Hullo Jan.. In this country also, especially in the southern swampy areas,flax was cut and dried in kilns,then used mainly for the production of ropes. This was called linen flax and as you say used also in clothing. (The flax here grows in abundance in the wild..we have 25 plants in our garden.) A machine called a flax 'scutcher', horrible sounding, was I'm told invented by some of my family for use in the Otago area of New Zealand. My father worked in a two story building which had been used as a linen flax processing factory when this business was in full production. As children we played in the disused drying kilns,which were lined with fire brick and had heavy steel doors, much like ship bulkhead doors. As this plant was gradually dismantled my dad collected the kiln bricks to line the long driveway to our wee block of land. Regards Ross Boyd ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jan Curtis" <jcurtis@infowest.com> To: <CLANBOYD-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2005 3:56 PM Subject: Re: [Boyd] weaving in Scotland > My Scot ancestor (not Boyd) brought Flax seeds over & planted them in PA, > then his son took Flax seeds to West Va. They made linen out of Flax, and > the women made dresses out of Lindsey-Woolsey...a combination of linen & > wool. > > Jan > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <agfoster@headscheme.com> > To: <CLANBOYD-L@rootsweb.com> > Sent: Saturday, August 13, 2005 8:36 PM > Subject: Re: [Boyd] weaving in Scotland > > >> I have been doing some research on weavers in colonial times. An indigo >> dyed blue cloth similar to denim (actually called denim or jean) was >> made in England and Scotland as a strong work cloth. So this may be >> what the McKays and Boyds were weaving back in mid 1700s in Frederick, >> MD. >> >> >> ==== CLANBOYD Mailing List ==== >> RING OF BOYDS http://k.webring.com/wrman?ring=clanboydwebring&addsite >> >> http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=boyd-trees >> >> >> > > > > ==== CLANBOYD Mailing List ==== > RING OF BOYDS http://k.webring.com/wrman?ring=clanboydwebring&addsite > > http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=boyd-trees > > > > > -- > Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.10.2 - Release Date: 21/04/2005 > > -- Internal Virus Database is out-of-date. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.10.2 - Release Date: 21/04/2005