AS INFLUENCED BY LEG/SLA TION. 83 



were granted for linen cloth ; but this 

 inquiry is not so much concerned with the 

 growth of the cloth industry, as with 

 the production of the raw material, but 

 in the early history of the Colonies the two 

 are intimately connected, as, unlike Eng- 

 land, the only source of flax was the home 

 supply. A large brick spinning-school was 

 erected in Boston ; and the Massachusetts 

 Assembly, in 1737, imposed a tax on car- 

 riages and other luxuries, for its mainte- 

 nance, 1 and in 1753 the Assembly appro- 

 priated fifteen hundred pounds annually to 

 aid the society in charge of the school. 2 

 In 1770 a further appropriation was made 

 for the school, and a large fund was raised 

 by private subscription. It would be tedi- 

 ous to enumerate the many other meas- 

 ures taken in Massachusetts to encourage 

 the raising of flax, the government, even, 

 at one time (1737) taking flax in payment 

 of taxes, at the rate of six pence a 

 pound. 3 



Connecticut was not behind Massachu- 



1 I Bishop, p. 333. 2 Ibid, p. 346. 3 Ibid, p. 335. 



