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league from east to west; the salt produced being of an
iron-gray colour, in which are enclosed cubes of a pure
white. After being let down by a rope for 230 feet,
the visiter is led through galleries perfectly dry, and of
considerable height and breadth, until he arrives at two
chapels composed entirely of salt, and hewn out of the
solid mass. Images, as well as pillars and ornaments of
the same material, adorn the place, and reflect the rays
of light issuing from the lamps of the guides, produc-
Descending
ing a beautiful and novel appearance.
lower by ladders, the visiter finds himself in an im-
mense hall or cavern of salt cut with great regularity,
and many hundred feet in length. A thousand persons
might dine in it without inconvenience; and when illu-
minated by flambeaux, its splendour is not inferior to
that of a palace hall.

Of these charges, but little reduction need be looked for in those incurred in the rivers Tyne and Wear, and in the rate of freight; and as the government duty of 6s. per chaldron has been abolished, the charges that admit of further reduction are the municipal dues, and those attending the delivery of coal to the consumers; and in these, certainly, there is ample room for retrenchment. The most important item, in those forming the charges in the port of London, is the fee of the coal-whipper, or coal-heaver-that is, the deliverer of the coals from the ship to the barge or lighter. This fee is about 1s. 7d., and is at least five times as great as it ought to be. There are some extensive beds of rock salt in EngNewcastle and Sunderland, the filling of a chaldron of land; two found in Cheshire are known to extend a coal into the wagon costs 14d. to 1d.; and admitting mile and a half north-east and south-west, and upwards that to raise coal from the hold is a little more difficult, of three-quarters of a mile in width. The surface of the still, if 4d. were allowed, it would be a most liberal pay- lower bed is about 220 feet from that of the ground, and ment. But the truth is, that this item should be struck off this bed has been penetrated to the depth of 132 feet, altogether. It is occasioned by a regulation peculiar to without any appearance of its base. Some of the upper the Thames, which prevents the crews of colliers from per-lons of water to rise through them per minute, a cir strata in this series are very porous, and permit 360 gal forming this indispensable part of their peculiar duty. In the outports, to which, luckily, this preposterous regulation does not extend, the crews act as coal-heavers, and they do so without either asking or obtaining additional wages. And there certainly is no reason whatever for supposing that the case would be materially different in the port of London, were it not for the regulation referred to. In 1829, the total amount of money paid to the coal-heavers was £107,566, 13s.; of which at least £90,000 may be saved to the citizens by simply allowing the crew to perform the function of coal-heavers.

The consumption of coal in Great Britain, according to a statement made by Mr. Taylor, an experienced individual in the coal trade, and laid before a committee of the House of Lords, was as follows:

The annual vend of coal carried coastwise from
Durham and Northumberland is
Home consumption, say one-fifth

Which quantity supplies 5,000,000 persons; and supposing the whole population to amount to 15,000.000, the estimate will therefore be

Consumed in iron-works

Annual consumption of Great Britain
Exported to Ireland -

Total

Tons. 3,300,000

660,000

cumstance that greatly impedes the sinking of pits.
The salt of these mines is commonly of a reddish hue,
and is often so hard that the blast by gunpowder is
necessary to extract it. The lower portion of the lower
bed is the purest, and in it occurs considerable cavi-
ties, sometimes 16 feet high. The mines are worked
by galleries, masses of salt being left as pillars to sup-
When illuminated by candles, nume-
port the roof.
rously fixed on the sides, the effect produced is exceed-
Of the Cheshire mines many yield
ingly brilliant.
16,000 tons of salt per annum for home consumption,
and 140,000 tons are annually exported from Liver-
pool.

Salt is also obtained in our own country from brine
springs, the chief of which are situated at Droitwitch.
in Worcestershire. They are four in number, all situ-
ated within a square furlong, and seem to issue from a
bed of rock-salt. The quantity of brine rising from
3,960,000 these pits is immense; and although that which is used
bears but a small proportion to that which runs to waste,
nevertheless the quantity of salt annually made from
these four pits, or springs, is about 16,000 tons, two-
thirds of which are consumed in England. The brine
14,880.000 is perfectly limpid, and contains about one-third its
900,000
weight of salt, which is separated from it by evaporating
processes.

11,880.000
3,000,000

15,780,000

Since this statement was made, the consumption is believed to have greatly increased, and, including the coal exported to Ireland and to foreign countries, the total quantity raised annually is not less than 23,000,000 of tons, the price paid for which is reckoned to be eight millions sterling a-year.

