302 THE FLAX CROP. 



of an alkaline soap, drying it, and then again immersing 

 it in a weak solution of pyroligneous acid at a high 

 temperature, which decomposed the soap, and left the 

 fatty base intimately mixed up with the fibre. It was 

 then washed in soft water, dried, and submitted to the 

 heckles, the fibres splitting up into finer, filaments, and 

 becoming soft and silky to the hand, while their strength 

 was not at all reduced. The fibre of flax is very different 

 to that of cotton. Under the microscope flax is seen to 

 consist of bundles of very fine filaments, cemented and 

 adhering closely together, their separation being deter- 

 mined by the greater or less efficiency of the operation to 

 which they are submitted ; so that, in reality, coarse and 

 fine fibres are merely relative terms. Jennings, by a 

 chemical process, carried on the action of separation of the 

 fibres, and by depositing a fatty matter on the surface, im- 

 proved its handling and spinning properties, and generally 

 advanced its market value. When woven into goods, they 

 were found to bleach more readily, and to lose less in 

 weight by the process than those made from ordinary fibre. 

 Another improvement in the preparation was intro- 

 duced about the same time by Pownall, to obviate the 

 defects of Schenck's process, caused by the steep- water 

 getting saturated with the products of decomposition, 

 and charging the fibre more or less with its results in the 

 shape of a yellow powder, offensive to the smell, and 

 causing injury and inconvenience in the subsequent opera- 

 tions of spinning and weaving. He devised a method of 

 passing the flax straw, immediately when taken out of 

 the steep, between a pair of smooth rollers, while, at the 

 same time, a stream of water played upon them. By these 

 means all the foul water was pressed out of the straw, the 

 stem was crushed up and thoroughly broken, without 

 injuring the fibre, while the water flowing continuously 

 over the straw while passing through the rollers back- 



