192 



DICKSON ON HIS 



articles, it wonld be very well to try what can be made of our 

 own materials, and encourage cultivators of Flax by opening * 

 them a market for their green straw, vast quantities of which 

 could be used in the workhouses of the county. 



' ' I am dear Sir, truly yours, 



" F. LOYD, Goveenor." 







EDITOEIAL EEMAEKS OF THE LONDONDERRY 

 STANDARD. 



" IMPORTANT TO MANUFACTURERS . MR. DICKSON'S PATENT 



INVENTIONS, IN JULY 1855. 



" We have much pleasure in directing attention to Mr. 

 Dickson's advertisement in our columns to-day. "We extract 

 the following paragraph from the Banner of Ulster, and as we 

 had ourselves, when lately at Belfast, an opportunity of 

 inspecting the sample referred to, we can also bear witness to 

 the surprising result of Mr. Dickson's inventions : — 1 At the 

 request of Mr. Dickson, we visited him at the Commercial 

 Hotel, in order to see his various samples, and to hear his 

 explanation of the working of his patents. We do not 

 pretend to be capable of giving an opinion as to the value of 

 the Flax, Hemp, China and India Grasses, Nalgery Nettle, or 

 the other Indian fibres we saw, but we confess that we were 

 struck with astonishment to see a long handful of fibre that 

 had been taken from the green straw and prepared by the 

 machines, and the one end made white, and more 

 like silk than Flax, by a five hours' process, and Russian 

 and Italian hemp prepared in the same way, appears 

 to be equally fine with the Flax. We questioned the 

 inventor and patentee as to the strength of the fibre, and 

 we give his own words, allowing those interested to test 

 the quality, and ascertain how far they are proved by facts. 

 Mr. Dickson says he takes the Flax green from the field, 



