20 



it away for winter work in the mill. Lifting time is one of the critical moments* *a 

 the dew-retting of flax. A continuous wet spell may carry the process of decomposi- 

 tion too far, resulting in weakened or ruined fibre ; and flax lifted damp will be injured 

 by moulds in the shed or stack. 



The lifting is usually accomplished direct from the rows on a dry afternoon, or 

 from so-called "wigwams" or stoolings an emergency operation resorted to when it 

 is necessary to arrest the over-retting of the straw during a continuous wet spell. The 

 use of a properly-bent crook facilitates the lifting. 



The retted straw is hauled to the mill yard and stored in stack or shed. 



WATER-RETTING. 



The abandonment of the early water-retting experiments in Canada is attributable- 

 to influences quite apart from failure of processes. One attempt was given up from 

 lack of provision to minimize the additional labour involved, water-retting requiring 

 somewhat more labour than dew-retting. A second failed because of community 

 entanglements and complaints over the unpleasant discharge water. A third waned 

 before "mill sickness" of the men scutching the malodorous water-retted straw. In 

 no case was there an obstacle that should prove insurmountable in the face of a strong 

 economic need of a better process than dew-retting. This need has been felt more 

 and more strongly for years. To-day, when flax fibre is scarce and prices more favour- 

 able, no flax man is too dull to realize the advisability of bringing his mill up to the- 

 highest state of efficiency. 



While the most profitable arrangements for water-retting are admittedly 01 the 

 central plant type (where brains, money, skill, and power are concentrated), as exem- 

 plified at Courtrai, Belgium, and Dromara, Ireland, satisfactory results can be secured 

 in small operations at scattered mill plants. It should not take long study for our 

 Canadian mill forces to be able to water-ret flax straw as well as and more economi- 

 cally than the Irish peasants, and with results far superior to those secured by the- 

 Kussian peasants. From analyses recently made of various sources of water supply 

 at mill locations, there is little doubt of suitable water (free from excess of iron,, 

 lime, and magnesium) being available at many points in the flax area of southwestern 

 Ontario. 



Water-retting on a moderate scale at small centres requires no new equipment 

 except tanks or water holes in which to ret the flax, and apparatus for filling and 

 emptying the same. 



To ensure success in the new direction without going too far at first, Mr. Howard 

 Fraleigh of Forest, Ont., seems inclined, after some interesting experiments, to adopt 

 what is termed " mixed retting " a method followed to some extent in Russia. In 

 this system the flax is removed from the water when about half " done," and the ret- 

 ting process is completed on the grass. At Forest the water was held in a tank, 

 several more of which it is proposed to build in 1916. This tank is of concrete, 50 

 feet long by 15 feet wide by 4 feet deep, and is in two divisions. Each half is designed 

 to hold about 2 tons of flax straw. The water is pumped from a nearby well by a 

 gasoline pump. The well is 108 feet deep. (The outflow from the retting tank is 

 from below and runs to a public ditch along the highway.) 



An analysis of the water from the well showed it to be quite soft, its hardness, 

 expressed in the Clark scale, being 5-25. Rain water expressed in the same scale is 

 3; upland surface water, 54; and some hard spring waters go as high as 185. Various 

 conjectures have been made as to the cause of such unusual softness in well water. 

 It may be noted that the well -is only about 4 miles in a direct line Irom lake Hurou. 



Though the Fraleigh process of mixed retting is still to take definite shape, it is 

 proposed to operate, to begin with, somewhat as follows: 



The empty tank is filled with sheaves, placed in a leaning direction. These are 

 weighted with stones to prevent the rising of the flax after decomposition sets in. 



