150 CHYMISTRY APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE. 



a great variety of plants, by separating from it all those 

 substances which would serve to hasten its putrefaction, 

 or to diminish its flexibility : thus when the stalks of flax, 

 hemp, broom, nettles, or the leaves of the aloe, are mace- 

 rated in water, all the juices are extracted by dissolution 

 and fermentation, and there remains only the flexible fibre, 

 from which fabrics of linen, thread, and cordage, so exten- 

 sively used, are manufactured. 



The opinion which some have entertained that those 

 stalks, which had been bruised by machinery, did not re- 

 quire to be softened by the action of water, appears to be 

 erroneous : a portion of the juices may, it is true, be sepa- 

 rated by mechanical force, but there remain some portions 

 which adhere so closely to the fibre, that they can only be 

 separated by maceration in water ; should these be allowed 

 to remain, they would render the fibres unfit for many pur- 

 poses, and would likewise be injurious to their strength. 



The size of the fibre is not the same in all the plants 

 I have just mentioned ; that of flax is finer, and more deli- 

 cate than the others ; from this the finest linens, cambrics, 

 and lawns are made. The fibre of hemp is next in quality 

 to that of flax, and is in general use : some coarse fabrics 

 are made from the annual shoots of the broom ; and the fibre 

 of the leaves of the aloe is manufactured into cordage. 



The fabrics manufactured from vegetable fibre, continue 

 to grow soft and pliable by use, till the threads lose their 

 consistency and tenacity ; when reduced to this state, they 

 are by the action of machinery torn into fragments, and the 

 cohesion between the particles destroyed by means of putre- 

 fying liquids, and thus a fluid paste is formed, of which all 

 the particles, having no union amongst themselves, swim 

 separately in the water. These particles may, however, 

 upon being taken from the water which divides and sepa- 

 rates them, be made to adhere strongly to each other by a 

 series of operations the execution of which constitutes the 

 art of making paper. After having reduced the fibre to 

 a pulpy liquid, the next step is to throw the liquid upon 

 a sieve which allows the water to pass through, whilst a 

 thin layer of the paste remains adhering to the net-work 

 of the sieve : this takes some consistency by being sepa- 

 rated from the water which held it in solution, and its 

 firmness is further increased by drying : each layer forms 

 a leaf, which only requires pressing and sizing, to be ready 

 for use. 



