L I N 
Limes on the plain scale, are the line of 
chords, line of sines, line of tangents, line of 
secants, line of semitangents, line of leagues ; 
the construction and application of which 
see under the words Scale, Sailing, In- 
struments, & c. 
Lines on Gunter’s scale. See Gun- 
ter’s Scale. 
Lines ot the sector. See Instru- 
ments. 
Lines, in fortification, are those of ap- 
proach, capital, defence, circumvallation, 
contravallation of the base, &c. 
To Line a work, signifies to strengthen a 
•rampart with a firm wall ; or to encompass 
a parapet or inoat with good turf, &c. 
Line, in the art of war, is understood 
of the disposition of an army, ranged in 
order of battle, with the front" extended as 
far as may be, that it may not be flanked. 
Line of battle, is also understood of the 
disposition ot a fleet on the day of engage- 
ment. 
Ship of the Line, a vessel large enough to 
be drawn up in the line, and to have a place 
in a sea-fight. 
Line, also denotes a French measure, 
containing the twelfth part of an inch, or the 
hundred and forty-fourth part of a foot. 
Geometricians conceive the line subdivided 
into six points. The French line answers to 
the English barleycorn. 
LINEAR, numbers, in mathematics, 
such as have relation to length only ; such 
is a number which represents one side of a 
plane figure. If the plane figure be a 
square, the linear number is called a root. 
Linear problem, that which may *be 
solved geometrically, by the intersection of 
two right lines. This is called a simple 
problem, and is capable but of one solution. 
LINEN, in commerce, a well-known kind 
of doth, chiefly made of flax. See Linum, 
and Weaving. 
LING. See Gadus. 
LINIMENT. See Pharmacy. 
LINN/EA, a genus of the class and order 
didynamia angiospermia. Theca), is double; 
the cor. bell-shaped ; the berry dry, three- 
celled. There is one species, a herb of 
Sweden. 
LINNET. See Frtngillia. 
LINSEED, the seed of the plant linum. 
See Linum. 
L1NSP1NS, in the military art, small pins 
of iron, which keep the wheel of a cannon 
or waggon on the axletree ; for when the 
end of the axletree is put through he nave, 
the 1 inspin is put in, to keep the wheel from 
falling off. 
LINT, the scrapings of linen ; which is 
used in dressing wounds, arid is made up in 
various forms, as tents, dossils, pledgets. 
See. See Surgery. 
LINUM, flax; a genus of the penta- 
gynia order, in the pentandria class of 
plants; and in the natural method ranking 
under the 1 4th order, gru males. The calyx 
is pentaphyllous ; the petals are five ; the 
capsule is quinquevalved and decemlocular ; 
and the seeds are solitary. There are 25 
species, of which the most remarkable are, 
1. The nsitatissimum, or common annual 
flax. 2. Piie perenne, or perennial Siberian 
flax, with umbe late clusters of large blue 
flowers. 3. The catharLcum, or purging 
fiax, a very small plant, not above fpur or 
11 ‘ 
L I N 
five inches high ; found wild upon chalky 
hills and in dry pleasure-grounds. 
1 he lirst species is cultivated in the fields 
for the use of the manufacturers. The se- 
cond sort is chiefly ornamental. The vir- 
tue of the third species is expressed in its 
title : ;jn infusion in water or whey of a 
handful of the fresh leaves, or a dram of 
them in substance when dried, is said to 
purge without inconvenience. 
pj the cultivation of Jinx. A skilful flax- 
raiser always prefers a free, open, deep loam ; 
and all grounds that produced the preceding 
year a good crop of turnips, cabbages, pota- 
toes, barley, or broad clover ; or have been 
formerly laid down rich, and kept for some 
years in pasture. 
If the linseed is sown early, and the flax 
not allowed to stand for seed, a crop of tur- 
nips may be got after the flax that very 
year ; the second year a crop of rye or bar- 
ley may be taken ; and the third year, grass- 
seeds are sometimes sown along with the 
linseed . Of preceding crops, potatoes and 
hemp are the best preparation for flax. If 
the ground is free and open, it should be but 
once ploughed, and that as shallow as pos- 
sible, not deeper than two and a half inches. 
