There is, perhaps, no species of texture, in the whole extensive range of the cloth manufacture, on which so great a diversity of opinion does, and pro bably ever will, exist, as in the fabric of these light muslins.—It is mere matter of fancy, perhaps fre quently of whim. Scarcely any two manufacturere, perhaps, agree entirely in their opinions respecting it, and the fancies of purchasers are just as various. Thirty, forty, or even fifty' of difference, in the fine cotton yarn which is used for the bouk ma nufacture, are applied by different manufacturers to the same reed, and each of them will perhaps con tend, that his own is the best of all possible me thods. in short, a prudent man can only endea vour to succeed by keeping his stock as light as possible, and carefully collecting the opinions of his customers, in the same way that the sense of po pular assemblies is ascertained, namely, in endeavour ing to please the majority. A medium between the opposite extremes may be found, by taking No. 120, or 129, for a 1200 reed, and calculating others by the general rule. in general, however, it may be remark ed, that if the goods are intended to be finished plain, they are generally preferred of a very light fabric ; but if they are to be ornamented with tambour, or needle work of any description, a little more strength, to enable them to undergo the operation, is not a mat ter of choice, but necessity.
After being bleached, bouk muslins are always stiffened with starch, to give them that clear appear ance, from which they derive the name of wire mug /the. This also is considered by bleachers as a deli
cate operation ; for its excellence consists in giving to the threads a sufficient quantity to stiffen them, with out allowing the mucilage to spread through the general fabric, and give it a cloudy appearance ; the only way of effecting this is, by taking very particu lar care that the starch be diluted to a proper consis tency, and that no more be applied than will be ab sorbed by the fibres of the cotton; for it is obvious that, after they are saturated, the residuum must spread in clouds over the surface. No rule can be given to regulate this, excepting that judgment ac quired by experience; at least, we are unacquainted with any experiments having ever been made, to as certain any fixed or precise rules for its regulation. It does not, however, appear impracticable, or even very difficult, by a few judicious experiments, to fix at least sonic more precise standard than has hitherto been done.
From the circumstance of transparency being the chief recommendation of bouk muslins, every opera tion which would tend to flatten the threads in finish ing them, so far from adding to their appearance, would be excessively injurious. They are, therefore, never put through any operation of calendering, but merely folded with regularity, and thin pressed, with a smooth board between every piece.