THE FLAX SUPPLY ASSOCIATION. 205 



THE IRISH FLAX INDUSTRY AND THE FLAX 

 EXTENSION ASSOCIATION. 



No single event in recent years caused greater disturbance in the Irish 

 flax industry than the Civil War in America, which for a time almost com- 

 pletely prevented the cultivation of cotton, and led to the destruction of 

 large quantities already harvested in the Southern States ; the effects of this ' 

 were felt wherever the raw material of any textile manufacture was pro- 

 duced in sufficient quantity to be recognised as a distinct branch of pro- 

 ductive labour, and in Ireland, where for a century and a half the manufac- 

 ture of linen had been almost a national industry, the scarcity of cotton led 

 to marked fluctuations. 



The area under flax, which was 128,595 acres in i860, rose in 1864 to 

 301,693 acres, an increase of 134 per cent. As might be expected, this 

 enormous increase had a tendency to check the inflation of prices which had 

 taken place in '62 and '63, owing to the scarcity of cotton alluded to above ; 

 in point of fact, the balance between supply and demand was completely 

 overturned, a state of affairs which must always produce harmful results. 



In i860, Ireland had about 600,000 spindles in active employment, con- 

 suming roughly 32,000 tons of flax ; of this, the home supply was 24,000 

 tons, or about three-fourths, between that year and 1864. However, 

 spindles had increased by 50,000, or say 8^ per cent., whereas the area 

 under flax had gone up to 301,693 acres, with a total production of 64,500 

 tons, an increase, compared with i860, of 170 per cent. ; or in another form, 

 the supply in i860 was about 6.4 stones per spindle, and in 1864 about 15.8 

 stones ; and assuming for the moment that Irish flax only was used, the 

 consumption could not exceed 34,500 tons, leaving a nominal surplus of 

 30,000 tons ; but as the quantity of foreign flax which was used at that time, 

 and estimated at about one-fourth of the total consumption, must be taken 

 into account, the surplus would approach 40,000 tons. 



Taken by itself, perhaps, the large sowing of 1864 was not out of pro- 

 portion to the disastrous destruction of cotton and waste in the labour 

 available for cotton-growing, but the possibility of judiciously substituting 

 flax for cotton was lost sight of, or, perhaps, never thought of at all, by the 

 Irish farmer when he hurriedly increased his sowing, expecting as a matter 

 of course to reap a profitable harvest. 



Capital, however, cannot be manipulated so quickly ; neither private 

 enterprise nor limited companies could secure funds, organize plans, con- 

 struct or equip factories speedily enough to. save the situation; it is highly 

 probable that if this could have been done, the outlay would have repaid 

 itself. It may be well to point out here, also, that there was no regular 

 export trade established to assist in removing what must have proved a 

 glut in the market, and the inevitable now occurs, the price of raw material, 

 which had been high in 1862 and 1863 and in the spring of 1864, begins to 

 show symptoms of weakness, and in the end of the season, by which time the 



