HOLLAND. 



In Holland, except Friesland, not much flax is produced, 

 owing to the land being of too heavy a quality to grow good 

 flax. The slime retting is generally used but sometimes salt 

 water is used which gives a very light colored flax, but small 

 in yield and poor in quality. Friesland, where the land is light 

 and the water soft they ret in pools. The flax is bound in 

 bundles of 2 to 3 kilos and put in butt end down in the water 

 and only immersed one-half, and after two or three days is 

 turned several times a day. The whole straw is pushed under 

 the water with boards and after being a week in the water it is 

 taken out and after draining it is put in round stocks. This 

 retting takes place in August and September. It must be re- 

 membered that only a small portion of it is retted in Holland, 

 as the most of it is removed by the brokers to Courtrai and retted 

 in the river Lys, and some to East Flanders and retted by the 

 river process. The flax that is known in the market as Holland 

 flax is dark colored, fine and lustrous, but is not thought so much 

 of as the Courtrai. 



IRELAND. 



Ireland is the leading country for flax spinning, as there the 

 finest grades of spinning is produced, and always lead in England 

 and Europe. Ireland has imported in 1896, 19,697 tons of fiber; 

 in 1891, 25,389 tons. This was chiefly Russian flax. The cut- 

 ting up of large tracts of land into small farms has caused the 

 discontinuance of flax culture in several districts. Also poor cul- 

 tivation and disregard of the requirements of the flax plant has 

 rendered the land flax sick. (Whisky, ignorance and careless- 

 ness renders the Irish farmer unfitted for flax culture. (The 

 culture of the land is superficial and poorly conducted. Best 

 farmers adopt a rotation of 7 to 12 years. Riga seed is used for 

 light soil and Dutch seed for heavy land. They put the flax green 

 and without rippling into the water. They pull the flax when 

 green and ret immediately in ponds or ditches. (The Irish think 

 more of the sp^rading of the flax after retting than retting itself.) 

 The brewer has four pair of fluted rollers. Scutching arms are 

 made of beechwood. The Irish scutcher is not so careful as the 

 Belgian and does not scutch his flax clean. It is packed in bales 

 of one stone (14 pounds). The yield of straw varies, the average 

 being about two tons per acre, and the fiber of the best quality 

 is 9 shillings per stone (14 pounds). 



I have given the epitome of Professor Ludwig, Langreers' 

 report because it is not available to the American reader and con- 

 tains much valuable and interesting information and will now 

 return to my subject proper. The formulation of my distinctively 

 American system of flax and hemp culture and treatment. As I 

 have given so much space to Germany, Belgium, Holland, Aus- 

 tria and Ireland, I must not overlook France, where much im- 

 portant work has been accomplished in the interest of fiber 

 culture. 



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