Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/271

 FLAX 263 24,477,361 Ibs. of fibre. In 1870 there were in the United States 90 establishments for dressing flax, the products of which were val- ued at $815,010. Of these establishments, 46 were in New York and 27 in Ohio. During the year ending June 30, 1873, 4,171 tons of raw flax, valued at $1,137,737, were imported into the United States, the largest quantities being from England and Russia; and the im- ports of flax manufactures, chiefly from Eng- land and Scotland, amounted to $20,428,391. The manufacture of flax constitutes an impor- tant element of British industry. In 1871 there were in England and "Wales 155 flax factories, with 369,768 spinning spindles and 19,816 operatives, of whom 12,614 were fe- males; in Scotland the number of factories was 191, having 317,085 spinning spindles and employing 49,917 hands, of whom 36,362 were females; while in Ireland there were 154 fac- tories with 866,482 spinning spindles and 55,039 operatives, of whom 37,700 were fe- males. The imports of rough or undressed flax for 1872 amounted to 1,518,855 cwt., valued at 3,772,279. Most of this amount came from Russia, the imports from that coun- try amounting to 1,115,804 cwt., valued at 2,690,610. Germany, Belgium, and Holland ranked next in order. In addition to the above, 176,789 cwt. of dressed flax, valued at 659,704, were imported, mostly from Belgium. In 1872 there were 137,360 acres planted with flax in the United Kingdom, of which 122,003 were in Ireland. The flax crop thrives upon almost any good soil thoroughly pulverized and well drained, but more especially upon rich sandy loams regularly supplied with moisture during the spring months. In Ohio, three pecks of seed are sown to the acre, which yields from six to twelve bushels of seed and from one to two tons of straw, which is manu- factured into tow for rope walks and paper mills. It may be sown very early in the spring, and to good advantage succeeding a crop of grain. As it is gathered in July or early in August, another crop may be obtained from the same land during the season. A common practice with the Belgians is to sow the white carrot broadcast with the flax, and when the latter is gathered, which is done by pulling the plants by the roots, the soil is loosened around the young carrots, and being then top-dressed with liquid manure, they thrive luxuriantly. Grass or clover seed is also often sown imme- diately upon the flax seed. The better soils take three bushels of seed to the acre, the poorer two bushels. The finest fibre is ob- tained by a thick growth of slender stalks. The Dutch take great pains to weed the crop by hand, when the plants are two or three inches high. In June the plants are in bloom, and the fields present a beautiful appearance, covered with the delicate blue flowers. The time for gathering is indicated by the leaves beginning to drop off, and by the bottom of the stalks becoming yellow ; also by the con- dition of the seed bolls, which should be ex- amined almost daily about the time of maturity of the crop. When the ripest on being cut open with a sharp knife do not appear within whitish and watery, but firm and dark green, the flax is fit for pulling. Soon after this the seeds would begin to fall, and the fibre would lose its silkiness and elasticity. But if it be desired to obtain seed for sowing, the plants must be allowed to fully ripen at the cost of the deterioration of the fibre. As the flax is pulled, it is gathered in bundles to dry ; and then if the seeds are thoroughly ripened, they may be separated by the threshing mill. The ordinary course, however, is to strip the seeds by the process called rippling, which is draw- ing the stalks, a handful at a time, through a set of iron teeth standing in a row, half an inch apart at top and a quarter of an inch at bot- tom. Four men with two rippling combs will separate the seeds, it is estimated, from more than an acre of flax in a day. The seed bolls should be well dried, and then stored away in bags in an airy place. At convenient times they are threshed and winnowed to separate the seed from the capsules, preparatory to ob- taining by expression the oil and the oil cake. The culture of flax and its preparation for mar- ket involve more labor than almost any other crop. The seeds are preferred which are brought from Riga, and next to these the Dutch ; the American produce a coarser stem. The soil should be thoroughly prepared by repeated harrowing after deep ploughing. The weeding requires peculiar care, that it may be sufficient without injury to the young plants. The soil should be kept rich by judicious manuring; for flax is commonly regarded as an exhausting crop. The plan of returning to the soil the water in which the stalks are steeped, by which it is estimated nine tenths of the nutritious matter taken away are restored, is highly rec- ommended. The pure fibre yields no ashes, so that it takes nothing from the soil, and the manure of the cattle fed upon the oil cake will restore much of the solid constituents of the seeds. Dr. Ure gives the following mixture of salts, "which it has been said will replace chemically the constituents of the plants pro- duced from an acre of land, viz. : muriate of potash, 30 Ibs. ; common salt, 28 ; burned gypsum, powdered, 34; bone dust, 54; sul- phate of magnesia, 56." The preparation of the flax for market finds occupation for the cul- tivators in the winter season ; but this can be economically conducted only where many are engaged in the culture, and mills are provided with the requisite machinery. In the flax dis- tricts of Belgium it is stated there are no pau- pers, as the whole population find employment during the winter. The first process in the preparation of the fibre is to steep the stalks in water until fermentation takes place. This causes the glutinous matter, which binds the harl or the fibrous portion to the woody core, called the boon, to be decomposed, and the