LINEN (AS. linen, from lin, flax, from Lat. //now, flax). The term linen is n.ua lly applied to fabrics woven from the fibre of flax (q.v.), although materials made from hemp or even jute are sometimes called by this name. Linen is one of the oldest of all textile manufactures, at least it is one of the earliest mentioned in litera ture. The cerecloth, in which the most ancient mummies were wrapped, proves its early and very extensive use among the Egyptians, and it is said that the very finest linen of the present (lay looks coarse beside that from the Egyptian looms in the days of the Pharaohs. It formed also parts of the garments of the Hebrew as well as the Egyptian priests. The wonderful du•a bility of linen is evidenced by its existence on mummies, and by the remarkable fact mentioned by the German writer Sectzen, and referred to by Blumenbach, that he had found several nap kins within the folds of the covering of a mum my which he unwrapped, and that he had them washed several times without injury.
Linen was made in England at an early date, the garments of the ancient Anglo-Saxons being linen and woolen. The Bayeux tapestry is a linen cloth, embroidered in wool. Although the weaving of linen had been conducted as a house hold industry for many centuries, it was first manufactured in England on n large scale by Flemish weavers under the protection of Henry Ill., in 1253; it was not until eighty years after that a colony of Scots planted themselves in the northeast part of Ireland and established there the linen manufacture which has since become a national industry. In Continental Europe linen was extensively made throughout medheval times. Charlemagne is said to have worn linen under clothing, after the fashion of the Franks. The Moors of Spain were renowned for their beautiful linen and other textiles, which were exported to Orient al countries. In the fifteenth century Seville had 16,000 looms. As early as the eleventh century Flanders, Brabant, and many French and German towns became famous for fine linens. The soil of the Netherlands and of France seems peculiarly adapted to the produc tion of flax of a superior quality, and here the manufacture of linen reached its greatest per fection. The stimulus to produce fine yarns (see SPINNING; also LACE) for the lacemakers gave rise to such care and attention in the cultivation and preparation of flax that in point of fineness of fibre they have been unequaled. Consequently the linens of France, Belgium, and Holland have long enjoyed a well-deserved reputation, and in the manufacture of lawn and cambric, which are the finest kinds of linen cloth made, the French are unrivaled. In the ordinary kinds of linen
those of Ireland. especially, are remarkable for their excellence, and this trade is a very im portant one in that country, while in Scotland a large trade in the coarser and inferior kinds has been established. The manufacture in the American colonies was of slow growth, outside of families, but as early as 1731 brown holland was produced in Massachusetts. In 1809 the Legislature of Kentucky petitioned Congress to protect the linen industry of the United States, claiming that Kentucky already supplied the greater part of the cotton country with baling linen, and could easily raise hemp enough for the entire Union.
Flax is reduced to thread by spreaders, draw ing and roving frames, and finally by carding and spinning, in the same general manner as other fibres. (See SPINNING. ) lint while coarse thread is spun dry, like that of cotton, wool. and silk, the finer thread has to be spun wet. The temperature of the water used is about l20° F.
The chief kind of linen manufactured, besides yarn and thread, is lawn (Fr.ninon) the finest of flax manufactures, formerly exclusively a French production: but very fine lawns, such as cambric, damask, and diaper, are now made else where.
Of the finer plain fabrics, shectings are the most important. Common sheeting and toweling are extensively manufactured in Scotland, and the latter to a moderate extent (6.649,862 square yards, valued at $752,891 in 1900) in the United States. Dueks, huckabacks, osnaburgs, crash, and tick (corrupted from tieken and dekken, Dutch for cover) are very coarse and heavy materials, some fully bleached, others unbleached or nearly so. They are chiefly made in Scotland, and also at Leeds and Barnsley in England. Varieties of velvet and velveteen are also made of flax and much linen yarn is used as warp. Linen is often mixed with jute or with cotton, each of which. on account of its greater cheapness, has usurped the place of linen in certain branches of textile manufacture. Indeed. there has been in recent years a marked decline in the production of flax and manufacture of linen in most European coun tries.
The manufacture of linen fabrics in the United States is practically confined to the making of thread, twine, and toweling. In 1900 eighteen establishments were engaged in linen manufac ture. as against five in 1890. The output of these establishments is not only pure linen, but cow binations with hemp, jute, or cotton. The capital invested in these linen factories in 1900 Iva, $5,688,999, and the value of the prod net $4,368, 159. This product is distributed as shown in the accompanying table.