LINUM 



USITATISSIMUM 



Flax 



THE FLAX PLANT 



Recent Results. 



Average Yield. 



Good Fibre. 



Prices 

 Realised. 



Profit. 



Two 

 Problems. 



Paper 

 Material. 



Exhausting 

 Crop. 



Food Value. 



Fodder. 



raiyat for rent-paying purposes, but only when necessity occurs and 

 favourable conditions are likely to prevail. 



Since the above was penned there has come to hand a report of the 

 experiments recently conducted in Bihar, written by Bernard Coventry 

 (Agri. Journ. Ind., i., pt. iii., 192-200). It would appear that a few 

 indigo concerns have experimented with flax during the past four years, 

 and Coventry's remarks are apparently the result of experience gained. 

 The following extract may be accepted as conveying the chief facts : 

 " There is as much fibre in the plant grown in India as at home, namely, 

 about 20 per cent, of dried straw. The average yield of retted and 

 dried straw at Dooriah from sowing at the rate of 2 maunds of 

 seed, was 40 maunds per acre, and the percentage of fibre obtained 

 from the straw was 15 per cent., or 6 maunds of fibre per acre. This 

 should have given 4J maunds of good fibre and 1J maunds of tow, that 

 is to say, the proportion of good fibre to tow should have been as 

 three to one, but in point of fact it was only half good fibre and half 

 tow." " The flax from the first year's experiments fetched 30 a ton, 

 the second year 35, and this year it is expected to fetch 40 a ton, 

 owing to its better quality. The price of tow was about 10 a ton. The 

 cost of production, including cultivation, seed, manufacture, shipping, 

 insurance, and other outlay expenditure, amounts to Rs. 62 per acre. 

 Taking the 6 maunds of fibre to have sold at 25 a ton including tow, 

 equal to say Rs. 13 per maund, we have a gross return of Rs. 78 per acre 

 and a profit of Rs. 16." 



Coventry contends accordingly that the cultivation of the plant has 

 been accomplished successfully, but concludes his report almost in the 

 words used by Dr. Jameson in 1859, viz., " All that is required to market 

 a useful crop in India are some good instructors to show how the fibre 

 is to be prepared and fitted for the market, and good seed and machinery." 

 Lastly, Coventry, like most other writers on this subject, adds, " There 

 are two separate but closely connected problems for investigation : first, 

 the possibility of establishing a new industry for the growth of flax as a 

 fibre crop for the production of high-grade fibre alone ; second, the possi- 

 bility of introducing a system whereby fibre, probably of a lower quality, 

 could be produced in combination with the existing large cultivation of 

 linseed for oil-seeds." Students of this subject will find the information 

 furnished by Hanausek (Micro. Tech. Prod. (Winton and Barber, transl.), 

 1907, 73-7) highly instructive. They should also consult the recent 

 results by Finlow (Dept. E. Beng. and Assam, 1906-7, app. ii.). 



It has been often urged that, even if the separation of a fibre should 

 prove unremunerative, the stems might become of great value to the 

 paper-maker. But the crop is well known to be an exhausting one, and 

 on that account is often barred by many leases, hence an effort should 

 be made to overcome these objections by improvements in manuring. 

 Fowls are known to fatten very rapidly if allowed to stray over linseed 

 fields, and a certain percentage of linseed-cake is the world over recognised 

 as one of the very best food materials for prolonging and improving the 

 milk of cows, especially when butter manufacture is an important con- 

 sideration. It has, in fact, been remarked that along the foot of the lower 

 North- West Himalaya, linseed is at times sown mainly as a cattle food 

 for milch buffaloes the oil being only a secondary consideration. In this 

 connection, however, attention may be drawn to a brief note by Leather 



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