30 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
fibre could be as easily worked on the improved cotton 
machinery of the present as cotton itself—to the practicability, 
in short, of cottonizing flax. 
Perhaps the first organized movement in this direction was 
made by the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of 
Domestic Industry, which in 1861 offered large rewards for the 
stimulation of such investigations. 
This was followed at the succeeding session of the New 
York legislature by the appropriation of $2,000, to be expend¬ 
ed, under the direction of the State Agricultural Society, for 
the encouragement of those who were seeking by machinery 
to test the practicability of manufacturing flax-cotton. In 
pursuance of this action, the society issued a circular inviting 
all who had been successful in “ the preparation of flax, as an 
economical substitute for cotton, so as to be used on cotton 
machinery,” to present their claims to a committee of the soci¬ 
ety thereafter to be appointed. 
The committee, consisting of Messrs. Samuel Campbell, 
John Stanton Gould and Alfred Wild, after a careful inquiry 
into the claims made by competitors, were unable to recom¬ 
mend the award of the premium, but nevertheless gave an en¬ 
couraging account of the progress made. 
From a report made by Geo. E. Dyer and Mr. Albert Briggs 
of Rhode Island, who attended the New York society’s com¬ 
mittee in their investigations, we quote the following concise 
statement of the several steps in the process then used in the 
factory ol the Lockport Flax-Cotton Company. 
1. Breaking, by passing through revolving fluted rollers. 
2. Dusting, by passing through a machine similar to the willow of the 
cotton manufacturer. 
3. Scutching. 
4. Combing, by a process like that for preparing worsted yarn. 
5. Dusting again. 
6. Steeping the fibre 24 hours in tepid water. 
7. Boiling in soap and soda ash (3 pounds of the latter per 100 pounds 
of fibre) for 12 hours. 
8. Immersing in chlorine for 2 hours or more, as necessary for bleach¬ 
ing. 
