lishment and employs a large force of skilled operators. His 

 chief effort is to produce threads, warp yarns of endless grades 

 for the weaver, who weaves those yarns into various fabrics. To 

 recapitulate : We have the farmer grow the flax, the scutcher rets 

 and scutches it for the spinner. The spinner spins it for the 

 weaver and the weaver weaves it into fabrics. for the general con- 

 sumer. If therefore the farmer has the necessary skill he can 

 with very little outlay scutch his flax by hand and with proper 

 care can produce a better grade of line, than the mill can. Of 

 course, he cannot compete with the mill in quantity. It is the 

 fine quality that brings the high price. However, that price is so 

 high for the finer qualities of line that the farmer with a family 

 will find it profitable to have a crop of flax exery year to work 

 during spare hours. If the careful, industrious framer can, dur- 

 ing the slack time of the year, scutch ten to twenty pounds of 

 flax, as the Belgian farmers do, and that flax is worth fifteen 

 cents per pound, and upward, and the breaking and scutching 

 can be done in the house or barn during the winter, it requires 

 little argument to show the profit of the business, more especi- 

 ally when any handy man with only the tools to be found on any 

 farm, can make the necessary implements without cash outlay. 



Before undertaking the hand working of flax, some consider- 

 ations of details are in order. The farmer has to contend with 

 the disadvantage of not furnishing a sufficient quantity of any 

 one grade to make it an object to the spinner. It will be well to 

 have a standard to work up to. The points that give value to 

 scutched flax are, fineness of fiber, softness, strength, length, 

 color and perfect removal of every atom of chive or woody mater- 

 ial. Length of straw and fiber depend on climatic conditions, 

 suitability of soil and the thickness of seeding and care in cul- 

 ture, consequently, are influenced in a great measure by the 

 grower. Fineness of fiber depends on quality of seed used, qual- 

 ity of land and thickness of seeding and is therefore modified 

 more or less, by the good judgment exercised by the grower. One 

 may grow flax capable of yielding the softest, silkiest and strong- 

 est fibre and yet have it entirely spoiled and life taken out of it 

 by careless or improper retting. While the removal of ALL the 

 chive or wood material wholly depends on the care, and thorough- 

 ness of the producer's work. This is why there is such a variety 

 in the quality and price of scutched flax, and why the Russians 

 and Irish flax producers do not obtain the same high price for 

 their flax that the Belgians and Hollanders do. Because the Bel- 

 gians and Hollanders are more careful and painstaking (call it 

 plodding if you will), attending to every little detail and only sat- 

 isfied when he can say, "That is just right!" 



The Russian and the Irishman, on the other hand, go to work 

 in a sip-shod manner, inattentive to minor details, and are satis- 

 fied with "Oh that is good enough" or "That will do." These re- 

 marks refer to the average producer in these different locahties, 

 and the facts are well known by spinners by sad experience. The 

 one secures the top price of the market, while the other is docked 

 in price, to pay for his carelessness. 



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