FLAX-SPINNING IN IRELAND. 261 



months credit in order to introduce their yarns and do away 

 with the objections to an article of which they knew a single 

 trial would establish the value, as the weaver who required 

 sixteen or eighteen days to make a fifty-two yard piece of 

 goods from hand-spun yarns, could now turn out a similar if 

 not a better piece from mill-spun yarns, in half the time. 



The superiority of mill-spun yarns soon became known; 

 and the first house in Ireland that appeared alive to the Flax- 

 spinning trade was that of Messrs. T. and A. Mulholland, of 

 Belfast. A large factory of theirs being consumed by fire 

 in 1828, they made their arrangements to rebuild their 

 premises, and turn their attention to the spinning of Flax. It 

 is needless for me to mention the extraordinary success of 

 those spirited and enterprising men, as their worth and 

 position in society bear witness to the fact; their name as 

 spinners of yarns and manufacturers of linens, is well-known 

 in every town and city on the Continent, and indeed, I may 

 say in every part of the globe, as being the most extensive 

 house in that branch of trade in Ireland. I think it super- 

 fluous to do more than say, that their mills and machinery 

 are inferior to none in England, and their system of manage- 

 ment reflects credit on them as men of business. This firm 

 has been the means of doing much to regain a trade that was 

 all but lost to Ireland. As to the good results to the farmers 

 in the north of Ireland, the improved appearance of the 

 country, and the many superior mansions, with bleach works 

 and factories, since 1828, must convince the owners of the 

 soil of the great employment the cultivation of Flax must 

 give. Without this valuable plant be encouraged, many 

 water-wheels and steam-engines on their estates would be 

 idle, and many thousands of their tenantry, who are now 

 well able to pay their rents, would be in arrears. Let us 

 fancy those spinners, who have now increased from one in 

 1828, to above fifty in 1858, to be obliged to impor^ 



