WE here present the public with a com­plete memoir touching the cultivation of flax, which will supply what our books of oeconomy have not said, confirm the good precepts they have given, and improve a great many others. It is written by an understanding man, who has lived long in Holland; and it is well known, that flax is a considerable branch of the trade of that country.

The Dutch are, without contradiction, the surest guides we can follow on this subject. The difficulty is to draw from them the ne­cessary instruction; for they are in general, jea­lous of their secrets, which are forbid to be dis­covered under severe penalties; above all things, they make a mystery of there method of pre­paring flax. Very few people find means to penetrate into the places where it is managed; and these must not be in the least suspected of being drawn thither by any other motive than simple curiosity; but no foreign merchant or manufacturer is ever admitted.

The soil of every country is not fit for flax, which requires fat land: and too much care can­not be taken in choosing that where we propose [Page 2] to sow this plant: for upon this depends the quality of the grain, together with the number and strength of the stalks. In some countries, however, they followed a quite contrary me­thod, preferring a light and warm soil: true it is, the flax which this produces, yields a fairer, finer and softer thread; but the harvest is indif­ferent, and in these meagre lands, the grain degenerates from the first or second year. On the contrary, in fat soils that are a little moist, the flax bears excellent grain, and the stalks are very fine. The Dutch, whose flourishing trade evinces their dexterity in this particular, sow very little flax in the province of Holland, because the soil of it is poor; but in Zealand where the land is extremely fat and moist enough, they reap that which they employ in their manufac­tures. The linseed which they rear in that province is sold dearer, and much more esteem­ed than that which is brought from the Baltic.

This assertion may seem contradictory to an incontestable fact, which is, that the Dutch themselves yearly purchase the linseed of Riga: but the solution of this seeming paradox, is very easy. The Dutch bring linseed from Riga, only for the use of other countries; and this is not because their own seed degenerates, but because they have not a sufficient quantity for the foreign demand.

Although I advise people to choose very fat land for their flax, I do not pretend to say that in these only flax ought to be sown. I maintain nothing more than that they are the best, and [Page 3] that other lands are only endowed with degrees of goodness, in proportion to the qualities by which they approach the nature of those fat lands. And indeed, although I have condemn­ed the use of light soil, as it may be proper to have fine thread, I shall not at all oppose the practice of sowing sometimes weak ground with linseed. There will even be an advantage in cultivating soils of a different nature. We shall have linseed of our own growth, without being obliged to have recourse to that which the Dutch bring us from Riga.

After having chosen a suitable piece of ground, we must give it the necessary preparation before it be sown: and this is the method which is fol­lowed in Flanders and Zealand. To fatten the ground, the Dutch make use of dung, ashes, and sometimes human ordure: but this last sort is only used in small spots of ground which has long lain fallow. They, moreover, employ marl, lime, the cleansings of pools, the raspings of horn; and upon the sea-coast, they gather for the same purpose, the sea-weed, which forms a kind of glue upon the surface of the waves. These different fatteners, which are preferred according to the difference of soil, are excellent for flax: being much better than dung: for, if this last is not sufficiently old and rotten, it raises among the seed a sort of weeds which grow in great number, and do infinite injury to the flax, in spite of all the care that can be ta­ken to extirpate them. This inconvenience is not to be [...]a [...]ed from the use of marl, lime, [Page 4] sea-weed, and raspings of horn; and this ad­vantage certainly deserves the entire consideration of the farmer. Weeds, (and these I call para­sites, which grow contrary to the inclination of the f [...]rmer) weeds, I say, do abundance of mis­chief to all sorts of grain, but to flax in parti­cular. For, they change its quality, and dimi­nish its quantity.

With regard to the labouring part, in Zealand where the ground is fat, strong and moist, two different methods are followed. The Zealand­ers plough the land thrice, four times, and even oftener, and leave it fallow during a whole sum­mer; or else they begin by making it bear the seed, and in that case, this is their method of managing it. After having dunged and tilled it twice, they sow the seed. The following year they plant it with madder, which remains upon it for the space of two years, and in the fourth they sow their flax. By these means they are sure of having a moveable soil; for besides the repetition of labouring bestowed upon it, before the sowing of the seed in the first year, besides the fermentation of the dung, and the other labour­ings which are sometimes repeated to the num­ber of five times, in order to prepare it for the madder, they are obliged to be continually at work upon it, in extirpating the roots of that plant.

Ground thus prepared, one would imagine ought to reward the cares of the farmer. Ne­vertheless, the Zealanders themselves prefer the first method; when they want to have the most [Page 5] plentiful crop of linseed. And indeed the abode of the madder in the earth, for the space of two years, must greatly diminish the richness of the soil. The Zealanders follow this last method, for no other reason than the benefit which accrues to them from the madder: which benefit is such, that the produce of their land managed in the manner I have described for four years, being added, is more considerable, than if they had practised the first method.

In Flanders, where there is no trade for mad­der, and where the lands are extremely strong, es­pecially in the neighbourhood of Courtray, the farmers do not sow flax until after having let the ground lie fallow a whole summer and winter, and then laboured it several times sucessively. In the driest and highest soils that will bear flax, as that round Antwerp, Ghent and Bruges, the people think it necessary to labour them three times, and never sow the seed, until they have let them lie fallow for one summer at least. When the ground is rendered sufficiently move­able by these different labourings, the farmer's next care is to give it the last preparation for its receiving the seed. In Zealand it is disposed in­to uniform beds separated by small ditches: the beds being from fifty to sixty feet broad, and the ditches about two or three feet deep, and a foot and an half broad. This disposition maintains a suitable degree of moisture in the ground: the breadth and uniformity of the beds keep them in a condition to retain water, enough to secure them from drought; and the ditches sunk [Page 6] at proper distances, discharge the superfluity in time of excessive rains.

This method cannot be too much commend­ed: a farmer by putting it in practice, need not be afraid of sowing linseed in a fat ground, though it is very moist; for the ditches will not only free the field of that water which might other­wise ro [...] the seed, but will likewise, leave moi­sture enough for the growth of the plant. The Flemings are so much persuaded of the necessity there is for a certain degree of moisture to the flax, that in their light and dry grounds they make no ditches at all: but usually, make the surface of the field very even and uniform, that it may the longer retain the rain-water.

The soil being well prepared, we must choose the seed proper to be sown; and surely, the farmer cannot be too careful in the choice. That which is short, roundish, firm, oily, heavy, of a shining or clear brown colour, is accounted the best: and the peasants of Zealand are very atten­tive in examining if all these different qualities unite in that which he is about to sow. In or­der to ascertain its firmness, he takes a large hand­ful and squeezing it until it pierces between his fingers and thumb, judges of its solidity by the quantity which is squeezed out by this compres­sion, and by the slow manner in which it comes out. To know whether it is heavy, he throws an handful into a glass of water: that which is good soon goes to the bottom; and he rejects that which swims on the surface. To prove its oiliness, he throws some into the fire; and when [Page 7] it kindles and sparkles as soon as it touches the coals, he makes no scruple in employing it. There is besides, another method used in Zea­land, which is to sow some of the seed in little beds of earth; and in a little time, they see by the effect whether or not it is of the right kind.

All seed in general, soon degenerates, but par­ticularly linseed, let the soil in which it is pro­duced, be never so strong; for which reason it is proper to change the seed, and the more often the better. The most common rule followed on this occasion, is to sow in strong ground, the seed which is gathered from a light soil, and to commit to a light soil what has been produced in a strong one. This is certainly a very good rule, when properly understood: for if it is lite­rally followed, we run the risque of being mista­ken. Certain it is, light grounds yield seed of a very feeble quality, which [...] with any ad­vantage be employed in the same kind of soil: and a farmer ought never to sow lands of this na­ture but with a view to have fine flax: he will always be mistaken when he expects good seed from it. The rule therefore needs explanation. And here it is:

Among fat lands, there are some which are more or less so, without losing their title to that denomination. In order then to have always good seed, we must sow in strong ground, that which has been produced in ground of the same kind, though not quite so strong. On the con­trary, in ground that is strong, we must sow [Page 8] seed which hath been produced in ground which is still stronger. The smallest difference in the nature of the soil is sufficient to hinder the seed from degenerating.

By observing this rule we shall free ourselves of the slavery to which we are now subject, in using the seed brought from Riga, The disad­vantage of receiving it from the hands of the Dutch, who supply us, is greater than may be imagined. Besides, that we are not sure they bring the best, we run the risque of having that which will not agree with our lands: for, we buy it in the dark, without a possibility of knowing from what kind of soil it has been reap­ed. Consequently we run the hazard of sowing our fields with seed produced from the same kind of ground, in which case, we must neces­sarily have a very feeble crop: for lands, though situated at a great distance from one another, may be absolutely of the same nature.

The quantity of seed sown upon any field, has a great influence upon the crop. If we sow a smaller quantity than the field is able to bear, the whole will profit by that deficiency; the stalks will be strong, and the seed excellent. If the seed be sown thicker, the flax will produce a finer thread; the harvest will be more plente­ous; but the seed will be of an inferior quality. This last method is practised by the Dutch, who are in no fear of a scarcity of seed. But it is the farmers's business to know the nature of his own ground; and he will be guided by his interest and experience. A strong ground may bear a [Page 9] greater quantity of seed, without any detriment to the quality of the fruit which it shall pro­duce. On the other hand, in a ground that is not quite so strong, the same quantity of seed will rise but indifferently, and produce very lit­tle advantage. The Dutch and Flemings em­ploy about three or four bushels per acre.

Linseed must be sown in mild, dry weather: and may be committed to the ground in the month of March, if the season be favour­able. Being thus early sown, it will be ripe at the end of June, or in the beginning of July at farthest; and the farmer will have leisure to manage it in a proper manner. This expedition will also furnish another advantage. After the harvest of the flax, we may sow turnips or other things of that nature, which will succeed to ad­miration, and usefully occupy the ground, which would produce nothing during the remaining part of the year, if the season had been more ad­vanced when the flax was ready to be cut down.

I have seen some farmers in Holland and Flan­ders, sow grass some days after the linseed had been committed to the same ground. This herb far from hurting, facilitates the growth of the other plant. In all probability, the young grass secures the roots of the flax from the coolness of the rain, and at the same time shelters it from the heat of the sun. I do not know whether this explanation of the alliance between these two plants, is just; but it is well known that flax and hay rise very well together, and that, after having taken away the first, a very good crop of the last will remain.

[Page 10]There is very little to be said upon the man­ner of sowing linseed. I shall only observe, that the sower must follow the ridge in a direct line, throwing the seed with his right hand, and in returning use the left hand: for it is of great consequence that the seed should be equally scattered. Some days after, when it is time that the seed should be buried, they sow the grass-seed, if they choose they should come up together. Both are covered by the harrow, and pressed by the roller. As to the weeding, that operation begins, when the blade is two inches high, and continues until it is five: but it is dangerous to use the heel of the shoe in crushing the weeds, because thereby the flax is sometimes damaged.

Some farmers pluck it up before it hath arrived at maturity; pretending that the thread is fairer while the plant is green. But they are mistaken, and lose their seed without any in­demnity; for the flax yields the finest thread, and that in the largest quantity, when the plant is seasonably pulled: so that the farmer who an­ticipates the time of its maturity over and above his seed, loses one half of the crop. The fila­ments of this flax, suffers great waste in the dif­ferent methods of dressing, and falls almost alto­gether in h [...]rds: for what resists the pond, the sowing press, and the hatchel, is of an in­ferior quality to that which would have been produced, had the flax been pulled when ripe.

The Flemings, whose experience may be de­pended upon, leave it growing as long as possi­ble, on purpose to have a finer thread; and that they may have it as ripe as it can be, for their manufactures of linen or lace, they often [Page 11] run the risque of losing the seed, which easily escapes.

When the flax begins to be yellow, or rather to approach a citron colour, it is usually time to reap it. But in order to be more certain of its maturity, they pull a few stalks, and take out the seed, which when firm and of a clear brown colour, the flax is ripe. The Dutch wait until the stalks are ready to open, and even until some of the ripest are actually so: but the best advice I can give upon this subject, is to delay the harvest of flax as long as possible, without run­ning too great a risque of losing the seed, which last, as well as the flax itself, is the better for this delay.

