RESULTS OF IMPROVED PROCESSES. SOI 



the above analysis, estimated as fully equal to distillers' 

 wash. 



The important advantages resulting from this improved 

 method (Watts') of treating flax were immediately recog- 

 nized by the Flax Improvement Society, and a committee 

 of investigation appointed to institute "a careful and ex- 

 tensive series of experiments, with a view to compare it, 

 both in a practical and financial point of view, with the 

 modes of hot and cold water steeping generally practised." 

 The experiments were personally superintended by the 

 committee, and flax straw of ordinary market qualit}' 

 operated upon, of which 10 cwts. 1 qr. 21 Ibs. was taken 

 and placed in the steaming chamber, where it was sub- 

 mitted to the action of steam for 1 1 hours. After steep- 

 ing, wet-rolling, and drying, it weighed 7 cwts. 11 Ibs., 

 and on being scutched the yield was 187 Ibs. of fine* flax, 

 and of scutching tow 12 Ibs. 6J oz. of fine, and 35 Ibs. 3 oz. 

 of coarse. The yield of fibre in the state of fine flax was 

 therefore at the rate of 18 Ibs. per 112 Ibs. of straw, 

 or 26 \ per cent, of steeped and dried straw. The esti- 

 mated cost of the entire operation was 10 per ton of 

 clean fibre, while the market value of the samples pro- 

 duced was estimated at from 56 to -70 per ton. 



Notwithstanding the evident advantages of these im- 

 proved processes, they appear to have been practically 

 unsuccessful, and not to have produced the beneficial 

 results expected. In Watts' process, the oil contained in 

 the straw was expelled by the high temperature, which 

 was supposed by some to cause the fibre to be less soft and 

 flexible than that prepared in the ordinary way. This 

 quality is considered of such importance to the sample, 

 that a method was devised and patented by Jennings for 

 improving the fibre, by giving it an additional portion of 

 oleaginous matter after it had been separated from the 

 stem. This he effected by boiling it in a weak solution 



