JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES.

FLAX AND ITS MANUFACTURE.

The culture of flax is destined to attract more largely the attention of our American farmers than it has heretofore; for the demand of the manufacture will increase with improved methods of fabrication. Flax can be produced with comparative facility in the soil of a large portion of our domain. Demand with our enterprising countrymen is a stimulus sufficiently powerful to ensure its production in any required quantity. The subject is attracting a good deal of attention at home and abroad. In Ireland, we notice by late advices, that preparations are making to extend the area of cultivation. Our commercial cotemporary of the Cincinnati Price Current, who discusses with spirit and zeal every topic connected with trade and industry that promises to advance the interest or develop the vast resources of the West, has, in the subjoined article in a late number of the Price Current, embodied facts, figures, and suggestions of suffi cient importance to claim a wider circulation. We, therefore, transfer them to our pages:

We moderns think that we have performed wonders, but there is one thing in which scarcely anything has been accomplished since the days of the Pharaohs, and that is in preparing and manufacturing flax, so that linen cloth shall be a cheap article for common people. This is a desideratum in the arts and commerce of the world at the present time. Hence, the idea to which we recently alluded of flax cotton, excites so much interest; and if the new art described in England be really successful, it will cause a revolution in many branches of trade; but even on the supposition that it fails, the production and manufacture of flax demands more attention in the United States than it has received. No country is better adapted to the culture of flax than our own, and is there any people more ingenious in the use of machinery? Why, then, should we not make our own linen? In order to show how our industry and ingenuity has, in the case of flax, fallen behind that of Great Britain, we give the following tables in relation to the production of flax goods in each country:—

1844.. 1845.

IMPORT OF GOODS MANUFACTURED OF FLAX INTO THE UNITED STATES.

$4,492,826 | 1846.
4,923,109 1847.

$5,098,505 1848.....
5,154,837 1849.

$6,624,648 5,907,232

We thus find that the United States are importing annually about $6,000,000 in the manufactures of flax! Now let us see what Great Britain exports.

We have the value of English exports of linen for the following years, namely:1843...... $11,456,870 | 1844...... $12,813,510 1845.... $12,688,010

Thus we see that England exports double as much as we import, and as we import nearly all our linen from Great Britain, it follows that it is our inattention to this subject, chiefly, which enables England to carry on this large trade in the manufacture of flax.

The following facts will illustrate the change produced in the manufacture of flax a Dundee, by the introduction of machine spinning:

The power loom answers for weaving dowlas, sheeting, and some sorts of linen, but is not applicable to the finer fabric, for which the Jacquard loom, introduced in 1824, is now used in the manufacture of damask, diaper, table covers, &c.

The profit made on this manufacture is very large. The following is our estimate of the weekly expenses and profits of a factory, whose capital is $300,000:—

At this rate, this factory makes more than $60,000 per annum, (after paying 10 per cent interest,) and would pay both its capital and interest in five years.

No wonder the manufacture of flax has increased so rapidly in England! Why should it not increase in this conntry? There is, in truth, no reason. Flax is in this country very easily cultivated, and yet in Ohio we find it raised for the seed only. If, as we believe, American ingenuity and industry are equal to those of any other country, why should we not have factories in Ohio for the manufacture of linen goods?

If we suppose such a factory to cost $100,000-and it might be erected for much less-and be as profitable as in England, it would repay the proprietors $10,000 for interest, and $20,000 for profits in one year. In other words, it would pay 30 per cent per annum. We think it must be want of information on this subject, which keeps back the flax manufacture in this country, and have exhibited these facts with the hope of exciting some attention to the subject.

The time must come soon when America will make every yard of her flax, cotton, and woolen goods. It is absurd for a country with so much materials and ingenuity necessary to manufactures, to import such goods.

MANUFACTURE OF GLASS ANIMALS.

