Step 1 :Calculate the mean length of the sample data: \( \overline{x} = \frac{\sum x_i}{n} \)
Step 2 :Calculate the standard deviation of the sample data: \( s = \sqrt{\frac{\sum (x_i - \overline{x})^2}{n-1}} \)
Step 3 :Find the critical t-value for a 95% confidence level with \( n-1 \) degrees of freedom: \( t_{\alpha/2, n-1} \)
Step 4 :Calculate the margin of error: \( E = t_{\alpha/2, n-1} \cdot \frac{s}{\sqrt{n}} \)
Step 5 :Calculate the 95% confidence interval of the mean length: \( \overline{x} \pm E \)
Step 6 :The $95\%$ confidence interval of the mean length is \(\boxed{(17.1, 20.5)}\)