Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/335

303&#93; F L A Til til'-; st.it'- ;!]' I '-,' to bfe manufactured into Linen j tor a • hoi t a<> ount oi which pro . to that article. Many attempts hare been made by ingenious persons, to improve flax, of to render it liner, softer, and c<|u:il to silk in spinning. In Ireland, this object has, in a great measure, been attained by boiling it for st vi ral hours in sea-water, with the addition of a lye made of unslacked lime, and two or three parts of pot-ashes : thus we have seen the coarsest part of flax, or tow, considerably changed in its texture, so as to resemble the finest tint, — In die 60th Report of the Economical Society of Leipzig, printed in J ~[)~ (in German), we meet with the following process of converting rlax into a silky sub- stance, communicated by Count Harrsch, director of the mines in Ilussia : Take pure combed rlax, tie it up into rollers covered with white buckram, fasten them with packthread, and deposit them for a fortnight in a damp cellar. Then open the flax, and place it under the cylinders of a common mangle, where it should be rolled over rive or six times, in a manner similar to that pursued with linen. Next, the flax should be passed through a fine brass comb. This process of mangling and combing must be repeated a second and third time, but the combs ought to be progres- sively finer. By such treatment (the Count informs the Society) a very fine, tender, and glossy rlax, may be obtained, scarcely inferior to China silk ; and, though it loses more than cne-third of its sub- stance, yet the refuse, or tow, is uncommonly fine, and still useful for the manufacture of ordinary linen. He farther observes, that, after F L A l3 3 3 ea< h i "i.irlv the firsts the fi ed, but th it tl ey rjeoovet their i by the subsequent ope- ration, l'lax thus prepared cannot, by mere contact, or the s<-n-c of feeling, be distinguished from silk, and is fit to be manufactured into the finest cambric, and Brabant laee. Of the utility of flax or linseed, mjatteni&g cuttle, we have already treated in vol. 1. p. 43. Beside these various purposes, flax may also be considered as a manure : for the land on which it is spread, in order to prepare it for housing, is thus in a considerable degree ameliorated j and, if rated flax be laid on a coarse, sour 'pas- ture, the nature of the herbage will be totally changed ; and the sweet- est grasses will in future grow qn such indifferent soil. — The water, too, in which the flax is immersed, if properly sprinkled on land, by means of watering carts, will pro- duce a very fertilizing effect, and increase its value ten or fifteen shillings per acre. But this water is of so poisonous a nature to cattle, that the practice of macerating or steeping flax, in any pond or run- ning stream, is, by the 33d Hen- ry VIII. c. 1/, prohibited under very severe penalties. 2. The catharticum, or Purg- ing Flax, or Mill-mountain, is an annual plant, growing in dry mea- dows and pastures, and flowering from June to August. It is eaten by horses, sheep, and goats. — An infusion of two drams of the dried plant is an excellent laxative, and has been given with advantage in obstinate rheumatisms. FLAX, TOAD, the Common- Yellow, or Antirrhinum Linaria, L. an indigenous perennial plant, which grows in barren meadows, pastures,