The special correspondent of the London Morning Chronicle, who, in his perambulations picks up many curious, and sometimes instructive matters of fact, and “jots” them "down" in a most agreeable and graphic manner, gives us in one of his interesting communications to the Chronicle an account of M. Lombourg's very clever system of producing animals from glass. The unutilitarian readers of the Merchants' Magazine, if any such there are, will not require an apology from us, for occasionally introducing to their notice the curiosities of art manufacture, when, as in the present instance, they relate to the production of a merchantable article, as almost everything except "air aud sunshine" has come to be considered in this era of industrial and commercial enterprise :

"In Saumur, in a modest shop upon the quay, I witnessed an exhibition showing a degree of industry, ingenuity, and perfectly novel artistic skill, which surprised and delighted me. In a glass case by the door stood what I took at first sight to be a huge grotesque doll, made up in ludicrous imitation of the lack-a-daisical looking shepherds who sometimes flourish in the pictures of Watteau and his pastoral-loving contemporaries. Looking more closely, I discovered that my shepherd was a glass one-that the half-furry, half-velvety materials in which he was dressed were composed of innumerable filaments of spun glass of all imaginable colors. I was examining the figure, when the shopkeeper politely invited me to enter. He was engaged, by the help of a jet of gas, a small lump of glass, and the blow-pipe, in manufacturing an infinity of tiny dogs, cats, and birds of paradise, with lustrous tails--the like of which abound in our own toy-shops, but which were here endowed with an artistic appearance of life, and finished off with a perfection of detail which appeared to me quite unrivalled. Still, not being over and above interested in the production of these pretty nicnackeries, I was turning to go, when I observed a large glass case at the bottom of the shop, containing what I took to be very fine stuffed specimens of a lion, a striped tiger and a leopard. Ah!' said the artist, these are my triumphs. I make my living out of trumpery dogs and cats, and children's sets of plate; but these are the works to which I have devoted all the time, and in which I have settled all the pride of my life.'

"I was astounded. What I had taken for the natural hides and fur of the animals was entirely glass-every tawny hair in the lion's mane being a distinct thread of the brittle material, and every colored fibre in the tiger's striped hide a separately spun specule of correspondingly hued glass. Here, no doubt, were the evidences of vast labor, of most patient and delicate handiwork. But the art of the exhibition was shown

in the skill and fidelity with which nature had been imitated, in the whole aspect and bearing of the animals, in the fine swell of their muscles-the attitude and cord-like tenseness given to the legs-and above all, in the fierce and life-like aspect imparted to the creatures' heads, that of the lion in particular, flaming upwards from the tangled masses of shaggy hair.

"The artist looked upon his works with paternal pride. I am the only man in Europe,' he said, 'who can make the like.' He added that he had been sent for by the late ex-King of the French, who had purchased several smaller animals, made in the style of those I saw. I expressed a hope that I should encounter the lion, next summer, in the London Exposition. No,' the man replied, 'He had shown his collection to great English milords when he was in Paris, but they were stiff and cold, and the reception they had given him discouraged him from thinking of sending any specimens of his skill to London.' It is to be hoped, however, that M. Lambourg-such is the artist's name will change his mind in this respect. The lion cost him five years of labor. He estimated its value at 30,000 francs, while he rated the tiger and leopard as worth 15,000 francs each."

THE MANUFACTURE OF LINEN.

Mr. O. S. Leavitt, who has been very successful in the invention and application of machinery for the manufacture of flax in this country, in a recent communication to the Tribune on the subject, remarks:

That we are on the eve of a great revolution in Commerce and Manufactures, growing out of a substitution of linen for cotton, there can be no question. Raw cotton is now worth 14 a 15 cents per pound, while linen filler can be procured for less than one-third this price, especially in those districts where flax is grown for the seed only, the lint being thrown away as worthless, or at least not worth the expense and trouble of preparing it for market, in the usual way. In those districts flax can be produced in the unrotted state-the very condition for producing fine linen at the least cost-for about two cents per pound. Then, by the use of machinery somewhat similar to that which I am now using successfully with unrotted hemp, in the manufacture of Kyanized Cordage, flax can be broken out for less than two cents per pound. Then, by process of machinery, it can be refined and rendered white and soft, capable of being spun into the finest yarns, for less than two cents more, being then in the condition which you so aptly term "Flax Cotton." This can be spun for about the sum required for cotton, thus reducing the price of linen yarns far below that of cotton. From this time forward, as you proceed in the manufacture of fabrics, the expense is about equal, the recent improvements in power-looms for linen, having entirely removed all the difficulties which were experienced in this branch of manufacture some time ago, and from the great purity and whiteness of the linen fabric by the new process, the bleaching is rendered quite as simple and cheap a process as with cotton. By the new process we are enabled to produce finer quality than heretofore. It was common in Ireland, when hemp was low and flax high, to use the American dew-rotted hemp as a substitute for flax, but it could not be run to fine numbers-rarely finer than 30s. It can, however, by the new process, be easily run as fine as 100 leas to the pound. I have produced yarn much finer, in a small way, from hemp, both rotted and unrotted, though the latter is preferred.

