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FLAX AND HEMP.

This important section of textile industry presented few novel ties. Here the Sailcloths of Arbroath and Dundee, together with the Jute fabrics of the latter place, were arranged. The Damasks of Dunfermline, the Yarns and Linen cloths of Leeds, the Diapers and Huckabacks of Barnsley, occupied one side of an erection in the centre of the gallery; Ropes, Matting, Twine, and kindred products being placed in the other. The chief display, however, in this class was from the north of Ireland, in which the Belfast manufacturers and merchants were fairly represented in everything except high-class damask table linen, and in this direction, two or three of the principal houses were absent. Belfast also contributed a trophy of the Irish Linen-trade, which was placed on the north side of the central nave, near the centre of the Building.

On the whole, the Flax and Hemp manufacture proper may be said to have been stationary since 1851. The manufacture of Jute has, however, progressed enormously, and it is stated that 40,000 tons of this material are now worked up annually in Scotland. Its success may be chiefly attributed to its analogy to cotton, the ease with which it can be mixed with other fibrous substances; and, as illustrated on this occasion, its ready affinity for certain dyes, although their permanence in this material is rather doubtful.

The Foreign productions in Flax and Hemp were pretty much on a par with those of 1851; for, whilst the cotton and silk manufacture has increased in most countries, the linen trade seems to have been stationary.

Among the Flax-machines exhibited was an improved Powerloom, by Harrison and Sons, Blackburn. It is supplied with a self-acting positive letting-off motion, which delivers the warp as required by the taking-up motion for the cloth, which motion is also positive. These two motions work in concert, and with such precision that the warp is delivered from the yarn beam with the same regularity when the beam is almost empty as when it is full. The taking-up roller of the loom is covered with a patented surfacing material instead of that in ordinary use, made of emery. It is also supplied with the weft-stopping motion, and other important appliances. A loom of this description is capable of weaving upwards of 180 yards of linen per week. Messrs. Harrison exhibited a series of other machines for weaving cotton, and for all the processes necessary for converting the yarn into cloth.

Flax-machines were also exhibited by Lawson, of Leeds, Fairbairn, of Leeds, and others, for carding, heckling, and spinning.

SILK AND VELVET.

The English Silks made a great show in themselves, and there has been nothing yet displayed by foreigners which equals our best specimens of loom manufacture. Spitalfields was as great as ever in the massive richness of its fabrics and softness of colour. Ballance and Co., and Kemp and Stone, of Spital-square, had exquisite specimens of this kind, both in Silks and Velvets; the latter especially were good and rich, equal to anything ever produced by Lyons or Genoa. Grant and Gask sent some gorgeous specimens of English-made Silk Curtains, where the brocade fabric is interwoven with designs in spun glass, as fine as silk. These tissues-de-verre are of a similar manufacture to the hangings that are now in the Throne-room at St. James's, and which have been some thirty years in use, though still as bright as ever. These massive fabrics were decidedly the richest and most beautiful of the kind shown; and, as exemplifying a not very costly and most desirable combination of silk and glass, attracted especial notice. Campbell, Harrison, and Lloyd showed the finest collection of Figured and Watered Silks and Moire-antiques. In the figured silks, harmony of colour and beauty of design were carried to their utmost in these specimens; while the watered silks had a most brilliant lustre. Seamer sent various samples of Silks and Velvets, second only to those of Campbell and Co. But the most beautiful and most varied collections of fabrics of these classes were found among the Irish Poplins. Fry and Co., and Pim Brothers, exhibited every kind of Poplin, either watered, embroidered, or figured. One of the best examples was a copy in white silk of the various forms of snow crystals worked on a blue ground, by which, of course, an almost endless diversity of beautiful little stars is obtained. The Manchester Silks, it is feared, attracted but little notice amid this fine display; for, generally, their colours were not well chosen, and nearly all had a dull aspect. One very good collection was, however, shown by J. Chadwick, all the samples in which were woven by the power-loom. Those who remember the same classes in 1851, could judge of the improvement which has since been made. Both in an artistic and manufacturing point of view the whole collection far exceeded even the highest anticipations.— Abridged from the Times.

