(28) 



being known as "retting." The retted stems are then 

 passed through the breaker, which breaks the woody 

 central portion up into short pieces. The next process is 

 "scutching," mostly done by hand, but sometimes by a 

 machine. By this process the wood and soft tissues are 

 beaten and shaken out of the fiber, which can then be 

 combed and carded ready for bleaching or spinning into 

 yarn or thread. 



602. Flax straw, bearing its pods. From Manitoba, Canada, through the Phila- 



delphia Museums. 



603. Flax fiber made from preceding. Same source. 



604. The same, presented by the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 



605. The same, deposited by Columbia University. 

 606. 10 Flax straw bearing its pods. 



607. Rough flax fiber. — The rough fiber of the stems after retting, breaking, and 



scutching. 



608. Dressed linen, of natural color. 



609. Linen tow or combings. — The shorter fibers combed out from the crude fiber. 



610. Rover flax. — Fine fiber ready for spinning. 



611. Spinners flax waste. — Waste matter removed from the fiber in spinning. 



612. Flax yarn. — The spun fiber wound on spools. 



613. Gray twist. — The bleached and twisted thread. 



614. The same, dyed black. 



615. Flax yarn. — Rover flax spun into yarn. 



616. Twisted yarn, of natural color. 



617. Satin finish black linen thread. 



618. Irish flax thread of natural color. 



619. Best Irish thread, ready for dyeing. 



620. The same, dyed yellow. 



621. Linen harness thread. — A coarse but strong thread used for sewing harness. 



622. Crochet and lace thread. — Used for crochet work and in lace making. 



623. White machine thread. — Ready for use in sewing-machine. 



624. Black machine thread. 



625-634. Linen worsted floss, of various colors, used in ornamental work. 



635. Papago Indian basket. — Made from the prepared stems of Jatropha canescens 



Muell. Arg. {Euphorbiaceae — Spurge Family). Native of North and Central 

 America. Obtained at Torres, Sonora, Mexico, in 1902, by D. T. Mac- 

 Dougal, where it is called "Sangre en Gordo." 



636. Cyrilla bark. — The bark of a species of Cyrilla (Cyrillaceae — Cyrilla Family). 



Native of Cuba. Acquired by J. A. Shafer, in the province of Oriente, 

 Cuba, in December, 1910. 



637. Crude bast-fiber from the preceding. Same source and donor. 



10 Numbers 606-625 illustrate flax and the products manufactured from it. 

 Presented by the Barbour Bros. Co., of New York City. 