I observe the London press delighted with the prospect of English independence of American cotton-growers. It is very true that England may not be obliged much longer to import raw cotton from the United States, but she will hardly like, in the place of it, to import manufactured goods, as she must do ere long. Flax cannot be transported far, in the unrotted state, in the straw, and farmers will not readily establish factories upon their plantations, for the purpose of producing "flax cotton" for exportation. They will cut it, take off the seed, (which pays for the crop,) and haul it a few miles to a flax mill or linen factory, where they will sell it at a moderate price. When a manufacturer once begins to manufacture flax, if he is wise he will go through with it, and turn it off in the shape of either yarns or fabrics. Growing flax for the seed alone, is considered, in many parts of the Western States, a profitable branch of husbandry. What the farmer gets, then, for the straw or lint, now thrown away, he considers so much clear gain. It is proposed in Ireland to pay twelve pounds sterling per acre for flax straw, leaving the farmer the seed; and who shall say that we cannot compete successfully with Ireland in manufacturing linen, when we can purchase quite as good, and quite as much flax, for less than one-quarter of the money?

I presume I may be allowed to remark, however little the public may care about it, that I made the discoveries and inventions now claimed on the other side of the Atlantic, in 1845, and in the same year I think you stated that I had a discovery or invention by which it was expected that linen could be procured as cheap as cotton goods, and that I had gone to Europe on business connected with it. It is true I visited England, Scotland, and Ireland, not, however, to communicate it to others, though I did communicate it to a Liverpool merchant. After making arrangements (tired of waiting upon others,) a few weeks ago, to bring out my invention, and the papers had so announced, I heard of these European discoveries of a similar kind. My caveat was filed in the United States Patent Office early in 1846, for the main portion, but other things have since been invented, and measures have now been taken to secure a series of patents, all bearing upon and connected with the same subject.

Mr. Gleeson's process of preparing the "flax cotton," to which we presume Mr. L. alludes to in his remarks "European discoveries," seems not to have been successful.

THE MANUFACTURE OF PAISLEY SHAWLS,

For the following account of the now celebrated Paisley shawls we are indebted to a late London journal :—

Not so much following in the wake of the French manufactures as advancing in a parallel path, the Paisley weavers are equally indeted to the genuine Indian cashmere as a model, and have displayed an equal perseverance in bringing their work near to its" prototype, as far as the first general effect is considered. It is the close inspection of an Indian shawl which most distinctly shows the difference of its fabric from any other, though there are two modes of working the pattern of an Indian shawl-the one by embroidering it upon the material, and the other by working it into the web during the process of weaving. The first mode is obviously needlework, and forms the less valuable kind of Indian shawls; the latter is not so simple, and bears at a glance a near resemblance to the French and Paisley manufactures. In the production of this, the more costly Indian fabric, a number of skewers, made of ivory, and sometimes of wood, about the size of a common packing needle, are used. They are sharpened at both ends, and each skewer is covevered with a different kind of wool; and with them the pattern is worked, stitch by stitch, into the web. The backs of these shawls, of course, show the effect of this minute and laborious handicraft, and present a totally different appearance from the European shawls, the patterns of which are woven entirely on the

loom.

Only, however, the very inferior Paisley shawls are made by the power loom: the finer ones requiring the more delicate work of manual labor; and the numerous shades of color which are used, each demanding a separate shuttle, render hand-loom weaving indispenable.

