Encyclopedia article on cotton and its manufacture, covering the botany of the cotton plant, the main species and varieties (upland, sea-island, Nankeen), and growing conditions. It traces the history of cotton manufacture from Hindustan and England through the inventions of Hargreaves, Arkwright, Cartwright, Watt and Whitney, and the growth of the industry in the United States. It describes the mill processes from ginning, opening, carding and spinning to warping, slashing and weaving. It ends with statistical tables of U.S. cotton manufactures by state (Tenth Census) and the U.S. cotton crop by year, 1829-1894.

An encyclopedia article on dyeing yarn and cloth, opening with a brief history (Tyrian purple, biblical references), mordants and fabric preparation. It then gives numbered recipes for dyeing cotton (blacks, browns, reds, yellows, blues, greens, purples, drabs) and wool (black, brown, red, scarlet, crimson, pink, orange, yellow, blue, green, violet, drab) with mordants, natural dyestuffs and mineral salts.

A one-page encyclopedia entry on flax (Linum) from the People's Cyclopedia of Universal Knowledge. It describes the plant, its origins and uses for linen fiber and linseed oil, and the steps of flax dressing (pulling, rippling, scutching by hand and machine). It also compares U.S. flax cloth production in 1810 with the 1890s, mentions flax in India, and begins a short entry on New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax).