220 



USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



Asia does not prevent ns from admitting that it was at different times taken from the 

 East to the West at a later epoch than that of the first Egyptian dynasties. Thus 

 the western Aryans and the Phoenicians may have introduced into Europe a flax 

 more advantageous than L. angusiifolium during the period from 2,500 to 1,200 years 

 before our era." /'< Candolle. See fig. 75. 



The flax plant is now widely distributed throughout the world. It is cultivated 

 in temperate North America, to a slight extent in portion- of South America, espe- 

 cially in Argentina (though more for seed than for fiber). It is produced commer- 

 cially to a greater or less extent in Great Britain, Ireland, especially Sweden. Hen- 

 mark. Holland. Belgium, France, Russia, Germany, Austria. Spain, and Portugal. It 

 has heen introduced into Algeria and into Xatal, and its cultivation was old in Egypt 



at the dawn of the Christian era. In India 

 large tracts are under cultivation, though 

 more for the seed crops than for fiher. Japan 

 has introduced its cultivation commercially, 

 and it has been experimented with in the 

 Australian colonies, where there is a wide 

 range of soil and climate suited to its growth. 

 History of ft, ax culture ix America. — 

 A perusal of the historical records in this coun- 

 try shows that flax culture was one of the ear- 

 liest of colonial industries, and we may he sure 

 that the Puritau maidens, like the Greek maids 

 of old. were familiar with the spinning and 

 weaving of flax, if not with the spindle and 

 distaff of Homeric times, for until compara- 

 tively recent years the culture and manufac- 

 ture of llax in America have heen household 

 indt;stries. 



The American colonists brought with them 

 the art of raising flax and of preparing and 

 spinning it by hand, and even fifty years ago 

 the custom prevailed among farmers of grow- 

 ing fiax and having it retted, scutched, hac- 

 kled, and spun hy memhers of their household. 

 In the history of Lynn. Mass.. it is stated that 

 about the year 1630 "they raised considerable 

 quantities of llax. which was retted in one of 

 the ponds, thence called Flax Pond.'* As early 

 as 1662 the State of Virginia enacted that each 

 poll district should raise annually and man- 

 ufacture 6 pounds of linen thread. All the 

 records of New England likewise give evidence 

 of an earnest desire to promote the cultivation 

 of llax and irs manufacture. "About 1718 a number of colonists arrived from Lon- 

 donderry, bringing with them manufacture of linen and other implements used in 

 Ireland. The matter was earnestly taken up by the Bostonians. and a vote passed 

 to establish a spinning school on the waste land in front of Captain Southack's, 

 about where Scollay's buildings were.*' About 1721, at Newport. R. I., •'hemp or 

 flax used to be received in payment of interest, the former at $<1. and the latter at 

 lOd. per pound."* Pennsylvania offered premiums for several grades of linen thread 

 in 1753, and the Society for the Promotion of Arts. Agriculture, and Economy, of New 

 York, after adopting resolutions to arrest the importation of British goods, offered 

 premiums for linen thread. The early records of Rhode Island develop further inter- 

 esting facts concerning an association of plantation maidens about 17G6. The order 

 was known as the Daughters of Liberty. It- origin is ascribed to l>r. Brown, at 



Fig. 



-Common llax, 

 mum . 



Linn. in U8i atissi- 



