DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS OF GROWING AND PRE- 

 PARING FLAX IN WEST FLANDERS, IN PARTICULAR, 

 THE WHITE FLAX, ON THE LYS, NEAR COURTRAI. 



From a Belgian Public Document. 



In most parts of the kingdom of Belgium the culfure of flax is 

 considered one of the principal resoui'ces of the fai-mer. But the 

 section around Courtrai is perhaps the country which presents, in 

 regard to the culture of flax, many things that may be worthy of 

 imitation elsewhere. There the culture of flax is carried on most 

 extensively, and the greatest portion of the flax grown in West 

 Flanders and Hainault is sold into this region in a raw state and 

 there prepared, except that intended for cambric, which is exported 

 to France. 



At first, this vast importation and production of flax may have 

 been caused by the peculiar property of the water of the Lys for 

 the rotting of flax ; but now the same is furthered by a large 

 amount of capital invested in the flax trade by business men of 

 this region. The best flax is found in the environs of Doornik ; it 

 is of an inferior quality in the neighborhood of Courtrai, and of a 

 still more inferior quality in the northern part of the province. 



I. Soil. — The soil of West Flanders is very different in respect 

 to fertility. In the region around Courtrai, iu the direction toward 

 Meenen, there is found a heavy loam soil with a substratum of fine 

 white or yellow sand. In the section around Rousselaere, Ypern, 

 etc., the soil is more mixed with sand, and around Bruegge, Couke- 

 laere and Thourhout, there is found, for the most part, a dry, bar- 

 ren sand soil rarely intermixed with loam. The substratum of the 

 upper crust is likewise sand, of a white or yellow color, here and 

 there also of alluvial earth or potter's earth. In the immediate 

 neighborhood of Doornik there is a rich, solid loam soil, partly also 

 clay soil, with a substratum of yellow loam or sand. The upper 

 crust is either of a mixed blackish and bluish, or whitish gray col- 



