598 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



handling and careful watching are necessary if good results are 

 to be achieved. The preparation of uniform fibre of good quality 

 should be the object in view, if the revival of the flax industry 

 is to be successful, because labour in this country is too costly 

 for low quality home-grown fibre to compete successfully with 

 that which is imported from Eastern Europe, where the labour 

 of preparation is disregarded when reckoning the cost of 

 production. 



The possibility of cultivating and separating the fibre at a 

 profit cannot readily be decided ; there are many contingencies 

 which are difficult to evaluate and much that is hypothetical 

 enters into the problem. The general evidence obtained is un- 

 doubtedly favourable ; indeed, the opinion was expressed in the 

 Report to the Commissioners that practical trials on a moderate 

 commercial scale can alone afford the definite knowledge that 

 is required as to the degree of financial success that will attend 

 the production of flax fibre in this country. The possibilities 

 opened up, if the scheme proved successful, are held to be ample 

 justification for its serious trial. In this connexion it is very 

 noteworthy that the English flax industry existed longest in 

 those districts where there was a central retting depot to which 

 the harvested crop was carried and sold by farmers and, at the 

 present time, there is very reasonable foundation for the belief 

 that on these lines the flax industry could be successfully 

 revived. 



Strong reason was found for the belief that the judicious 

 revival of the flax industry, managed according to improved 

 methods, would be productive of benefit to British agriculture and 

 would afford people an opportunity of finding regular employ- 

 ment in rural districts by creating a demand for skilled labour. 



It has been recommended that one or more small retting 

 depots be established out of public funds in suitable localities — 

 for instance, in Yorkshire and in Somerset — each capable of 

 dealing with the produce of about one hundred acres. Such 

 establishments, managed on strictly business lines during a 

 few years and conducted as experimental stations, would 

 enable the required information to be gained as to whether 

 the cost of the after-processes of preparing the fibre can be 

 brought sufficiently low to make the flax crop once more a 

 profitable one to the farmers of Great Britain. This is 

 necessary because, although the re-establishment of flax as a 



