Vegetable substances: materials of manufactures

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Page 195 - The olive, in the western world, followed the progress of peace, of which it was considered as the symbol. Two centuries after the foundation of Rome, both Italy and Africa were strangers to that useful plant: it was naturalized in those countries; and at length carried into the heart of Spain and Gaul. The timid errors of the ancients, that it required a certain degree of heat, and could only flourish in the neighbourhood of the sea, were insensibly exploded by industry and experience.98 4. The...
Page 197 - bears at two years old, and in six years begins to repay the expense of cultivation, even if the ground is not otherwise cropped. After that period, in good years, the produce is the surest source of wealth to the farmer ; and the tree rivals the oak in longevity ; so that the common proverb here is, ' If you want to leave a lasting inheritance to your children's children, plant an olive.
Page 168 - This," remarks the same excellent traveller, " is the most shabby and indifferent part of their dress, and yet in equal use with the high and the low, the rich and the poor. They are made of rice-straw platted, and by no means strong." They cost, however, a mere trifle ; they are found exposed for sale in every town, and in every village, and the pedestrian supplies himself with new shoes as he goes along, while the more provident man always carries two or three pair with him for use, throwing them...
Page 147 - Sturgeon is shown in figure 4, which is an exact copy from the drawing in the Transactions of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, &c., vol. xliii. By comparing figures 3 and 4 it will be seen that the helix employed by Sturgeon was of the same kind as that used by Arago ; instead, however, of a straight steel wire inclosed in a tube of glass, the former employed a bent wire of soft iron.
Page 316 - Moifture caufes this. plant to (hoot above the furface in three or four days : it is ripe at the end of two months. When it begins to flower, it is cut with...
Page 22 - They possess, likewise, a kind of plant, which, instead of fruit, produces wool of a finer and better quality than that of sheep. Of this the Indians make their clothes.
Page 139 - Arabs, therefore, we are indebted for the inestimable article, or paper, made from linen; but whether the art of making it was introduced by the Italians of Venice, Gaeta, and Amalfi, who, during the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, kept up a constant commercial intercourse with Syria and Egypt, or whether the Saracens (Arabs under another name), who conquered Spain in the early part of the eighth century, made known the manufacture in that country, has not, as yet, been clearly ascertained. Mr....
Page 321 - The liquid is then strained through the bark of a tree into another jar, where it is left for eight or nine days, during which time part of the water escapes by trickling through a small aperture half-way down the side of it, leaving the sediment at the bottom.
Page 325 - But disappointment trod close on the heels at every step. At one time the fermentation was too long continued ; at another, the liquor was drawn off too soon. Now the pulp was not duly granulated, and now it was worked too much. To these...
Page 201 - I have counted, in the course of an afternoon's ride, as many as one hundred mules returning from Gallipoli, where they had been to deposit their unctuous burdens, to different towns and villages in the Terra d'Otranto, or the more distant province of Bari. The quantity of oil required may be conceived, when I state, that at one time, (in the year 1816,) I saw nine English, three American, two French, and six Genoese vessels, (not to mention some small craft from the Adriatic,} all waiting in the...

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