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SALT MINES.

Deposits of salt are chiefly found amongst secondary rocks; and rock-salt is almost invariably accompanied by clay, sandstone, and gypsum (from which last plaster of Paris is made, either above or below it, sometimes both; and the countries containing salt deposits are for the most part flat. It is found either in the form of rock-salt, or disseminated in brine springs in many countries; but some, as the capitals of Hindostan, are so destitute of it, that, in the shape of stamped cakes, it once passed as money, according to some authorities.

Perhaps the most extensive deposition of rock-salt in the world is found at Wielitska, near Cracow, in Poland. It has been worked as u mine since the year !251, and its excavations are said to extend more than a

Salt Mine.

Among the most interesting accounts of the English salt-mines is that of Sir George Head, in his "Tour through the Manufacturing Districts of England in 1835." While at Northwich, he visited the Marston

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pit which has been worked for a period of sixty years, and may be considered inexhaustible. Having waited (says he) with my conductor a few minutes, till the engineer had put a little steam on, we both stepped into a round tub, and, standing upright, holding by the chains, were let down very easily. I cannot express the delight I felt at the scene around me, which surpassed any thing I had anticipated: creating those sensations I remember to have felt when first I read of the pyramids and catacombs of Egypt. Here was a magnificent chamber, apparently of unlimited extent, whose flat roof presented an area so great that one could not help being astonished at its not having long since given way. Yet there was no apparent want of security, it being sound and durable, as if formed of adamant. Here and there pillars, in size like a clamp of bricks in a brick-field, tendered their support, presenting to the view an array of objects that broke the vacancy of uniform space. My idea of the extent was, as if an area, equal to the site of Grosvenor Square, were under cover. In the mean time, the glistening particles of crystal salt on the walls, and the extreme regularity of the concentric curved lines, traced by the tools of the workmen, were very remarkable. Occasionally, the mark of the jumper-chisel was observable where recourse had been had to blasting the solid rock. I made a few blows against the side of the mine with one of the beavy pointed pickaxes in ordinary use, and found it as hard as freestone. Under foot the whole surface was a mass of rock-salt, covered with a thick layer of the material, crushed and crumbled to a state that exactly resembled the powdered ice on a pond that has been cut up by skaters.

"Experiments have been made by boring to a depth of seventeen yards, but they have neither perforated the rock-salt, nor do they at present know the thickness of the stratum. The height of this excavation is about fifteen feet, within which space the salt is estimated as being of the best quality. Above, it is somewhat inferior. I was informed that thirty-five thousand tons of salt were annually dug out of the different levels, and that the area of the whole together amounted to forty-eight statute acres. A considerable quantity of this salt is exported to Prussia.

"At one part there is a vista of two hundred yards in length, which has been dignified with the name of Regent Street. Here occasionally pic-nic parties are celebrated; and on a large table of coarse deal-boards, were the evidence of deeds of wassail performed at a feast of this description, which had taken place a few months be

fore. An empty jug and sprig or two of evergreen lay forlorn and neglected, while I observed natural tokens, indisputable and abundant, of mice that had joined in the revelry. These little animals invariably establish their residence under ground, wherever men lead the way. At the coal-pits of Whitehaven, for instance, they are plentiful at a depth of one hundred and forty fathoms, being brought there originally, probably, in bundles of horse provender. Were it possible, within this mine, to provide against the inconvenience of smoke, there not being any efficacious outlet for its egress, I cannot conceive a place better calculated, with proper appendages and decorations, to give effect to a fête on a magnificent scale.

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Every one who descends this pit ought to bring a good Bengal light. For ordinary purposes, we had recourse to common tallow candles.

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Having wandered a long way, through vast space, but almost in darkness, we came again to the foot of the shaft. Previous to ascending, my guide went a little out of the way, in order to carry a pail of water to an old horse, who, as the workmen were absent for the whole day, was standing by himself in perfect solitude, and, till we came, without any light at all. Alone and in darkness, he must, poor fellow, from necessity, live for many hours in the year, and pass thus neglected a very considerable portion of his time. He loudly expressed his gratitude for the water, and I took an opportunity of examining his condition while he was drinking. I was surprised to find it particularly good; unlike the flaccid though fine-coated state of horses in coal-pits, his was that of a firm crest and perfect health, a fact I attribute especially to the salubrious effects of the salt. His stall was comfortable and dry, as was the whole space below contained in this pit. I saw no appearance whatever of water during the whole time I was below.

