File:The fireside university of modern invention, discovery, industry and art for home circle study and entertainment (1902) (14779154052).jpg

Identifier: firesideuniversi01mcgo (find matches)
Title: The fireside university of modern invention, discovery, industry and art for home circle study and entertainment
Year: 1902 (1900s)
Authors: McGovern, John. (from old catalog)
Subjects: Science
Publisher: Chicago, Union pub. house
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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Text Appearing Before Image:
Fig. 158. A, FLAX PLANT; B, FLOWER; C, FRUIT. What did the Nineteenth Century bring about ? The Linen industry was driven to the wall by Cotton, and itflourishes (or languishes) now only in Russia, Ireland and Cen-tral Europe, where the modern mill and its agents have not yetconquered. Linen has become a luxury, like Silk in China.Thus, in two parts of the earth, it has been found that the peoplecould clothe themselves satisfactorily at far smaller expense. How is Flax prepared ? It is pulled out of the ground. Its seeds are especially valuableas furnishing an oil which is the best vehicle in which to carrywhite lead for paint, but here, also, Cotton seed oil has comeforward to take the place of linseed oil. The Flax is immersedin ponds, and retted (rotted) ; it is spread in the meadows tobleach; it is beaten; it is scutched or split; it is heckled(carded) ; it is spun into yarn ; it is bleached as white as snowin the sun, or by acids ; it is woven. The same spinning wheel
Text Appearing After Image:
CLOTHES, ETL 403 can be used for Flax and for Wool, but the Irish housewife ormaiden would rather spin Wool than Flax. Why is Linen stronger than Cotton ? The Cotton fibre is a minute tube of cellulose. The Linenfibre is a solid, containing the earthy elements like silicon andmagnesium. The Linen fibre is long ; the Cotton fibre is short.The Linen fibre is wood ; the Cotton fibre is a pure carboncompound. How is Oil-Cloth made? A piece of Oil-Cloth twenty-four feet wide has originally comeoff a loom that had a warp-beam that wide. The Cloth wovenwas made of Hemp and Flax yarns, and the shuttle was thrownacross by a man on each side. A hundred yards of this canvas,rolled up in one piece, might weigh 600 pounds. What comes of this bale of Canvas ? It goes to the manufactory. Here it is cut in pieces from sixtyto one hundred feet long—for we are describing the making ofa large piece, for the floor of a lecture-room or public hall. Thepieces are taken to the frame-room. Here upright fra

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