CROP PLANTS FOR PAPER MAKING. 15 



the writer knows none of these has been pernumently successful. 

 The fact that the material is all assembled at the sugar mill and 

 thoroughly broken u}) in the process of crushing should favor the 

 utilization of this waste. On the other hand, the fuel value of 

 bagasse must be carefully considered in any plan to utilize the mate- 

 rial. The sugar industry, as now organized, counts on the refuse to 

 furnish a very large proportion of the fuel required for the boilers. 

 Its value for this purpose has been variously estinuited at from $1.50 

 to $3 per ton. Both figures are probably too high. 



FLAX STRAAV. 



In the United States flax is grown almost exclusively for seed, the 

 annual production amounting to something more than 25,000,000 

 bushels. The number of acres harvested is about 2,500,000. On an 

 average, between 2.000 and 2,500 pounds of straw are produced to 

 the acre. At the present time not more than 250,000 or 300,000 tons 

 of the total product of approximately 3.000.000 tons are used. 



Recent years have seen considerable cleveloiDment in the use of flax 

 straw, but much remains to be desired, considering the generally 

 promising nature of the material. Many extravagant claims have 

 been made and much promoting has been done, some of it of an 

 extreme!}' questionable character, on the basis of the supposed value 

 of the straw of seed flax for textile and other purposes. At the 

 present time its profitable use is confined almost wholly to the manu- 

 facture of binding twine, upholstery tow, and insulating material 

 for refrigerator cars and cold-storage houses. The w^aste straw of 

 the flaxseed industry is a totally different product from the carefully 

 handled and i)repared fiber from which linen fabrics are made. Even 

 for twine-making purposes the straw must be harvested and thrashed 

 in a particular way in order to produce a satisfactorily smooth 

 quality of twine. 



When cooked by the caustic-soda process the straw produces a 

 material decidedly strong and in many respects promising. The 

 yield of pulp has not iiin much over 30 per cent of the raw material. 

 Much private capital has been spent in attempts to make paper from 

 flax straw, but as ^'•et there is no mill in the United States that uses 

 the material. Recently private agencies have conducted extensive 

 experiments with a view to producing paper suitable for cement bags 

 and the like. The requirement is an extremely difficult one, as paper 

 for such purposes must have extraordinary strength. Some of the 

 papers produced came up to the requirement, and the results as a 

 whole were encouraging. In these tests tow was used and" not the 

 flax straw as it comes from the thrashing machine. If this method 

 were followed in practice there would be a considerable addition to 



i^'Thr paper upon ichich this page is printed was made from rice straw and 

 spruce Hood. See page 3. 

 [Cir. 82] 



