180 DICKSON ON THE 



give my reasons for asserting that the editor of the Mark 

 Lane Express is in error when he states that, 'for fine 

 linen or cambric, we must fall back on the system of retting ;' 

 and as, by my next process, I am prepared to prove that 

 by the specimens acted upon, hand-scutched Flax, had 

 from the Messrs. Kichardson, Brothers and Co., of Belfast, 

 and mill-scutched Flax, grown and scutched upon my old 

 property in Ballymoran , near Armagh, now in the possession 

 of George Henry, Esq., are worth more than double their 

 cost or value when I got them the other week, I shall have 

 much pleasure in submitting them to judges for their united 

 inspection whenever called on. 



" My first object is to discharge from the fibre the natural 

 green substances which the plant draws from the soil by 

 water, &c., aided by machinery ; and as I use neither soda, 

 barilla, sulphuric acid, chloride of lime, nor any other 

 bleaching stuffs or liquid now in general use, but depend 

 entirely on the products of our own soil, as vegetable 

 matters are my chief ingredients, I produce an uninjured 

 and purely white fibre ; and consequently, I assert that, 

 with such pure clean fibre, stronger and better yarns can 

 be spun than it is possible can be spun from retted fibre, 

 which is full of resin, colouring, and other deleterious 

 matter, which must be bleached and discharged by strong 

 chemicals or alkalies, after being twisted or spun into yarns, 

 and the heart or inner part of such twisted yarn must be 

 entirely purged from every particle of resin before it can be 

 woven so as to make prime quality of linen, or if partially 

 purged, for common linen, it must be several months in 

 the bleach yard before a prime whiteness can possibly be 

 obtained. 



*' In my opinion, the only way to clearly demonstrate the 

 facts to the manufacturing trade, and for the information of 

 the editor of the Mark Lane Express, and to convince him 



