138 AGRICULTURAL REPORT. [March, 



in forming his cocoon, pours out the viscid matter from which 

 the silk is made from his nose, and this becomes hardened in 

 the air. At its first coming out it is in its largest form, and 

 becomes gradually more attenuated as the worm becomes ex- 

 hausted. The filament or thread from a cocoon is from 750 to 

 1150 feet long. Whatever number of cocoons are taken, 

 to form a thread, it will be larger at first than it would be 

 afterwards unless care and judgment are used in uniting addi- 

 tional cocoons as the original fibre diminishes in size, in order 

 to keep up the evenness and equality of the thread throughout. 

 In doing this as it should be done, and in carefully uniting the 

 filaments when by any accident they become broken, or are 

 run off, consists the perfection of the art of reeling. 



Various reels have been invented for the purpose of execut- 

 ing this work. I have seen three only in operation. The 

 Piedmontese reel is universally admitted to combine simplicity 

 of form with excellence of execution. Adum Brooks, of Scit- 

 uate, Mass., has invented an ingenious reel by which the reel- 

 ing and spinning are performed by one operation. It has much 

 merit ; but is liable to the objections, which usually apply to 

 machines, which attempt too much. In performing two opera- 

 tions it does neither of them so well, as if only one were un- 

 dertaken at once. The third reel to which I refer, is one 

 made by James Deane, M. D., of Greenfield, of which I have 

 already spoken. It is beautiful from its simplicity and the per- 

 fect manner in which it executes its work ; and it is likewise 

 recommended by the smallness of its cost. We must not, 

 however, expect to find any machine so complete as not to 

 require a vigilant and intelligent superintendence. Even the 

 human hand, that most perfect of all machines, can very poorly 

 discharge its office without the light of the eye and the 

 guidance of the judgment. 



XVII. Domestic Industry. — Mrs. Brooks, who claims some 

 share in the Scituate reel, to which I have referred, has distin- 

 guished herself for her zeal and success in the culture of silk, in 

 which for ten years she has been more or less engaged. She mer- 



