FLAUTO TRAVERSO 



31 93 



FLAX 



1849-50. Returning to Paris in 

 1850, he began his first novel, 

 Madame Bovary. It took six years 

 of constant 

 labour to com- 

 plete, and was 

 published 

 serially in 

 1857. An ac- 

 tion against 

 author and 

 publisher for 

 its alleged im- 

 morality was 

 dismissed, 

 and the book, 

 his undoubt- 

 ed master- 

 piece, made 

 his name famous. There fol- 

 lowed Salammb6 (Eng. trans. M. 

 F. Sheldon), 1862; L'Education 

 Sentimentale, 1869 ; La Tentation 

 de S. Antoine (Eng. trans. R. 

 Francis), 1874 ; Trois Contes, 1877 ; 

 and the posthumous Bouvard et 

 Pecuchet, 1881. Flaubert died at 

 Croisset, near Rouen, May 8, 1880. 

 He was the dominant figure 

 among French novelists of the last 

 epoch of Romanticism. A literary 

 descendant of Balzac, he was by 

 turns a sheer realist and a sheer 

 romanticist, in both aspects bril- 

 liant and infinitely laborious. He 

 took his art very seriously, tor- 

 menting himself for days in the 

 search for a word, polishing his 

 work with untiring zeal. His 

 technical skill, especially as a 

 realist, greatly influenced later 

 French writers, in particular the 

 De Goncourts and Zola. See 

 Flaubert's Correspondence with 

 George Sand, preface by Guy de 

 Maupassant, 1884; Life, E. 

 Faguet, 1899. 



Flauto tra verso (Ital., cross 

 flute). Ordinary present-day flute. 

 It is played crosswise, with a side 

 blowing-hole ; formerly it was 

 called the German flute. See Flute. 

 Flaveria contrayerba. Bien- 

 nial herb of the natural order 

 Compositae. A native of Peru, it 

 has opposite, saw-toothed, lance- 

 shaped leaves, and yellow flower 

 heads. In Chile a yellow dye is 

 obtained from the plant. 



Flavine (Lat. flavus, yellow). 

 Antiseptic, the value of which was 

 discovered in 1916 by the Bland- 

 Sutton Institute for Clinical Patho- 

 logy of the Middlesex Hospital, 

 London. The discovery of the drug 

 itself was due to Prof. Ehrlich, who 

 treated cases of sleeping sickness 

 with it. Flavine is a yellow dye 

 belonging to the acridine series, 

 hence its official name acriflavine. 

 Unlike most germicides, it is abso- 

 lutely harmless to the tissues. 

 The discovery of its efficacy as an 

 antiseptic was hastened by the 



need for such a drug occasioned by 

 the Great War. See Antiseptics ; 

 Surgery. 



Flavouring. Condiment put 

 into food to give it a distinctive 

 taste. Spices, herbs, and essences 

 are flavourings, also lemons, juice 

 of various fruits, onion and garlic. 



Flax (Linum usitatissimum). 

 Annual herb of the natural order 

 Linaceae. Its native country is 

 unknown ; but it is found in a wild 

 state, as an escape from cultivation, 

 in every temperate country where 

 it is grown for the production of 

 linen or oil. Linen fabrics, thread, 

 and stores of linseed have been 

 found in excavations of the Stone 

 Age. It is a slender plant, with 

 erect stems, about a foot and a 

 half high, and narrow, lance-shaped 

 alternate leaves. The numerous 

 flowers are comparatively large 

 (1 inch diam.), and purplish-blue 

 in colour. The flax fibres of which 

 linen is woven are obtained by 

 macerating the skin of the stems. 

 Flax seed, from which linseed oil 



Flax. Stem, leaves, and flowers of 

 Linum usitatissimum 



comes under pressure, leaving oil- 

 cake as a valuable residue, is ob- 

 tained from this species. 



Flax is little grown in the 

 United Kingdom, except in Ulster 

 and some parts of Yorkshire. The 

 seed is broadcasted or drilled, at 

 the rate of 70 Ib. to 80 Ib. per acre 

 in the former case, 40 Ib. to 60 Ib. 

 hi the latter, and the seed time 

 varies from April to mid-May v 

 Well -drained, deep loam is the 

 most favourable soil. Rotation is 

 necessary, and an average of seven 

 years should elapse between two 

 crops on the same land. It is not 



usual to apply farmyard manure 

 directly, for highly fertile soil is 

 apt to cause " lodging " ; but the 

 preceding crop should be well 

 dunged. Artificials, however, can 

 be used with advantage : for flax 

 production, 5 cwt. kainit or 1J 

 cwt. muriate of potash per acre ; 

 for seed production, a mixture of 

 to f cwt. sulphate of ammonia, 

 3 cwt. superphosphate, and to 

 cwt. muriate of potash per acre. 



Flax should be cultivated on 

 clean land, and when drilled, weeds 

 must be kept down. Harvesting 

 takes place in August, and the 

 best fibre is obtained by hand- 

 pulling, though the reaping hook 

 and reaping machine are also used. 

 The crop should be cut before the 

 seed is quite ripe, for it matures in 

 the stook (shock). The sheaves 

 should be small. When grown on 

 a large scale, it may be necessary 

 to use the threshing machine, and 

 this should be set close and run 

 at a high speed. The best results, 

 however, are obtained by the flail, 

 afterwards crushing the seed-heads 

 (bolls) with a roller ; by passing 

 the plants through a mangle ; or 

 by drawing them through a rippling 

 comb, and afterwards using the 

 roller. The average yield per 

 acre is 36 to 40 cwt. dried straw 

 (giving about 4 cwt. fibre), and 

 8 to 10 cwt. seed. 



The board of trade appointed 

 a committee to investigate the 

 question of increasing the supply 

 of flax in the British Empire. In 

 its report, issued June, 1920, refer- 

 ence was made to substitutes for 

 flax, such as ramie, the main diffi- 

 culty in preparing which for spin- 

 ning was the elimination of the gum 

 which holds the fibre together. 

 Germany before the Great War 

 had succeeded in discovering a 

 process of degumming. This pro- 

 cess was successfully transferred 

 to England, and ramie yarns of 

 very good quality are now pro- 

 duced in Yorkshire. The report 

 showed that, while for a number of 

 the purposes for which flax is em- 

 ployed substitutes exist, none of 

 these can satisfactorily replace flax 

 in the manufacture of fine linens, 

 damasks, and similar articles. 

 During the latter part of the Great 

 War flax was controlled by a board 

 set up for that purpose. 



New Zealand flax (Phormium 

 tenax) is a perennial herb of the 

 natural order Liliaceae, native of 

 New Zealand. The tough, leathery 

 leaves are sword-shaped, springing 

 from the root in two ranks, and 

 from 3 ft. to 6 ft. in length. The 

 dull, yellowish -red, tubular flowers, 

 about 2 ins. long, are produced on 

 short, alternate branches of a tall, 

 flowering stem, 6 ft. or more in 



