80 PENTAXDRIA. 



operation of breaking, &c.; after which it is spun, 

 and by the loom made into cloth from the coarsest 

 sheeting to the finest cambric. x From this plant 

 thread is made so fine as to be nearly worth its weight 

 in gold, to be afterwards manufactured into lace. 

 Thus by industry and ingenuity a simple vegetable is 

 converted to one of the most ornamental and expen- 

 sive luxuries of dress. 



Flax not only supplies us with that cloth called 

 linen, a word derived from Linum, the classical name 

 of the plant, but the seeds furnish an oil, called linseed 

 oil, of great importance in painting and varnishing ; 

 and after the oil is expressed from them, the refuse, 

 called oil-cake, is applied to the fattening of cattle, a 

 food profitable to the farmer, but injurious to the 

 quality of the meat. 



Botanical Plants of this Order. 



Botanical Generic Namas. Common Names. 



9 Drosera 3 Sundew 



25 Linum 5 Fiax 



3 Sibbaldia l Procumbent Silverweed 



39 Stat ice 3 Thrift 



x In the simplicity of former times, when families in this 

 island provided within themselves most of the necessaries and 

 conveniences of life, every garden supplied a proper quantity of 

 hemp and flax for domestic use. The necessary preparation of 

 steeping it in water, previous to dressing it, was so offensive 

 and detrimental, that in the reign of Henry VIII. a law was 