"The salt, after being prepared by the solution of the rock, and evaporation, is formed by wooden moulds, with holes at the bottom, to allow the remaining water to pass through, into cubical blocks, and in this state shipped either by the river Weaver and canal to Western Point, and thence into the Mersey, or by the canal southward.

"A considerable quantity is prepared from the brine springs, some of which are so strongly saturated as to hold in solution the greatest possible quantity of salt. To the water of some of these springs rock-salt is added while boiling in the pans. From these springs the water. or brine, is raised by a shaft sunk, and a pump worked by an ordinary steam-engine."

MISCELLANEOUS ARTS AND MANUFACTURES.

TEXTILE FABRICS.

ALL kinds of cloth formed of spun or woven threads fall under the title of textile fabrics, and the manufacturing of these, in the departments of linen, cotton, woollen, and silk, is now the most important branch of industry in Great Britain and Ireland.

LINEN.

The fabrication of linen cloth, to which we may first advert, commences by the preparation and spinning of the raw material, lint. Lint is the fibrous bark of the flax plant, which grows in temperate climates to a height of from three to four feet. When ripe, it is pulled and steeped to soften the substance of the stalks; on being dried, it is skutched, or bruised, to free the fibres from the waste of the stalks. It is next hackled, or cleaned, by being drawn over and among sharp iron spikes; the refuse in hackling is called tow, and is employed for coarse sacking. The hackled lint is a collection of fine smooth fibres, ready for being spun. The mode of spinning is now very different from what it once was. In ancient times it was customary to spin by the distaff, an exceedingly simple apparatus, consisting of a spindle, or bobbin, twirled by the twisting of the lint, as it came from a staff of lint held by the operator; the finger and thumb were the sole instruments for twisting. A female could not twist a spindleful of thread, though engaged a whole day in the labour. This rude process was at length superseded by the introduction of a machine called the spinning wheel, a representation of which is given in the annexed engraving. A female sat with her left hand towards the rock, or staff, on which the lint was placed; her right foot moved the paddle-board below, and this affecting the upright crank, turned the wheel. A band communi

cated to the spindle, and on this the thread was fed from the rock. In drawing out the lint, the finger and thumb were frequently wetted by touching the lips, and this had an effect in consolidating and smoothing the thread, which no purely mechanical process has since been able to imitate. Spinning in this manner with the wheel formed a very common employment for females, particularly those who were aged, and whose time was of little or no value. Although the motion of the wheel was rapid, in comparison of the feeble operation of the distaff, the process was very insufficient, except for homemade linens, and something very different was required for manufactures conducted on a large scale.

The introduction of machinery in the manufacture of cotton led to the application of similar mechanism in the Inen manufactory; and for many years hand-labour has been entirely abandoned. All steps in the preparation and spinning of the flax are on a large scale. The flax is imported in vast quantities from Hoiland and other countries, and is dressed and spun in factories at Leeds,

or some other great seat of manufacture. The machi nery is extremely beautiful and ingenious, and the mak ing of it alone is a principal trade. On being brought tc one of these factories, the flax is from 30 to 36 inches in length, and the first step "is to take a quantity of it, and divide it into three lengths; the part nearest to the root being coarse and strong, the middle part fine and strong, and the upper part still finer, but not so strong. Thus each length being divided into three, and all those of the parts from the bottom, middle, and top, being collected into separate heaps, three distinct qualities of

thread are to be formed.

effected by a very ingenious machine, consisting of a "The separation of these first lengths into three is number of vertical wheels, and a centre wheel, furnished with a kind of teeth. The length of flax is held transversely against these wheels, and is passed between two, one on either side, while the centre wheel tears it across, by separating but not cutting the fibres. This cuts off the bottom part of the length of flax; the remaining part is then submitted to the same process, and the middle part cut from the top, each sort being collected in one heap, so as to effect a separation of the three qualities above named. Each division, from what has been before seen, will be, of course, about ten or twelve inches in length. In the next stage, these lengths are fixed in a sort of vice at one end, spread out to a breadth of six or revolving drum, at distances of about a foot from each seven inches; several of these are fixed on a sort of other, their unsupported ends falling on an internal drum covered with strong cards, the internal drum revolving one way with considerable velocity, and the external in the opposite direction rather slowly, and thereby the lengths of flax are rendered very smooth and straight; they are then dexterously removed by an attendant, generally a girl, and placed with their other side downwards in the next machine, and again removed. It should be remarked, that these only pass over the upper part of the internal drum; for it is obvious, if they passed below, their weight would cause them to fall from and not upon the carding roller.

