182 Silk Manufacture. 



when removed from the steaming vessel, are covered over with 

 the same care as is employed after baking, and they are left 

 to cool very gradually. After this they are spread out in the 

 air and sun to dissipate the moisture they have imbibed. 



'It is always desirable, where time can be alloted to the purpose, 

 that the process of reeling should be performed without the delay 

 which renders this destruction of the worms necessary. This, in 

 large establishments, is evidently impracticable as regards any 

 very considerable proportion of the produce; but it must be always 

 performable to a certain extent; and it is proper to give the prefer- 

 ence, in this respect, to such cocoons as appear the weakest: the 

 others, which contain a greater proportion of gum, are thence 

 better qualified to sustain heat without injury. 



' When the process, however conducted, for destroying the 

 worms has been perfected, the cocoons are placed on shelves, and 

 must be continually turned and looked over, lest they should 

 become mouldy. If any appear spotted or otherwise damaged, 

 they must be separated to prevent the injury spreading to those 

 balls with which they are in contact, and should be immediately 

 reeled to stay the progress of their own destruction. Large 

 establishments for producing silk comprise in them buildings ex- 

 clusively appropriated to this purpose, and which are called 

 coconieres. These are rooms fitted up with ranges of shelves from 

 two to three feet above each other, and the whole are insulated 

 from the wall and roof, lest the place should be invaded by rats 

 or mice, which would infallibly destroy the cocoons in their 

 eagerness to reach the chrysalides, of which they are immode- 

 rately fond. Still farther to guard against this havoc, the legs of 

 the framing which supports the shelves should be enveloped in 

 some furzy or prickly substance. 



' After the separation of cocoons for breeding, the gathering is 

 divided into nine different qualities. 



' Good cocoons are those which have been brought to perfection: 

 these are by no means the largest, but are compact and free from 

 spots. 



' Pointed cocoons have one extremity rising in a point: these, 

 after affording a little silk in reeling, break or tear at the point 

 where the thread is weak, and they cannot be wound further, as 

 their fracture would occur as often as the thread reached the weak 

 point. 



' Cocalons are rather larger than regular cocoons but do not 

 contain more silk, their texture being less compact. These are 

 separated frcuii the other kinds, because in winding they must 



