Chapter 457 The First Quilt in the Tang Dynasty

"How is it? Can we pick them now?" Yang Chunhua asked Su Ying under the autumn sun.

Su Ying picked a cotton flower, pulled it apart to see the fiber length and toughness, "Well, it's ready to be picked!"

I originally thought that I could go by the end of August, but I didn’t expect that the catkins of the white daisy would take so long to bloom. It only started in mid-August and lasted until mid-to-late September. September is the peak period for catkins to bloom.

Madam Zheng and several other ladies who had already made preparations took Xie Qingyun and other girls from the official school to pick the fruits.

Each person carried a cloth bag across his shoulder and picked the fruits carefully and meticulously. The field, which was more than an acre in size, was filled with people standing inside and outside.

Song Xuanyu, Hu Changshi and Lin Xiancheng, who came specially, were so itchy that they couldn't help but go down to the field to pick the fruits.

Grab the white fiber and pull it, and a ball of cotton wool wrapped in cotton seeds will be pulled out.

The soft, long fibers have a white luster, which is completely different from the feel of kapok. Kapok fibers are short and not as tough and slender as kapok.

Remove the dark brown cotton seeds.

"How do I weave this?" Song Xuanyu looked at the white fibers, unable to figure out how to process them.

"Be patient, you'll see it soon!" Su Ying smiled.

"Can this really be used to extract oil?" Song Xuanyu looked at the cotton seeds in his palm.

"Well, the process is similar to extracting oil from tea seeds!" Su Ying replied.

"However, cottonseed oil needs to be refined. Roughly processed cottonseed oil can be used as fuel, but it is not good for direct consumption."

"Oh, what do you mean?" Song Xuanyu heard something in it.

"Crude cottonseed oil is black and relatively viscous. It is not suitable for direct consumption and needs to be processed again," Su Ying introduced.

Crudely processed cottonseed oil contains gossypol, which is harmful to the human body and needs to be refined to remove or convert the gossypol.

Common physical methods:

First, the hot water soaking method is to soak the cottonseed oil in warm water for two or three hours and filter it with gauze. It is only suitable for removing a small amount of gossypol.

The second method is the distillation method, which involves placing cottonseed oil in a special container and distilling it to remove the gossypol, which is suitable for large-scale production.

Third, the cooling crystallization method: at low temperatures, the gossypol in cottonseed oil will gradually crystallize, and the gossypol can be removed by filtration, which is suitable for large-scale removal of gossypol.

Chemical method:

First, the acidification method is to add cottonseed oil to acidic substances to convert gossypol into gossypium acid precipitate, which is then washed with water.

Second, the alkalization method is to add cottonseed oil to an alkaline substance to convert gossypol into sodium gossypium sulfate precipitate, which is then washed with water.

Third, the oxidation method: add oxidant to cottonseed oil, oxidize and decompose gossypol, and then wash it with water.

"I didn't expect that the extraction of cottonseed oil is so complicated!" Song Xuanyu was shocked after hearing this. After all, tea oil and soybean oil are simpler.

"This cottonseed oil probably won't be used for the first ten or twenty years. After all, there are so many areas to sow seeds, and there are not enough seeds, so how can there be extra seeds for oil extraction?

"When the white sedge is planted all over the country and there are surplus seeds, we will consider developing its new value!" Su Ying said with a smile.

"I wonder when the white folds will cover the entire territory of the Tang Dynasty, so that every citizen can have something to keep warm!"

"It's impossible for everyone to have it, but at least most people will have it!" Song Xuanyu replied.

Those who are dressed in silk and satin are not silkworm farmers.

Once this white disc becomes popular, the first people to own it will be the upper class. If it develops quickly, perhaps in ten or twenty years the common people will have some left over for themselves.

"Listen to what Lord Su said, this white flounder is worth a lot!" County Magistrate Lin really wants to plant it in Tong County as well.

"Yes! With just these few seeds for promotion, I'm afraid we won't be able to see them popularized among the whole nation in this lifetime." Su Ying sighed.

"Oh, how come they have picked all the fruits already?" Madam Zheng exclaimed. They had finished picking the fruits in just quarter of an hour, and she was still not satisfied.

Su Ying listened and smiled without saying anything. She said, “In the future, when we grow cotton on a large scale, we can pick cotton until you cry!”

The villagers watching from outside the fence craned their necks. Is this the cotton wool that can keep you warm? It's indeed longer and softer than kapok fibers.