It should be laid flat, reduced to a fine gar- 
den mould by good harrowing, and all 
stones and sods should be carried off. Ex- 
cept a little pigeon’s dung for cold or sour 
ground, no other dung should be used pre- 
paratory for flax ; because it produces too 
many Weeds, and throws up the flax thin 
and poor upon the stalk. Before sowing, 
the bulky clods should be broken, or carried 
off the ground ; and stones, quickenings, and 
every other thing that may hinder the 
growth of the flax, should be carefully taken 
away. The brighter in colour, and heavier 
the seed is, so much the better; that which 
when bruised appears of a light or yellowish 
green, and fresh in the heart, oily, and not 
dry, and smells and tastes sweet, and not 
fusty, may be depended upon. Dutch seed 
of the preceding year’s growth, for the most 
part, answers best ; but it seldom succeeds 
it kept another year. It ripens sooner than 
any other foreign seed. Philadelphia seed 
produces fine imt and few bolls, because 
sown thick, and answers best in wet cold 
soils. 
The quantity or linseed sown should be 
proportioned to the condition of the soil ; 
for if the ground is in good heart, and the 
seed sown thick, the crop will be in danger 
ot falling before it is ready for pulling. The 
time for sowing linseed is from the middle 
of March to the end of April, as the ground 
and season answer ; but the earlier the seed 
is sown, the less the crop interferes with the 
corn harvest. Late-sown linseed may grow 
1 mg, but the flax upon the stalk will be 
thin and poor. 
I* lax ought to be weeded, when the crop 
is about four inches long. If longer deter- 
red, the weeders will a so much break and 
bend the stalks, and they will perhaps never 
recover their straightness again ; and when 
the flax grows crooked, it is more liable to 
i e hurt in the rippling and swingling. Quick" 
on grass should be taken up ; for, being 
strongly rooted, the pulling of it always, 
loosens a great deal of the lint. If there is 
an appearance of a settled drought, it is bet- 
ter to defer the weeding, than by that opera- 
L I N 
' tion to expose the tender root? of the flax to 
the drought. 
When the crop grows so short and branchy 
as to appear more seed than tlax, it ought 
not to be pulled before it is thoroughly ripe ; 
but if it grows long and not branchy, the 
seed should be disregarded, and all the at- 
tention given to the flax. In the last case 
it ought to be pulled after the bloom has 
fallen, when the stalk begins to turn ye’ low, 
and before the leaves fall, and the bolls turn 
hard and sharp-pointed. When the stalk is 
small, and carries few bolls, the flax is fine ; 
but the stalk of coarse flax is gross, rank, 
branchy, and carries many bolls. When the 
flax has fallen, and lies, such as lies ought 
to be immediately pulled, whether it has 
grown enough or not, as otherwise it will 
rot altogether. When parts of the same 
field grow unequally, so that some parts are 
ready for pulling before other parts, only 
what is ready should be pulled, and the rest 
should be suffered to stand till it ripens. The 
flax-raiser ought to be at pains to pull and 
keep by itself, each different kind of lint 
which he finds in his field ; what is both long 
and line, by itself; what is both long and 
coarse, by itself; what is both short and 
fine, by itself; what is both short and coarse 
by itself; and in like manner every other 
kind by itself that is of the same size and 
quality. 
If the flax is more valuable than the seed, 
it ought by no means to be stacked up ; for 
its own natural juice assists it greatly in the 
watering ; whereas, if kept long umvatered, 
it loses that juice, and the harle adheres so 
much to the boon, that it requires longer 
time to water, and even the quality of the 
flax becomes harsher and coarser. Besides, 
the flax stacked up is in great danger from 
vermin and other accidents ; the water in 
spring is not so soft and warm as in harvest ; 
and near a year is lost of the use of the lint ; 
but if the tlax is so short and branchy as to 
appear most valuable for seed, it ought, after 
pulling, to be stacked and dried upon the 
field, as is done with corn ; then stacked up 
for winter, rippled in spring ; and the seed 
should be well cleaned from bad seeds, Ac. 
If the flax is to be regarded more than the 
seed, it should, after pulling,, be allowed to 
lie some hours upon the ground to dry a 
little, and so gain some firmness, to prevent 
the skin or harle, which is the flax - , from 
rubbing off in the rippling; an operation 
which ought by no means to be neglected, 
as the bolls, if put into tire water along with 
the flax, breed vermin there, and otherwise 
spoil the water. The bolls also prove very 
inconvenient in the grassing and breaking. 
The handfuls for rippling should not be 
great, as that endangers the lint in the ripe 
p'ing comb. After rippling, the flax-raiser 
will perceive, that he is able to assort each 
size and quality of the flax by itself more 
exactly than he could before. 
In watering, a running stream wastes the 
lint, makes it white, and frequently carries 
it away. Lochs, by the great quantity and 
motion of the water, also waste and w’hiten 
the flax, though not so much as running 
streams. Both rivers and lochs water the 
flax quicker than canals. The greater way 
the river or brook has run, the softer, and 
therefore the better, will the water bo. 
Springs, or short runs from hills, are too cold. 
