58 



In preparing tho dupions for winding off, more arc 

 put into the basin at once than of the finest kind. Thev 

 must be first well cleaned from the floss on their out" 

 sides. The water also must be boiling hot ; and as the 

 silk they yield is of a coarser quality than the other, anc 

 has a good deal of the floss upon "it, the person who 

 turns the reel must take the opportunity, while theom 

 who manages the basin is preparing the cocoons fo 

 winding, to clear and pick off the loose silk from tha 

 which is on the reel. The dujiions intended for ordina 

 ry sewing silk, are to be wound from 15 to 20 cocoons 

 The rest may be wound as coarse as possible, that is 

 from 40 to 50 cocoons. These serve to cover and fill up 

 in coarse stuffs, and are likewise for seuing- silk. Th< 

 good choquettes arc to be wound according to the use 

 they are in tended to be put to, but not finer than from se 

 ven to eight. The badchoquettes may be wound from 15 tc 

 20. The satin cocoons, so called from their resemblance 

 to satin, require water only moderately hot. The pro 

 per heat will be found by observing the manner in which 

 the silk comes off from the first of them which are pu 

 into the basin ; and, as already said of cocoon- 

 generally, if it come off thick, cold water must be add- 

 ed, until the proper temperature be attained. They 

 must not be allowed to remain long in the water, and 

 there should be only a few of these cocoons put in a 

 a time. The water for the dupions and choquettes mus 

 be changed four times a day. 



It may, perhaps, be profitable to give the views o 

 others, upon this particular branch of the business, as 

 it is the process of reeling which imparts so much to 

 the value of the silk. If done indifferently it may no 

 be worth more than four dollars per pound ; but if wel 

 and skilfully executed, it may be worth from six to se 

 ven dollars per pound according to the demand and state 

 of the market. 



London says : 



"The cocoons, or produce of the worms, as soon as 

 completed, are either reeled off or sold to others to be 

 reeled. The silk as formed by the worms is so fine 

 that if each ball or cocoon was reeled separately, ii 

 would be entirely unfit for the purposes of the manu- 

 facturer. In the reeling, therefore, after the cococns 

 are cleared from the floss, the ends of several are 

 joined and reeled together out of warm water, which 

 softening their natural gum, makes them stick together 

 so as to form one strong smooth thread. As often as 

 any single thread breaks or comes to an end, it is sup- 

 plied by a new one, so that by continually keeping up 

 the same number, the united threads may be wound to 

 any length. The single threads of the newly added co- 

 coons are not joined by any tie ; but simply laid on the 

 main thread, to which they adhere by their gum ; and 

 their ends are so fine as not to cause the least percepti- 

 ble unevenness in the places where they are laid on. 

 Care should be taken in the operation that the silk 

 when reeled off may consist of a smooth thread of equal 

 t-hickness and strength ; but of a round form, having 

 the small threads of which it is composed as equally 

 stretched and firmly united as possible, and that the 

 several rounds as they lie on the reel should not be 

 glued together. When the skein is quite dry it is ta- 

 Jjen off the reel, and a tie is made with some of the re- 

 fuse silk on that part of the skein where it bore upon 

 the bar of the reel, and another tie on the opposite part 

 of the skein, after which it is doubled into a hank, and 

 usually tied round near the extremities, when it is laid 

 by for use or sale." 



Mr. Kenrick in his Silk Grower's Guide, states that 

 "the use of the reel requires dexterity and practice. 

 The cocoons, after being cleared of the floss, and 

 thrown by handaful into basins of pure soft water, 

 placed over small furnaces of charcoal. When 

 the water is almost at boiling point, sink the cocoons 

 with a whisk of broom corn under water for two or 



three minutes, to soffen the gum and loosen the fibres. 

 Then moving the whisk lightly, the filaments will ad- 

 here to it, and may be drawn off till the flossy i)k is 

 unwound, and the fine silk comes off. A sufficient num- 

 ber being collected, the reeling begins. If the pods 

 leap upwards, the reel must be slackened ; if the srlk 

 comes off in burrs, you must turn faster ; if thewateris 

 too hot, they furze in unwinding, and the fine lustre of 

 white silk is injured, and cold water must be added. It 

 requires long practice dexterously to attend to the 

 splicing on the fibres, to keep up an even thread, as the 

 silk grows continually finer to the end of the co- 

 coon." 



Mr. Cobb, a practical culturist and extensive manu- 

 facturer gives the following as the method of reeling 

 cocoons and manufacturing silk in Connecticut. " A 

 large kettle set in a furnace, or in an arch, is filled with 

 water, and fire is kept under it; and when it is about 

 to boil a quart of cocoons is thrown into it," &c ; and 

 after describing other preparatory measures, he says-, 

 "Keeling is then commenced on a common hand reel 

 (such as is in common use in families in New England 

 for reeling yarn from the spinning wheel,) and the silk 

 fibres run off about as fast and with as little difficulty as 

 yarn from a spindle. Some of the cocoons run off be- 

 fore others, and when on this account the thread be- 

 comes too small, all the fibres are broken off, and what 

 is reeled is tied up by itself on the reel, and another 

 quart is then thrown into the kettle ; the ends are col- 

 lected and reeled in the same way as before, and each 

 separate piece is tied by itself. When the reel is full, 

 the pieces are all tied together, taken off, and imme- 

 diately dried." 



"Most of the silk is manufactured into sewing silk, 

 and twist in the following manner : it is immersed for 

 a few moments in boiling water, taken out, put on 

 swifts and spun or twisted, on a common wool wheel, 

 beginning at the large end of the piece, that is at the 

 end which was reeled nrst ; and when it becomes too 

 small, which is the case when one-half or two-thirds 

 is run off, the small end of another piece is added to it, 

 and thus they are twisted together. It is then spooled 

 directly off the spindle, a sufficient number of spools is 

 put into a small spool frame to make thread of a proper 

 size, which is twisted again and cleansed by boiling in 

 strong suds for three hours, then dried and colored. 

 Undergoing this process it shrinks about one-half in 

 weight: after this, for sewing silk, it is doubled, twist- 

 ed and reeled on a reel two yards long, and is divided 

 into skeins of twenty threads each, as the statute of 

 the state requires. If it be calculated for twist, it is 

 made three threaded, twisted, and done up into sticks 

 with a small hand machine, and is then ready for the 

 market. The floss or tow, as it is called, is boiled in 

 strong suds for three hours, dried, picked, carded, and 

 spun on a common wool wheel. The yarn is woven into 

 cloth, usually worn by the women for every day gowns ; 

 and sometimes manufactured into strong and durable 

 carpets. 



Those cocoons that the grubs have pierced are boiled 

 as above directed : the end that is not pierced is cut off; 

 they are then spun on a linen wheel like worsted, begin- 

 ning at the end cut. It is then twisted together, three 

 threaded and knit into stockings. 



The imperfect cocoons, and all that will not reel, are 

 boiled, carded, spun and manufactured in all respects 

 ike floss, but they make nicer and finer cloth." 



We have been thus full upon this part of the subject, 

 "or the reasons before assigned by us, that it is by 

 means of the reeling, &c. that a large portion of the 

 irofit of the culturist arises. Indeed it may be said 

 hat those who are now engaged in the culture of 

 silk, have to look to it for fully 25 percent, of their pro- 

 it, and hence it becomes doubly important that it 

 liould be well done. 