Some farmers have observed, that a kind of mildew falls upon flax that is sown in light ground, about fifteen days before its maturity; and that this corrosive dew burns at first the seed, and afterwards the stalk. If this observa­tion be true, those who cultivate flax in a light ground, ought to pay no regard to the custom of oth [...]s, who delay the harvest until the flax be entirely ripe. In Holland, the flax being pulled, is laid softly upon the ground in large handfuls, the head of the plant being always turned towards the south; and several handfuls are put one over another, until the heap is a foot and an half high. Care must always be taken to lay the heads towards the south: for the flax being thus disposed, continues to receive from the sun the degree of maturity it may want, and is secured from the rain, if any should fall. But this disposition is only observed when the weather is uncertain; for when it is dry, they content themselves with spreading [Page 12] the flax by handfuls upon the field, that it may be the sooner ready to be carried off. If the season is favourable, twelve or fourteen days are sufficient to make it perfectly dry: but when the weather is wet, they are sometimes obliged to leave the flax in little heaps, for the space of eighteen or twenty days. In countries exposed to high winds, this method will not avail. There it is made into bottles that stand on end, ex­posed to the sun, in order to be aired and dried. In some places, the flax is bound and put up without being seeded, and in this manner it is kept 'till the month of December: by this ma­nagement however, we run the risque of losing the seed. But in Holland and Flanders, it is shelled as soon as the flax is brought from the field. In these countries it is not the farmer who bestows upon the plant the management neces­sary for its employment; for as soon as it is reap­ed it is delivered to the workman, who dresses it accordingly.

Flax is ea [...]ly lodged by the winds and rains, and as it sometimes cannot be raised again, this accident ruins the hopes of the planter. In or­der to obviate this misfortune, some people di­vide the field in little squares of five feet; fix a forked stick at every angle, and when the flax begins to grow up, lay across these sticks, small long poles, which serve as a support to the plant: but this precaution is attended with expence. Others, instead of poles, use cords; but these do not so well answer the purpose. When care is taken not to waste too much seed in sowing, the stalks that rise are strong enough to support themselves; but then the flax does not yield such a fine thread.

FOR many ages it was the practice to sepa­rate the boon or core from the flax, which is the bark of the plant, by the following simple hand methods. First, for breaking the boon; the stalks in small parcels were beat with a mallet; or more dexterously, the break (See the copper-plate figure 1. and 2.) was used thus: The flax being held in the left-hand a-cross the three under-teeth or swords of the break (A, fig. 1. and a, fig. 2.), the upper teeth (B, fig. 1. and b, fig. 2.) were with the right-hand quickly and often forced down upon the flax, which was artfully shifted and turned with the left-hand. Next, for clearing the flax of the broken boon; the workman with his left-hand held the flax over the stock (fig. 3. and 4.) while with his right-hand he struck or threshed the flax with the scutcher (fig. 5.)

These methods of breaking and scutching the flax being slow and very laborious, a water­mill was invented in Scotland about forty years ago, which, with some late improvements, [Page 34] makes great dispatch, and in skilful and care­ful hands gives satisfaction. It has been gene­rally constructed to break the boon by three dented-rollers, placed one above the other. The middle one of which being forced quickly round takes the other two along with it, and one end of the handfuls of the flax being by the workman directed in between the upper and middle rollers, the flax is immediately drawn in by the rollers; a curved board or plate of tin behind the rollers directs the flax to return again between the middle and undermost rollers;— and thus the operation is repeated until the boon be sufficiently broke. Great weights of timber or stone at the ends of levers, press the upper and under-rollers towards the middle one.

The scutching is next carried on by the mill in the following manner: Four arms, some­thing like the hand-scutchers before described, project from a perpendicular axle; a box around the axle incloses these projecting scutchers; and this box is divided among the workmen, each having sufficient room to stand and handle his flax, which, through slits in the upper-part and sides of the box, they hold in to the stroke of the scutchers; which, moving round horizon­tally, strike the flax a-cross or at right angles, and so thresh out or clear it of the boon.

The breaking of the flax by rollers is scarcely subject to any objection, but that it is dan­gerous to work-men not sufficiently on their guard, who sometimes allow the rollers to take hold of their fingers, and thereby their whole arm is instantly drawn in: thus many have lost [Page 35] their arms. To avoid this danger, a break upon the general principles of the hand-break before described, has been lately adapted to wa­ter machinery, and used in place of rollers. The horizontal stroke of the scutchers was long thought too severe, and wasteful of the flax; but very careful experiments have discovered that the waste complained of must be charged to the unskilfulness or negligence of the work­men, as in good hands the mill carries away no­thing but what, if not so scutched off, must be taken off in the heckling with more loss both of time and flax. But to obviate this objection of the violence of the horizontal scutchers, an imitation of hand-scutching has lately been ap­plied to water. The scutchers then project from an horizontal axle, and move like the arms of a check-reel, striking the flax neither across nor perpendicularly down, but sloping in upon the parcel exactly as the flax is struck by the hand scutcher. This sloping stroke is got by raising the scutching-stock some inches higher than the center of the axle; and by rais­ing or lowering the stock, over which the flax is held, or screwing it nearer to or farther from the scutchers, the workman can temper or hu­mour the stroke almost as he pleases.

A lint-mill with horizontal scutchers upon a perpendicular axle, requires a house of two stories, the rollers or break being placed in the ground story, and the scutchers in the l [...]st above; but a mill with vertical scutchers on an hori­zontal [Page 36] axle, requires but one ground story for all the machinery.

Another method of breaking and scutching flax, more expeditious than the old hand-methods, and more gentle than water mills, has also been lately invented in Scotland. It is much like the break and scutcher giving the sloping stroke last described, moved by the foot. The treddle is remarkably long, and the scutchers are fixed upon the rim of a fly-wheel. The foot-break is also assisted in its motion by a fly. These foot machines are very useful where there are no water mills, but they are far inferior to the mills in point of expedition.—

The next operation that flax undergoes after scutching, is heckling. The heckle (See the copper-plate figure 6.) is firmly fixed to a bench before the workman, who strikes the flax upon the teeth of the heckle, and draws it thro' the teeth. To persons unacquainted with that kind of work this may seem a very simple operation; but, in fact, it requires as much practice to acquire the slight of heckling well, and without wasting the flax, as any other operation in the whole manufacture of linen. They use coarser and wider teethed heckles, or finer, according to the quality of the flax; generally putting the flax thro' two heckles, a coarser one first, and next thro' a fine heckle.

[Page 37] FLAX for Cambrick and fine Lawn, Thread and Lace, IS dressed in a manner somewhat different. It is not skutched so thoroughly as com­mon flax; which from the skutch pro­ceeds to the heckle, and from that to the spin­ner: whereas this fine flax, after a rough skutch­ing, is scraped and cleansed with a blunt knife upon the workman's-knee covered with his leather apron; from the knife it proceeds to the spinner, who, with a brush made for the purpose, straights and dresses each parcel just before she begins to spin it.

HEMP requires a light, free, dry, dusty, and even a sandy warm soil; which if not naturally rich, must be made so by manure. New broke up ground does not an­swer for hemp, producing it thin and poor upon the stalk. Hemp does well to follow beans. The ground should be ploughed and harrowed three or four times, a fortnight or three weeks intervening between each time. In some parts of Lincoln and Holland the soil is naturally so free and rich, that it will pro­duce hemp constantly year after year without manure. The leaves which fall off the stalk h [...]lp to manure the ground. It is frequently sown with a view to clear the ground of weeds; which it does most effectually, growing fast, and s [...]n checki [...]g every weed but mugwort, which is picked out with a fork.

It is sown about the first of May; so thin, that about four p [...]ks are sufficient for an English acre; and the ground must then be covered as much as possible to preserve the seed from the birds, who are very fond of it.

[Page 39]The taper-topped stalk which does not bear the pods, is called the female, though in fact it is the male, scattering from its bloom a small dust, which impregnates the pods of the bushy-topped; which last is commonly, though improperly, called the male or carle hemp.

When hemp is the object of the farmer more than a crop of seed, the whole should be pulled when the stalk begins to grow yellow, and the earth remaining about the roots should be beat off to prevent more growth: But if the seed is wanted in its greatest perfection, the stalks bearing the pods must be pulled before the upmost pod begins to open; the earth should not be beat off from the roots; it should be stooked in sheaves upon the field, to dry and win as corn; and the top of these stooks should be covered with undergrowth, or the like, to preserve the seed from the birds.

Hemp is sooner watered than flax, and the canals must be deeper.

In keeping the seed, care must be taken to preserve it from rats, mice, and such like ver­min, who are all fond of it.

It is dressed as coarse flax, but is sooner dress­ed; and its greater length requires more care, and renders it more troublesome in the hand­ling, especially in the skutching of it by the water lint-mills with horizontal skutchers, when it must be folded double. What is too coarse and strong in the stalk for the hand o [...] foot-machines, may be broke and [...]eeled by the hand.

PAPER owes its origin to the necessity that mankind were always under to commu­nicate their sentiments even when at a distance from one another; and to the de­sire of transmitting their thoughts to posterity. Flattered with the hopes of procuring by these means a kind of immortality, which would indemnify them for that which nature hath re­fused, they first thought of carving or painting upon the bark or leaves of trees, the characters which they used. The natives of America still use the same expedients; and these may be looked upon as a living proof of what is recorded of the first men of the old world. They found inconvenience in having books composed of small bits of bark strung upon twisted leaves, or on one piece of bark or leaves rolled up; and endeavoured to find another matter which might be more commodiously used. The Egyptians, who were the first people that en­joyed the happiness of a well governed state, were likewise the first who endeavoured to pro­cure this advantage; nevertheless, it was not (according to Pliny) till the time of Alexander's victories, that they made this discovery. They fell upon a method of making, from a kind of [Page 42] dog-grass, a substance which soon became a very considerable and lucrative branch of trade; and this manufacture was the first thing that deserved the name of paper. Rome, as much as it was possible, furnished itself with this paper, and as often as the Gauls could procure it, they gave it the preference to the birch-bark: but the difficulty of bringing it from such a distant country as Egypt, weighing too equally against its rare property of taking any desired form, and of being folded together in sheets, the Gauls and other nations endeavoured in like manner to find the means of supplying it among themselves. They accordingly found the method of making it with cotton: and ac­cording to Montfaucon, in his essay upon the Egyptian paper, inserted among those of the academy of the belles lettres, at the end of the ninth or beginning of the tenth century, this destroyed the Egyptian paper manufacture through all the east; and this discovery led to that of our paper, which is made of rags, the aera of which, as settled by Montfaucon, in the aforesaid essay, is in the twelfth century. Yet long before that period, the Chinese (ac­cording to P. du Halde) made it with cotton rags. That author says, in the article of Chinese paper, that in the 95th year of the Christian aera, a Mandarin of the palace manu­factured paper of the bark of different trees, old rags of silk and hemp that had been used. Be that as it will, as soon as the rag paper appeared, it ruined the Egyptian paper in the [Page 43] west, as the cotton-paper had formerly ruined it in the east. We must own however, that the ad­vantages of paper made of rags, ought not to have been so fatal to that of Egypt, but on the contrary engaged their manufacturers to bring it to perfection. Every thing seemed to lead the way. The different kinds of paper had always been made of plants: and although the birch-bark and the prepared leaves, were not properly speaking of that species, yet the facility of fold­ing and rolling, shewed a flexibility in the fibres, capable of that preparation which is given to rags. It may be observed, that these very rags are no other than fibres of a plant which had suffered a kind of decomposition, which had not happened to those that they made use of. It was therefore natural to think, that if they had undergone the same prepara­tion, they would have produced such a paper, or at least a kind that would have resembled our own.

Let us not seek for matter of reproach against the ancients. Their occasions for paper were not probably so pressing as ours; since notwithstanding the quantity of rags which is collected, the price of it sometimes rises so high, that the manufacturers are desirous of finding other materials for the same purpose, or compelled to have recourse to expedients which are prohibited by the regulations touch­ing paper-works, though they always find means to conceal them from the vigilance of the inspectors. When the rags that are pro­per [Page 44] for making white paper, become scarce, they employ those which at other times, are used for the coarse paper, and prepare them with chalk-water. By this preparation they consume, and indeed destroy the foreign bodies which are in these coarse materials, but at the same time decompose the fibres of the rags; so that there must certainly be a great waste. If we should do no more then, but find a method for preventing this waste, and procure such materials as the workmen at such times desire to have, should we not gain a great advan­tage to the paper-works? The means that are now prohibited, might be employed after the prohibition is taken off. This new matter might be used for coarse paper, and the other enter into the composition of white paper, and of consequence the price of fine rags would fall, or at least never become excessively dear. In my opinion, therefore, we ought to have been for a long time, employed in search of a remedy for those times of dearth, and in preventing the consequences so naturally drawn from the manner in which we now manufacture our pa­per. It is not from the workmen we are to draw such consequences. He himself who makes any discovery, very rarely perceives all its consequences: the novelty often blinds us, touching what is already discovered, and makes us despise it, instead of engaging us to bring it to perfection. It therefore requires men who, together with a discerning understanding, have a desire to bring the arts to perfection, and to [Page 45] enable mankind to enjoy them at a small ex­pence.

