PROJECTED REVIVAL OF THE FLAX INDUSTRY 599 



farm crop is the main object in view, it becomes necessary to 

 find a market for the straw and this involves organising the 

 after-treatment of the crop, namely the retting and cleaning. 

 It is with these operations that the chief difficulty is en- 

 countered. 



The Commissioners have now had the Report on the 

 management of the flax industry before them and they have 

 received the recommendations contained therein favourably. 

 With the object of carrying out, in this country, the necessary 

 practical trials above mentioned, a society has been formed under 

 strict conditions of non-profit trading, in order that it may be 

 eligible for a grant from the Development Commissioners, who 

 are expressly empowered by the Act of Parliament which 

 established the Development Fund to encourage the cultivation 

 and preparation of flax and hemp in Great Britain. 



In view of the interest which has been aroused already by 



this line of action, the Commissioners have kindly given their 



consent to the publication of the following resume of the Report 



referred to. 



Historical 



Somewhat extensive flax growing and fibre production in 

 England is still within the memory of many people in certain 

 rural parts of the country ; but, at the present day, there is 

 little to indicate the extent of this lost industry. The names 

 of such places as Flaxton (Yorkshire), Little Steeping (Lincoln- 

 shire), Retford (Notts) and Flax-Bourton (Somerset) seem to 

 be some of the best evidence for locating the scene of flax 

 cultivation in the past. Separation of the fibre from the straw 

 was formerly part of the agricultural practice in England just 

 as it is in Russia at the present day, the cleansing and pre- 

 paration of the fibre providing work during the winter months 

 for the husbandman and his family. 



Flax growing in England probably dates from the Roman 

 occupation, although practically no mention of it is to be found 

 in official records until a.d. 1175, when flax was included among 

 titheable articles, from which fact it is concluded that the culti- 

 vation of the crop had attained to considerable dimensions at 

 that time. In 1532, an Act of Parliament was passed which 

 compelled all persons holding tillage land to sow at least one 

 rood with flax for every sixty acres of such land occupied. 

 After thirty years, this law was made more stringent, a penalty 



