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being much damaged; as linen, it may be wafhed 

 and deeped in fcalding water twenty times without 

 lofing much of its ftrength; and as paper, it ac- 

 quires a kind of incorruptibility. 



It appears then eflential to the right management 

 of new flax, to get rid of this pernicious vegetative 

 fap, and to macerate the boon; but from the com- 

 plaints made againft both the methods of watering 

 now in ufe, there is reafon to think that there is 

 Itill great room for improvement in that article. 

 In rivulets, the vegetative fap, as it is diflblved, is 

 carried oflF by the current, to the deftrudlion of the 

 fifh. This prevents the flax from being fliaineds 

 but the operation is tedious, and I have been told, 

 often not compleat, from the uncertainty of knowing 

 when it is jufl: enough, and not too much, or per- 

 haps from negle6t. In ponds, the inky tinge of the 

 water often feryes as a kind of dye to the flax, 

 which imbibes it fo fl:rongly, that double the labour 

 in bleaching will hardly bring the linen made of 

 fuch flax to an equality in whitenefs with linen 

 made of flax untinged. This feems to be equally 

 unwife, as though we were to dye cotton black fiift, 

 in order to whiten it afterwards. Thcfe ponds be- 

 fides become a great nnifance to the neighbourhood; 

 the impregnated water is often of fuch a pernicious 

 quality, that cattle, however thirfty, will not drink 



of 



