18 FLAX CULTURE 



question whether the present rates of duty 

 are of any benefit to our flax growers, and 

 may not, indeed, be a burden to the farmer 

 as well as to the manufacturer and con- 

 sumer ; whether, in short, the duty on raw 

 flax is not one of those curiosities of the 

 protective system that the tariff reformer, 

 whether free-trader or protectionist, desires 

 to remove. 



Flax has been grown and manufactured 

 in this country ever since the first colonies 

 were settled. Before the invention of the 

 cotton-gin so cheapened the production of 

 cotton fabric, flax spinning and weaving 

 was a common household industry. The 

 older generation of the present day re- 

 member the spinning-wheel, and distaff 

 wound with flax, in the corner of the 

 country kitchen. 



The importance of the industry was 

 early recognized, and it was carefully 

 fostered by legislation. The Massachu- 

 setts General Assembly passed an Act to 

 encourage the production of flax as early 

 as 1640; and Massachusetts was followed 