M. de Reaumur, in an essay published in the year 1719, upon wasps, seems to perceive these consequences. Wasps build habitations, the outward parts of which seem to be of paper or strong pasteboard: in such a manner do they prepare bits of rotten wood, as to make them assume that consistence. M. de Reaumur took an hint from this observation, touching the per­fection of paper-works. He in his essay ex­plains his own ideas of that substance, and wishes those who have an opportunity would examine, if it is such as he has conceived it to be: and this subject he has renewed in the sixth volume of his history of insects. Seba likewise, in the first volume of his natural history, has invited the curious to prosecute the same pro­ject, in these words. ‘This country does not seem to want trees fit for making paper, if people would give themselves the necessary trouble and expence. Alga Marina, for ex­ample, which is composed of long, strong, viscous filaments, might it not be proper for this purpose, as well as the ma [...]ts of Mosco­vy, if they were prepared as the Japonese make their timber? The curious may at least try the experiment.’ Whether there are no people, as Seba demands, who have opportunities of prosecuting this work, or that every body is averse to go to work, except upon his own plan, I know not one author who has communicated any thing upon this subject.

[Page 46]P. du Halde, in the first volume of his his­tory of China, pretends that the Chinese make paper of the second bark of bamboo, of the bark of different trees, particularly the mul­berry, of straw, rue and hemp. Keempfer, in his voyage to Japan, and after him Seba, in the aforementioned book report that paper is made in that country of the inner bark of a kind of mulberry-tree. M. de la Loubaire says, that the Siamese make it of old cotton-cloth, or the bark of a tree called Toncoë. Flacourt describes the manner in which the in­habitants of Madagascar make theirs of a kind of mallow, which they call Avo. Finally, all the travellers to India as well as to America, recount with emphasis, the advantages drawn from the palm tree for making stuffs, of which, when they are worn, it would doubtless be easy to make paper. The opportunity which the paper mills in the neigbourhood of Estampes, which is my native place, seemed to afford me, of fulfilling the wish of some, and verifying what hath been said by others, touching our trees and plants that are analagous to those mentioned by the authors above, has induced me to collect several of these plants. After having surmounted all the difficulties which one always finds among workmen, when he pretends to introduce any novelty relating to their occupation, I have at length, succeeded so far as to have tried some experiments, and fla [...]ter myself with being able to continue those which I have in view.

[Page 47]Hitherto I have only spoke, as if paper was made of nothing but vegetable substances, and that no materials could be taken from the ani­mal reign. Nevertheless, it is doubted whe­ther in China paper is not made of silk. Pere du Halde says, that they gather the refused cods, when they are unwound in the silk ma­nufactures, and make paper of them; but, notwithstanding the assertion of that author, the fact has been always considered as proble­matic.

I will relate an experiment which may help to explain this question: but before I describe my success, I believe I had better distinguish the different plants I have mentioned above, and present them in a methodical manner. By these means the public will have a botanical history of paper, and see the plan of the work which I have proposed.

The materials for paper, then, may be di­vided into two general classes, namely, vege­table substances, and those that belong to the animal kingdom.

In the great number, I will even venture to say, in the confusion of plants used for making paper, or of which people suppose it might be made a regular order may be found. People of different countries have been conducted by a kind of natural analogy. They have not sought to employ plants that were very different from those already in use. They have taken them of different classes, in different kinds, but al­ways in some of those which had been before [Page 48] used, though probably they were ignorant of that circumstance. In effect, the greatest part of plants seem to be composed of long, longitudinal fibres, nearer or closer to one a­nother, and covered with a substance which fills up the intervals: such are the palmiferous, the gramineous and the liliaceous.

The class of the palmiferi is one of those which have been of most service to the Indians, Asiatics and Americans, in furnishing them with cloathing, cordage, sails and other uten­sils; almost every part of these trees, has serv­ed some of those uses, though they do not in­differently take every part of the same tree. These people have in the palm-tree, which they found among them, chosen what was most susceptible of manufacture. In some they chose the spatha, which invelops the regimen of fruits before they are ripe, or that which sustains the young leaves: and in others they employed the down which surrounds the fruit. The young and tender leaves have been pre­ferred to this wool or down, which was not considerable in other kinds; and when all these could not be compared to the bark for goodness and quantity, they made use of this last. The down of the fruit of the cocoa-nut-tree, the spatha, the leaves and bark have been used, as several travellers relate. Rumphius, in his history of the plants of Amboyna, says as much of the calapa: the pinanga, the wild lontarus, the tetum, the hakum, the wanga, all different kinds of the palm-tree, furnish in their [Page 49] leaves, a thread more or less fine, of which those people make stuffs. They have even prepared the leaves of the hakun, and soribe, and used them instead of paper. The advan­tages which the Indians draw from the palm-tree being already sufficiently important, I shall not probably be blamed for not having inserted, in the number of these advantages, what is mentioned by Rai after some authors: he reports, tome 2. page 358. of his history of plants, that the cocoa-tree contains, in lieu of pith, a quire of paper of fifty or sixty sheets, on which people may write. This is like that which is found in the middle of a fruit of Peru, mentioned by Mr. Frezier, author of a voyage to the South-sea. All this wonderful phaenomenon, when reduced to its just value, is in my opinion, no more than that the pith of the palm-tree, and the pulp of that fruit, may be easily made into sheets in the same manner as that of the Chinese elder, which is made into those fine artificial flowers that are brought from that country, or the books made of the roots of a kind of mallow, which requires no more than to be artfully dried, and cut in leaves. The musa or banana tree has been em­ployed for the same or such like purposes.

The class of the liliaceous includes the aloes, the yucca: from the aloes is obtained the thread of pitte, known by the use to which it is put. Father du Tertre, in his natural history of the Antilles, describes the manner in which that thread is got. Sir Hans Sloane, in his ca­talogue [Page 50] of the plants of Jamaica, likewise men­tions these aloes. In the number of synoni­mous names which he recites, some of them are taken from the use that is made of those plants, and which I cannot help, for that rea­son, repeating in this place. The second spe­cies of that author is by Gaspar Bauhin, in his Pinax, p. 20. called the eleventh species of papyrus, employed for paper. Clusius, in his treatise of exotic plants, p. 6. mentions a ball of thread made of the bark of a tree, which, according to Sloane, is this aloes. John Bauhin, tome. I. p. 384, copies Clusius, and says this thread is very fine and extremely white. The third species of aloes, according to Sloane, which nevertheless is a true species of yucca, is known in Luet, p. 645, under the name of an excellent kind of hemp or flax, which even approaches very near to the fineness of silk.

Seba, [...]n the first volume of his work, has given the figure of two leaves of a plant, which he calls the aquatic bullrush of Surinam, com­posed of innumerable threads or fi [...]aments. This bullrush, says that author, ought to be exam­ined with regard to its utility.

It was from the gramineous class, as I have al­ready said, that they obtained materials for the first paper which deserves that name. Michili, in his new genera of plants, has inserted, in the number of rushes, the plant called by Gaspar Bauhin, in his Pinax, p. 19. and in his theatre of plants, p. 333. the paper of Syria or Sicily. [Page 51] Is this the species formerly employed in Egypt? The figure and description of it given by Prosper Alpinus, namely that of Ves [...]ingius and the ancients, leave it doubtful whither this last plant be a rush or not. Prosper Alpinus says it is the paper called beid by the Egyptians. M. de Jussieu, at whose house people will always find lights in all doubts that can occur upon these subjects, and who finds pleasure in com­municating instruction, hath shewn me an Egyptian plant that seems to be a true rush, and when compared with that of Michili, ex­hibits no difference.

Dodo considers the flag as a plant proper for paper, and gives it the name of Papyrus. I have observed above, that Pere du Halde says the Chinese made paper of straw or the blade of rice. Bamboo is likewise employed in the same country as a kind of paper; and accord­ing to the same author, is the reed-tree of Gaspar Bauhin, in his Pinax, p. 18.

The birch, which is of the class of cats-tail flowers, was one of the first trees upon the bark of which people wrote. As the word bark may be deemed equivocal, it will not be amiss in this place to fix its signification. Are we to understand by this word bark, that part of trees which covers externally the trunk and branches? Or is not rather that interior layer, which ought to become woody, and is called liber? Without all doubt, it must be this inner covering which we are to understand by the bark of birch; it seems also that in this [Page 52] sense it ought to be understood in those authors who treat of the different kinds of paper used by different nations. Most of these writers say, it is the second bark which is used. Others have only said, that they used the bark; but the preparations which they describe, plainly shew that it was this inner part which was em­ployed. I should deviate too much from the plan I proposed to myself in this essay, to men­tion the methods of this preparation. Rumphiu [...] describes two trees with cats-tail flowers, one of which he calls the domesticum gnemon, and the other gnemon campestre. The inhabitants of Amboyna, according to that author, obtain a thread from the bark of the boughs, which they beat a little, and this thread is proper for making nets, which they boil in a certain in­fusion, to make them stronger and less apt to rot in the water. This ought the more care­fully to be examined, as the knowledge derived from such enquiry, may serve to bring to per­fection the cordage of ships, as well as that of which the fishers make their nets.

Here we ought to recal the idea which M. de Reaumur has produced upon the subject of rotten wood, an idea so much the more happy as it furnishes others upon abundance of sub­stances easily got: the forests present but too many of them sometimes. The shops of our carpenters supply us with cuttings which, by their thinness are in a condition to undergo, in a little time, the necessary degree of rottenness; for here, as in every other thing, there is a [Page 53] proper degree which must be laid hold on. When the wood is too rotten, its fibres are too much divided, they have lost that binding which connects their parts, they become too earthy, and I believe it would then be difficult, not to say impossible, to bind them together: therefore, the wasps do not use indifferently all sorts of rotten wood, but know how to distinguish that which is proper for their pur­pose.

The nettle, the mulberry and the hemp are ranked in a class which is called incompleat, because these plants want the flower, or the calix or the petalae, or both these parts.

Kempfer, in his catalogue of the plants of Ja­pan, mentions one which in the Japonese idiom is called white hemp, and to which that au­thor has given the appellation of the great common nettle, which bears real flowers, and yields strong thread proper for linen and other works. The same author calls the mulberry which is employed for paper, the Papyrus, whose fruit resembles that of the mulberry, and whose bark is made into paper. Seba has given it the name of the mulberry-tree, which affords paper, and is cultivated at Japan. Pere du Halde says, tome 2. page 212. that before the mulberry branches, with whose leaves the Chinese feed their silk worms, are destined to the fire, some people strip off the thin bark from these branches, and make of it a kind of paper, which is strong enough to c [...]ver their ordinary umbrellas, especially when it is o [...]led [Page 54] and coloured. I do not here join the other plant which the Japonese employ, because Kempfer leaves it uncertain under what class it ought to be ranged. He calls it the Papyrus which lies upon the ground, yields milk, has plated leaves, and a bark proper for making paper. For the same reason I likewise mention here a tree which Sloane calls the tree with broad, long, jagged, smooth shining leaves, like those of the laurel, whose interior rind may be extended into a fine cloth like muslin for ruffles; this tree is commonly called Lagetto. Tome 2. tab. 168, 169. The people among whom this tree is found, make cloaths of it. It is needless to mention the use of hemp in making paper, every body knows we use it for that purpose; but hitherto no paper has been made of hemp, until it had passed thro' the state of rags. Yet Pere du Halde reports, that at Nangha, paper is made of hemp beaten and mixed with lime water, tome 4. page 373. And this confirms me in the notion I entertain­ed, that the stalks, or what falls upon the form in dressing hemp or flax, might serve for the same purpose. I shall speak of this below.

The malvaceous species dispute the prefe­rence with all the other classes, for this kind of employment. All the kinds of the mahot yield a sort of thread proper for cordage. Sloane men­tions two mallows, one of which he names the mallow-tree on the sea-shore, with round, small, prickly leaves, white below, which bears a yellow flower, and a bark that may be [Page 55] made into thread. Catalogue of the Jamaica plants, p. 95. This is one of the mahots of father du Tertre. The other is mentioned by the name of the mallow-tree with round leaves, a very large flower of a fine red colour, like the flower de lys, and a bark which yields thread. Ibid. This is another of du Tertre's mahots. It would be unnecessary to mention the different kinds of cotton which are used in making pa­per. I have observed above, that cotton-paper was invented in the east, and that in China, paper was made of cotton-rags; and indeed these are not neglected even in our manufac­tures. Although I have advanced, that peo­ple have never sought after plants that were far removed from those classes which had been formerly used, I think I ought to except the flax, the linden-tree, and the thistle.

