1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



133 



fully possessed of the opinion that the fibre of 

 flax could be cottonized, but it was not until the 

 spring of 1857, while engaged at Niagara Falls, 

 that his experiments were satisfactory to himself. 

 From that time the sphere of experiments was en- 

 larged, and a boll of flax was sent to the bleachery 

 of Mr. George W. Brown, at East Greenwich, 

 R. I., and machinery was set up for working it. 

 The process was found defective in the machinery 

 department, for breaking and unstranding the fibre, 

 and it has been by the inventions of Mr. Stephen 

 Randall that this difficulty was removed. This 

 gentleman has had much experience in the manu- 

 facture of flax, and he, together with Messrs. Sis- 

 son & Co., of Centreville, R. I., is entitled to the 

 credit of the construction of the machinery now 

 used in the manufacture. 



In the spring of last year, the old machinery, 

 together with the new, was brought to Watertown, 

 in this State, and there, through the interest and 

 liberality of a couple of gentlemen in Boston, it 

 was set up, and the experiments continued, until 

 now they have been successfully completed. — 

 Through these experiments, said Mr. Allen, we 

 are enabled to give to the world, as we think, a 

 new article of manufacture, much desii-ed and 

 needed at the j^resent time, the fibre of which can be 

 grown on any soil or in any climate, affording the 

 agriculturist sufficient profit to induce him to cul- 

 tivate it extensively, while the manufacturer and 

 consumer will gain by its adoption. It spins 

 and weaves readily, on either cotton or woollen 

 machinery, mixed with either of those substances 

 in small or large proportion. The length of its 

 fibre can be adapted to either cotton or wool, while 

 the fabric thus made is stronger and more beau- 

 tiful, and the cost is not increased. 



The speaker then exhibited pure flax in its semi- 

 bleached state, prepared by his process ; flax in 

 this state mixed with cotton; stockings knit from 

 the flax mixed with wool ; jean, composed of 80 

 per cent, cotton and flax, equally mixed, and 20 

 per cent, wool ; satinet, the filling of which was 

 composed of 25 per cent, of wool with 75 per 

 cent, of flax ; together with print, a portion of 

 which was flax, all of which looked very well. 



Mr. Allen then gave a history of the culture, 

 uses and manufacture of flax, from the time of the 

 early Egyptians to its introduction to this coun- 

 try by the settlers in Londonderry, N. H., where 

 the manufacture of linen in 1748 had become so 

 well advanced, and the cloth so noted, that the 

 Provincial Government had occasion to grant the 

 manufacturers the privilege of stamping their 

 cloths to prevent counterfeiting. In 1638, said 

 Mr. Allen, three brothers came from England, and 

 settled at Exeter ; two of these went back to pro- 

 cure machinery for flax manufacture, but were lost 



menced the manufacture of the article in 1775, 

 on the banks of thi? Merrimack, but the war break- 

 ing out, he joined the army, and after fighting at 

 Bunker Hill, and through the war, he returned 

 to find his property destroyed. This man had sev- 

 eral sons, one of v/hora he sent South to pros- 

 pect, and another to New Hampshire. Soon the 

 latter returned, and from his statement the familv 

 moved, and at the foot of the White Mountains, 

 in 1790-94, were erected the first linen wheels 

 that were ever turned by water, so far as the speak- 

 er had ever been able to ascertain. (Mr. Allen 

 exhibited a well executed oil painting of this mill 

 for the inspection of the audience.) 



The manufacture of flax was continued here 

 until the old man died, and the property eventu- 

 ally came into the hands of his eldest and young- 

 est daughters, who carried on the manufactui-e. 

 And here accident gave an idea in relation to the 

 rotting of flax which threw much light on the 

 mind of the old gentleman. He had been in the 

 habit of storing flax in a small barn situated over 

 a stream, and a bundle accidentally fell, or was 

 placed in the water, and when it Avas tal^en out 

 the rotting was perfect, and ever after water rot- 

 ting was used. In England, this is done in pools 

 in Avhich the water is stagnant. It was said that 

 the water in this White Mountain brook was, in 

 old times, very poisonous to animals, and that 

 split-footed beasts that drank of it would not live 

 two years unless they were watered elsewhere ; and 

 this was attributed to an Indian curse ; but it has 

 since been ascertained, from an analytical exami- 

 nation, that the water contained mineral proper- 

 ties which have been turned to good account in 

 the rotting of flax. The youngest of the ladies 

 who carried on the mill, and who is now living, 

 and has until recently been an extensive contrib- 

 utor to the agricultural papers of our State, has 

 always insisted that flax could be made into cot- 

 ton. This lady was the mother of the lectm-er. 



The speaker then alluded to the experiments 

 made in Europe by Chevalier Claussen, and con- 

 tended that he had not been able to dissolve the 

 gum resin, or glutinous matter, which causes the 

 fibres to adhere together, while he, the speaker, 

 claimed to have done this. He exhibited a spec- 

 imen of old line flax, which he said brought 12 

 to 15 cents per pound, from the labor necessary 

 to prepare it, which he said had a fibre apparently 

 two feet long as seen by the naked eye, while, if 

 examined by a miscroscope, it would be seen this 

 was composed of short fibres overlaying each oth- 

 er, and confined by this resinous matter. He ar- 

 gued that the natural fibre of flax was only from 

 1^ to 2 inches long. 



Mr. Allen then exhibited a machine for break- 

 ing unbroken flax, and said that by the use of this 

 he did awpv ■":i*-b tviIHio- prirl r-;f+;ri"-. the latter 



