FLAX IN THE UNITED STATES. 



recommendation were, that the English trade must be preserved, and that the wool and 

 labor being so much cheaper in Ireland than in Great Britain, the English manufacturers 

 could not compete at all successfully with those of Ireland. 



The competitors of the Irish linen manufacturers were to be found, not in England, 

 but in France and Flanders ; the English statesmen, therefore, had every reason for 

 encouraging the Irish linen trade. (See Crawford's history of Ireland, published in 1783.) 

 The bigotry of a French Monarch was (next to the ruin of the Irish woolen trade, brought 

 about by the causes enumerated above,) the cause of the prosperity of the linen trade of 

 Ulster. The Huguenots were the most industrious portion of the population of France, 

 and their skill in the industrial arts enriched the nations that received them. A number 

 of French refugees settled in the neighborhood of Lisburn, near Belfast, after the revo- 

 cation of the Edict of Nantes, A. D., 1699, who were skilled in the manipulation of Flax 

 and in the manufacture of linen. The most noted among these exiles was Mr. Louis 

 Crommelin, of St Quentin, France, who was appointed by the British government 

 " Director of the Linen Manufacture of Ireland." His descendants, the Delacherois 

 Crommelins, are numbered among the County families of the Northern Province of Ire- 

 land at the present day. 



It would be interesting to trace the progress of the Flax industry from that period down 

 to the present time, if the compass of this little work permitted ; suffice it there- 

 fore to state that Ireland, at the present day, stands pre eminently distinguished for the 

 success and excellence of her Flaxen manufactures, although France, Belgium and 

 Germany still retain a deserved celebrity for the firmness of the fiber and cloth produced 

 by their inhabitants. Russia consumes nearly the same quantity of raw Flax, all home 

 grown, in her factories, as Great Britain, although this does not, by far, suffice for the 

 home demand, immense quantities of linen fabrics beng imported from Ireland, Germany 

 and Austria. The linens and damask goods produced in the districts of laroslaw, 

 Kostroma and Archangel, compare very favorably with similar products of other countries 

 much more favored in point of climate, and show what results may be obtained, even 

 under adverse circumstances, by patience and endurance. Austria also produces large 

 quantities of fine and medium linens and damask goods, and carries on a brisk export 

 trade to Russia and Italy. The production of linen fabrics in other countries of Europe 

 besides those named above, is insignificant. 



FLAX IN THE UNITED STATES. 



As regards the history and progress of Flax and Flax manufactures in the United 

 States, I cannot do better than to append an extract from the interesting chapter on the 

 subject contained in the Report of the Department of Agriculture for 1877. 



" Previous to the cheapening and general diffusion of cotton fabrics, consequent upon 

 the invention of the cotton-gin and introduction of cotton factories, the production of 

 flax fiber was almost co-extensive with the settlements. Outside of the cities and of the 

 homes of great planters, there was scarcely a housewife or damsel, of whom it might not 

 be said: ' She layeth her hand to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.' From a 

 series of papers written between 1787 and 1791, by Mr. Tench Coxe, Commissioner of 

 the Revenue, and for several years Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, it appears that 

 manufactures from flax and hemp had become an established and very important industry; 

 he enumerates, among articles ' manufactured in a household way,' seines and nets of 

 various kinds, twine and packthread, sailcloth, towcloth, white and checked shirting, 

 sheetings, toweling, table linen, bed-ticks, hosiery, sewing-thread and seine-thread lace. 

 Among the flax products, manufactured in families, in Massachusetts and Rhode 



