392 THE FARMER AT HOME. 



and the ant to build a habitation as tall as a man, it is not to be won 

 dered at that the spiders are seen bearing a proportionable magnitude 

 In fact, the bottom of the Martinico spider's body is as large as a hen's 

 egg, and covered all over with hair. Its web is strong, and its bite 

 dangerous. It is happy for us, however, that we are placed at a dis- 

 tance from these formidable creatures, and that we can examine their 

 history without feeling their resentment. 



SPINAGrE. This plant is a native of Persia, and has been culti- 

 vated in Europe, as an esculent, lor about two centuries. The root 

 is annual ; the stem herbaceous, smooth, upright, a foot or more high, 

 and somewhat branching ; the leaves alternate, petiolate, and narrow 

 shaped; the flowers small and greenish, disposed in several little 

 branches, in the axils of the superior leaves ; in short, the whole plant 

 much resembles some of the species of goose-foot, to which genus it is 

 allied in its botanical characters. It is eaten sometimes in salads, but 

 more frequently cooked in various manners. It is a wholesome and 

 agreeable aliment, but contains little nutriment, and is not suitable for 

 delicate stomachs. The plant is of the easiest culture, and may be 

 procured nearly all the year round, by sowing at intervals of time. It 

 requires a rich soil, and frequent watering in dry weather. 



SPINNING-. When the fibres of cotton, wool, or flax, are in- 

 tended to be woven, they are reduced to fine threads, of uniform size, 

 by the well known process of spinning. Previously to the middle of 

 the last century, this process was performed by hand, with the aid of 

 the common spinning wheel. Locks of cotton or wool, previously 

 carded, were attached to a rapidly revolving spindle, driven by a large 

 wheel, and were stretched or drawn out by the hand, at the same time 

 that they were twisted by the spindle, upon which they were after- 

 wards wound. Flax, the fibres of which are longer and more parallel, 

 was loosely wound upon a distaff, from which the fibres were selected 

 and drawn out by the thumb and finger, and at the same time were 

 twisted by flyers, and wound upon a bobbin, which revolved with a 

 velocity somewhat less than that of the flyers. The manufacture of 

 flexible stuffs by means of machinery, operating on a large scale, is an 

 invention of the last century. Although of recent date, it has given 

 birth to some of the most elaborate and wonderful combinations of 

 mechanism, and already constitutes, especially in England and in this 

 country, an important source of national wealth and prosperity. The 

 character of the machinery which has been applied to the manufac- 

 ture of cotton, at different times, has been various. 



There are, however, several leading inventions, upon which most 

 of the essential processes are founded, and which have given to their 

 authors a greater share of celebrity than the rest. There are, First, 

 the spinning jenny. This machine was invented by Richard Har- 

 greaves, in 1767, and, in its simplest form, resembled a number of 

 spindles turned by a common wheel, or cylinder, which was worked 