There is one disadvantage which the Paisley manufacturers labor under, which would, perhaps, never be guessed or thought of by the uninitiated; and though touching on a political question, we must mention in elucidation of our subject. The heavy duty on paper, from which the French are wholly free, is severely felt in the use of the Jacquard loom, how severely may be imagined when we mention the following single circumstance: It is computed that for a certain Paisley shawl in contemplation for the great exhibition of next year, the cost of preparing the Jacquard will be £470, out of which sum the duty on the card board will be no less than £92 15s.

Of course, the preparation for commoner fabrics is much less costly, but still the tax is in due proportion; and though it is true that the Jacquard, once set, will make an infinite number of shawls, it is also true that fashion is proverbially fickle, and necessarily limits that advantage. We munt also bear in mind that numerous designs do not, in commercial phrase, “take;" and that, in these cases, nearly a dead loss is the result. Nevertheless, our clear-headed and enterprising Scotchmen are not fainthearted either at the present or for the future; and what they are doing, the wide windows of our most showy London shops will tell, and the haunts of fashion in this autumn season yet more advantageously display. We are certain that Paisley shawls are frequently taken for French cashmeres, nor do we believe that any one but an experienced dealer can perceive the difference between a chef d'œuvre from the North and a Paris shawl. Of course we are not speaking of those common fabrics which, from the exigence of cheapness, are made partly of cotton, but of the finely-woven wool shawls, the imitation of cashmeres. Some of the most beautiful we have seen

are made of wool imported from Australia; the genuine Cashmere wool is also freely used, as well as a fine wool from Germany, where shawls, too, are made; but the manufacture, though of long standing, does not appear to us to have sufficient individuality to merit any particular notice.

For the patterns the Paisley manufactures are indebted both to India and France, but more for the general idea of what will work well than for any precise pattern; and so curiously successful are their own designers, that some three or four years ago a Paisley shawl was detained at the custom-house as being French. The owner of the shawl, a wife of a member of Parliament, insisted upon the contrary; but so positive were the authorities, that the shawl was only given upon Messrs. Kerr and Scott sending to them an agent who produced the original pattern.

The duty on Paisley shawls is so heavy in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal, that it almost amounts to prohibition, ranging as it does between thirty and seventy-five per cent. The long shawls being more esteemed than the square ones, and considered articles of luxury, it is by no means unusual for dealers to cut the former in two in order to evade the higher duty, and to have the two halves fine drawn together afterwards. These shawls are greatly admired on the continent, and we observe in a recent number of a French journal, that a new shawl lately adopted by the Parisians is called the "Paisley."

COAL FOR GAS.

The London "Journal of Gas Lighting," for last November, has an elaborate article on the comparative lighting powers of different kinds of coal, and the respective values of their residuary products. From this article is compiled the following table. Five cubic feet per hour of the gas produced by each description of coal, it must be understood, gives a light equal to the number of candles stated in the first column of figures. The second column shows to what proportion of the cost of the coal the residuary products are equivalent.

Candles.

Per cent.

This table may teach the public how fallacious it is to suppose that gas can be sold at the same price, with the same profit, all over the world. The lighting power of the coal-the value of the residuary products-the extent of consumption-must all be taken into consideration. We must also bear in mind that the residuary products of the same coal vary in value according to locality.

OIL CLOTH FACTORY AT ST. LOUIS.

We learn from the Western Journal that the enterprising proprietor of the St. Louis Oil Cloth Factoy, Mr. C. Muegge, commenced his establishment on a small scale, in the year 1841, and has extended it from time to time, until it has become one of the largest in the United States. The factory buildings and arrangements for drying, occupying an area of two acres. The establishment employs about thirty-six hands, and has produced during the year 1850, about 35,000 yards of oil cloth. Mr. Muegge is of that class of men who look to the consummation of whatsoever they undertake, rather than to immediate profits: and while the manufacture of oil cloth has declined in the Eastern States, and at Cincinnati, the St. Louis factory has been growing. Mr. Muegge has spared no expense to avail himself of every improvement in his power, and has made several trips to Europe for the purpose of obtaining the latest and most tasty patterns. He is now reaping the fruits of his enterprise, and may be regarded as holding the oil cloth market of the West in his own hands.