A&ntCULTVRAL MUSEUM 



*^ ipLAX. — The exposure of flax or hemp to the frost 

 or snow, materially facilitates the dressing of it, by de- 

 stroying the glutinous matter, which unites the fibres, 

 and it is now established, that keeping these plants a se. 

 cond \vinter, will reduce, by one half, the labor which wil! 

 attend the dressing of them the first year. It is recom- 

 mended, that, after steeping, the plants be either spread 

 to the action of the frost and air, orplaced in bundles on 

 their ends, and left in that state till the spring : the better 

 they are diivd, the le§s will be the waste in dressiag*" 



From the (Vermont) Washingtonian. 

 AMERICAN PORCELAIN. 

 About 18 years ago two men in the town of Monk- 

 ton in this state were digging for iron ore, and about 

 four feet from the surface of the ground, came to a white 

 substance, which from its resemblance to white lead they 

 supposed would make putty. They accordingly made 

 trial of it, and found it to answer their best wishes. They 

 afterwards penetrated the bed about 25 feet, and observ- 

 ed the material to grow more pure, the farther they went 

 down. Considerable quantities of putty have since been 

 made and carried abroad for sale and by those who 

 have used it, it is preferred to any other. A house in 

 Vergeones was also painted with it about 16 years since, 

 and still exhibits a hard coat, impervious to the weather. 

 Owing to the narrow circumstances of the then owners, 

 and the doubts and scruples of people about letting a 

 certainty go for an uncertainty, as they called it, this ma- 

 terial was rather talked of as valuable than put to the test 

 of experiment, though it was still used in towns in the vi- 

 cinity of the bed ; and it was not till a Httle more than a 

 year ago, that any adequate ideas were entertained as to 

 the real properties and value of the ^^ putty stuff" as it 

 was called. The friends to American manufactures 

 will be pleased to hear, that this so long neglected mate- 

 rial is now ascertained to be ARGiLLA apyrA. or porce- 

 lain cjay, and that a company is now forming, with a 



