Attention was turned in 1876 to silk raising, and it was found that all the conditions for producing cocoons of good quality and at low cost were most favorable.  It was, however, useless to raise cocoons unless they could be utilized; in a word, it was seen that the country needed silk-reeling machinery in 1876, as it had needed cotton-ginning machinery in 1790.  Under these conditions, Mr. Edward W. Serrell, Jr., an engineer of New York, undertook the study of the matter, and soon became convinced that the production of such machinery was feasible.  He devoted his time to this work, and by 1880 had pushed his investigations as far as was possible in a country where silk reeling was not commercially carried on.  He then went to France, where he has since been incessantly engaged in the heart of the silk-reeling district in perfecting, reducing to practice, and applying his improvements and inventions.  The success obtained was such that Mr. Serrell has been enabled to interest many of the principal silk producers of the Continent in his work, and a revolution in silk reeling is being gradually brought about, for, strangely enough, he found that the work which he had undertaken solely for America was of equal importance for all silk-producing countries.

We have described the processes by which cocoons are ordinarily cooked and brushed, these being the first processes of the filature.  Instead of first softening the gum of the cocoons and then attacking the floss with the points of a brush, Mr. Serrell places the cocoons in a receptacle full of boiling water, in which by various means violent reciprocating or vortex currents are produced.  The result is that by the action of the water itself and the rubbing of the cocoons one against the other the floss is removed, carrying with it the end of the continuous filament without unduly softening the cocoon or exposing any of the more delicate filament to the rough action of the brush, as has hitherto been the case.  The advantages of this process will be readily understood.  In brushing after the ordinary manner, the point of the brush is almost sure to come into contact with and to break some of the filament forming the body of the cocoon.  When this occurs, and the cocoon is sent to be reeled, it naturally becomes detached when the unwinding reaches the point at which the break exists.  It then has to be sent back, and the end of the filament detached by brushing over again, when several layers of filament are inevitably caught by the brush and wasted, and very probably some other part of the filament is cut.  This accounts for the enormous waste which occurs in silk reeling, and to which we have referred.  Its importance will be appreciated when it is remembered that every pound of fiber thus dragged off by the brush represents a net loss of about 19s. at the present low prices.