ungumming," " sul- 

 phuring," and "aluming." Silk also intended to 

 remain white, is boiled and gummed, while that 

 intended for dyeing is boiled, but left ungummed, 

 on the supposition that the gutn has some affinity 

 for th(! coloring matter with which it is to be in- 

 corporated. 



The silk, i itended for white, is made up into 

 hanks by running a thread around each hank, con- 



