UTILIZATION OF AMERICAN FLAX STRAW. 13 



Stock from bleaches Nos. 203 and 204 was beaten and washed 7-^ 

 hours, after which the washed stock from bleach No. 202 was added 

 and the whole beaten and washed for 18 hours. The feeling and 

 appearance of the stock improved during the whole beating and 

 washing period, but it was still apparent that not enough wood was 

 being removed. Competent employees judged that there were 250 to 

 300 pounds of stock in the beater at this point, which would represent 

 a yield of 40 to 47 per cent of the sieved straw, or 26 to 30.5 per cent 

 of the original dry weight of straw. 



The stock was sized with 1 per cent of size and 3 per cent of 

 alum and run over the Fourdrinier paper machine at a speed of 91 

 feet per minute. The stock acted very well on the machine, but, as 

 in the previous test, the sheet became brittle on drying. It was 

 evident that a still harder or different bleach was necessary or that 

 the manner of beating and washing should have been different. 



MILL TESTS ON THE MANUFACTURE OF FIBER BOARD. 



\Yhen the experimental work on the utilization of flax straw in 

 the manufacture of paper had reached this point, there was a great 

 uneasiness in the fiber-board industry concerning the supply of 

 foreign raw material because of the outbreak of the European 

 war. As previously noted, there are imported into the United States 

 annually about 7.000 tons of flax waste derived from the foreign tex- 

 tile industries, which are used almost exclusively in the manufacture 

 of the counter-board grade of fiber boards. These counter boards 

 are used chiefly for the manufacture of counters and toes for the 

 stiffening of the heels and toes of shoes. 



The price of this flax waste has ranged from $25 to $29 per ton 

 from 1908 to 1912, inclusive, and the average price in 1913 was $36.50. 

 The waste had been constantly deteriorating in quality, until the same 

 grade was 20 to 25 per cent poorer for fiber-board manufacture than 

 in 1908-9. Soon after war was declared the available supply of flax 

 waste was bought up and stored for future manufacture, and the 

 importations were greatly curtailed. Finally, the waste was with- 

 drawn from quotation, after reaching prices of about $65 per ton. 



It was thought that if American flax straw could be substituted for 

 the imported waste, this would be the most propitious time to induce 

 manufacturers to cooperate in the work and establish a market for 

 this crop waste One of the leading counter-board factories signi- 

 fied it- willingness to cooperate in the project and kindly placed 

 ;it the disposal of the Bureau of Plant [ndustry many of its regular 

 machines and its semicommercial testing equipment. 



The semicommercial testing equipment consisted of a direct steam. 

 Iron, rotary bleach boiler, about 2 feet in diameter by 5 feet, in length; 



