A Rich Field for Work 



IN THE 



Textile Plants 



Improving the Fibers of Flax, Hemp, 

 AND Cotton 



THE cultivation of flax in America gives a 

 very striking illustration of the extrava- 

 gance of our agricultural methods. 

 Something like two and a quarter million acres 

 of land are given over to the cultivation of flax, 

 the harvested product being about twenty-five 

 million bushels of seed. But the stalks of the 

 plants covering this vast acreage are for the most 

 part regarded as waste material, notwithstanding 

 the fact that the fiber of the flax plant is every- 

 where recognized as the most aristocratic of 

 vegetable textile materials. 



Flax fiber, the material from which linen is 

 made, bears somewhat the same relation to cotton 

 fiber that silk bears to wool. Unfortunately, the 

 plant that bears good seed does not make good 

 fiber; although it can be used as a second quality 

 flax, and has been used as stock for paper, 



[Volume VIII— Chapter IV] 



