MICROBIOLOGY OF FLAX RETTING 
FRED W. TANNER 
Linum usitatissimum has been cultivated for thousands of years 
as a textile fiber producing plant. The Egyptians must have raised 
it, since their mummies are found today wrapped in fine linen. 
Frequent allusions to flax and linen in the Bible indicate that the 
ancients were acquainted with the usefulness of the bast fibers in 
flax and had methods of separating them from the rest of the plant. 
They were also familiar with other types of fibers, since these are 
found in their papyri today. The United States cannot be regarded 
as a great flax or linen producing country; it has had to depend 
mainly on importation to supply the increasing demands for linen. 
In the spinning of flax the United States was at the bottom of the 
list of the larger countries in 1915, with slightly over 8000 spindles 
against Great Britain’s 1,161,000." Most of these were in Ireland, 
although they were not kept busy on fiber produced in Ireland. 
Russia was once the largest flax fiber producing country, contribut- 
ing 80 per cent of the flax fiber used in making linen. Since the 
world war, however, this has changed on account of the industrial 
disorganization in that country. Statements in the press, said to 
come from the Office of Fiber Investigation of the United States 
Department of Agriculture, indicate that the spinning mills in this 
country have used about 10,000 pounds of flax fiber per annum. 
For the production of this amount of fiber about 60,000 acres of 
land would be required. In 1920 only 6000 acres of flax were 
grown in this country, while the low price paid for it will restrict 
the acreage to about 3000 in the future. 
Flax is raised in this country mostly for seed which is pressed 
for linseed oil; a smaller amount is raised for the fiber. Flax 
raised for seed is of a different quality from that usually required 
for fiber. Fiber flax is taller and produces less seed. It requires 
greater care in cultivation, and especially careful handling at the 
* Mites, C. F., Fiber flax. U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmer’s Bull. no. 669. 1915- 
Botanical Gazette, vol. 74] [174 
