LINEN

cloth made from fibres of flax. Proce of 1. manufacture is shown ‘on early Egyptian monuments; Jews took art to Canaan. LL. was woven by Anglo-Saxons as early as VII. cent., ‘and used in Europe for clothing in Middle Ages. _ Fibres occurring in stem of flax are ‘separated by soaking in water; next they are dried and combed into ‘longs ‘and ‘shorts’. Yarn_is then spun and woven into cloth. Until comparatively recent times all spinning was done by ‘spindle and distaff; in early machines spindle was rotated by hand; soon the treadle was introduced, and then the ‘double spinning wheel, which was used ‘until end of XVIII. cent. In modern 1. Manufacture the principal operations disentangling, and laying fibres parallel; preparing, drawing fibres into slivers, which is accomplished by serics of operations similar to those described in covton- ‘spinning; twisting aud winding on bobbins; spinning; of which there are two methods—the dry and the wet proce es. Former is used for heavier yarns and the latter for fine yarns. Proce resembles throstle-spinning as in cotton manufacture. Trade centers — Heavy goods: Dundee. Damasks: Belfast, Dun ferm line, Perth. Fine linen: Belfast and N. Ireland. Center of trade in England: Leeds and Barnsley. ~~