No. 144.] 367 



one every second. Each cocoon is made with one single unin- 

 terrupted thread, composed of four elements withm and without. 



[From the same.] 



GRAPE MALADY.. 



A gardener by the name of Gourdel, after having employed, 

 without success worth notice, all the prescriptions for cure and 

 prevention, such as sulphur, lime, tobacco, &c., took a notion to 

 try sea salt, and has obtained the best results, as Mr. Gandry at- 

 tests. A half pound of sea salt dissolved in three quarts (litres) 

 of water, applied by means of a brush, or better, a bunch of 

 feathers, to the bunches of grapes. A few cents worth will be 

 sufficient for more than a thousand bunches. The grapes only are 

 to be moistened in this way, the grape leaves are damaged by it. 



PORTRAITS WOVEN IN SILK. 



Mr. C. S. Goodrich, Consul in the city of Lyons, France, gave 

 an account of the Jacquard loom, invented by Jacquard, a native 

 of Lyons. Upon this loom, by some late improvements, portraits 

 are made of silk in the most beautiful manner, so as to be a per- 

 fect fac-simile of the original engraving. The time employed in 

 making one of these portraits varies from 12 to 18 months, at an 

 expense of 25,000 to 100,000 francs. The silk filament is made 

 to pass through a great number of pasteboard cards, from 20,000 

 to 30,000. The artists are now engaged upon a portrait of Wash- 

 ington. The expense of duplicates is not so great, but still it is 

 beyond the reach of ordinary persons. They have only been 

 manufactured upon a limited scale as valuable presents, and to 

 show the perfection of this branch of mechanic arts. Specimens 

 may be seen at the rooms of the American Institute. The length 

 of time required to finish a picture is because the work can only 

 be done when the atmosphere is in a peculiar condition. 



Prof. Mapes gave an account of the improvements made by 

 Winslow, of Massachusetts, in the Jacquard loom, and of the man- 

 ner of using these perforated cards in weaving figures. The 

 Lowell carpet works use looms made upon this principle. 