Linen rags have entered and now enter into the composition of paper: The workmen, in picking the rags, reject only those which are produced from woollen stuffs and hides of ani­mals: they pretend that these stuffs cannot be beaten; but this they say, perhaps, because they are beaten with more difficulty than those produced from the fibres of plants, the parts of which are more easily divided. They do not reject the others in those paper-works where coarse grey paper is made; the business then is to have a very fine paste, and the hair may be beaten sufficiently, to incorporate with the fibres of other rags, although they may not be so well bruised.

[Page 56]Veslingius, in his little treatise upon the uti­lity of cultivating plants, pretends that the down of certain thistles has been used in mak­ing stuffs: ex acantii lanugine demptis spinis, vestes effecerunt, says that author. By the word acantium we must understand a kind of thistle. The ancients often employed the word in this signification. The linden-tree was and is used in making ropes, a circumstance that denotes a flexibility in the fibres of that tree, capa­ble of undergoing the necessary preparation for making paper.

What Veslingius, whom I have mentioned, has writ concerning the luffa arabum, which may be considered as a kind of cucumber, ought to induce us to examine several plants. He says, that the inside of the fruit, when the seeds are taken out, is no other than a little net which seems to be made of flax; whence he conjectures it would yield a thread like that which the Ethiopians and Indians, according to Theophrastus, made of their cotton-apples, and the Arabians, according to Pliny, of their gourds.

I know no author but Seba who has sus­pected that paper might be made of sea-plants, and alga marina. When I read that part, I re­collected that I had been struck with the white­ness which it will assume, bleached no doubt by the spray of the sea-water, by the rains and dews, and losing that glew with which all the marine plants are covered. Upon the sea-coasts the fucus is used for dunging the vines and cir­cumjacent [Page 57] lands; and I have observed that this, when transported to the grounds, likewise acquires a certain degree of whiteness, and, like the alga, preserves its figure, together with a strong consistence: nothing is so common on the sea-shore as the fucus, which in some places covers the coast, and nothing can be more easily collected.

There is another plant which is likewise found on the sea-shore, but more commonly in ponds, and the basins of gardens; it is the conferva of Plini, and in some authors bears a name that seems to promise considerable utility. Imperatus calls it the sea-flax. Loesel, in his catalogue of the plants in Prussia, gives it the name of aquatic moss, composed of very fine silky filaments. I can scarce doubt that some people have attempted to spin this plant. When it is wet, it has a flexibility that de­ceives people, and the great quantity of it found in those places that favour its multipli­cation, and by which means the fibres are in­terwoven in such a manner as to produce a kind of stuff like coarse camblet, must have more than once induced people to try to make the plant useful in the ar [...]s. I know that a great princess, struck with the quantity and fineness of this plant, was desirous of having it spun; but it becomes too brittle when out of the water, to be susceptible of this operation. I shall, in the s [...]quel, relate the success I had in treating it, with a view to the paper manufacture.

I thought it necessary to enter into a circum­stantial detail of the plants which have been [Page 58] used in the composition of paper, and those which may be used for that purpose, in order to give, as I before observed, a botanical history of that manufacture, and explain the plan of the work which I have laid down: and by the different classes which I have described, the public sees the plants of our country which re­late to it. At the same time it must be owned, that some of these classes are not so rich here as in foreign countries. We are altogether strangers to the class of the palmiferi; but, by way of recompence, the gramineous class is in greater abundance. The course of some rivers is re­tarded by a kind of forest of reeds, rushes and flags; and in some places nothing is so com­mon as mallows: there is scarce a person among us, who is not sometimes incommoded by the quantity of nettles and thistles. Cotton is nothing but a kind of down that surrounds the grain of that plant. I have therefore in­cluded in my project, the down of different plants, such as that of willows and linagrostis. The grounds planted with willows, are covered at one season with the fall of the cats-tails of these trees; and some meadows, especially those that are barren, are full of the linagrostis.

The stalks of hemp and flax are composed of two parts, the filamentous and that which partakes of the nature of pith. We cannot possibly doubt the utility of the first, which in­deed composes our paper. Nevertheless, this thread is rejected as useless. It would there­fore be a great advantage to render that part useful, even though the other never could [Page 59] serve any purpose. What prodigious quanti­ties of materials would be acquired by these means! We know how much hemp is brought from Berry and Champaign. In the rope-works, and especially those of the arsenals belonging to our sea-ports, great resources will be found; they are now made into tow, which often amounts to such a quantity, that they are obliged to throw it away, or make use of it as dung for the beds in their garden; in all the lower Poictiers there is scarce a peasant who does not reserve a piece of ground for flax seed.

It is not therefore for want of materials that we do not endeavour to procure a paper which may vie in beauty with our white paper, or at least furnish us with a kind proper for covers of bundles. Perhaps I may be thought to have found too many plants susceptible of this operation, and seem inclined to transform every thing into paper. Although what I have related of foreign plants may be a preju­dice strong enough to inspire a notion of the utility we may reap from our own plants, I know at the same time, we may be imposed upon by analogy, which is always deceitful. In other respects, the experiments which I have made, although far from that perfection to which I wish we could attain, give reason to hope that one day we may acquire a certain degree of that perfection. Thinking I ought first of all to examine the stalks of hemp as the most common materials, and those from which I [Page 60] thought I had reason to expect some success, I caused them to be steeped in water for a certain time, that they might acquire a degree of rottenness which would facilitate their tritu­ration. When they were supposed to be suf­ficiently rotten they were beaten; but by a mistake, which by the by, I had endeavoured to avoid, these stalks were beaten with mallows and nettles, which I had ordered to be gathered and left to rot in a separate place. Yet these different substances incorporated together: though it must be confessed, that their connex­ion was not very strong, but, on the contrary, produced a very imperfect tissue. I look upon this essay, as scarce deserving to be re­counted; yet it shews that the leaves of plants as well as the filaments may unite and incorpo­rate; and that, if those different parts had been beaten separately, and a proper degree of trituration bestowed upon each, so as to form a well binding paste, something better might have been produced. I will even venture to say, this doubtless would have been the case, hav­ing observed what happens in ponds and marshes. Nature, more tranquil than art, frequently forms a very fine paper of plants that rot in those watry places. I have found, in some of the pools of water of the forest of Dourdan, when they have been entirely dried up, masses of a substance that altogether resem­bles paper. They were composed of several laminae or leaves, easily separated from one another. They tore like paper, and though I [Page 61] could not then determine whether they were formed of rotten leaves, or only a kind of byssus, it seemed to me, that if any of this last plant entered its composition, there was like­wise in it part of leaves, trees and other plants. I have not fulfilled the aim which this observation inspired me with; diverted by a variety of other occupations, I could not be­stow upon this work, the time, attention and necessary precision it required. It was more easy for me to repeat the experiment upon hemp alone. I therefore put in water to rot, some very fine hemp well cleaned from the parenchy­matous part or pith that falls from the instru­ment in dressing it. The paper which it pro­duced, was very strong, and convinced me that it was very easy to make it of that part of the hemp which is thrown away in rope-works or other work-houses, where it is dressed, or employed.

The conviction I reaped from this experi­ment, touching the hemp, necessarily influ­enced my notions concerning cotton, that down, much softer and more flexible than hemp, must easily undergo the necessary pre­paration for making paper. I o [...]ght indeed to regard the experiment I made upon cotton as superfluous, after that which I had tried upon hemp; yet as authors, those at least whom I have read, do not say that cotton-paper was made immediately of cotton before it had passed through the state of cloth; and Pere du Halde reports that the Chinese make theirs [Page 62] with cotton-rags, I thought proper to remove that doubt intirely; because it seemed to me essential that no scruple should remain with re­gard to that fact; and the success seemed to in­fluence all those parts of plants to which we commonly give the name of down. Of this kind there are several, namely the linagostis, the cats-tail of the willow, dogs-bane, and trumpet-wood, which, though not so easily spun as cotton, seem to me susceptible of that consistence which is necessary to the paste or pulp of which paper is made. The cotton being therefore beaten to a sufficient degree, produced a smooth, white paper of a strong texture, which promised to have all the advan­tages of our own.

I will not however pretend to propose it as an advantage, to make paper of cotton. The hemp-rag is a material in our possession, which would be altogether useless if we did not know how to employ it for this purpose; but by know­ing, from this and other experiments, that it is possible to make paper with those different materials, even though they have not passed through an intermediate state, we afford a succedaneum to those who are in want of ordi­nary rags, which are not so common as people may imagine, in countries remote from great cities. In some places of our American colo­nies, cotton is more common than hemp-rag, which may be the means of making that trade more lucrative and of greater consequence; but perhaps this is giving views of utility [Page 63] which many other reasons may render useless: besides, to know whether or not it would be used to advantage, would require more deli­cate experiments, and a more minute enquiry touching the price which that paper would bring, and the profit which is acquired in the ordinary cotton trade. I have neither made the calculation nor the experiments that are requi­site; all that I am in search of, is the possibility of the thing: and not its advantages or disadvan­tages. I proceeded then to try the other downs, though I have been able only to examine that of the dogs-bane, called wad; and of the two kinds that are obtained from thistles, that only with seeds of divers kinds which are crowned, but not the kind which the ancients obtained from the leaves which have been mentioned above. This experiment did not succeed so well as that which I made with cotton. The paste formed of the down of these plants, was not of such a good consistence or coherence, as that of the pulp made with cotton: yet, with much care and precaution it was formed into sheets of paper strong enough to be hung upon cords to dry, but very easily torn: the parts did not adhere, they not being sufficiently interwoven and bound together; and without this quality no paper can be good. So great a difference between these kinds of down, may appear singular, but this difficulty will be ex­plained by the following observation. That which is upon wad and thistle, is not properly speaking a down: but formed of a sort of hair [Page 64] sustained upon the seeds of these plants. These hairs are commonly called, by botanists, tufts and plumes, because they form upon the seeds a kind of tuft, and many of them push out branches on the sides, by which they resemble real plumes, or feathers. Cotton, on the con­trary, is a down that surrounds the grain, without order or regularity, sticking closely to it, without any constant figure. When this is pulled off, and the seed wiped clean, we can easily perceive that it issues from small points, like so many holes. If this operation is per­formed while the fruit is young, the threads or hairs are found softer and less dry than when it is farther advanced; and it is difficult to refuse the notion, particular as it is, that cotton is no other than a matter which transpires from the seed. When we know what forms the down of certain thistles, which I have mentioned in the beginning of this essay, the singularity of the notion vanishes. The leaves and stalks of thistles are roughened with a quantity of hairs, which are so many pipes giving issue to a clear limpid liquor, a little viscous and glutinous, which dries in the air, and assumes a consist­ence like that of cotton: nay it really is so to such a degree, that when this down is collect­ed, it is easy to form a thread of it, between the fingers: such an observation may perhaps appear very delicate to make, and thence doubt­ful and hazardous: yet it does not require so much attention as people may imagine; all that is necessary is, to procure a microscope with a [Page 65] focus of some inches, to observe the threads and the kind of wheel in which they are formed: and both these being distinguished, you may perceive, by the naked eye, all that passes in this operation of nature. That this may be seen the plainer, you may chuse the carduus benedictus of the Parisians, or that which has the round head covered with down. These are, in my opinion, more proper than many others of the same class, for proving this observation. The interior part of the scales that form their head, is provided with an infinite number of glands that filtrate a liquor like that which I have mentioned; and this liquor changes in the air, to threads which form the down that surrounds the heads of those thistles. This will not admit of a moment's doubt, seeing this thread may be perceived forming under the very eye: if we will gradually and cau­tiously separate the scales from one another, we then have the pleasure to see this matter lengthen and extend like a gum, rosin or wax, and in a moment change into white threads resembling those of paper.

