THE PROJECTED REVIVAL OF THE 

 FLAX INDUSTRY IN ENGLAND 



By J. VARGAS EYRE, Ph.D. 



Flax at the present time is worth nearly twice as much as it 

 was some eight or ten years ago and there seems to be little 

 chance of a return to the former level of prices. Apparently, 

 the increased cost of the raw fibre is due entirely to the 

 operation of natural economic conditions and cannot be attri- 

 buted to commercial manipulation. It is therefore not surprising 

 that attention is being directed to the question of the practic- 

 ability of reviving the flax industry in this country. More 

 particularly is this the case in view of the desire to encourage 

 a return to agricultural pursuits and to increase the number 

 of small holdings, flax being a crop which is better suited to 

 the conditions under which a small holder of land is placed 

 than to those of the farmer of a large acreage. Flax is a good 

 alternative crop and for this reason alone would be useful 

 as an addition to the usual rotation ; moreover, as weather 

 which suits flax grown as a fibre crop is not good for corn, 

 in a season in which cereals fail flax will probably succeed. 



Judging from past experience it may be said that when 

 the difference between the price of wheat and the price of 

 flax is large, then the latter becomes a profitable crop in this 

 country. At the present time such conditions obtain. It is 

 noticeable also that the linen trade of Europe is dependent 

 upon the supply of middle and low quality fibre coming from 

 Russia and that the industrial and agricultural development of 

 this country is exercising a marked influence on the price 

 of flax and tends to keep the prices high for the following 

 reasons. Whilst the area under flax is not increasing, the 

 Russian linen industry is developing rapidly : already practi- 

 cally the whole of the best quality fibre grown in that country 

 is absorbed within the Russian Empire. The agricultural 

 development of Russia and the opening up of new areas to 

 wheat in Western Siberia and Asiatic Turkey have the effect 



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