62 CORDAGE FIBRES 



One statute acre of green flax weighs, say 100 cwt. = 5 tons. 

 Drying takes away 55 per cent 55 ,, 



Leaving 45 ,, 



Seeding or rippling takes away 20 per cent. 9 ,, 



Leaving ... ... ... 36 ,, 



Retting or steeping takes away 25 per cent. 9 ,, 



Leaving .' ... 27 ,, 



Breaking and scutching take away 82 per 



cent 22 



Leaving 5 cwt. 



Or 40 stone per acre. 



Taking the average cost of production as j i6s. per acre, 

 the average yield of fibre per acre, 37! stones, the average 

 value of the flax per stone as 6s., the profits per acre would be 

 11 53. minus 7 i6s., or $ gs. 



The gross acreage of land under flax in Ireland has varied 

 from 67,444 acres in 1893 to 229,178 acres in 1869, while 

 prices have averaged from 55. 6d. per stone in 1895 to 9 s - 9^. 

 per stone in 1869. 



Flax from almost every flax-growing district of Ireland has 

 its special characteristics. Fibre from the Cookstown dis- 

 trict is of the best produced, being a strong, warpy flax. Mag- 

 herafelt, Randalstown, Lisnaskea, Armagh and Newry all 

 produce good flax. Monaghan, Cootehill, and Ballybay are, 

 as a rule, of medium strength. Strabane and Letterkenny 

 are generally wefty and badly handled. County Down flax is 

 very often of a light colour, and a large-fibred thread flax. 

 Strabane, Letterkenny and Ballymoney flax is generally made 

 up in large bundles containing about 3 stone, and sold at so 

 many shillings per hundredweight. In the other Irish flax 

 markets flax is sold per stone of 14 Ib. 



Irish hand-scutched flax is getting rarer and rarer. Hand- 

 scutching used to be a favourite winter occupation for the 

 farmer's family, but old times are changed, and the flax is now 

 almost invariably sent to the scutch mill. To facilitate the 