"These several operations being performed, the next step is to place these pieces of flax, one just reaching the other, on a feeding cloth, and by the hand slightly to combine their ends; the first end is then passed between two card-rollers, or rollers furnished with teeth, which carry the whole forward, while the extreme end passes between two rollers of iron, the latter moving with considerably greater velocity than the former, in some cases 30 to 1, and consequently the flax is now lengthened 30 to 1, and its thickness reduced accordingly. In passing from the roller the flax receives no twist, but comes out flat, and of about the breadth of narrow tape, and is caught in a cylindrical tin can placed below to receive it; when a certain length has been received, sufficient to fill the can, a bell rings, an attendant breaks the flax, removes the can, and places another. The flax in the full can is then taken to another machine, where it is again its intended fineness. After it is properly reduced in the lengthened, and so on to different degrees, according to flat state above described, it receives in its last stage a very slight twist, so as to reduce it to a round thread. It is then received on bobbins, and is in a proper state for spinning; the process of which differs only in degree from that described in relation to the cotton manufacture."

The yarn produced in these spinning-mills is purchased
Encyclopædia Metropolitana, article Manufactures.

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oy manufacturers, who employ weavers to convert it into the various fabrics of linen, damask, and cambric.

Weaving. This is an art of great antiquity, and has undergone little improvement till recent times. The process is founded on a simple principle. A certain number of threads drawn out alongside of each other, constitute the warp. This is evenly wound on the beam of a loom, and is thence extended to another beam at the opposite end. The warp is two threads in depth, and by means of heddles, and other apparatus, these are caused to rise and fall so as to cross each other. Every time that the threads are opened, a shuttle containing the woof or weft is thrown across from one side of the warp to the other, and the thread of woof thus left is driven home by a lay, or properly by a comb-like process of reeds, which the lay brings forward. A reversal of the warp makes another opening, which is similarly crossed by the shuttle, and so on, the fabric gradually assuming the character of cloth. Plain cloth of all descriptions is formed by this species of operation. Twilled cloth is formed by causing the thread of the woof to pass alternately over four and under one of the threads of the warp, and performing the reverse in its turn. Jeans, dimities, serges, and other fabrics, are thus woven. For this, and all kinds of ornamental weaving, an expensive, or at least complex harness is required. The machinery for weaving lace and gauze is very ingenious and beautiful, but would require to be examined minutely to be properly understood.

Bleaching and Calendering. These processes follow that of weaving, and in both there are now great improvements. Bleaching linen is performed by spreading the cloth on a bleaching-green, where an abundance of water can be obtained, and exposing it to the action of the atmosphere in a wet condition. Some submit their cloths to artificial bleaching by chemical detergents, but these are allowed to be somewhat injurious to the texture. With respect to brown linen, "being first unfolded from the firm and compressed shape in which each piece or web is received from the manufacturer, it is cast, loosely knotted, into a wooden boiler capable of containing some two or three hundred pieces, and nearly filled with a weak solution of potash or barilla. After the linen has been boiled in this liquid for several hours, it is removed from the boiler by a crane and net-work of rope, and almost immediately transferred, in separate quantities, to the wash-mills. Here it is placed in a trough, through which jets of spring-water are constantly passed, and kept fully exposed to the action of the water by means of two large beams suspended above the troughs, and termed feet, the lower ends of which are alternately drawn back and permitted to fall against the linen with considerable force. This motion is produced by the revolving of a cylinder situated directly beneath, and havng projecting spars which catch and raise, at intervals, the extremity of the feet. From the wash-mills the linen is removed to the green, where it is carefully spread upon the grass, the several pieces being attached together, and their ends secured to the ground by small wooden pins. After remaining two or three days upon the grass, it is again brought to the bleach-house, to be boiled and washed as before. The operations of boiling, washing, and spreading upon the green continue, thus successively repeated, till the linen has fairly assumed a whitish hue, when two additional forces are introduced. The first is that of passing the linen through the rub-boards. These boards, which are fixed in a frame, and moved by simple machinery, have portions of their inner surfaces furnished with plates of lignum-vite, or other hard material, completely channelled with narrow parallel grooves, the plates of the upper board being placed immediately over those of the under. Between these plates the linen, having been first plentifully soaped, is slowly passed, so that the entire web is submitted to the friction.