The show of Ribands sent by Coventry was magnificent. There were ribands here of all kinds,-from fine delicately embossed webs to broad flowered silk textures, wide and massive enough for curtains. Newsome and Co. showed a collection of every possible variety of fineness, texture, and pattern; and those sent by Franklin and Co. were almost equally good. There are apparently very few ribands made anywhere in England but at Coventry-certainly none which can compare with them, either for fabric or design.

WOOLLEN AND WORSTED, AND MIXED FABRICS.

In these great and important industries, the chief exhibits were the collective ones from Huddersfield, Bradford, and Leeds, as representing the great Yorkshire district, Halifax and Dewsbury falling in as part of the arrangement. The display was a highly suggestive and satisfactory one, and the ground taken so successfully in 1851 was well maintained, a most decided improvement being manifested in the general taste of the goods and perfection of dye and finish.

The West of England and the London houses followed with their exhibits, and the Cloths of the West are up to their usual standard.

The Mixed Fabrics and Poplin of Dublin and Norwich, with the shawls, tartans, &c., of Glasgow and Paisley, came next. Norwich took the post of honour; and the richly coloured Shawls arranged in the central compartment of the great medieval case erected by the three or four manufacturers who sustain the honour of that city of textiles, was an effective feature of the Building at this point, apart from the fact that these articles would have been considered an impossibility in 1851.

Then followed a miscellaneous collection of Woollens and mixed goods, in which the manufacturers of Hawick, Kendal, Chipping Norton, and Darlington, took the lead.

On the Foreign side, France, Belgium, Austria, Prussia, and Saxony (the two latter as States of the Zollverein) exhibited largely and effectively alike in Woollens and Mixed Fabrics; and marked improvements have taken place in certain directions which show that the lessons of 1851 and 1855 were not thrown away. France has probably made the most decided improvement in the greater substantiality of her Woollen Cloths; in shawls and the more ornate mixed fabrics, her pre-eminence in certain points remained much the same. In Merinoes she has found, however, a serious if not a triumphant competitor in the Bradford exhibits on the British side.

CARPET MANUFACTURE.

The artistic principles upon which the selection of designs for Carpets is sought to be established is, we suspect, too often overruled by the taste of the public to be capable of satisfactory development. However, the object of the art reformers is legitimate and with the view of aiding its progress, our notices of the specimens of Carpets exhibited will be framed, as far as practicable, with a view to this object.

Whytock and Co., of Edinburgh, showed a work, in every respect of a commendable character. "It is founded on a geo

metrical basis, is simple in the arrangement of its parts, soft and low in tone of colour- the ground being green and the

ornament in maroon enlivened with red-and the whole is margined by a border of great simplicity and beauty. As a work it fulfils all requirements. Besides being of the radiate type, and having its parts subjected to a geometrical disposition, the welcome quality of flatness pervades its parts, which of itself is a feature worthy of the highest commendation in the case of a floor enrichment. Nothing can be more erroneous than the idea that, because rugged paths are picturesque, lakes beautiful, and blackberries sweet to the taste, they are hence agreeable things to walk upon. A flat surface is that which is welcome as a floor, and holes, bushes, and trees are alike avoided whenever we wander abroad. While flatness of the floor is essential to comfort, and the very appearance of unevenness is unpleasant, the hispid nap of the carpet is very grateful to the sense of touch, and the soft floor covering is pleasant to walk upon, just as the turf is, which is the velvet-pile of nature."-Illustrated London News.

Whytock and Co.'s Wilton or Scoto-Axminster is produced by an ingenious process, which combines numerous and vivid colours with much that is pleasing and harmonious in effect.

