FLAX. ORDER MALVACEAE. 383 



delicate manner ; being merely scraped or cleansed with a blunt 

 knife on a soft skin of leather, and afterwards dressed with a kind 

 of brush. Machine- spinning has now almost superseded hand- 

 spinning in this country ; but the finest thread can be produced 

 only by the latter process. By machinery a thread measuring 

 12,000 yards has been spun from one pound of flax ; but by hand- 

 spinning a thread of three times that length has been produced 

 from the same weight. 



546. The only other species of this order, which is cultivated 

 for the same purpose, is the Siberian perennial flax. This is a 

 much taller plant, having coarser fibres ; these are found to be 

 very strong, but not so white or fine as those obtained from the 

 common flax. They serve very well, however, for the manufacture 

 of coarse fabrics ; and there is this advantage attending the cul- 

 tivation of them, that from the same root, a succession of stalks 

 will be developed for many years ; so that they require no further 

 attention, than to be kept free from weeds. The juices of all 

 the plants of this order seem to have a purgative quality; this is 

 very slight in the common Flax, but is greater in the common 

 Linum catharticum or Purging-flax of this country, as well as 

 in some foreign species. 



Order MALVACEAE, or Mallow Tribe. 



547. Almost every child is familiar with the cheeses that he 

 finds among the hedges; and there is not a civilised human 

 being who does not make great use of cotton fabrics ; yet few, 

 save professed Botanists, are aware how close a relation there is, 

 between the humble neglected plant that bears the former, and 

 the cherished exotic shrub to which we are indebted for the 

 latter. They both belong to the same order, which is marked by 

 characters that readily distinguish it, and which may be ex- 

 plained from the common British Mallows, as well as from any 

 other of the more highly-prized species. Of the former there are 

 two kinds, one bearing small pink blossoms, the other large 

 purple ones, which are among our handsomest wild flowers. 

 The latter, which may be best chosen for examination, grows 



