MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. 101 



" In preparing the duplons or double cocoons for winding, more 

 are put into the basin at once than of the finest kind. They 

 must be first well cleaned from the floss outside ; the water also 

 must be boiling hot., and as the silk they yield is of a coarser 

 quality than the other, and has a good deal of floss upon it, the 

 person w4io turns the reel must take the opportunity, while the 

 one wlio manages the basin is preparing the cocoons for winding, 

 to clean and pick off the loose silk from that which is on the 

 a-eel. These make a coarser thread of fifteen to twenty cocoons ; 

 and perliaps as coarse as from forty to fifty cocoons ; it is useful 

 for filling in coarser stufls and likewise for sewing silk. 



" The satiny cocoons require water only moderately heated. 

 The proper heat will be found by observing the manner in which 

 the silk comes off" from the first of them which are put in a ba- 

 sin, and as already said of cocoons generally, if it come off" 

 thick, cold water must be added until the proper temperature be 

 attained. The gum is taken out of the silk by boilmg it in soap 

 suds." 



MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS. 



In the preceding essay, we have spoken only of the dark gray 

 or drab colored worms, which are most common in the United 

 States. There are other varieties worthy of notice. 



1. Small silk worms, of three casts or moultings. They are 

 two-fifths less than the common sort, their cocoons are better 

 constructed and composed of finer and more beautiful silk, and 

 require four days less of care. " If I reared silk worms for the 

 purpose of spinning the silk myself," says Dandolo, " I w'ould 

 cultivate only the silk worm of three casts, and those that pro- 

 duce white silk, as preferable to all others ; and every year 

 would choose the very finest and whitest cocoons for seed, to 

 prevent the degeneration of the species." 



2. There is also in Connecticut, a pale white w^orm, which 

 eats but twenty days, and produces fine white silk, which docs 

 not turn yellow by washing. 



