MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 117 



the fibre is finally resolved into extreme tenuity ; and observing that the 

 fibre of many plants passes, uninjured, through the alimentary canal of 

 the cow, I concluded that the straw of the flax plant might be advan- 

 tageously employed in the manufacture of paper, having previously yielded 

 a considerable amount of nourishment as food for cattle, which, in the 

 ordinary treatment of the plant, is entirely wasted. I accordingly insti- 

 tuted some experiments, both in the use of flax- straw as food for cattle, 

 and in the conversion of the same straw, after its passage through the 

 alimentary canal, into paper. 



Assuming the straw of the flax plant to contain the same nitrogenous 

 elements as the seed-vessels, it appeared probable that, when cut into chaff, 

 and mixed in varying proportions, either with the chaff of certain grasses, 

 selected for their strength of texture, as common dog's-tail grass, (cynosu- 

 rus cristatus,} or with that of common hay, it would, in the process of 

 mastication and digestion, yield a considerable portion of flesh-making 

 nutriment; and by the same natural process, ail or the greater part of the 

 soluble matter being thus separated, the pure fibre would remain in the 

 excreta, which, being retained in convenient receptacles under the feeding- 

 stalls or boxes, which should be "boarded," or perhaps half-boarded, and 

 the liquid portion being separated by pressure, after a certain degree of 

 dilution with water, would be preserved as manure to be returned to the 

 soil. 



We have thus at command a natural and most economical " rag-en- 

 gine" for the separation and comminution of the fibre in the jaws and 

 teeth of the ruminant machine a series of macerating vessels in the 

 stomachs and alimentary canal, in which the soluble matters are detached 

 and removed, not as waste, ,but destined, not only to keep in repair the 

 machine itself, but, by increase of weight, to add most materially to its 

 value. 



As the present purpose is not so much to treat of the feeding qualities 

 of flax-straw, or of the value of the liquid portion of the excreta thus 

 obtained for the purposes of manure, but rather to show that a useful 

 and economical paper can be made from the solid portion, it will be suffi- 

 cient to state, that, in the experiments undertaken last year, the nutritious 

 properties of the flax-straw were very evident, notwithstanding the 

 increased time and labor in chewing the cud of such tough material 

 demanded ; and with respect to the value of the liquid manure, nothing 

 need be added to the remark, that its qualities will, of course, greatly 

 depend upon the nature of the food from which it is in part derived ; so 

 that, whatever be the value of flax -straw when so used, as compared with 

 other substances, the value of the excreta, as manure, will be in the same 

 proportion. One remark may, however, here be made with respect to the 

 money value of the straw, which, to cultivators, is of prime importance. 

 A good crop of flax, such as spinners would give the best price for, would 

 be too valuable for a farmer to use as food for cattle only ; and even in 

 reference to the ultimate use of the fibre, when freed from the soluble, 



