284 SOILS AND PLANT LIFE 



bagging, upholstering material and twine are made from 

 the tow. 



Flax fiber has been called " the fiber of luxury," while 

 cotton has been called " the fiber of the masses." 



If the crop is not raised for the fiber, but only for the 

 seed, it is threshed with an ordinary threshing machine. 

 The seed secured is eventually crushed, after which it is 

 heated to about 165 degrees Fahrenheit, placed between 

 layers of coarse cloth and the oil extracted by pressure. 

 The solidified mass remaining is known as oil cake. This 

 cake may be ground, in which case it is called " old pro- 

 cess Unseed meal." If the oil is extracted, not by pressure 

 but by the use of petroleum naphtha, the remaining meal 

 is known as " new process linseed meal." 



Oil cake and linseed meal are among the most valuable 

 protein feeds for five stock known. Linseed oil is used in 

 making paints and varnishes, printing ink, linoleum, soap 

 and artificial India rubber. 



Hemp 



This plant is a coarse annual, growing from eight to 

 twelve feet tall and yielding a rather coarse fiber which 

 is used in making cordage and warp for carpets. The 

 crop demands a somewhat warmer chmate than does 

 flax and in this country is raised principally in the blue 

 grass regions of Kentucky and Tennessee. The crop does 

 not exhaust the soil so quickly as flax ; and if the waste is 

 returned to the field, it may be groTvn several years in 

 succession on the same land. 



The hemp crop is cut with a heavy mower or with a self- 

 rake reaper, or it may be cut by hand. 



The fallen plants are allowed to he on the ground until 

 the dews and rains have " retted," or rotted, the stems. 



