180 BOTANICAL GAZETTE [OCTOBER 
ture being maintained between the extremes just mentioned, since 
the fermentation goes on most vigorously at that range. Rossi’s 
work was concerned with hemp, but the organisms may be similar 
to those used with flax. An anonymous article in the Bulletin 
Imperial Institute (17:605-607. 1919) confirms the work of Rosst. 
Flax straw is immersed in water at 82° to 86° F. in vats, and after 
the addition of a special aerobic organism, B. comesii, it is aerated 
during the retting process. The pectinous materials are consumed 
and the retting process is completed in 36-40 hours. Another 
aerobic organism called Bacillus felsineus is reported which will 
also ret hemp, flax, ramie, nettle, and other plants. It is said to 
produce a rapid retting and furnish a fine, white, well separated 
fiber. Lorser,™ in carrying out Rosst’s process, boiled flax for 
forty minutes and then treated it with pure cultures of Bacillus 
comesit. The vats were aerated and maintained at a temperature 
of 30°-32°C. These methods are more expensive than those which 
do not require boiling. Furthermore, the anaerobic organisms are 
so resistant to heat that they might pass through these preheating 
procedures and function in retting the flax, although the credit be 
given to certain aerobic bacteria. 
Corrican® has more recently discussed the relation of fungi 
to retting. His statements apparently are based on the researches 
which have been reviewed herein. Mrs. Wyant has recently 
reported briefly some results on this problem. She isolated about 
forty cultures of both aerobes and anaerobes. Each of these 
cultures was tested for its retting ability. This narrowed the work 
down to one pure culture which received more intensive study. 
Experimental work 
The work which has been carried out at this laboratory has 
been done with pure cultures, and on materials from a large rettery 
*t LogsER, R., Retting of flax by fbacteria. Jour. Soc. Chem. Ind. 38:407- 
IgIQ. 
t CORRIGAN, J. FREDERICK, Bacteria and molds: their biological nature and 
their influence on vegetable fibers. Jour. Soc. Dyers Colourists 36:198-201. 1920- 
"3 Wyant, Z. N., Some bacteriological problems involved in the retting of flax. 
Abstracts Bact. §:208, 209. 1921. 