Now we perceive the similitude there is between cotton and the wool of thistles, and the difference between both and the pre­tended down of those last, and of wad. The cotton issues from the seeds which it sur­rounds like the wool of thistle heads. And both sweat from certain parts, which may [Page 66] be considered as a kind of glands. On the contrary, what is supposed to be down in the thistle, consists of parts that are stiff and dry, consequently brittle, easily grouped into little smooth masses, which are not composed of a quantity of small fibres, that partly detaching themselves from one another, form in the cotton and thistle-wool, that softness and flexibility which makes what in these sub­stances, is commonly called the cottoneous part: a quality which renders them easiy to mix together, when they are beaten or pounded, in order to form the paste for pa­per. Most we therefore entirely reject these downs? No, surely. Perhaps, in the twink­ling of an eye, they may be rendered useful. I know it may be difficult to catch that point of view, than which nothing requires so much address in improving the arts; but I shall endeavour, at the end of this essay, to give some hints on t [...]e subject; for it would be very advantageous to find the means of employing a kind of down which is in such abundance, and costs nothing but the trouble of gathering it.

I now proceed to another experiment, which, though unscessful, ought to be re­lated. It was tried upon the alga marina, which Seba exhorts us to examine. Under this name is comprehended not only that which is used in packing glass-ware, and wrapping round the bottles of liqueur which [Page 67] come from M [...]pelier, and from thence cal­led the glass-makers weed; I say, not only this is rega [...]ded as an alga, but likewise the fucus or varus, which has a better title to the name; since the glass-makers weed is not properly of that species, but of the class of dogs-grass. However, I have always men­tioned it as an alga, because it is better kn [...]wn by that than the name of cyperus. This plant, having been treated like the others I have mentioned, did not form a pa [...]te that would cohere in any shape; for its leaves have but few fibres: they are in some sort composed of parenchymatous parts, which may be considered as a bundle of small vesicles, the sphericity of which is an obstacle to that union which must obtain among the parts of paper. Two spheres can only touch one another in one point; this is a truth demonstrated in geometry, as well as this other, that plain surfaces may be in con­tact through their whole surfaces; a property which facilitates the intertexture of the parts of cotton and hemp in the composition of paper, and to which the other is an obstacle. To this I likewise attributed the little success I had in an experiment which I made with corralloids, a kind of plant of the class of alga, which abounds in all our woods, and in some places almost entirely covers the trees and rocks. These plants are in some measure dissolved by the trituration; and when they [Page 68] were spread in water, according to the prac­tice of making sheets of paper, they could not be re-united upon the form. The same thing happened to the conferva of Pliny, which is also of the same tribe.

It may be considered as a loss to the paper manufacture, that we cannot give a body to these plants when they are triturated. The whiteness they acquire when drying, and their prodigious quantity, make us regret this circumstance, especially if they cannot be employed with success in some other ma­nufacture; and I can easily conceive what impressions the report of the commissioners of the academy must have made upon the minds of those who consulted it about the advantage that might be reaped from a cotto­neous matter they had gathered in the pond of Petz, at the distance of a league and an half from Metz, and was found to be no other than dried conferva, which did not de­serve the attention that had been bestowed upon it; for they had already founded great hopes on the discovery relating to the trade of the country.

A substance that might, perhaps, turn out to more advantage, is the cods of common caterpillars, which, in some years, are in such plenty as almost to cover the trees. These cods, though not proper for spinning, may, nevertheless, enter into the composition of paper. The essay which was made, gives [Page 69] room to hope for the success. In effect, these cods, cleared of the leaves that stuck to them, being beaten, were easily reduced to a kind of pulp, which being spread in the water, was without difficulty collected on the form, and made into sheets of paper that might be brought to a degree of perfection, which it must be owned they had not: nevertheless, though this paper ought rather to be ranked with the coarse brown, than with the white fine sort, it gives room to believe, that it may in time acquire a certain degree of whiteness. Some of the sheets were whiter than others: nay the same sheet was sometimes whiter in one part than ano­ther: and the business will be to find a re­medy for this inconvenience. One of the best (which, by the bye, I could not em­ploy) is, without contradiction, to pound the cods in the ordinary mortars of the mills, or bray them under the cylinder. The quantity of cods gathered by my direction, was not enough to fill the mill-mortar; so that the workman made use of an ordinary mortar, which was attended with too defects. The substance was not beaten uniformly, and the foreign bodies were not discharged. These evils are prevented in the mill. The pestles are always moved equally, or at least more equally th [...]n with the hand of a workman who uses an ordinary mortar; so that the substance must be more effectually triturated [Page 70] in the mill. Besides, the mortars of this machine are open on one side, near the bot­tom: this hole is covered with a hair-cloth, the interstices of which are large enough to transmit what has undergone a [...]ufficient de­gree of trituration. Thus the paste becomes whiter; an advantage we cannot obtain from an ordinary mortar, and which the silk-paper I made could not have: for, some of the sheets were sprink [...]ed with several little black points, occasioned by the excrement of the caterpillars, which were interwoven with the silk of the cods: and the water which passes into the mortar of the mill, would have carried off these excrements Nay, perhaps the silk loses a part that serves no purpose but to render the paper of a greyer colour when it continues mixed in the pulp. This part is more easily dissolved and disen­gaged from the paste, by the water that con­tinually runs through the mortars. The small fragments of leaves that may be left after the picking will also be beaten with more difficulty in a common mortar; and the paper will be spoiled by them, as it happened to some sheets of that which we made. This inconvenience would be avoided by putting the cods in the mill mortars, where at least, the leaves would be more easily beaten, and this they might easily be, in the state wherein they appear in the cods. For the caterpillars have divested them of their parenchymatous [Page 71] parts on which they feed: and nought re­mains but the fibres, which, by the net­work they form, supported the parenchyma that filled up the interstices. Though these fibres be like those of a tree, they are at the same time more slender and fi [...]e, and have already, by the work of the caterpillars, ac­quired an elaboration which wants only a little of our assistance. The beginning of rottenness might suffice. The preparation given to the rags before they are put under the pestle, is one of the methods that may be the most useful on this occasion. The rags being picked, are cut into small pieces, and laid in heaps, where they grow warm, and acquire a kind of fermentation that gives them a degree of rottenness, which renders them the more fit for trituration. In the opinion of the workmen, this preparation is so indispensibly necessary, that when the rags are clean, and destitute of the grease which is then requisite, they think themselves obliged to supply this defect. The same method may be taken with cods mixed with leaves. These leaves, assisted with a little moisture, will heat and rot to a certain degree, which it is our business to distinguish, that then they may be beaten as easily as the silk.

It were to be wished that these leaves were not mixed with the silk, whereas the greatest part of the cods are composed of them. Yet there are some which consist of pure silk; [Page 72] and are usually found in the angle formed by the union of two branches. These are no other than threads of silk stretched from one bough to another, in different ways. The others consisting partly of leaves, are placed in the middle of leaves, which after the ca­terpillars have partly consumed, they bind and unite them together; thus forming larger or smaller bundles or pods of the ends of little branches. There is no room to doubt that the silk of other caterpillars might like­wise be employed: the cods of pure silk, and even those that are partly formed of the hair which covers the caterpillars, are equally proper materials for paper: nor should the cods belonging to the caterpillars of the pine-tree, be rejected.

We ought, however, to be sure that it is possible to make paper of silk: but is it made of that substance in China? Though it may appear unnecessary to resolve that question, I will examine the reasons that are advanced to prove that it is not made of silk. It is usually said, that if the Chinese paper, which is pretended to be made of silk, was actually composed of that substance, it would in burn­ing, twist itself different ways, and be shri­velled up like parchment, which is made of prepared sheep-skin; whereas that paper burns as equally as that made of the rags of hemp-cloth and linen. These facts cannot be contradicted; but yet the silk-paper which [Page 73] I made, burned like ordinary paper, though the cods, which were the chief materials, shrunk up in burning, in the same manner as parchment. What, therefore, is the cause of this difference? I believe we must seek for the explanation in the tissue or texture, which is very different in the paper from what it was in the cod. There the threads are long, dis­posed in different manners, so as that one single thread often forms several folds. The fibres of paper are very short, and though differently arranged and bound together, the connexion is not so strong: it is no longer one or several threads of a considerable length. It happens then, that when the cods are burnt, their threads are drawn different ways; those of one surface draw those of another, and therefore, they must twist and turn some­times to one side and sometimes to another. Whereas, the fibres of paper being so short and connected together only by juxta position, they must act very little, if any thing at all upon one another, consequently will burn equally. What proves the justness of this ex­plication, is, that in paper there is sometimes one place where the silk has not been well beaten, and is still too much interwoven, and that place always is shrivelled up, in burning. This explanation is (I believe) sufficient to clear up the question relating to silk-paper; and howsoever the Chinese paper may be made, I think we ought to be persuaded that [Page 74] it is possible to make it of silk. Neither ought we to entertain any doubt about the use to which we might put the stalks of hemp and flax; and I think we have reason to hope, that one day an advantageous use may be found, for the different kinds of down, not only of the cotton of which, it is perhaps very singular to have entertained any suspicion, but also of the thistle, the trumpet-wood, and the wad, which more than any other would merit an happy success, its paper having a gloss and silver brilliancy, which might be of some use in many cases. All that remains, therefore, in order to fulfil our hope of this down as well as of the others, is to find out some method, perhaps very easy and simple, and perhaps for that very reason the more difficult to invent. If, for example, when the materials are ready to be beaten, instead of simple water, we should substitute a gummy or mucilaginous water like that in which have been boiled the parings of leather, roots of marsh-mallows, the great comfrey, or such substances; the paste by these means would be endued with a kind of glue, which might be an expedient by means of which the parts would cohere more strongly; perhaps it would be sufficient to prepare in this manner the water of the tub in which the paste is di­luted when it comes from under the pestle. If notwithstanding this preparation, the paste should not have body enough, perhaps by substituting compression in the room of im­mersion, [Page 75] which is the ordinary method of forming the sheets of paper, we should be able to render the parts of the paste more co­herent; and I imagine this is the method which must be taken with that cottoneous substance that owes its origin to the conferva of Pliny. The heaps formed by the re-union of the different feet of this plant, are already of a certain thickness, and not easily torn; so that in extending the paste made of this plant, we might give what thickness we would, to every sheet, and the compression would af­terwards do the rest. It might be found im­practicable to make sheets as thin as those of ordinary paper: but even, if we could do no more than make pasteboard, it would be an advantage which we ought not to neglect; but on the contrary, prosecute with care. Such examinations have always constituted my desires, since I thought of making expe­riments upon paper. I have not been able hitherto, to accomplish my scheme; but ne­vertheless, I have reason to hope I shall one day see it accomplished. I have the advan­tage of belonging to his serene highness the Duke of Orleans, to whom I have the ho­nour of explaining my notions, and who has permitted me to prosecute, under his eye, the experiments which I have projected, believing that they may be of some advantage to the public: an advantage which is the principal object of that great Prince's thoughts, even in his amusements.

HEMP is one of the most profitable pro­ductions the earth furnishes in northern climates; as it employs a great number of poor people in a very advantageous man­ner, if its manufacture be carried on proper­ly: It may also furnish a ready remittance to the mother country, and become a reciprocal advantage to both; and therefore it becomes worthy of the serious attention of the differ­ent Legislatures of the northern colonies, of every trading man, and of every man, who truly loves his country.

But as the people of America do not ap­pear, from their present management, to be acquainted with the best and most profitable method of cultivating and managing this va­luable plant, I beg leave to inform them of some things that may be of advantage to them.

Whoever would raise Hemp properly and to advantage, should set aside two pieces of ground, of such dimensions each, as he shall be able to cultivate every year, and sow the one whilst he is manuring and preparing the other for the succeeding year's crop; the higher and drier the ground the better, pro­vided [Page 77] it be well dunged and made strong and mellow; the ground should not be too sloping, lest the good soil be washed away with hard rains; if it droops toward the south, so that it may have the full influence of the sun, it will be an advantage; low, rich, warm, dry grounds will also produce good hemp; but wet land, though never so rich, will by no means do. The ground being prepared and made very mellow; I now come to that part which must be particularly and exactly attended to, since the success of the crop greatly depends upon it. Sometime in May, the ground being moist and in a vegetating state, but by no means [...], it must be well ploughed, the furrows clo [...] and even, the soil lying light and mellow; it must be sowed very even with two bushels of seed upon one acre; a man with an iron tooth harrow follows the sower, and harrows in the seed with two horses without any balks, for the less the ground be trampled the better; if harrowing one way be not sufficient to cover the seed, though it would be best if that could be done, it must be cross harrowed. The ground being moist as I said before, but by no means wet so as to clod, which would ruin the crop, the seed will all start and come up together, which is a sure sign of a good crop, and nothing after that, but too much wet, will hurt it: for Hemp thus come up bids defiance to weeds and grass of every kind; [Page 77] its growth is so quick and it so effectually shades the ground, that nothing below can rise or shew its head, and it so preserves all the moisture below, that the hotter and dryer the weather the faster it grows. Whereas if the seed be sown, when the ground is dry, the seed that lies deepest where the moisture is, will come up first, and these will shade and starve those that come after, by which means the first comers will be too large, and the last will be much too small, so that the crop will be greatly damaged every way: So much depends upon this one circumstance of sowing the seed when the ground is moist and fit to receive it. The crop thus rightly ma­naged will stand as thick as very good wheat, and be from four to six feet high, according to the strength of the ground; and the [...] will not be thicker than a good wheat straw; by this means the Hemp will be the finer, it will yield the greater quantity, and it may be plucked from the ground like flax, which will be a very great saving: But if it be sowed thin, that is one bushel to an acre, which is the common practice, it grows large, the Hemp is harsh and coarse, and then it must be cut with hooks, which occasions great waste, for four or five inches just above ground is left by way of stubble, which con­tains the best and heaviest part of the Hemp.

