96 CORDAGE FIBRES 



Dew-retting consists in spreading the newly-pulled flax straw 

 lightly over the field and allowing it to remain there until the 

 action of the sun, rain, and dew has accomplished the partial 

 dissolution of the gummy matter which binds the fibre to the 

 wood. The one objection to dew-retted flax is that weavers 

 and bleachers find that yarn spun from dew-retted fibre turns 

 a dark colour when boiled. When fully bleached, however, 

 linen made from dew-retted flax has a more brilliant whiteness 

 than that made from water-retted fibre. 



Dew-retted flax is exported from Archangel and St. Peters- 

 burg by ship and rail. Reval, Riga, Pernau, and Libau are 

 the chief ports of export for water-retted fibre, large quantities 

 of which also leave by rail and pass through Germany. While 

 flax cultivation has been dwindling away in Ireland and in 

 France, it has been increasing in Russia. During the last 

 twenty-five years the area under flax in Russia has doubled 

 itself, attaining in 1902 the enormous surface of 1,400,000 

 hectares. During the same period the number of flax-spinning 

 spindles running in Russia has also nearly doubled itself , being 

 reckoned in 1900 as 296,000. Russian spinners use home- 

 grown flax almost entirely, their consumption being about 

 40,000 tons, or one-fifth of the total output of the country, 

 which exceeds 200,000 tons annually. The peasants use a 

 three or six years' rotation of crops, and sow 40 to 50 Ib. of 

 seed per acre when seed is desired, and 56 to 160 Ib. of seed 

 per acre when the best fibre is the object aimed at. Water- 

 retting is practised in the west and north-west districts. In 

 the other districts the dew-retted system prevails. "Slanetz," 

 or dew-retted, is produced in rather larger quantities than is 

 " motchinetz," or water-retted. France is probably the largest 

 importer of dew-retted fibre. The water-retting regions are 

 the governments of Pskoff, Livonia, St. Petersburg (Longa 

 and Gdof districts), Novgorod (Staraia-Roussa districts), 

 Wilna, Witebsk, Kovno and Courland. The dew-retted 

 regions are the governments of Tver, Smolensk, Kaluga 



