n it, too, without wasting our silk. Two
general laws underlie this feature of silk-reeling: hot water makes the
silk run faster, and cold water retards its progress. Your problem is to
see which treatment your cocoons require."

"Of course those who sort the cocoons can tell nothing of that,"
ventured Pierre.

"Oh, no. The sorters simply put into one place those cocoons that are of
the same kind. The way the cocoons behave in the water is the business
of the reeler. We have tanks or basins of a graduated temperature, and
the operators soon learn into which one to put a cocoon of a certain
type."

"I did not dream one had to know so much just to reel off the silk,"
murmured Pierre. "I had always supposed it would be an easy matter; but
now I see it isn't."

Henri laughed.

"But I have not told you half our troubles yet," he answered
mischievously. "Thus far I have spoken only of the cocoons. In addition
there is the water to consider. That must be the right sort, too. It
must be as pure as we can get it, both chemically and in color. And even
then the high temperature necessary to bring the silk off the cocoons
will cause any sandy sediment there may be in it to rise to the surface
and cut the filament as we reel it off. We have to be prepared for that
emergency as well as the others. And now to return to the sorting of
the cocoons. Do you see that pile over there? Those are what we call
perfect ones. The thread from them will go into the finest quality silks
and satins, as the filament has neither spots nor flaws."

"But those cocoons are very small," objected Pierre.

"Yes. The best cocoons are not always the largest, by any means. It is
quality, not size, that counts." Henri passed on. "Here now," he
continued as he paused before another lot, "are some more pointed at one
end than at the other. We know from bitter experience that they will
reel badly, because the silk which runs smoothly at the beginning will
prove to be weak in some places and break. We toss them aside and reel
them separately. These _cocalons_, as we call this other kind, are also
thrown out because they are hard to wind."

"They are much larger," observed Pierre.

"You are right. Nevertheless they have no more silk on them. The reason
they look bigger is because the worm spun them less compactly; unless
they are put into cold water they will tangle and mat when reeled."

"And that next lot?"

"_Soufflons_? They are the most imperfect