202 



Flax, its Treatment, 



pressure is then blown from the boiler (No. 1), through a pipe 

 («), into the chamber, and, passing up through the straw, comes 

 in contact with the iron top, by which it is condensed ; then, 

 trickling down the spikes {h) fixed there as points of dispersion, 

 through the mass, it passes through the false bottom, carrying 

 with it the extractive matter thus dissolved out of the straw, and 

 is drawn off by the waste pipe * {d). This is continued for from 

 10 to 12 hours. The straw is then removed, and is passed 

 through four sets of smooth rollers, which squeeze out about 80 

 per cent, of the water, and at the same time crush the stems, 

 breaking up the central woody core or " shove," and materially 

 assisting its subsequent separation from the fibre. From these 

 rollers it is carried to the drying-house, which is heated by 

 steam-pipes from the boiler, and thence to the scutching frames, 

 where the operation is performed more rapidly and efficiently 

 than when the flax is prepared by the ordinary method, owing 

 to the thoroughly crushed state in which it comes from the rol- 

 lers. The flax is then ready for market, having passed through 

 the whole process, from the raw material to the prepared fibre, 

 in the short space of about 36 hours. 



The importance of this process to the flax interest generally 

 was immediately recognised by the Flax Improvement Society, 

 and a committee of investigation appointed to institute " a careful 

 and extensive series of experiments, with a view to compare it, 

 both in a practical and financial point of view, with the modes 

 of hot and cold steeping generally practised." The Committee 

 made their report on the 3rd of November last. The experi- 

 ments were personally superintended by the Committee, and flax 

 of ordinary quality operated upon, of which 10 cwt. 1 qr, 21 lbs. 

 was taken and placed in the steaming chamber, when it was 

 submitted to the action of steam for about 11 hours. After 

 steeping, wet rolling, and drying, it weighed 7 cwt. 0 qrs. 11 lbs., 

 and on being scutched the yield was 187 lbs. of fine flax, and of 

 scutching tow 12 lbs. 6^ oz. fine, and 35 lbs. 3 oz. coarse. The 

 yield of fibre in the state of good flax was therefore at the rate 

 of 18 lbs. per cwt. of straw, or 26i per cwt. of steeped and dried 

 straw. The time occupied in the process up to scutching was 

 24i hours ; the scutching by 4 stands occupied 6 h. 16 m. In 

 this statement, however, owing to some derangement in the 

 drying apparatus, the time required for that is not included ; but 

 the committee considered that 36 hours would include the time 

 necessary in a well-organized establishment to convert flax straw 

 into fibre for the spinner. The cost of all these operations in 

 the experiment, leaving out the drying for the reasons stated. 



* See Note, p. 206. 



