CHEMICAL PROCESSES FOR SEPARATING FLAX. 213 
FIRST EXPERIMENT. 
Gicieant sieeped Value Yaine é 
rigin: - an ex o! TOSS 
Value. value. Dried. dried. Seuteh’d idioms Seed. | value. 
; Francs. | Kilogs. | Kilogs. | Kilogs. | Kilogs, | Francs. | Frances. | Francs. 
Green Flax + | 222 | 4:030 
e —_ 826 191 | 1:70 27° «| 357°70 
Dried do. «| 222 |) 4:030 | 1142] 178 178 | 1:55 31 | 305°90 
Difference af <S oar 2 Se = co = = 51-80 
SECOND EXPERIMENT. 
Green Flax . - | 605 | 100 — | 26-000) 6-350 | 1:90 — | 12:06 
Grmmes. 
Dried do. . - | 6:05 | 100 |30-250 | 22-500) 5-500 | 165) — 9-07 
Difference . -[— _ — —_ _ —_ — 2°99 
The practice of steeping green is carried on to a large extent 
in the Waes district in Belgium. 
CHEMICAL PROCESSES. 
The action of water and the production of fermentation 
may truly be considered chemical operations, but the term is 
usually applied to other processes in which the action of soap, 
of acids, or of caustic or of carbonated alkalies, or of some salts, 
is employed to effect the separation of the fibres from each 
other, as well as from the cellular tissue and accompanying 
glutinous secretions. The natives of India have long been in 
the habit of bleaching their muslins by boiling them in a ley 
of carbonate of soda, and then washing them in a weak solution 
of citric acid obtained from the juice of limes or of lemons. So 
in other parts they boil the bast of certain plants in a ley of 
wood-ashes, in order to facilitate the separation of the fibres 
(see Nettles). Some of the chemical methods which have 
been invented in Europe are similar to these. 
In the ‘Jury Report’ of Class IV, by Professor E. Solly, 
for the Exhibition of 1851, we have an account of the old 
German process, called “ Molkenrost,” sometimes used in pre- 
paring the finer sorts of Flax. This was steeped for four or 
five days in a warm mixture of milk and water, and thus the 
desired degree of fermentation in the Flax stems was pro- 
duced. This is distinct from the more modern process in 
