THE FLAX PLANT AND FIBRE 3 



linen." Linen was the material of which the priests' robes 

 were made. The ten curtains of the tabernacle, the veil and 

 the hangings for the door of the tent were to be of fine twined 

 linen. (Ex. xxvi.) 



" The flax and barley were smitten ; for the barley was in 

 the ear and the flax was boiled ; but the wheat and the rye 

 were not smitten for they were not grown up." (Ex. ix. 31.) 



Rahab hid the spies " with the stalks of flax that were laid 

 in order on the roof." (Josh. ii. 6.) This suggests that 

 Rahab used the roof for drying the flax. 



Egyptian mummies, embalmed 1200 B.C., have been found 

 wrapped in swathing cloths of fine linen. 



The flax plant is supposed to have first been produced in 

 the alluvial soils of the East, including that on the banks of 

 the Nile. But the Egyptians not being a maritime people, 

 it was left to traders to distribute their flax productions to 

 all parts of the ancient world. The knowledge of the art of 

 flax culture and manufacture gradually travelled to Greece, 

 Italy, France, Flanders, Germany, and England. Flax 

 growing was introduced into Britain by the Romans. 



In 1175 it was classed among the tithable productions. In 

 1531 a statute was enacted requiring, under certain penalties, 

 that for every sixty acres of land fit for cultivation, one rood 

 must be sown with flax or hemp. In the register of St. Mary's 

 Pulham, fines are recorded for the non-fulfilment of this law. 

 From the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth to the middle 

 of the reign of George III flax-growing was established and 

 protected by statute and assisted by legislation. Many were 

 the attempts made during all these years to extend and 

 improve the cultivation of flax. 



Flax has always been, but never more so than now, an 

 article essentially necessary to the British kingdom. 



To trace the antiquity of flax culture and tabulate its 

 developments and retardations through the succeeding ages, 

 however interesting, welcome and inspiring is not the object 

 of this treatise. 



