Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1892-04-06
PRICE ONE CENT
T'ow ia Pick Ont Good Pieces Some Of
the Tricks OF Manufacture.

As0N 70 TICK 0NN GooU t~icCe@ some OF
the Tricks OF Maaafscture.
Some silks sell for dollar a yard.
Others sell for ten dollars. on account II
two things. the quality Of the silk thread
and the amount of that silk. The raw
silk as it comes from the cocoons il ~
very different kinds. Some Of II is long
and even and smooth, while inferior
qualities are rough aud brittle aud ia
short lengths, The poor qualities do not
stand wear SO well as the best ones do,
and, not being worth so much money.
are utilized for the cheaper grades 81
silks. The long, glossy threads 90 into
the hest silks, and because 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
. silk is decided is by the quality Of tho
filling that is used in il. II is no secret
that large number Of the medium
priced silks are filled with cotton or with
linen, They give additional weight with
out commensurate expense. II the fill
ing be Of silk, the price of the silk is
largely increased. One firm of Ameri-
can manufacturers has recently adopted
the plan of using the waste silk, that is,
the short rough threads. for filling, max.
ing an allsilk fabric that will not turn
brown, as those that are filled with cot
ton do, and yet is not very expensive.
The cost Of putting a brocaded figure
to plain background varies greatly with
the material used for the broeade, tic
number Of colors used in the figure, al a
the elaboration Of the pattern. TIE
simplest brooaded figure can be added
TO piece Of silk at cost Of about 10
cents yard; it may add twenty times
that sum 10 the cost Of yard, because 10
may be Of silver or gold thread and bo
heavily jewelled.
To the natural query, "How may a
woman be sure Of getting good piece Of
silk when she is buyingi" a manufac.
turer's answer was "She can't. The
experts are not always able to tell, aud
even the manufacturers are often hon
estly puzzled as 10 why piece Of silk
doesn't wear well. by twisting the piece
of silk about her finger and then smooth
ing il out, buyer can tell something
about il. II il smooths out without
creases, it is more likely to wear vel
than not. BY touching a match TO q
small bit Of it she can tell IL there is cot
ton in it. II it is all silk, 1t will burn
with difficulty; if there is cotton ia IL,
it will light readily. But the best wy
a woman can do is to pick out shop tlil
has reputation for honesty in silks al 4
everything else, and then take the sales-
mans word for it. He is much moio
likely to know q good silk than she, aud
can make her believe a very dishone
piece is remarkably good if he choose,.
No woman can be half way up in Il o
tricks of the trade. There are more
ways of cheating at silks than there
are at cards. An expert has 10 carry
whole apothecary's shop in his pocket to
make his test, and powerful magnet
besides, because one Of the most common
tricks Of manufacture is to load up Ito
silk in the dye with iron filings or lead
dust to increase the weight Soapstone,
gumarabic, and rosin are also common
authorizations in the process Of manufac
ture."