286 THE FLAX CROP. 



from the woody centre. These fibrous portions being 

 composed of bundles of very delicate filaments, may be 

 split up into almost any degree of fineness, according to 

 the efficiency of the process adopted. 



Now, these various processes which, as has been already 

 observed, differ widely both in principles and in their prac- 

 tical details may be all classed under two heads: the 

 mechanical, in which the operations are conducted in a dry 

 state, and the chemical, in which moisture and temperature 

 are more or less necessary. In the first, the object is ob- 

 tained by the different parts being mechanically separated 

 from each other without any changes being effected; in 

 the latter, the plant itself is disintegrated, either by the 

 action of fermentation, which destroys, or of some solvent, 

 which merely abstracts the cementing matter by which 

 the several parts of the straw are held together. Of the 

 first but little need be said, as, except for rough goods 

 not requiring to be bleached as canvas, rick covers, 

 rope yarns, &c. it cannot be advantageously made use 

 of. However, as it costs as much to steep bad straw as 

 good, and the expenses in some such cases frequently 

 exceed the value of the produce, it would appear that the 

 mechanical or dry process may be beneficially tried where 

 the raw material is of inferior quality, where there is a 

 difficulty in steeping it properly, or where coarse fibre 

 only is required. Several different modes have from 

 time to time been devised for effecting this mechanical 

 separation, the principal of which are given in the appended 

 note. 1 Even in the event of a successful result in the 



1 In 1812, Lee took out a patent for this purpose, to whom parliament 

 accorded a peculiar privilege that the time for specification should be 

 extended from six months to seven years. This was speedily taken up by the 

 Irish Linen Board, who expended 6000 in their endeavours to introduce it 

 into the flax-growing districts. One of the machines was, a few years ago, to be 

 seen in the White Linen Hall at Belfast, where, probably, it is still preserved. 

 Before the time for specification arrived, another patent was taken out by 

 Hill & Bundy, in 1817, and more recently, those by Donlan and others have 