In this process each thread of the warp carries its share of the rose or thistle, the leaf or the briar of which it is intended to form a part; thus the entire warp presents a mottled appearance and variegated aspect that would have its exact counterpart in a printed cotton dress that should be carefully separated into its constituent threads, and these threads spread out upon a plain surface. The appearance presented by a printed cotton so dismembered may easily be conceived. Each thread would be covered by innumerable patches of colour, and the restoration of these to their original position in the once beautiful design of which they constituted a necessary part may appear a hopeless task; but this is precisely what is accomplished by Mr. Whytock's ingenious patent. His warp is bespattered with colour, apparently confused and variegated without a purpose, but it is in reality mottled with design, and parti-coloured with a method that ensures each tint and hue being gathered up by the weaver to take its place in the development of some graceful form or some beautiful flower. The principal Carpet is in design a very good example of the Byzantine style of ornament, with much careful drawing and well harmonised heavy colouring.

Woodward Brothers and Co., of Kidderminster, exhibited several Carpets of a commendable character.

Palmer Brothers showed two Rugs which have many excellences and features worthy of careful consideration. 'They are flat, low in tone, simple in treatment, founded upon a geometric basis, and the little star-like or floral forms are of a circular character. Not only is every plant, as seen from above, of a radiate nature, but the head of flowers and the individual flower have also the same structure, while flowers which are seen laterally are frequently bi-symmetrical. It will, however, be said that the flower of the candytuft is of a bi-lateral character, and that it enjoys a horizontal position. This is the case; yet occurrences of this nature are rare; but even here the manner in which the flowers are grouped together brings about the production of a circular ornament, for the small portion of every flower is directed to the centre, and the larger portion to the circumference; hence the radiate structure is perfectly restored. In the mats under con

sideration we have added to the other merits the welcome full view of the flowerlike forms, which is ever pleasing in the case of decorations for horizontal surfaces.

Watson, Bontor, and Co., exhibited some fabrics to which considerable interest attaches, as they are the produce of their India Carpet establishment, commenced in the Madras Presidency in the year 1848. This manufactory is left entirely to native superintendence, and is carried on by local talent and energy, no personal communication having at any time taken place between employed and the employers; but it is a significant illustration of the mixed character of most manufactured articles, where great attention is paid to quality, that in this particular instance the material for the groundwork, or "back" of the carpet, is spun in England, and sent to India to supplant the less enduring native fabric that would otherwise be employed as the basis of the manufacture. These carpets have the lower part or "back" of the carpet formed of twisted cords of hemp, and the entire upper surface of chenille, which, by an ingenious process, is woven into the various forms that constitute the pattern.

Watson and Co. showed their Patent Axminster Carpet, the filling of which is very judicious and beautiful, and consists of quatrefoils, with low-toned blue grounds, the interspaces being filled with red. It consists of a subdued geometrical form, a simple ornamental arrangement [repeated as a diaper, and stars which tell out somewhat strongly from the low-toned reds in which the other portions are wrought. The border is simple, but the white here introduced is rather strong; yet, when considered as a whole, this work has great beauty, and is of a highly meritorious character.

Templeton and Co., of Glasgow and London, exhibited some patterns which have superior merits : a Border Carpet with a blue hue, is founded on a geometrical basis, and consists of quatrefoils with low-toned blue grounds, leaving between them spaces filled in with red. The filling consists of conventionally-treated flowers and foliage of great simplicity. About this carpet there is a justness and suitability to the purpose intended which few possess : it is rich yet low in tone, well varied, and not obtrusive; the pattern is equally distributed over the surface, and the border is pleasing, consisting of pointed quatrefoils, simply arranged. This carpet appears to suggest its true office, that of a background. Such is the opinion of the writer above quoted; yet this design hardly comes to the flatness just insisted on.

Templeton and Co. also showed two Hearth-rugs, in which the ornamental treatment of the flowers was beautifully symmetrical -an example of the true treatment of flowers for floral patterns. The carpets of Harvey, Nichols, and Co., were defective in flatness, but had many good qualities, marred by the festoons of flowers in the borders, than which nothing can be more incon. sistent.

Another carpet by the same manufacturers has the filling very

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