VEGETABLE FIBERS. 583 



of bagging from well-rotted flax. The prices of bagging in the Saint 

 Louis market a year ago — the lowest ever known — ranged as follows : 

 Flax, 7 to 8 cents per yard ; hemp, 9 cents; and jute 9 J to 10 cents. 

 The following is received from Austin, Minn. : 



Since 1S72, Trlien Congress took ojff tiio duty on jute, it lias been impossible in tbis 

 State to manufactnre baogiug for cotton baling. I bad jnst undertaken to manufact- 

 ure it. Now no use of tbe vast acreage of flax fiber is made but in one establi.sbment 

 in tbe State, and tbat for npbolstering purposes. Tbousands and thousands of dollars 

 worth of tiber in this State and Wisconsin is rotting upon the fields. Although I am 

 out of the biisiness I am satisfied that, with proper encouragement, a new source of 

 revenue might be opened to the farming and manufacturing interests of these two 

 States. 



At the recent Ohio agricultural convention, Mr. J. M. Allen, of Colum- 

 bus, presented quite an array of interesting facts upon this subject. He 

 has kindly sent me a synopsis of his paper, from which the following ex- 

 tract is taken: 



In 1869 there were about 90 mills in operation — 14 of them bagging-mills — running 

 about 140 looms. Thirty-six of them were in Ohio, distributed through almost as 

 many counties, giving employment to about 4,000 liands, who received some $200,000 

 per annum in wages. These mills consumed nearly 30,000 tons of raw material, for 

 which the farmers received about $1,500,000. The op^^rations of IS69 aggregated 

 nearly $2,000,000, about all of which was direct production. The cotton crop of the 

 country had to be bagged. In 18(56 less than three-sixteenths of the cotton crop was 

 covered with flax bagging, but such was the increase of production that in 1869 and 

 1870 quite three-fourths of it was thus covered, leaving but one-fourth to be covered 

 by the foreign product. The flax crop had increased in the same period from 52,546 

 acres and 12,000,000 pounds to 90,000 acres and 80,000,000 pounds of fiber, an increase 

 of about 400 percent. With proper encouragement aud protection this increase could 

 have been maintained for years to come. But in 1870 the duty upon gunny cloth {the 

 foreign product coming m direct competition with flax) was reduced to such an extent 

 as to make the manufacture in this country impossible, and in 1871 every flax-mill in 

 the country was closed, and privileges, machinery, and expensive experience went 

 down. 



The year 1871 in the above should read 1872, as in the year 1871 more 

 flax was used in bagging than all other materials together. The pro- 

 duction of Saint Louis alone for 1871 is stated in round numbers to 

 have amounted to 3,250,000 yards. In this manufacture the raw ma- 

 terial consumed was as follows : Flax tow, 14,199 bales ; jute and jute 

 butts, 8,501 bales ; hemp and hemp tow, 4,756 bales. This shows a con- 

 sumption of Western-grown fiber (flax and hemp) to the amount of nearly 

 10,000 bales, 27,500 manufactured; a fraction over 30 per cent, only of 

 imported jute fiber being used. The history of the year previous shows 

 that the supply of the home product was not equal to the demand. 

 The cotton crop of 1870, reaching nearly to 4,500,000 bales, taxed every 

 bagging loom in the country to its utmost capacity ; and even with the 

 opening of new factories, large orders for bagging went abroad to make 

 good the short supply which seemed inevitable. It is stated that there 

 was constant antagonism during 1871 between holders of raw material 

 and manufacturers, and, in order to effect sales, prices were gradually 

 "forced down." This may have led to the reduction of the tariff on 

 jute for bagging manufacture. 



To return to the question of protection, even the manufacturers them- 

 selves desire a little " encouragement," in the way of a free introduc- 

 tion of the raw material as well as of machinery. The superintendent 

 of one of the largest flax-mills in Eastern Massachusetts thus writes: 



There is every encouragement in the world for investment in flax and hemp spin- 

 ning. Properly conducted, it is a very remunerative busiuess. One thing, our ma- 

 chinery should be introduced customs free— raw material also free. Oar native skill, 

 with a little added experience, will be able to keep from oar market the milliong of 

 Iriah, Gennaa, and French linens suinually imported. 



