Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1892-04-28
THE COST OF SILKS.
How to Pick Out GoodSPIeces- Of
the Tricks of Manufacture.

the Tricks of Manufacture,
Some silks sell for dollar yard,
others for ten dollars, on account of
two things, the quality of the silk
thread and the amount of that silk.
The raw silk as it comes from the CO.
coons is of very different kinds. Some
Of it is long and even and smooth, while
inferior qualities arc rough and brittle
and in short lengths The poor quail
ties do not stand wear so well as the
best ones do, and, not being worth so
much money, are utilized for the cheap
er grades of silk. The long, glossy
threads go into the best silks, and be-
cause in these beauty is sought before
cheapness, greater amount of silk
thread is put into yard-that is, the
silk is heavier.
Another way in which the expense of
a silk is decided is by the quality Of the
filing that is used in it. 1t is no secret
that large number of the medium
priced silks are filled with cotton or
with linen. They give additional weight
without commensurate expense. If the
filling be of silk, the price of the silk
is largely increased. One firm of Amer
lean manufacturers has recently adopt
ed the plan of using the waste silk, that
is, the short rough threads, for filling,
making an all-sill fabric that will not
turn brown, as those that are filed
with cotton do, and yet is not very eX-
pensive.
The cost of putting a brocaded figure
to plain background varies greatly
with the material used for the brocade,
the number of colors used in the fig
ures, and the elaboration of the pat
tern. The simplest brocaded figure
can be added to a piece of silk at n cost
of about fifteen cents yard; it may
add twenty times that sum to the cost
of a yard, because it may be of silver
or gold thread and be heavily jeweled.
To the natural query "IIow may q
woman be sure of getting good piece
of silk when she is buying?" a manu-
facturers answer was "She can't
The experts are not always able to tell
| anu cNCh IhS lhduuldCIulCIo diC OlJtl
honestly puzzled as to why piece
of silk doesn't wear well. BY
twisting the piece of silk about hel
finger and then smoothing it out, q
buyer can tell something about it. If i
smooths out without creases, it is more
likely to wear well than not. BY touch
ing match to n small bit of it she car
tell if there is cotton in it. If it il
all silk, it will burn with difficulty; i
there is cotton in it, it will light readi
ly. But the best way woman can dt
is to pick out shop that has a reputa
ton for honesty in silks and everything
else, and then take the salesman
word for it, lie is much more likely
- know good silk than she, and cal
maize her believe a very dishones
piece is remarkably good if he chooses
No woman can be half way up in tn,
tricks of the trade. There are NOR,
ways of cheating at silks than ther,
are at cards. An expert has to carry
whole apothecary's shop in his pooke
to make his test, and powerful mag
net besides, because one of the mos
common tricks of manufacture Is T.
load up the silk in the dye with irol
filings or lead dust to increase th
weight. Soapstone, gum arabic ant
rosin are also common adulteration
in the process of manufacture. IN. Y
Sun.