clothe themselves in mats made of reeds or ve getable fibres; others render pliable the common bark of trees; but none of these will wash, and they are not durable.

Civilized man, however, adapts the means of nature to his purposes, by a process of his own; he separates the fibres themselves, then twists them into thread, and by interweaving this thread, he obtains a pliable and durable material.

115. The most useful plant for this purpose, is flax. It is cultivated like wheat; and, as soon as its seeds are ripe, it is pulled up by the hand: the seed-vessels are taken off, and the stems are put into pits of water, till the mucilaginous or other matter, which holds the fibres of the stalk together, is decayed.

1.116. After the stalks have been taken out of the pits, they are dried, beaten, and combed, till what remains is fine, loose, and shining: the flax is then spun, or twisted by a distaff, and wound on a reel or spindle. This thread is either adapted for needle-work or is given to the weaver to be woven into linen cloth by

his loom.

117. The process of weaving is simple :-the threads in their length are called the warp3 and are drawn tight by weights at one end; at the other, they are divided into two sets, cach set composed of alternate threads;-on moving a treadle, one set, or every other thread, is thrown up, and the other set is brought down; and, at this instant, a cross thread or weef is thrown between them by means of a shuttle.

The lower set of ends are then raised; and the other brought down, and the woof is again thrown between. The operation is thus conti nued, till the whole length of the warp has been interwoven with cross threads.

Obs. 1. A figure of a simple loom is here given, in which, the parts referred to above may easily be traced. The forms of looms are, however, various, and offen very intricate. There are stacking-looms, or frames, silk! looms, cloth-looms, catton-looms, linen looms, cambriclooms, carpet-looms, lace-looms, &c.

2.-As the loom is one of the most important of social machines, its principle of action ought to be well understood. Look at a piece of linen with the eye, or with any simple magnifier, and it will be seen, that the loom nas simply crossed the threads, and thereby matted the whole together. The four fingers present themselves, as the most ample illustration of its action, but the student may fasten six or eight pieces of string to a wall, to represent the warp, and then by raising every other one, and depressing the others, he will be able to pass the woof by any contrivance, which will represent the shatHe. He may thus make a piece of packthread-cloth; and sa, completely illustrate the principle of weaving,,

118. After the piece has been woven, it requires to be bleached by the air and sun, or by exposure to some acid. It is afterwards, if de

sired, printed to any pattern, by means o blocks of wood, cut out to the pattern, and is then pressed and glazed before it is used.

Much skill and experience are required in fixing colours, so that they will not wash ont, but in printing, dying, and similar arts, the Hindoos and Chinese excel all nations.

119. Hemp is another fibrous stalk, › much cultivated for the manufacture of ropes and sailcloth. But the fibrous substance, now the most used for every purpose of clothing and furniture, is the product of the cotton-tree, or plant.

Oss.--In hemp, as in fax, it is the cortical part which is retained for the se of the manufacturer the pith or medullary part of the stalk being broken and separated from it.

The cotton wool is found in a state nearly fit for the manufacturer, in the seed-pod of the plants; and in the West Indies, they yield two crops in the year.

120. Hundreds of ships arrive every year from the West Indies, laden with this material. The chief manufactories of cotton are in Lau-" cashire and Lanark-shire; and they are wonders of human invention.

The articles used in clothing, produced from this substance, are muslins of every degree of fineness, corduroys, sheeting, calicoes, quilting, bed-furniture, hangings, &c.; all of which have been the means of extending the commerce of Britain to every part of the world,

Obs,Manufactories of cotton are now scattered all over the Uảited Kingdom ; and employ a million of men,“ woman and children.

121. The wonderful operations of a COTTONMILL, liave bech so correctly described by Dar-, win'; that they will be much better remembered in that form, than in prose:

First, with nice eye, emerging maidens cull
From leathery pods, the vegetable wool
With wity teeth revolving cards release

The tangled koots, and smooth the revel'd fleece Next, moves the iron hand with fingers fine, Combs the wide card, and forins the eternal line Slow, with soft lips, the whirling can acquires The tender skening, and wraps in rising spires i With quicken'd pare muccessive rollers move, And these retain, and those extend, the rove Then fly the spoles; the rapid axles glow i While slowly circumvolves the lab'ring wheel below. 122. Civilized man does not disdain to convert the covering of animals to his purpose; but he changes their appearance, and prepares them, so as at once to preserve and clear them from offensive odours,

One of the most common articles of external clothing is derived from the wool of the sheep4 and this forms the most admired and useful, of the native manufactures of Great Britain.

123. The fleece, as it comes from the animal, is first picked and sorted; and then cleansed from stains, dirt, and grease. The wool-comber afterwards prepares it for the spinner; who twists it into woollen-thread called worsted," or yarn. Of late years, the twisting has been pers formed by worsted-mills, on the plan of cottons mills.

124. This yarn, or worsted, is then wove in 'a loom into cloths, flannels, or stockings, of vai

rious degrees of fineness, according to the nature of the fleece: the weaver delivers the cloths to the fuller; who, by means of fuller's earth, deprives it of all remaining grease.

"

It is, afterwards, dyed of any required colour; then it is pressed, and, finally, sold under the name of broad and narrow cloth, to the draper, tailor, or merchant."

AJE

Obs. England and Wales feed 36 millions of sheep; each of which, yields a fleece of four pounds weight; or 144 millions of pounds at Is. per pound, value 7,400,0007. These manufactured, produce 20 millions of pounds sterling; leaving a profit of upwards of 12 millions per annum, to the manufacturers,

&

125. Carpets are another production of wool; and in making them, the warp is worked perpendicularly instead of horizontally, The fine shawls of the East, (lately so well imitated in this country,) are made from the fine wool of the sheep, which range the mountains of Thibet. Obs.--Cable-ropes, of superior strength and durability, have lately been made from the long wool, which is useless for cloths,

126. Man's finest clothing, however, is de rived from the web of a crawling insect, or caterpillar, called the silk-worm. All the coun ties of the south and the east preserve and propagate this insect; and the produce of its labours, forms a considerable article of com merce with China, India, Persia, Turkey, Italy, and the South of Frances

batetaw zd bag of

127. The worm is hatched by the heat of the sun, from eggs laid by a lively moth, in the preceding year. Its food is the leaves of the mulberry; in which tree it lives in warm cli