38 



alone aud for woven tapestries of mixed materials. The 

 lustre of the silk enlivens up the effect in a very pleasing 

 manner. 



Another use which I have also found for it is its insertion 

 in tailoring cloths for brightening up the effect. 



I have placed in the collection a specimen of plush made 

 with Tusser organzine (No. 43 of the collection), which I 

 believe to be as superior in firmness of pile to the silk 

 carpets of India as the carpets of thicker wools and camels' 

 hair are to those made from very fine wools. 



The following India-made carpets of silk are now exhi- 

 bited in the New India section at the South Kensington 

 Museum : — 



One from Malabar, modern. 



One from Wurungal, 16th century. 



One Mongolian, 18th century. 



One place not named, 18th century. 



One silk and cotton carpet. 



One from Hyderabad, Deccan. 



Beautiful as they are, particularly the older ones, the pile 

 in each is inferior to the accompanying Tusser specimen of 

 plush ; and I wish to emphasise this superiority in order to 

 draw the attention of carpet manufacturers to the important 

 and not too well-known fact that a stiff fibre is generally 

 better than a fine one for carpet work, and that Tusser 

 silk accordingly is better than mulberry silk for the purpose, 

 whilst, in addition, it will not be possible to vulgarise the 

 effects of colour to so great an extent as may be seen in 

 most carpet-shop windows, because of the difficulty and cost 

 of dyeing Tusser silk into very pale shades, and also that 

 Tusser silk properly dyed inherently takes shades of 

 artistic merit. 



The artistic effects will be correspondingly better with 

 the increased firmness of the staple, its greater durability, 

 and less liability of flattening by pressure and wear. 



Tusser silk, both reeled and spun (and I hope my non- 

 manufacturing readers will by this time have recognised the 

 difference in manufacture between reeled silk and spun, i.e., 

 carded and spun, silk), is being extensively used for making 

 mantle stuffs in imitation of and a substitute for- sealskin. 

 I have no doubt that spun Tusser will also prove to be 

 applicable to carpet weaving as well as the reeled Tusser 

 described above, whilst, from the probability of its being 

 of lower value if quantities can be produced, it will be 

 employed in the production of low-priced carpets. The 



