By the operation of heckling a three fold object is gained. 1st. The parting of the filaments into their finest fibrils ; 2c1. The separation of short fibrils, which are unfit for spinning ; 3d. The equable and parallel arrangements of long fila ments. The instrument for accomplish- ' ing these was a tool called the heckle ; snrface studded more or less thickly with metal points called heckle teeth : over which the flax is drawn in such a way that the above three required operations may be properly accomplished. The operation is simple, but requires expert ness to work well. The operative seizes a flock of flax by the middle with the right hand, throws it on the points of the coarse heckle, and draws it to him, while he holds the left hand on the other side of the heckle, so as to spread the flax, and to prevent it from sinking too deeply among the teeth. The short fibres, or tow, are removed occasionally. When one half the length of the strake of flax is heckled, it is turned to heckle the other half. 100 lbs. of well cleaned flax, 45 or 50 lbs. of heckled flax, may be ob tained by hand labor of 50 hours ; the rest being tow, with a small waste of fibre of wood. Machinery has not yet been made to effectually supersede hand labor in heckling. To aid the heckle in splitting the filaments, three methods have been had recourse to. 1. Beating, brushing, and boiling with soap water or an alkaline ley. This boiling dissolves that portion of the glutinous cement which had resisted the rotting, and com pletes the separation of the fibres, and is an excellent plan of improving flax. chines driven by steam have been employed for the heckling, combing, and snatching of the fibres. Seutching is effected in the heckling machine by means of four arms projecting from a ho rizontal axle arranged so as to strike the boom in a slanting direction, until the bark and other useless parts of the plant are beaten away.
In the of flax, compared with cotton and wool;it possesses several cha racteristic properties. While cotton and wool are naturally presented as insulated fibres, the former requiring to be merely separated from the seed, and the latter to be purified before delivery to the spin ner, flax must have its filaments sepa rated from each other by tedious treat ment. In reference to the spinning and subsequent operations, it may be said that good flax should have a bright silver gray, or yellow color, inclining neither tc green or black. It should be long, firm. soft, and glistening, like silk, and contain no broad, tape-like portions from undis severed filaments. Tow is different in having shorter fibres of very unequal length, and entangled..
The manufacture of linen and hemp yarn, and the tow of either, may be effected by different processes ; by the distaff, the hand-wheel, and spinning ma chinery. In the language of flax mills,
the flax ceases to be so called after it has passed through the heckling machine. The great portion is then called line, and the inferior tow. Both of these are after wards spun into yarn, but the yarn so produced has different degrees of excel lence. Other machines are used, by which tow is converted into slivers, by carding analogous to cotton and wool processes.
When the slivers, whether of line or tow, have been brought to the desired breadth, thickness, and equality, they are carried to the 'roving machines,' where they are transformed to the state of a soft, small, cylindrical cord. There are two combined movements whereby this is effected; the sliver is drawn out or elonaated, and it has a slight twist imparted to it as a means of enabling it to cohere and to bear the subsequent ac tion of the spinning-machines.
These spinning-machines we have next to notice. They are on the bobbin-and fly' principle; mule-spinning, not hav ing, we believe, been introduced in the flax manufacture. Flax, unlike cotton, silk, wool, or worsted, is spun wet, as a means of obtaining a finer and smoother yarn ; and within the last few years the use of warm water, instead of cold, has been introduced for this purpose. The same flax, prepared in the same way, can be spun to a much higher number, or much greater degree of fineness, with hot wa ter than with cold ; and this is doubtless one of the improvements to which the recent progress of the flax manufacture may be attributed. The spindles by which the yarn is spun revolve sonic thousands of times in a minute, and the wet yarn thus throws off a continuous spray by the centrifugal force thereby ge nerated ; the girls and young women who attend the machines wear therefore a thick apron to protect themselves from the spray. The water is contained in a kind of oblong trough attached to each machine, and steam is admitted by a small pipe as a means of bringing the water to the required temperature.
When the yarn is spun, it is destined either for weaving or for thread. It for weaving, the yarn is reeled into hanks on a hexagonal reel, to be afterwards made up into bundles of twenty hanks each, containing sixty thousand yards ; but if the yarn is to be made into thread, it is carried to other machines, by means of which two yarn-threads are twisted to gether, and converted into the hard and firm thread used in needlework and lace making.
Here, then, the operations of a flax mill terminate. If the flax-yarn is wov en into any kind of linen or flaxen fabric, that is an additional feature. At most flax-mills the operations cease when the yarn and thread are produced.