When the Hemp has got its growth, and is fit to be plucked, which you will know by [Page 79] the under leaves of the carle, or he Hemp, turning yellow and falling off, the sooner it is pulled the better: It must then be bound up with straw bands, in single band sheaves, rather small than large, and each sheaf must be bound in two places; and the sooner it is carried to the water to rot the better: Water rotted Hemp, if it be rightly managed, is every way better than that which is rotted on the ground; there is less waste in it, when it comes to be dressed; it looks brighter and fairer to the eye; it is esteemed to be strong­er and more durable, and it always fetches a better price; besides it is much sooner done, and it is rotted more even and alike, and with greater certainty and exactness. Many peo­ple in America are acquainted with the me­thod of rotting Hemp in water, but as many more are not yet acquainted with it, I shall for their information set down the method of doing it. Hemp may be rotted in stagnated or standing water, such as ponds, pools, or broad deep ditches, and in such water it is generally four or five days and nights a rot­ting, and sometimes longer, according to the heat or coolness of the weather; it may also be rotted in running water as in a brook or river; and in such water three or four days and nights are sufficient, according to the weather; to know whether the Hemp be rotted enough in either case, take a middling handful, out of the middle row, and try with [Page 80] both your hands to snap it asunder, if it breaks easy it is rotted enough, but if it yet appears pretty strong, it is not, and must lie longer, till it breaks with ease, and then it must be taken out and dried as soon as possi­ble; in handling the sheaves, take hold of the bands, and set them up an end against a fence, if one be near, or lay them down up­on the grass, for the water to drain off, and then unbind them carefully, open and spread them to dry thoroughly; then bind them up again and house them in a dry tight place: the reason of handling the Hemp in this careful manner is, that when it is well rotted, whilst it is wet the lint comes off with the least touch, therefore if it be handled roughly, or if while it is wet it be th [...]own into a cart and carried to a distance to be unbound and dried, it would be greatly hurt, and the owner would receive great damage by it, but when it is dry, it is handled with safety.

If the Hemp be rotted in a brook or run­ning water, the sheaves must be laid across the stream, for if they be laid down length­ways with the stream, the current of the water will wash away the lint, and ruin the Hemp. It must be laid down heads and points, two, four, or six thick, according to the depth of the water and the quantity of Hemp; if the bottom of the river be sand, gravel or mud, three good strong stakes must be driven down at each end, above and be­low, [Page 81] and three long strong poles must be laid on the Hemp and fastened well to the stakes, in such manner as to force down the Hemp under water, where it remains till it be rott­ed enough: though if a muddy stream could be avoided it would be best, because it is apt to foul and stain the Hemp. If the bottom of the stream be rocky or stony, so that stakes cannot be drove down to secure the Hemp under water and from floating away, then a rough wall must be made at the lower end of the Hemp, and along the side, to keep it in, and strong poles or rails must be laid upon the top of the Hemp and pretty heavy stones up­on them so as to sink the Hemp under water, where it must lie 'till it be rotted enough.

What Hemp is intended for seed, should be sowed on a piece of ground by itself, which must be made very rich and strong; it must be sowed in ridges six feet wide, and the seed must be of the largest and best sort and sown very thin, at the rate of a peck up­on an acre, or rather six quarts: for the thin­ner it is sown the more it branches, and the more seed it bears; it should be sown some­time the middle of April, and then the seed will not be ripe, till sometime after the other Hemp is done with. If you have no conve­nient place to sow your seed Hemp by itself; then sow a border of six feet wide along the north and west sides of your Hemp field; the reason of sowing your seed Hemp in such [Page 82] narrow ridges or borders is that, when the carle or he Hemp is ripe, and has shed its sarina on the simble or female Hemp, by which the seed is impregnated, and the leaves of the carle hemp fall off and the stem grows yellow, you may easily step in along the sides and pull up the carle Hemp without hurting the female, which now begins to branch out, and looks of a deep green colour and very flourishing, and when the seeds be­gin to ripen, which is known by their falling out of their sockets, you may all along both sides bend down the plants and shake out the seed upon a cloth laid on the ground, for as they ripen they scatter upon being shaken by a hard wind, or otherwise; then it must be watched, and the fowls and yellow-birds kept from it, for they are immoderately fond of the seed; as the first ripe seeds are the fullest and best, they are worthy of some pains to save them: and the best way to do that is, to bend down the plants all along, on each side of the border or ridge, as is said above, and shake them over a cloth spread on the ground to receive the seed; if one side of the plant be rooted out of the ground by forcing it down to shake out the seed, there will be no damage, for the seed that remains will ripen notwithstanding; and the plant must thus be shaken every two or three days, 'till all the seed be ripe and thus saved; and this is much better than pulling up the plants [Page 83] by the roots, and shaking them on a barn floor, and then setting them up against a fence or the side of the barn, for the seed to ripen, and shaking them morning and evening on the barn floor; for by this method, which is the common practice, one third of the seed at least never comes to maturity.

It is well known to every farmer, that in the three bread colonies at least, the spring and summer seasons are of late years become very dry, so that a crop of flax is become very precarious, scarcely one year in seven produc­ing a good one. This is a constant com­plaint in the mouth of every husbandman: Now Hemp does not require half the rain that flax does; this is a circumstance that is well worth the notice and attention of every farmer; and therefore by his raising Hemp in the manner before directed, and by pre­paring it in the best manner for spinning and weaving into good cloth, he can with greater certainty supply all the necessary uses of his family; and by selling the overplus, he can purchase such things as his wife and daughters may think convenient on extraordi­nary occasions. This however need not hin­der him from raising some flax every year: But I think that it is more for his interest to fix his chief dependance upon his crop of Hemp, as that is more sure, and every way more profitable, the general run of seasons considered. And let him not be disgusted and [Page 84] think that I am about to persuade him, his wife and daughters to wear oznabrigs, for I can assure him that I have seen dowlas, which is made of Hemp, worth five and six shillings the yard, which no farmer need be ashamed to wear.

I shall now endeavour to instruct the honest husbandman in a few easy rules, for preparing his Hemp, which he has raised and managed in the manner before directed.

Know then, that the best preparation of Hemp for the manufacturing of cloth is to render it as soft and as fine as possible, without lessening its strength, and the easiest and cheapest way of doing that, is certainly the best. This is to be found out by a variety of trials and experiments; but 'till a better way be discovered, which I hope will not be long first, and with which I should be greatly pleased, take the following method, which is the best I have yet been able to discover.

If you have a large wide kettle, that will take in your Hemp at full length, it will be the better; but if your kettle be small, then you must double your Hemp, but without twisting, only the small ends of every hand must be twisted a little, to keep them whole and from tangling; then first of all lay some smooth sticks down in the bottom of the kettle, so as to lie across one another, three or four layers, according to the bigness and deepness of your kettle; this is to keep the [Page 85] Hemp from touching the liquor; then pour some lye of middling strength, half as strong as what you make soap of, gently into the kettle, so much as not to rise up to the top of the sticks, they being kept down to the bottom; then lay in the Hemp, each layer crossing the other so that the steem may rise up through the whole body of the Hemp, which done, cover your kettle as close as you can, and hang it over a very gentle fire, and keep it simmering or stewing, but not boil­ing, so as to raise a good steem for six or eight hours; then take it off, and let it stand covered till it be cool enough to handle; then take out the Hemp, and wring it very care­fully as dry as you well can, and hang it up out of the way of the wind, either in your gar­ret or in your barn, shutting the doors, and there let it remain, turning it now and then till it be perfectly dry; then pack it up in some close dry place, till you want to use it; but you will do well to visit it now and then, least any part of it might be damp and rot. You must know, that wind and air weaken and rot Hemp, flax and thread very much. Then at your leisure, twist up some of the hands, as many as you intend for present use as hard as you can, and with a smart round smooth hand beetle, on a smooth stone, beat and pound each hand by itself all over very well, turning it round from side to side▪ 'till every part be well bruised; you then untwist it, [Page 86] and hatchel it, first thro' a coarse and then thro' a fine hatchel: and remember that hatch­eling must be performed in the same manner as a man would comb a fine head of hair, he begins at the ends below, and as that un­tangles, he rises higher, 'till at last he reaches up to the crown of his head. The first tow makes good ropes for the use of the plantati­on, the second tow will make very good ozna­brigs or coarse sheeting; and the Hemp itself will make excellent linen. The same me­thod of steeming softens flax very much.

THE art of bleaching, or whitening linen-cloth, thread, &c. is conducted in the following manner by the Bleachers of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

After the cloth has been sorted into parcels of an equal fineness, as near as can be judged, they are latched, linked, and then steeped. Steeping is the first operation which the cloth undergoes, and is performed in this manner.

The linens are folded up, each piece distinct, and laid in a large wooden vessel; into which is thrown, blood-warm, a sufficient quantity of water, or equal parts of water and lye, which has been used to [...]hite cloth only, or water with rye-meal or bran mixed with it, 'till the whole is thoroughly wet, and the liquor rises over all. Then a cover of wood is laid over the cloth, and that cover is secured with a post betwixt the boards and the joisting, to prevent the cloth from rising during the fer­mentation which ensues. About six hours after the cloth has been steeped in warm [Page 88] water, and about twelve in cold, bubbles of air arise, a pellicle is formed on the surface of the liquor, and the cloth swells when it is not pressed down. This intestine motion continues from thirty-six to forty eight hours, according to the warmth of the weather; about which time the pellicle or scum begins to fall to the bottom. Before this precipitation happens, the cloth must be taken out; and and the proper time for taking it out, is when no more air-bubbles arise. This is allowed to be the justest guide by the most experienc­ed bleachers.

The cloth is then taken out, well [...]insed, disposed regularly by the selvage, and washed in the put-mill to carry off the loose dust. After this it is spread on the field to dry: When thoroughly dried, it is ready for buck­ing; which is the second operation.

Bucking, or the application of salts, is performed in this manner. The first or mo­ther lye, is made in a copper, which we shall suppose, for example, when full, holds 170 Scots gallons of water. The copper is filled three fourths full of water, which is brought to boil: just when it begins, the following proportion of ashes is put into it, viz. 30 lb. of blue, and as much white pearl-ashes; 200 lb. of Marcoft ashes, (or, if they have not these, about 300 lb. of Cashub); 300 lb. of Muscovy, or blanch ashes; the three last ought to be well pounded. This li­quor [Page 89] is allowed to boil for a quarter of an hour, stirring the ashes from the bottom very often; after which the fire is taken away. The liquor must stand till it has set­tled, which takes at least six hours, and then it is fit for use.

Out of their first, or mother-lye, the se­cond, or that used in bucking, is made in this manner. Into another copper, holding, for example, 40 Scots gallons, are put 38 gallons of water, 2 lb. soft soap, and 2 gal­lons of mother-lye; or, for cheapness, in place of the soap, when they have lye which has been used to white linnen, called white-linen lye, they take 14 gallons of it, leaving out an equal quantity of water. This is called bucking-lye.

After the linens are taken up from the field dry, they are set in the vat or cave, as their large vessel is called, in rows, endwise, that they may be equally wet by the lye; which, made blood-warm, is now thrown on them, and the cloth is afterwards squeezed down by a man with wooden shoes. Each row undergoes the same operation, until the vessel is full, or all the cloth in it. At first the lye is put on milk-warm, and, after standing a little time on the cloth, it is again let off by a cock into the bucking copper, heated to a greater degree, and then put on the cloth again. This course is repeated for six or seven hours, and the degree of heat [Page 90] gradually increased, till it is, at the last turn or two, thrown on boiling hot. The cloth remains after this for three or four hours in the lye; after which the lye is let off, thrown away, or used in the first buckings, and the cloth goes on to another operation.

