DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 227 



water to ilow over the pool. The liber sinks when tleco nposition has been carried 

 to the proper point, though this is not always a sure indication that it is jnst right 

 to take out. In Holland the plan is to take a number of stalks of average fineness, 

 which are broken in two places a few inches apart. If the woody portion or core 

 pulls out easily, leaving the fiber intact, it is ready to come out. The operation 

 usually requires from five to ten days. 



The finest flax in the world — the famous flax of the Court rai region of Belgium — is 

 retted in the sluggish waters of the river Leys. This is called by the French 

 rouisscKje (in courant, which was described as follows in the writer's report on Belgian 

 Flax Culture, 1890 : 



"Crates or frames of wood are used, having solid floors of boards, the sides being 

 open. These measure about 12 feet square and perhaps a meter in height, or a little 

 over a yard. First a strip of jute burlap is carried around the four sides on the 

 inside, coming well to the top rail of the crate. This is to strain the water, or to 

 keep out floating particles or dirt which would injure the flax by contact, with it. 

 The bundles, which measure 8 to 10 inches through, are composed of "beets" laid 

 alternately end for end, so that the bundle is of uniform size throughout. They are 

 stood on end and packed so tightly into place that they can not move, each crate 

 holding about 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of straw T . When a crate is filled the entire top 

 is covered with clean rye straw and launched and floated into position in the stream. 

 It is then weighted with large paving blocks or other stones until it has snuk to the 

 top rail, when it is left for the forces of nature to do the remainder. The time of 

 immersion is from four to fifteen days, dependent upon temperature of the water 

 and of the air, quality of flax, and other influences. There are several delicate 

 tests which indicate when the flax should come out, although the near approach of 

 the time is made known by the self-raising of the crate out of the water (often a 

 foot or more), caused by the gases of decomposition. When ready to remove, the 

 crate is floated opposite a windlass — and there are many along the shore — the chain 

 attached, and the affair pulled halfway up the bank, when the bundles are at once 

 removed. The big bundles are taken back to the field, and are now broken up and 

 again put into the form of the little "A" tents already described. This work is done 

 by hoys, who show great dexterity not only in spreading and standing up the little 

 bundle when it is first opened for drying, but in the subsequent operation of turning 

 the tent completely inside out, so that the straw that was shaded in the interior may 

 be subjected to the air and sunshine and the drying he accomplished evenly. After 

 this drying process is completed, the flax again goes into the big bundles for a second 

 immersion, and I was told sometimes a third, though rarely. This work begins in 

 September and continues until too cool to ret the flax advantageously. Then it 

 begins again in March and continues until all the flax has been retted. Much of 

 the unretted flax is carried over to the next year in this manner. Not only is it 

 thought to improve the flax in quality, but is better for the producers, enabling 

 them to hold their product for good prices when the fall prices are low.'' (Report 

 No. 1, Fiber Investigation Series, U. S. Dept. Ag.) 



For an account of the practice followed in the cultivation of flax for household 

 linen, see Report No. 4 of the above series, page 37. 



Economic considerations. — Flax culture for fiber can not be established in the 

 United States on the lines of practice in foreign countries. As the case stands, the 

 farmer is hardly in position to grow flax, save in an experimental way, until he is 

 sure of a market, and the manufacturer — that is, the spinner— is not in a position to 

 make offers of purchase or to name price, because he is not sure that the farmer can 

 grow flax of the proper standard, or that he can afford to purchase at any price, for 

 his particular manufacture, such flax as the farmer may produce. This simply 

 means that what isolated farmers can not accomplish alone must be accomplished 

 by the establishment of little local industries. To borrow a foreign term, the future 

 flax industry of the United States must be communal; that is to say, capital must 

 establish scutch mills in localities where flax may be profitably grown, farmers of the 



