624 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



to isolate but, as at present understood, it is doubtful whether the 

 application of pure-culture methods of retting will be financially 

 possible on a technical scale. 



Whatever the method of retting may be which necessitates 

 wetting the flax straw, before the fibre can be cleaned the retted 

 straw has to be thoroughly dried. This is effected either 

 by spreading the wet straw on suitable land or by stooking it up 

 on end to dry. 



When properly dried the flax straw is gathered together, 

 tied in bundles and, as with all other stages of flax-handling, 

 great attention is given to making up the bundles evenly: all 

 straws should be straight and the ends should present a brush-like 

 appearance. At all stages great importance is attached to the 

 manner in which the flax is put up in bundles, because if 

 not well arranged considerable loss will result when the fibre 

 is cleaned. The dried straw is stored under cover of a barn or 

 under a good thatch until it is convenient to scutch and clean 

 it during the winter months. 



This matter of adequately drying steeped flax is a serious 

 one for the management of retting depots, because, were it not 

 for the difficulty of drying the wet straw during inclement 

 weather, such depots could continue retting operations through- 

 out the year. As it is, land has to be set apart as drying ground 

 and used only during part of the year. Various attempts have 

 been made to dry the wet straw under cover, in a current 

 of warmed air and in warmed rooms but the amount of moisture 

 which has to be removed is so great that these methods have 

 not proved commercially successful. The wet straws lie in such 

 intimate contact one with another that the occluded water is diffi- 

 cult to remove. If some more open arrangement could be effected 

 the main difficulty of artificial drying would be overcome. 



Before the process of cleaning the fibre is attempted, the 

 brittle, central woody part of the dry straw is broken up into 

 small pieces, so that the fibre may receive as little damage 

 as possible when being cleaned : this preliminary process is 

 known as " breaking." The machines used for this purpose 

 were formerly operated by hand and of very simple con- 

 struction, consisting of grooved wooden levers or single pairs 

 of fluted rollers between which the flax straw was passed and 

 repassed several times. In Russia, Hungary, Silesia and parts 

 of Friesland hand-breakers are still to be seen but it may be 



