272 



DICKSON ON THE 



cotton in able hands will bear manufacturing, though it is my 

 ill fortune to have it discredited by the artisans who work for 

 me. I had in Dublin, with great difficulty, a gown woven for 

 myself, and three waistcoats; but had not the person who 

 employed a weaver for me particularly wished to oblige me, I 

 could not have got it manufactured. The absurd alarm that it 

 might injure the trade of foreign cotton had gained ground, 

 and the spinners, for Avhat reason I cannot comprehend, de- 

 clared themselves such bitter enemies to my scheme, that they 

 would not spin for me. Such is my fate, that what between 

 party in the metropolis, and indolence in this place (Ballyna- 

 hinch), I am not capable of doing my scheme justice. I did 

 wish to introduce among the people this invention, which 

 I saw might be greatly improved, and turn the refuse of Flax 

 into comfortable clothing, and by a process so easy that every 

 industrious wife and child might prepare it.' The specimens 

 of those fabrics, as well as of Flax-cotton prepared by her, 

 which are preserved in the Museum of the Society of Arts, 

 are remarkable for their beauty. 



"It is greatly to be regretted that the same prejudice pre- 

 vails to a great extent to the present day, but if the Cotton 

 Supply Association would turn their attention to this fibre, 

 they would find that the English, Irish, and Scotch farmers 

 can produce for them this Flax ready for carding, superior 

 in quality, and at less cost and in greater ?tbundance, than 

 they can obtain cotton from more distant parts of the world. 

 Were this taken up with spirit, two years would be sufficient 

 to strike a final death-blow to American slavery. 



"W. BRQTHERTON. 



"22, Maidstone Street, N.E/' 



Many attempts have been made from time to time to dis- 

 cover the proper method of preparing New Zealand Flax 

 (Phormiwn Tcnax), and the unvarying failures to accomplish 



