INDUSTRIAL VILLAGES. 293 



mandy, Perche and Maine, and partly Touraine 

 and Anjou, as they were seen by Ardouin 

 Dumazet in 1895 we find there quite a variety 

 of domestic and petty industries, both in the 

 villages and in the towns. 



At Laval (to the south-east of Rennes), where 

 drills (coutils) were formerly woven out of flax 

 in hand-looms, and at Alen9on, formerly a 

 great centre for the cottage-weaving of linen, 

 as well as for hand-made lace, Ardouin Dumazet 

 found both the house and the factory linen 

 industry in a lingering state. Cotton takes the 

 lead. Drills are now made out of cotton in the 

 factories, and the demand for flax goods is 

 very small. Both domestic and factory weaving 

 of flax goods are accordingly in a poor condition. 

 The cottagers abandoned that branch of weaving, 

 and the large factories, which had been erected at 

 Alencon with the intention of creating a flax and 

 hemp-cloth industry, had to be closed. Only one 

 factory, occupying 250 hands, remains ; while 

 nearly 23,000 weavers, who found occupation 

 at Mans, Fresnay and Alen9on in hemp cloths 

 and fine linen, had to abandon that industry. 

 Those who worked in factories have emigrated 

 to other towns, while those who had not broken 

 with agriculture reverted to it. In this struggle 

 of cotton versus flax and hemp, the former was 

 victorious. 



