174 Cultivation of Flax in Belgium. 



but it has many drawbacks. Firstly, that of vitiating the atmo- 

 sphere and tainting the water, and so producing disease ; on 

 which grounds numerous petitions have been presented to the 

 Chamber of Representatives to obtain the abolition of this 

 practice ; secondly, the inconveniences that arise from atmo- 

 spheric irregularities, quantities of flax being annually destroyed 

 by storms, or even by the influence of an impending storm. 



M. Alkan (a celebrated French engineer. Professor of the Con- 

 servatoire des Arts et Metiers, &c.), remarks in a Report on the 

 treatment of flax, that " the intelligent flax-growers of the banks 

 of the Lys have learnt by experience, that it is impossible to 

 obtain satisfactory results from a single process of steeping ; that 

 the two operations, at the interval of a year, occasion great loss of 

 time and money ; that ulterior manipulation is still indispensable ; 

 and that after all, the results are unsatisfactory, because the fila- 

 ment is never properly divested of its gummy element, and its 

 chemical state, colour, quality, and appearance, are affected by 

 the impurity of the water." 



On account of these defects, which are inherent to the prepa- 

 ration of flax in the open air, with no system of control beyond 

 that which is more or less exercised by the eye and the touch, 

 every effort has been made to supersede the rural system of steep- 

 ing (" rouissage rural "), which, if performed in stagnant pools, is 

 a source of infection and disease, and if in running water, adds a 

 considerable loss of time to the above-mentioned drawback. 



To this end the so-called American system has been employed, 

 which consists in steeping the flax in tubs of hot water ; but the 

 immense size of the premises required, the great losses occasioned 

 to the workmen by the use of drying machines, the relative slow- 

 ness of the process, and the extra care required, have caused the 

 gradual abandonment of this system, which does not separate the 

 fibres of the filament any better than former ones. 



M. Julien Lefebure, a Belgian, being struck by the unsatis- 

 factory results of the American process, devoted all his time and 

 attention to the discovery of a system, the important advantages 

 of which have been admitted by the most competent authorities, 



M. Lefebure obtained a gold medal for flax and hemp steeped 

 and combed by his system, at the London Exhibition of 1862 ; 

 and the " Societe Liniere " of Brussels also obtained a medal for 

 their linen and thread, prepared by M. Lefebure's system ; but 

 although its successful results have been satisfactorily displayed, 

 the system cannot as yet be said to have superseded the old ones, 

 or to be generally in use. 



The following extracts from M. Alkan's Report, in which he 

 recognises the incontestable superiority of M. Lefebure's inven- 

 tion, seem to be worthy of attention : — 