The

second process is that of steeping, for a certain number of hours, in rieves, or cisterns, containing water acidu lated with sulphuric acid. After the introduction of the additional processes, the earlier continue unchanged excepting that the use of the former alkalis in boiling is abandoned, soap being now employed.

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By these several means, the bleaching is at length completed, when the finishing or prepairng for market immediately begins. The linen is first starched and blued, after which it is suspended in a drying-loft, where it is exposed to the air till completely dry. It is then taken down and stretched, and submitted to the beciles. These are a succession of weighty wooden billets, ranged in a frame, above a slowly-revolving cylinder, round which the linen is wound. The machinery being set in motion, the billets are raised and successively dropped, with great rapidity and force, on the cylinder beneath. This is continued for several hours, and the operation repeated till the fabric is sufficiently compressed, and the requisite smoothness obtained. The linen is then lapped, or folded, and sent to the assorting-room. Here each piece is carefully measured, again firmly lapped, and subjected to the pressure of an hydraulic-press. The peculiar stamp of the merchant is finally applied, and the linen is ready for the market."*

Hemp is a coarser plant than flax, and its fibres, when skutched and hackled, are spun into yarn suitable for being woven into canvas or bagging. The manufacture of these fabrics has been long settled at Dundee and the adjoining districts, to which the raw material is readily imported from the continent of Europe. Ropes, cordage, and twine, are made from the same strong material.

COTTON.

Cotton is the wool produced in the pods or fruit of the cotton plant, which is indigenous to all the tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and America. When the pods are ripe, they burst and disclose the cotton wool, mixed with seeds. After the cotton is gathered, it is exposed to the rays of the sun till it is perfectly dry; the seeds are then separated by a peculiar skutching apparatus, and being picked and compressed into bales, is in this state sent to Europe. The chief seats of import are Glasgow and Liverpool, where it arrives in large oblong bales, and in this state is carted off to the factories in which it is to be spun.

The relative value of raw cotton depends on the length of its staple, the delicacy of its fibre, and its freedom from dirt and seeds. The cleanest, we believe, is the American; but however careful its preparers have been, "it never comes to England in a state fit for immediate use; some seeds remain after the most careful cleaning, and the pressure to which it is subjected in packing, forms hard matted lumps, and some of the coarser and heavier wool is unavoidably mixed with that of superior quality. The first operation in the process of manufacture is consequently the cleaning of the cotton. It is put into the blowing-machine, where the cotton is torn open by revolving spikes, and subjected to the action of a very powerful blast, produced by the rapid turnings of a fan; the light wool is thus blown to some distance from the heavier portions-the dirt, seeds, &c. This process is continued in the skutching-machine, where the cotton is beaten by metallic blades making from 3000 to 5000 revolutions in the minute; these completely open the fibre, and separate the fine wool from the waste, which falls to the ground through a frame of wire-work.

"The cleaning process is generally called willowing which is either a corruption of winnowing, or perhaps derived from the willow frames on which the cotton was cleaned by beating, before blowing-machines were invented. Previous to this improvement, the cotton was

*Mr. and Mrs. Hall's Ireland. London: 1842.

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placed upon willow-hurdles, or upon cords stretched over a wooden frame, and then beaten with smooth switches. This operation, technically called batting, though very fatiguing, and we believe unwholesome, from the dust, &c., which was scattered about, was usually performed by women; it is now very rarely practised, except when some remarkably fine cotton is required for the manufacture of lace, when it is of importance to preserve the length of the staple, which might be injured by machinery.

"The Hindoos open the fibres of their cotton by a bow similar to that which hatters use in raising wool; the same contrivance appears to have been employed in America, for we find the term bowed cotton still employed in the language of commerce. Judging from its effects on wool and fur, we should think that the bow is an effective machine for cleaning and opening the fibres, but it would be far slower and less productive than the willow.

"When cleaned, the cotton is brought to the lapping or spreading-machine, where a given weight of the wool is spread over a determinate surface of cloth, and being then slightly compressed by a cylinder, it is lapped round a cylindrical roller, so as to be in a fit state for feeding the carding-machine. It is a singular fact, illustrating the accuracy with which machinery works, that the weight of the cotton spread on the cloth in this process regulates the fineness of the thread ultimately produced, and that there is rarely any great amount of error in the calculation.

