20 VEGETABLE SUBSTANCES. 



it had become sufficiently dry, the flax might be 

 stored up either in ricks or in barns. Flax so treated 

 was cleansed, without any previous water-retting, by 

 machinery disposed somewhat differently from the 

 breaking and scutching-machine in ordinary use. 

 Since Mr. Lee's plan is now never employed, a par- 

 ticular description of it would be superfluous and 

 uninteresting. 



Messrs. Hill and Bundy, in the year 1817, like- 

 wise patented an ingenious machine for breaking and 

 rubbing flax; but though this was said to have con- 

 siderable merit as regarded its mechanical arrange- 

 ment, the machine has not been found of greater 

 practical utility than that of Mr. Lee. The expecta- 

 tions of advantages, held out by the proprietors of 

 this new machinery, were met by the fact, that the 

 thread produced by their method was, on sufficient 

 trial, found to be so harsh and difficult of manufac- 

 ture as not to pay the cost of spinning and weaving 

 it into cloths. In consequence, after many attempts 

 to introduce it into several factories, the machine has 

 been universally rejected, and at the present time is 

 entirely out of use. 



The finest thread which has been produced in 

 England by machine-spinning measures 12,000 yards 

 spun from one pound of flax; though by hand- 

 spinning the process has been carried as high as 

 36,000 yards to the pound. 



The Siberian perennial flax is another plant of 

 the same species, but of a much coarser fibre. 



It has several strong upright stalks, rising to the 

 height of four or five feet ; the leaves are small, nar- 

 row, and of a dark green colour ; they are set alter- 

 nately on the stalk. The flowers are blue, and grow 

 in large clusters ; these appear in June, and the 

 seeds come to maturity in autumn. 