All the cotton was gathered into a winnowing basket in the courtyard of Su's house. The cotton seeds were first taken out, and then the residue and dead leaves on the cotton balls were picked off.

Even though I picked it up very carefully, there were still some broken dead leaves mixed in with the fibers that couldn't be removed.

Two large basins were filled with cotton seeds, and the cotton harvested from more than one acre of land amounted to four hundred kilograms. There were large and small winnowing baskets placed in the yard.

"Aying, is it our turn?" Wang Sanlang and several carpenters couldn't wait to get into battle.

Several sets of cotton-fluffing tools were made, and everyone wanted to try their hand at it.

"Don't be impatient, we haven't started spinning yet! We don't have the mesh thread for making the quilt yet!" Su Ying asked someone to bring the spinning wheel.

"What is this for?" Song Xuanyu shook the handle, and the spinning wheel turned with a squeaking sound.

"Spinning!" Su Ying picked up a ball of cotton, gently twisted it into a thin thread in her hands, and wrapped it around the spinning wheel.

He shook the spinning wheel handle with his left hand, held the cotton in his right hand, and gently twisted it with his thumb and index finger.

As the spinning wheel turned, a thin yarn continuously came out of Su Ying's right hand until the cotton in her hand was twisted up.

When the cotton was almost twisted, Su Ying added another ball of cotton and held it in her hand.

"Oh my God! Is this spinning?"

Everyone present was stunned. It was amazing! The yarn processing was much simpler than that of ramie and linen!

The fibers of kudzu and hemp need to be peeled off, which is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process to obtain the original colored fibers before they can be spun into yarn.

After picking the white flounder, clean it and you can spin it into yarn with just a light twist!

With this speed and lightness, if it becomes popular, women will save a lot of time!

Everyone present was amazed.

"Come! Let me spin two rounds!" Madam Zheng took over Su Ying's work and sat there tinkering with it.

Then a thin, even yarn came out of his hands, much better than Su Ying's.

Su Ying's thread was of uneven thickness. After all, she was not someone who did this kind of work often. Her left hand turned the handle fast and slow, and the yarn could not be output evenly.

Madam Zheng is different. She has been weaving for a long time, so she got the hang of it right away.

The women rushed to try it out, and the female students also tried their hand at it.

Then the yarn on the spinning wheel is poured onto the spindle and wound into spindles.

While the girls were learning to spin, Su Ying also taught Wang Sanlang and the others how to fluff cotton.

A cotton bow was tied around Wang Sanlang's waist, and a bamboo mat covered with cotton balls was placed on the half-high table.

"Place the bowstring against your face and pluck the string with the wooden hammer!" Su Ying gestured.

Wang Sanlang held the bow with his left hand and gently plucked the string with a wooden hammer in his right hand. The string vibrated, causing the cotton balls to jump and tumble.

After trying twice, Wang Sanlang found the feel and rhythm, "Bang, bang, bang!" and he played it quite well.

The cotton balls in the bamboo mat slowly opened up, became loose, and melted into a pile, fluffy like clouds.

The onlookers were shocked! This, this...

Spinning turns cotton into fine yarn, while fluffing the cotton does the opposite, making the cotton balls loose and fluffy!

Like a magic trick! Two extremes!

After finishing the cotton, Wang Sanlang felt sore and his back was wet. "What about next? What should I do?"

"Uncle Wang, you take a rest and let Uncle Pei come!" Su Ying felt embarrassed.

"Tell me, what should we do next!" Pei Sanlang hurriedly squeezed forward, and it was finally his turn.

"Draw the longitude and latitude lines here!" Su Ying pointed to the longitude and latitude bed that had been set up.

The rectangular warp and weft bed has holes drilled on the edge at equal distances, and four-inch long wooden sticks are inserted into all the holes.

The fishing rod is hooked with yarn and arranged along the edge of the frame, diagonal lines, etc. to weave a network and smooth it out.

Spread the fluffy cotton evenly on the net, and use the bowstring to play with it a few times to adjust the thickness to a uniform level.

Gently level and compact the wooden cover, then repeat the previous weaving process to cover all the cotton in the gauze.

Take down the quilt that has been initially formed, place it on a bamboo mat, and press and flatten it with a wooden cover.

A thick quilt requires someone to stand on the wooden cover and twist their body back and forth to move the wooden cover to compact it.

Finally, the first quilt of the Tang Dynasty was produced!