270 



DICKSON ON THE LINEN AND 



.all which we know of Egyptian conservatism. For religious 

 purposes the Flaxan texture was rigidly demanded. 



So much was written in the Morning Chronicle upon Flax- 

 cotton (Claussen's Patent) that I am not surprised to find a 

 letter on the s abject should again appear in it ; but Mr. Bro- 

 therton forgets that Flax is so much more valuable than 

 cotton, and being double the cost, that it would be not unlike 

 trying to turn gold into silver, to wash Flax by reducing it in 

 length to cotton.* Again, he appears not to be aware that Mr. 

 Bright, M.P., tried to spin for Claussen, and gave it up as a bad 

 job, because of the short and long lengths in the staple. Claussen 

 had all sorts of cutting machines, and all proved a failure/)" 

 However, I shall give place to Mr. B.'s letter on the subject. 



COTTON AND FLAX. 



To the Editor of the e( Morning Chronicle." 

 " Sir,— After reading your remarks on the Cotton Supply 

 Association in a leading article in the Morning Chronicle, I 

 am induced to solicit a small space in your valuable journal 

 for a few further observations on that important fibre, Flax. 

 It is a most extraordinary circumstance, and one that will be 

 scarcely credited by succeeding generations, that the great and 

 wealthy cotton manufacturing interest of the present age 

 should spend so much time, labour, and money in the endea- 

 vour to produce the fibre of cotton, and at the same time be 

 satisfied to remain in perfect ignorance of what really is the 



* Such was my opinion in 1858 when writing the above, as the cotton was 

 then so low as 4d. to 6d. per lb., and Flax of the lowest sort could not be had 

 below 5d. per lb., then to that 3d. per lb. must be added to make it fine, elean, 

 and soft, for cotton-spinners use, but now, as eotton is up to Is. 6d. and 2s. per 

 lb., Flax must and' will come in to a great extent to take the place of cotton for 

 household purposes. 



f This difficulty I have got over by my patented cottonizing machine, which 

 makes the fibres the exact length for cotton spinning machinery now in u se, in 

 1864. 



