224 DAVY’S MACHINE. 
a gentleman of great practical knowledge in Flax culture, seems 
to be only able to obtain 9 lb. of Flax, and 15 oz. of Tow, out 
of 100lb. of Flax stalks. Mr. MacAdam, the Society’s 
Secretary, says that improvements have now been made, which 
enable parties working on Schenck’s system, to produce 14 1h, 
out of 112]b. of Flax stalks; but by a much more profitable 
process (that of Watt’s), where 10 cwt. l qr. 21 1b. of stalks 
had been operated on, the result was 234 1b. of Flax and Tow; 
while his own process, Mr. Dickson states, produces 268 lb. of 
marketable fibre. Mr. Warner, of Trimmingham, the advocate 
of hand-scutching, commonly obtains 20 stone of scutched 
Flax out of one ton of stalks, at a cost of 2s. per stone. 
The correctness of these conclusions, and the carrying them 
out on a large scale, are of course dependent upon a variety of 
circumstances. The Author can only vouch, as he has already 
done at p. 184, for the greatly improved appearance of some 
of the Indian fibres which have been subjected to Mr. 
Dickson’s treatment, and he has been assured by good practical 
judges, that some of them might, in the state to which they 
have been brought, be at once used for many of the purposes 
of Flax. He therefore believes that much practical good will 
arise out of the mechanical method of separating the fibres of 
Exogens when in a dry state, and of those of Endogens when 
still moist and green, 
The Author has lately had an opportunity of seeing some 
specimens of Flax from Northumberland, and of Hemp from 
Italy, prepared by Mr. Dickson, with his machines and liquid, 
and without steeping. One half of each specimen is in the dried 
state of the stems, so as to give every facility for comparison. 
These clearly prove the practicability of this method, and 
therefore of the preparation of fibre, for many purposes at 
least, without any steeping. 
The Author has also seen some specimens of Indian fibre 
beautifully prepared by Mr. W. Gardiner. 
At the meeting of the Royal Agricultural Society held at 
Lincoln this year (July, 1854), a machine, manufactured by 
Messrs. Ransome, was exhibited and worked by Mr. E. Davy, 
of Crediton, in which Flax fibre was separated from the cuticle 
and boon by mechanical means, and without any steeping, 
This was favorably mentioned in ‘ The Times’ (July 20th, 1854), 
