MODE OF PREPARING FLAX. 191 



prepared green Flax-straw, after I had discovered how it 

 could be prepared by machinery without retting. 



MANUFACTURE OF GREEN FLAX-STRAW. 

 To the Editor of the " Cork Constitution." 



(l County Cork Gaol, 23rd January, 1852. 



"DEAR Sin, Notwithstanding all that has hitherto been 

 said on the subject of Flax, I venture to trespass on your 

 valuable space with a statement which may be worthy of some 

 consideration. 



' ' Having for some time carefully attended to the prepara- 

 tion of green Flax fibre, I have arrived at the following 

 practical results : 



" Icwt. of Flax-straw, value 3s,, will yield 12lbs. of Flax, 

 and 14^1bs. of tow, cleaned fit for spinning. The Flax gives 

 14 yards of linen 28 inches wide, worth 6d. per yard, 7s. ; 

 and the tow 9| yards of sacking, 20 inches wide, worth 4d. 

 per yard, 3s. 2d. ; so that 3s. worth of straw realizes 10s. 2d. 

 worth of manufactured material. No labour is, however, 

 reckoned in this calculation, my circumstances not enabling 

 me to estimate its cost. 



"The process is entirely hand labour, after the use of a 

 common break. The article produced is superior to any 

 material that can be purchased for the purpose of public 

 establishments, and can be seen by any person wishing to test 

 the matter at the county gaol. 



^ I do not propose this manufacture as capable of competing 

 with machine-made linen from '"retted Flax as an article of 

 trade, but I suggest it as a most important means of rendering 

 unpaid labour productive. People seeking workhouse relief 

 and confined in gaols should be made, as far as possible, to 

 provide for their own consumption ; and this not only as a 

 means of economising the public funds, but for the purpose of 

 teaching them habits of industry. Instead of buying imported 



