208 ANALYSIS OF STEEP-WATER FROM WATT’S PROCESS. 
Appendix. 
Note of the time occupied, and of the number of persons employed in each 
of the processes witnessed by the Committee, on the experimental trial of 
Mr. Watt's system of preparing Flax fibre : 
No. of Persons employed. Time oceupied. 
Men. Women & Boys. Hours. Minutes. 
Seeding : . . 4 8 1 15 
Placing in vat ‘ a 4 0 15 
Cleaning seed c » t 0 3 0 
Taking out of vat ¢ 2 3 0 30 
Wet-rolling and putting in drying 
room . : . eek 16 2 20 
Rolling for scutching . 0 11 1 8 
Striking for ditto . 0 7 4 47 
Total 11 49 13 15 
Scutching $ 4 0 6 16 
Analysis of the Liquid obtained in Watt's Patent Flax Process. 
At a meeting of the Chemico-Agricultural Society of Ulster, Dr. Hodges 
gave an analysis of the liquid obtained in Watt’s Patent Flax Process, and 
an account of the new process of preparing Flax, patented by Messrs. Watt 
and Leadbetter, which, he said, offered the only practical method of econo- 
mising the matters which are separated from the Flax plant in its pre- 
aration for the manufacturer, which had hitherto been proposed. The 
iquid which remains in the flax-vats employed in the new process possessed 
none of the disagreeable qualities of the ordinary steep waters. It was free 
from smell, and in taste and colour somewhat resembled an infusion of senna 
leaves. It was, in fact, a strong tea, containing, unchanged by fermentation 
or putrefaction, the soluble matters of the stem of the Plax plant. It was, 
at the present time, advantageously used at Messrs. Leadbetter’s works in 
feeding pigs. As it was desirable to ascertain the exact composition of this 
liquid and its nutritive value, he had procured a sample of it from the 
Bedford Street works, and had it submitted to chemical examination. The 
following were the results: One gallon evaporated to dryness gave— 
Of Organic matters F A . 353°97 grains. 
» Earthy and Saline matters . ‘ » 161°49 
Total amount of solid matter + 515-46 grains. 
The organic matter afforded on analysis 14-79 grains of nitrogen. 
The earthy and saline matters were found to possess the following com- 
position : 
Composition of the Ash of the.Steep-water of Flax. 
Per cent. In a gallon 
Potash . - 27:17 44°63 grains. 
Soda. F » 3818 512, 
Chloride of Sodium ‘ - 21°58 34°61 ,, 
Lime . : 7 - 591 949 ,, 
Magnesia igs ‘ - 4:60 7:40 ,, 
Oxide of Iron 5 : - 083 1:33, 
Sulphuric Acid F . 15°64 25°11 ,, 
Phosphoric Acid . i » 5°66 901 ~«,, 
Carbonic Acid : » 12:43 19:96 _,, 
Silica. 3 3 - 38:00 483 ,, 
100-00 16149 grains. 
