184 



PICKSON ON THE ADVANTAGE OF 



improved machinery under my own direction, and that from 

 drawings by my own hands cdone y determined that no man 

 should be able to say he gave me an idea on any 'part of my 

 inventions, and my success arose from a determination to 

 conquer difficulties, by keeping in mind the motto of the late 

 great Duke of Wellington, ' ' Nothing impossible, try again." 



In addition to the above experiments, I have been induced 

 to add another and a more successful trial on English green 

 Flax-straw, had from the factory of Mr. Smith, Greenwich ; 

 of this straw 14lbs. was weighed on its arrival on Tuesday, 

 in presence of Mr. Simpson, Director of the Eastern Counties 

 Railway, and several other gentlemen: it was converted in 

 twenty minutes into marketable fibre, and produced 4lbs. 

 of perfectly clean, long green Flax, and lib. of tow. 



The newest and most approved of machines and mills in 

 Ireland cannot produce more than from lib. 12ozs. to 2lbs. 

 or 2-Jlbs. of clean Flax from lOlbs. of retted Flax-straw, and 

 it requires 14lbs. or 15lbs. of green straw, such as I worked, 

 to make lOlbs. of retted straw — see Tuesday's Banner of 

 Ulster, containing a report of experiments made in presence 

 of a committee from the Royal Flax Society of Belfast; 

 from this it is evident that I have produced double the 

 quantity of fibre, from the same weight of green Flax-straw, 

 and what is of more importance, from 20 to 25 per cent, 

 will cover the loss or waste in making the green fibre 

 perfectly white, and thus the delay and expense of bleaching 

 goods made from Flax entirely got rid of. 



The reader may ask why I repeat so often the weight of 

 clean fibre from a given weight of unprepared material, 

 therefore I wish him to understand, that in no instance 

 have I lifted my pen to assert what my machines could 

 produce, unless I had it in my power to refer to parties of 

 undoubted position and character, who had seen the test of 

 working from such weight of raw material. 