It is then carried out, generally early in the morning, spread on the grass, pinned, corded down, exposed to the sun and air, and watered for the first six hours, so often, that it never is allowed to dry. Afterwards it is allowed to lie till dry spots appear before it is watered. After seven at night it gets no more water, unless it be a very drying night. Next day, in the morning and forenoon, it is watered twice or thrice if the day be very dry; but if the weather be not drying, it gets no water: After which it is taken up dry if the green be clean; if not, it is rinsed, mill-washed, and laid out to dry again, to become fit for bucking.

This alternate course of bucking and wa­tering, is performed for the most part, from ten to sixteen times, or more, before the linen is fit for souring; gradually increasing the strength of the lye from the first to the middle bucking, and from that gradually decreasing it till the souring begins. The lyes in the middle buckings are generally about a third stronger than the first and last.

Souring, or the application of acids to cloth, is the fourth operation. It is difficult [Page 91] to say when this operation should commence, and depends mostly on the skill and expe­rience of the bleacher. When the cloth has an equal colour, and is mostly freed from the sprat, or outer bark of the lint, it is then thought [...]it for souring; which is performed in the following manner. Into a large vat or vessel is poured such a quantity of butter milk or sour milk, as will sufficiently wet the first row of cloth; which is tied up in loose folds, and pressed down by two or three men bare­footed. If the milk is thick, about an eighth of water is added to it; if thin, no water. Sours made with bran, or rye-meal and wa­ter, are often used instead of milk, and used milk-warm. Over the first row of cloth a quantity of milk and water is thrown, to be imbibed by the second; and so it is conti­nued till the linen to be soured is sufficiently wet, and the liquor rises over the whole. The cloth is then kept down by covers filled with holes, and secured with a post fixed to the joist, that it may not rise. Some hours after the cloth has been in the sour, air-bubbles arise, a white scum is found on the surface, and an intestine motion goes on in the liquor. In warm weather it appears sooner, is stronger, and ends sooner, than in cold weather. Just before this fermentation, which lasts five or six days, is finished, at which time the scum falls down, the cloth should be taken out, rinsed, mill-washed; [Page 92] and delivered to the women to be washed with soap and water.

Washing with soap and water, is the fifth operation; and is performed thus. Two women are placed opposite at each tub, which is made of very thick staves, so that the edges, which slope inwards, are about four inches in thickness. A small vessel full of warm water is placed in each tub. The cloth is folded so that the selvage may be first rubbed with soap and warm water length-ways, till it is sufficiently impregnated with it. In this manner all the parcel is rubbed with soap, and afterwards carried to be bucked.

The lye now used has no soap in it, ex­cept what it gets from the cloth; and is equal in strength to the strongest formerly used, or rather stronger, because the cloth is now put in wet. From the former ope­ration these lyes are gradually made stronger, till the cloth seems of an uniform white, nor any darkness or brown colour appears in its ground. After this, the lye is more speedily weakened than it was increased; so that the last which the cloth gets, is weaker than any it got before.

But the management of sours is different; for they are used strongest at first, and de­creased so in strength, that the last sour, considering the cloth is then always taken up wet, may be reckoned to contain three fourths of water.

[Page 93]From the bucking it goes to the watering, as formerly, observing only to overlap the selvages, and tie it down with cords, that it may not tear; then it returns to the sour, milling, washing, bucking, and watering again. These operations succeed one another alternately till the cloth is whitened; at which time it is blued, starched, and dried.

This is the method used in the whitening fine cloths. The following is the method used in the whitening of coarse cloths.

Having sorted the cloths, according to their quality, they are steeped in the same manner as the fine, rinsed, washed in the mill, and dried before boiling.

In this process, boiling supplies the place of bucking, as it takes less time, and conse­quently is thought cheapest. It is done in the following manner: 200 lb. cashub ashes, 100 lb. white Muscovy, and 30 lb. pearl-ashes, boiled in 105 Scots gallons of water for a quarter of an hour, as in the process for the fine cloth, makes the mother or first lye. The cloth-boiler is then to be filled two thirds full with water and mother lye, about nine parts of the former to one of the lat­ter; so that the lye used for boiling the coarse cloth, is about a third weaker than that used in bucking the fine. Such a quantity of cloth is put into the foregoing quantity of lye, when cold, as can be well covered by it. The lye is brought gradually to the boil, and kept boiling for two hours; the cloth [Page 94] being fixed down all the time, that it does not rise above the liquor. The cloth is then taken out, spread on the field, and watered, as mentioned before in the fine cloth.

As the salts of the lye are not exhausted by this boiling, the same is continued to be used all that day, adding, at each boiling, so much of the mother-lye as will bring it to the same strength as at first. The lye by boiling loses in quantity somewhat betwixt a third and a fourth; and they reckon that in strength it loses about a half, because they find in practice, that adding to it half its for­mer strength in fresh lye, has the same effect on cloth. Therefore some fresh lye, con­taining a fourth part of the water, and the half of the strength of the first lye, makes the se­cond boiler equal in strength to the first. To the third boiler they add somewhat more than the former proportion, an [...] go on still increasing, gradually to the fourth and fifth, which is as much as can be done in a day. The boiler is then cleaned, and next day they begin with fresh lye. These additions of fresh lye ought always to be made by the master-bleacher, as it requires judgment to to bring succeeding lyes to the same strength as the first.

When the cloth comes to get the second boiling, the lye should be a little stronger, about a thirtieth part, and the deficiencies made up in the same proportion. For six or [Page 95] seven boilings, or fewer, if the cloth be thin, the lye is increased in this way, and then gradually diminished till the cloth is fit for souring. The whitest cloth ought always to be boiled first, that it may not be hurt by what goes before.

In this process, if the cloth cannot be got dry for boiling, business does not stop as in the fine; for after the coarse has dreeped on racks made for the purpose, it is boiled, making the lye strong in proportion to the water in the cloth.

The common method of souring coarse linen is, to mix some warm water and bran in the vat, then put a layer of cloth, then more bran, water, and cloth; and so on, till the cave is full. The whole is tramped with mens feet, and fixed as in the former process. A thousand yards of cloth, yard-broad, require betwixt four and six pecks of bran. The cloth generally lies about three nights and two days in the sour. Others prepare their sour twenty-four hours before, by mixing the bran with warm water in a separate vessel; and before pouring it on the cloth, they dilute it with a sufficient quan­tity of water. After the cloth is taken from the sour, it ought to be well washed and rinsed again. It is then given to men to be well soaped on a table, and after­wards rubbed betwixt the rubbing boards. When it comes from them, it should be [Page 96] well milled, and warm water poured on it all the time, if conveniency will allow of it. Two or three of these rubbings are sufficient, and the cloth very seldom requires more.

The lye, after the souring begins, is de­creased in strength by degrees; and three boilings after that are commonly sufficient to finish the cloth. Afterwards it is starched, blued, dried, and beettled in a machine made for that purpose, which supplies the place of a calender, and is preferred by many to it.

This method used in the bleaching of our coarse cloths, is very like that practised in Ireland for both fine and coarse. The only material difference is, that there the bleachers use no other ashes but the kelp or cashub. A lye is drawn from the former by cold wa­ter, which disolves the salts, and not the sulphureous particles of the kelp ashes. This lye is used till the cloth is half whitened, and then they lay aside the kelp-lye for one made of cashub ashes.

In the preceding history of bleaching we may observe, that it naturally divides itself into several different branches or parts, all tending to give linen the degree of whiteness required. How they effectuate, that comes next to be considered.

The general process of bleeching divides itself into these different parts. 1. Steeping and milling. 2. Bucking and boiling. 3. Al­ternate watering and drying. 4. Souring. [Page 79] 5. Rubbing with soap and warm water, starching and bluing. We shall treat of these different parts in their order.

WE do not pretend, in this article, to give a detail of the method of managing cat­tle: we propose only to make some remarks upon points which we have observed too commonly neglected. For this purpose we cannot dispense with censuring a general fault of all those whose fortunes are under a mediocrity; for people of these circumstances, finding it impracticable to make large profits, reject disdainfully the small advantages conti­nually in their power; mistaking the cha­grin of envy, and the languor of indolence for marks of the elevation of their spirit, and of the nobleness of their sentiments. In vain, the wise man informs them, that whoever neglects small profits will decay day by day: in vain reason dictates, that from a small stock they must be contented with small gain; but that a great number of small profits, which it is easy to multiply by labour, be­come in a short time an object of considerati­on. Although experience confirms these truths daily, by the decay or prosperity of some one of their neighbours; they shut their eyes to the true causes of these events, and [Page 144] impute them to those that are suggested by malice and indolence.

From the care of cattle result the most speedy, the most abundant and most lawful advantages. There are but too many avari­cious monopolists in the country, who hoard­ing up the corn they cannot use, with a view to profit by some future bad crop, pave the way for a general scarcity, which, whenever it afflicts the nation, they endeavour to pro­long. But this wickedness cannot be practised with cattle. Whoever shall persist in keep­ing more of them than he can maintain, would expose himself to inevitable ruin, by starving his cattle, and he would be very soon obliged to get rid of them. There can be no objection against him whose stock is in proportion to his pasture: he contributes to­wards the public good, by multiplying the species, by procuring plentiful crops, with the manure he provides for the ground, and by lowering as much as lies in his power, the price of the most necessary commodities, by the abundance he brings to market.

We must not however imagine, that in order to derive a considerable advantage from cattle, it suffices to have a great number, and to give them the necessary fodder: there are many other circumstances to be attended to, without which it would be in vain to flatter ourselves with the expectation of riches. In limiting the subject to horned cattle, we shall [Page 145] observe, that they are often kept in too nar­row stables, from whence many inconveni­encies arise. Sometimes being provoked, they fight and wound one an [...]ther. The most voracious st [...]ve their neighbours, from whom they carry off all the fodder within their reach; and the injured cows decay in­sensibly, become languid, or give little milk. In the summer the heat incommodes them, a circumstance which makes them grow lea [...], and diminishes the quantity of their milk. Care, then, must be taken, that they have room in their stable, that they be cool in summer, and warm in winter. At all sea­sons let them be dry, for that is a material point. Even in summer, humidity is disa­greeable to them, and in winter it chills them. To prevent this double inconvenience, it is proper to pave the stables with a gentle de­scent, and to dig a sewer to collect all the water. By this means the cattle will ly [...] al­ways dry, and the dung will run no risque of growing sour. Horned cattle contract a habit, sometimes, of licking one another; and that hurts them to such a degree, that a butcher who perceives it, will give less money for them than for others. They are cured of this trick by rubbing the places they have licked with cow-dung, the bitterness of which prevents them from re-attempting it.

The desire of profiting by the milk of the cow, is often the cause of the calf's being [Page 146] too early weaned. A month or two more, in fine, the time required by nature, would strengthen it in its youth: it would grow more successfully, and in time, fetch a profit with good interest. But this is scarce done any where. No sooner is it believed that it may subsist without the mother's milk, than the farmer thinks he gains a great deal by weaning it: ill-fed, and infirm, it grows at best to be a sorry bull, or feeble bullock, from which little profit can be derived, and much less service.

The principal source of this abuse arises from ignorance, and want of reflection. People either do not know, or do not reflect, that the vital-fire inclosed in the heart of a new-born animal, must be augmented; that it attracts and is nourished by that contained in the milk; that this vital fire, weak at first, would scarce have power to separate the aux­iliary fire from the milky particles with which it is incorporated, if milk was a less delicate substance than nature hath formed it for this first service; but in proportion as the vital fire acquires force, the milk grows thick, because its grosser particles are destined for forming and consolidating the body of the animal. When the vital fire is arrived at such a degree, as to be superior to the suc­cours which the milk can afford, nature ex­cites the animal to seek a more solid nourish­ment, and then, but not till then, is the [Page 147] time of weaning it. For, by anticipating that time, they run the risque of leaving the animal imperfect in its interior parts: the ali­ment which is administered, being above its strength, it cannot perform a perfect digesti­on, and the nourishment it receives, is so much the less, as in all natural bodies, the strongest juices, and most efficacious quali­ties, are always comprehended; and as it were, imprisoned in the hardest particles. Hence it happens, that a sickly animal does not derive from the same food, so much nourishment as an animal in health. In ef­fect, the vital heat, too much employed, in resisting the attacks of the corrupted humours, hath not force enough to extract from the aliment, the necessary auxiliary fire, which is concealed in its bosom. Besides, the food being but ill dissolved, passes to excrement, producing only a meagre inefficacious dung.

