SILK. 
Continued to be very highly valued ; as, 
about the year 790, Charlemagne sent two 
silken vests as a present to OlFa, King of 
Mercia. About the year 1130, the silk 
manufacture had made such progress in the 
island of Sicily as to excite the jealousy of 
the Venetians, from its interfering with 
their importations of, silks from Greece. — 
From Venice and Sicily the silk manufac- 
ture spread through Italy, from whence it 
was introduced into the southern provinces 
of France. 
As soon as tlie worms have produced 
their balls, or cocoons, they become an 
article of trade, for in those countries where 
silk is cultivated few persons reel off their 
cocoons, but sell them to others, who make 
this operation a separate business. The 
silk, as formed by the worm, is so very fine, 
that if each ball, or cocoon, was reeled se- 
parately, it would be totally unfit for the pur- 
poses of the manufacturer; in the reeling, 
therefore, the ends of several cocoons 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 the 
thread of any single cocoon breaks, or 
comes to an end, its place is supplied by a 
new one, so that by continually keeping up 
the same number, the united thread may 
be wound to any length : the single threads 
of the newly added cocoons 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 occasion 
the least perceptible unevenness in the 
place, where they are laid on. The appa- 
ratus for reeling consists merely of a small 
open kettle of water, under which is a fire 
to keep it hot, and a reel of a very simple 
construction. Care should be taken in the 
operation, that the silk when reeled off may 
consist of a smooth thread of equal thick- 
ness and strength, not flat, 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 taken off the reel, and a tie is made 
with some of the refuse silk on that part of 
the skein where it bore upon the bars 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 each ex- 
tremity, when it is laid by for use, or sale. 
In this state, in which all the silk that is 
brought from India, and a considerable part 
of what comes from Italy and other parts, 
arrives, it is called raw silk ; the principal 
part of it is afterwards sent to a mill to be 
thrown; that is, to have two ends of it 
doubled and twisted together, by which it 
is converted into tram, or organzine, accord- 
ing to the fineness of the silk, and the pur- 
poses to which it is intended to be applied 
in the manufacture. See Organzine. 
The culture of silk varies but little in dif- 
ferent countries ; it does not require any 
great degree of skill, or a ^eat capital : and 
as it is well known that the silk-worm, with 
proper care, will breed and thrive very 
well in England, it is not surprising that ' 
attempts should have been made to establish 
the culture of it in this country. The suc- 
cess of Henry the Fourth of France, in ex- 
tending the culture of silk, which before his 
time had been confined to a few districts of 
that kingdom, excited in James the First an 
active zeal for the introduction of it here. 
With this view, in 1608, he caused a circular 
letter, of his own writing, to be sent to the 
Lord Lieutenant of every county, in which 
he held forth the example of France as 
affording ground to hope for equal success 
here. He likewise observed, that from the 
experience of many private persons who 
had bred silk-worms for their pleasure, no- 
thing had appeared to cause a doubt that 
they may be nourished and reared in Eng- 
land, if provision was made for planting 
mulberry-trees ; and for this purpose, the 
persons to whom the letter was addressed 
were directed, at the Quarter Session, or 
some other public meeting, to persuade and 
require those of ability to buy and distri- 
bute in the county the number of 10,000 
mulberry plants, which were to be deliver- 
ed in London at the rate of three farthings 
a plant. The King likewise caused printed 
instructions to be published for planting and 
propagating the mulberry trees, and for 
breeding and feeding the worms; and 
though, at first, most persons were pro! ably 
avei'se to such a new undertaking, by the 
continuance of the royal sanction and sup- 
port, and the consideration of the great ad- 
vantages reaped by other European nations 
from their silk manufactures, many people, 
in the course of a few years, became very 
earnest for the propagation of the silk- 
worm, and of the white mulberry tree for 
feeding it. 
In 1629, Charles the First granted to 
Lord Aston the keeping of the garden, 
mulberry trees, and silk-worms, near St. 
James’s; but this royal undertaking soon 
