CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 191 



highest importance to the agriculturist is, that the flax will not be 

 required to be pulled before it is fully and completely ripe, as is now 

 the case where a fine flax is required. A valuable crop of fully ripened 

 seed may therefore be obtained, in addition to the fibre. 



At the Great Exhibition, various specimens of fabrics formed of flax, 

 prepared by M. Claussen's processes, were exhibited. These specimens 

 are thus described in the London Chronicle: "The flax-cotton is 

 shown, dyed in various colors immediately after carding. It is also 

 shown dyed in various colors, in yarns spun entirely from flax, or mixed 

 with various proportions of cotton ; and, in the case of the mixed yarns, 

 no difference of color of the two substances is at all perceptible ; thus 

 showing that the flax so prepared is capable of taking the same opaque 

 dye as ordinary cotton. Some samples of yarn, prepared as silk, are 

 also displayed, and, as illustrating the great command which the in- 

 ventor has over this fibre, these are dyed in colors possessing all the 

 glossiness and brilliancy of the most beautiful silk. Several pieces of 

 calico, formed entirely of flax, and others formed of a mixture of flax 

 and cotton, bleached and dressed as ordinary cloth, are exhibited. 

 Specimens of yarn formed of a mixture of wool and flax-cotton were 

 also noticed. Hitherto it has been found impossible to felt or mill 

 yarns, or fabrics formed of a mixture of flax and wool, or even to pro- 

 duce a yarn formed of these two substances, as the flax naturally does 

 not possess the same felting properties as wool. By this process of 

 splitting the fibres, the difficulty has been to a great extent obviated. 

 Indeed, some specimens of felt, formed of rabbit's hair and flax, are 

 shown as illustrative of the great felting properties which the ' cot- 

 tonized ' flax fibre possesses. In addition to the mixed wool and flax- 

 cotton yarn shown, there are displayed several pieces of excellent flan- 

 nel, formed of those yarns, and pieces of broadcloth, gray and dyed, of 

 a remarkably clean, bright and pure color, and of great strength and 

 durability." 



The various advantages of the processes adopted by M. Claussen, for 

 the manufacture of flax, may be briefly set forth as follows : 



" In the first stage it will enable the farmer, by mechanical means, 

 and with little trouble and expense, to reduce the bulk of his flax crop, 

 so as to give him access to markets, and render it marketable. It will 

 enable him at the same time to preserve, to be returned to the land, 

 those portions of the crop which tend to exhaust the soil ; the produce 

 being a description of fibre adapted to the coarser kinds of the flax man- 

 ufacture. By the second, or boiling operation, the long, troublesome, 

 and noxious process of steeping may be dispensed with, in the prepa- 

 ration of flax for the finer purposes, for which long fibre is spun in the 

 ordinary way. Lastly, by reducing the flax to short fibre, and by split- 

 ting it up by means of the chemical process above described, a great 

 extension of the demand for flax may be expected, to be spun on cotton, 

 wool, and silk machinery alone, or in combination with any of those 

 substances. All these results will' have been obtained through the 

 microscopic researches into the structure of the flax-plant, and the ap- 

 plication of chemical knowledge to the improvement of old processes 

 for preparing it for use." 