As therefore, we may be assured, by weaning a half too early, that it will remain infirm, and of small value; in like manner by leaving it with the mother, as long as its constitution requires, we may expect it will become strong and vigorous, and by follow­ing this method, we can hardly fail of rais­ing a breed of cattle, that will redound both to the honour and profit of the farmer.

Young calves are apt to be attacked by in­sects, which disturb and torment them, while at the same time they prevent their fatten­ing. [Page 148] In order to preserve them from these insects, and even cure them when they are hurt, it will be proper to prepare an oint­ment of melted hogs-greese and mercury, which must be kneaded till they are well mixed together. Spread this ointment upon a linen cloth, then wrap it up in three folds, stitch it for a collar to the calves, and it will not only cure them, but likewise disperse the insects.

There is no better nourishment for the young animals, than vetches soaked in wa­ter, till they swell; but observe to steep no more than will serve them for once, because when they remain a long time in moisture, they are apt to grow sour, and so would do them more harm than good.

We shall not insist upon the advantages at­tending the breeding of young cattle, what­ever trouble it may cost; because there is no prudent country-man who is not fully per­suaded of them. To buy what he may have [...] his own growth; is to a farmer no [...] a dissipation; because the land [...] no money, which is only to be ob­tained with commodities, and very often the pu [...]chase of some goods destroys all the pro­fit r [...]sulting from the sale of others. It o [...]ght, therefore, to be an inviolable maxim, especially with those of narrow circumstances, to spare no pains in improving their stock, not making small estimation of what has cost [Page 149] them no money, but frugal as if they had bought it. By this means, if we except great accidents, which can never be foreseen nor prevented, they will find wealth flow upon them annually, though slowly, and lay the foundation of a solid fortune.

EVERY body knows what delicate creatures sheep are, and that among the dis­tempers to which they are subject, their li­vers and lungs are usually attacked when they feed in moist places, or upon rotten fodder. As dry pasturage, which alone agrees with them, is not to be found in all places; and in wet years, it is very often difficult to dry the hay before it is laid in, so that it heats in the hay- [...]oft, and rots: an inconvenience which in time of continual rains, is incident to all other kinds of forage, it is inconceiva­ble how many sheep are incommoded, and even perish. It is surprizing, as this dis­temper is so universal, that often in a whole district there is not one sound sheep; and the consequences are so fatal, that the breeder is under the necessity of renewing his flock con­tinually; this being the case, I say, it is sur­prizing that none of our books upon farm­ing, have furnished us a remedy to prevent [Page 150] such misfortunes. We will now communi­cate one which, we are assured is very effica­cious if employed at first in the beginning of spring.

Take a pound of wormwood, or absyn­thium grafted, the same quantity of Spanish radish, powder and keep them in a box for use. It were to be wished, he had told us what the grafted wormwood is, and how it differs from the great and little absynthium, which are the only kinds commonly known; perhaps it is procured by some particular cul­tivation.

When there is occasion to use this powder, take two ounces of it, for an hundred sheep; mix them with four ounces of bruised juni­per berries, and two or three small measures (each containing about two pints) of oat-misling. The misling of oats, is a mixture of one third of oats, with two thirds of peas and vetches, which is sown in march, on slight grounds, for forage to the castle: add to this mixture, a small handful of salt, and the half quantity of the whole, of ordinary wormwood powdered.

This composition is thrown into the sheep trouges, every week, especially, in the month of March, about Whitsunday, and in the end of June. Thus, the sheep will be pre­served from the distemper, or at least, it will not make great havock among them.

PLANTS cultivated in the open field, where there is a great deal of game, are lia­ble to be consumed, especially by hares; so that the husbandman or gardener is obliged to replant his ground three or four times: this is a very great misfortune in those places where a great deal of cabbage is planted; and a great many methods have been used to pre­vent it, tho' without success: but this that we are going to prescribe, may be tried with great safety, seeing every time it hath been employed, it has always produced the desired effect.

The misfortune must be prevented at the time of planting. For an acre of ground take two ounces of assa soetida, such as is sold by the apotheca [...]y or druggist; put it into a small pot full of dung juice, and boil it, un­til the whole is dissolved; then empty this decoction into a shallow tub, and add a pint or two of dung juice, stir it well, with a piece of wood, and carry it into the field for use.

All the plants, before they are put into the earth, must be steeped in this compositi­on, in the following manner: A person must [Page 152] be expressly employed in preparing them for being planted. Take as many of them as you can clasp in both hands, and dip them in the prepared matter, so as that each plant shall be moistened in every part. This being done, lay them in heaps upon the ground, and sprinkle a little earth upon the roots Distribute the plants thus moistened, to th [...] planter, who must immediately set them i [...] the holes prepared for that purpose; the [...] press the earth against the plant with a piec [...] of wood made for that use, and continue so to the end.

All those who shall have occasion to use this remedy, may be assured that no game will touch these plants; but, on the contra­ry, avoid them with great abhorrence and precipitation. Yet, the plants which are ei­ther not at all or not sufficiently sprinkled, will soon be discovered and eaten by the hares; so that the place must be replanted. There is no danger of the plant's contracting any bad scent from this preparation; for the sun and air will purify it in time.

As for catterpill [...]rs, and other insects which bite the young cabbage plants, radishes, &c. they may be prevented very easily, by the following remedy—Take a pail of dung-water, and infuse into it,

Of Assa [...]oetida

6 dwt.

Woad

3 dwt.

Garlick

3 dwt.

[Page 153]Laurel berries bruised

3 dwt.

Leaves or tops of elder,

one handful.

Carline, white Cameleon, or Thistle-root,

one handful.

Let the whole digest for three days and three nights. When you have occasion to use this composition, take a whisp of rye-straw, and dipping it in the pail, sprinkle the small plants that are infected by those insects, which will soon perish or forsake the place.

To this remedy we will add another, which is infall [...]ble against the caterpillars in cabbage. Sow with hemp all the borders of the ground where you mean to plant your cabbage, and you will see with surprize, that although the neighbourhood is infected with cater­pillars, the space inclosed by the hemp, will be perfectly free; not one of the vermin will approach it.

THAT which the botanists call horse radish, and range in the class of turnips of Rapa, is a plant so wholesome and agreeable▪ that gardeners study to have them at all sea­sons; but, notwithstanding all the pains they take, those only succeed which come up in the spring and autumn. The winter-radishes are insipid, and those of summer, strong and [Page 154] disagreeable; equally influenced and injured by the frost and by the heat of the sun; they are used in perfection only during a small part of the year; and the Fathers Minimes of Passi, commonly called the good men, are the only persons who have found means to have them good at all times; with this dif­ference, however, that their production is much more slow in winter than in summer.

These fathers, out of their uncommon generosity, and with a view to the public ad­vantage, have communicated to us, the se­cret of cultivating them, that we may im­part it to the public in our journal.—It was from them that the Revd. Fathers Peni­tents of Piepus, had the same receipt, which they now practise with success.

Take a quantity of the ordinary horse-radish seed, steep it in river-water, for the space of four and twenty hours; then put the whole wet as it is, in a little linen bag, well secured with pack-thread: but if you have steeped a great quantity of the seed, it must be divided into several bags: expose the bag or bags to the heat of the sun, for about four and twenty hours. At the expiration of which, the seed will have begun to shoot, and you must sow it like any other grain, in land well exposed to the sun. Prepare two tubs of such dimensions, as that the one will exactly cover the other; these may be easily procured, by sawing a cask into two equal [Page 155] parts—These two tubs will serve for the winter; for, in summer, one will be suffi­cient for each kind of earth that is to be sown. For which reason, it must be previ­ously marked with the tub, that you may not sow more seed than the other tub will cover.

Immediately after the seed is sown, it must be covered with a tub, and at the end of three days, you will find your Radishes as large as small Civet, of a white colour, hav­ing at their extremity two small, round, yel­low or reddish leaves about the earth, and ready to be cut or plucked for sallad. These are of a much more delicate taste than the ordinary Radishes, which are always eaten with salt.

By taking these precautions, you may have them in the most severe frosts. After hav­ing steeped the seed in lukewarm water, and exposed it to the sun (as we have already observed) or in a warm place, so as that it shall shoot; warm two tubs, fill one of them with earth well smoaked, there sow your seed, and cover it with the other tub, You must take care to water it always with luke­warm water, and to carry the two tubs ex­actly placed over one another, and well joined, into a cellar, or some warm place under ground: at the end of fifteen days, you may gather your sallad.

[Page 156]The Reverend Fathers Minimes, were the first who found out this method of cultivat­ing horse radish: and it is to be hoped, that as they are of a quality superior to all others, the utility of them will not be confined to the pleasures of the table; but, that medi­cine which employs the ordinary kind of Rad­ish, on a great many occasions, will reap much more considerable advadtage from this preparation.

ASPARAGUS is acknowledged, of all sorts of pul [...]e, to be the most wholesome, at the same time that it is one of the most delicate. They who cultivate them, unani­mously agree, that, in order to have them large, they must be cut the fourth year only; and that they lose their relish when by a forced [...]eat they are produced before their season. Nevertheless, a lover of gardening, and of asparagus in particular, hath commu­nicated to us a memorial, wherein those two points are formally contradicted. His me­thod is to cut the tops in the spring of the first year; and the reason is, that the root, of consequence, receiving the nourishment of the juices, which it must have furnished to the top, spreads, gathers strength, and is [Page 157] in a condition of putting forth much strong­er tops the following years. He adds, that to deny this fact, is to be ignorant, or pre­tend to be ignorant of all the principles of vegetation, which inform us, that the deep­er and more extensive the roots are, the finer and more vigorous will the plant be pro­duced from these roots. And these princi­ples are so well established, that he knows, he says, several farmers who mow their wheat when green, that the roots becoming strong­er, may put forth a greater number of stalks, longer ears, and larger grains.

With regard to the forced asparagus, he admits, that these raised in winter, are much inferior to those that come in the ordinary season; but he affirms, that by hastening them a month or six weeks only, there is no danger of their losing their fine relish. He observes, that asparagus makes an excep­tion from all the productions of the earth, which receive from the air and sun, the fla­vour that constitutes their principal merit. What th [...]se gain by being exposed to the fresh air, and the heat of the sun, asparagus loses; and for a proof of this assertion, he appeals to common experience, by which we find, that the longer asparagus is left stand­ing, after appearing above ground, the more the relish is diminished. It is the earth heated with dung, that gives the flavour: the delicate juices evaporate in the air, and [Page 158] the sun renders the Asparagus hard and tough. Wherefore, as soon as the frosts are over, and a fermentation begins in the sur­face of the earth; asparagus, which abhors cold, as well as heat, sprouts successfully, possessed of all the flavour which the soil, where it is planted, is able to communicate: it dreads nothing but the prejudices with which people are too easily blinded, and which contradicting experience, extinguish in the gardener, the desire of perfecting his art, and deter him from submitting to a la­bour, from which he is likely to reap but small advantage.

We shall not relate here in what manner he heats the ground: it is the same method as taught in all books of gardening, for rais­ing asparagus in winter, with this difference, however, that whereas others perform that operation before, he never commences it, till after the frosts. If the reasons given by this lover of agriculture, are as solid as they appear, we hope that those, whose ex­perience (the only mistress to be relied upon in this subject,) confirms them, will com­municate their success to the public, that every body may learn how to procure as early as possible, and of the best kind, a pulse so justly coveted in all families; a pulse which of all kitchen plants, most certainly is ac­companied with the greatest advantages, ac­cording to the expression of a modern author, [Page 159] a real master of the art of useful gardening, and the best of any who have treated that subject. The school of kitchen gardening, which he hath lately published, renders it needless to give in our journal, the instructive memorials we have in our possession, con­cerning that favourite part of agriculture; and we are resolved from henceforth, to touch no more that subject, unless we have remarks or additions to make, better or equal at least, in merit to the excellent de­finitions and principles of agriculture, which that author hath so learnedly and amply ex­plained, in the forementioned work.

This is a rule which we propose to follow in matters of agriculture, as likewise never to republish in our journal what hath been al­ready communicated to the public in our language, except in certain cases, and that in particular which we have now already mentioned, of observations, criticisms, or additions. This method we look upon as the most simple and most likely to satisfy the curious, without multiplying memorials, the repetition of which would only obscure the subject, and tire the reader. We may, therefore boldly presume, if our essays ar [...] neither extensive nor numerous, that they will at least have the merit with considerate persons, of improving their knowledge, and conducting them some steps in the road of utility.