The next process, that of carding, is one of the most beautiful in the whole of the cotton manufacture. An explanation of the object to be attained is necessary for those who have not paid some attention to the subject. In order that any material should be spun, that is, should have its fibres twisted together, it is essential that these fibres should be straight and parallel with each other. After having been subjected to the action of the willow, the fibres of the cotton are blown about in every direction, and, if compressed, would be entangled with each other. This, which is the object to be gained for the process of felting, is precisely that which must be carefully avoided for spinning. In order to straighten the fibre, the cotton is made to pass between cards or brushes of wire, one of which is stationary, and the other in motion; the wire teeth catch the fibres, and, by their continued action, pull them nearly into parallel directions.

"This process was anciently, and in some rural districts both of England and Ireland is still, effected by handcards, which might be described as two brushes with handles, having short wires instead of hairs. The labour was usually performed by women, who placed one of the cards on the knee, holding it firm with the left hand; and then spreading the cotton or wool in small quantities over the wire, drew the other card repeatedly over it with the right hand, until the fibres were deemed sufficiently straight. When thus prepared, the cardings were taken off in a roll by the hand, and laid so as to be united into a continuous roving by the spinning-wheel.

"The first great improvement in this process was to fix one of the cards to a table, and suspend the other from the ceiling, so that the workmen could move it without having to sustain its weight. Such a contrivance allowed stock-cards, as they were called, to be made of double the size of hand-cards, and consequently to double the quantity of work produced. We have seen stock-cards in some rural districts, where there is still a domestic manufacture of woollens; but they are daily becoming of more rare occurrence. In nearly all manufactures, they have been superseded by the cylindrical cards, which Mr. Baines has shown to be the invention of Mr. Lewis Paul of Birmingham, about the year 1748. About 1760, the process, which seems to have been either neglected or disused, was revived by Mr. Morris of Wigan, and applied to the carding of cotton. The perfecting of the

machine has been claimed for Sir Richard Arkwright, bu the originality of his invention has been very fiercely contested. Without entering into the controversy, we shall proceed to describe briefly the machine in its present state.

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The carding-machine has the appearance of a cylin drical box, into which cotton is given by the roller, round which it was wrapped in the spreading operation. Its wooden covering is a series of narrow panels; and if one of these be lifted, it will be seen that each of them is a card, and that a cylinder covered with cards occupies the interior of the box, between which, and the panelcards the cotton is rapidly passed. At the opposite side of the box is a second cylinder, the cards on which, instead of being placed horizontally, are wound spirally round the cylinder, which is called a doffer, so as to remove the carded cotton in a continuous fleece. The cotton is slipped from the doffer by the action of a slip of metal, finely toothed like a comb, which, being worked against the cylinder by means of a crank, beats or brushes off the cotton in a fine filmy fleece. The cloudlike appearance of the carded cotton, as it is brushed from the doffer, or finishing cylinder, by the crank and comb, is singularly beautiful-a breath seems to disturb the delicacy of its texture, and to the touch it is all but impalpable. The filmy fleece is gradually contracted as it passes through a funnel, by which it is forced to assume the shape of a roll or sliver. It then passes between two rollers, by which it is compressed into the shape of a ribbon of considerable tenacity, in which state it coils itself up in a deep tin can.

Looking at the various parts of this interesting machine, the attention is first engaged by the feeding cylinder, which supplies the cotton to the cards more regularly and continuously than could be effected by hands. The successive cards on the concave and convex cylinder are seen to subject the wool to several successive cardings at each revolution of the wheel; and to prevent the necessity of stopping the machine to reinove the carded cotton, it is stripped off by the doffer, which removes the cotton, not in successive portions, but in one continuous fleece. Again, the removal of this fleece from the doffer, which would be both tedious and imperfect if attempted by hand-cards, is completely accomplished by the simple agency of the crank and comb.

"Carding is not the only operation employed t straighten the fibre of the cotton. It may easily be con ceived that the teeth of the cards will frequently lay hol of a fibre by the middle, and thus double it together, in which state it is unfit for spinning. This evil is corrected in the drawing-frame-an important part of the spinning machinery, for it executes work which could scarcely have been effected by human hands. The essential parts of the drawing-frame may be easily understood from description. Each drawing-head consists of three pairs of rollers, the upper one of each pair being smooth and covered with leather, the lower being fluted longitudinally. They are placed at a distance from each other, which is regulated by the staple of the cotton; that is to say, the distance between each pair of wheels is generally a very little more than the length of the fibres subjected to their action. The loose ribbon formed by the carding-machine is pulled through these rollers, and as they revolve with different velocities, the fibres pull out each other, and reciprocally extend each other to their full length.

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