136 



FLAX FARMING ON THE CONTINENT. [Sept. 1895. 



FLAX FARMING ON THE CONTINENT. 



In view of the attention which is being directed both in this 

 country and abroad to the subject of flax culture, it may be of 

 interest to review shortly the conditions under which the crop is 

 cultivated for fibre on the continent. According to the 

 Agricultural Returns, the principal flax-growing countries are 

 Russia, Austria, France, Belgium, and Italy, but the acreage 

 under the crop in question in the first-named country is 

 nearly six times the aggregate area similarly cultivated in the 

 remaining four. The latest official estimates of the flax acreage 

 in the several centres referred to are as follows : — 



Country. 



Acreage. 



Russia in Europe = 

 Austria 



Italy ...... 



Belgium - - , - 

 France 



Acres. 

 2,955,447 

 200,759 

 128,000 

 98,993 

 72,988 



FJax culture has long been a characteristic of Russian agricul- 

 ture. As early as the sixteenth century there was a considerable 

 export trade in raw flax from the Baltic ports, and at the end 

 of the eighteenth century Russia exported annually about 

 86,000,000 lbs. of flax. The bulk of the crop is grown in the 

 northern division of the empire, where it is cultivated both for 

 seed and fibre, while in the Black Soil provinces of the south a 

 curly variety of flax is grown which produces a large quantity 

 of seed but very little fibre. The average yield of fibre per acre 

 varies from 2 cwts. in^the northern districts to 1 J cwts. and less 

 in the south. 



The processes in vogue among Russian growers for the pre- 

 paration of the fibre are for the most part of a primitiye nature. 

 Dew-retting is still the most popular method of manipulating 

 the raw material, although the practice of maceration or 

 " water-retting " is increasing in several provinces. Renouard 

 says^ that in the vicinity of Riga the peasants do the retting in 

 the branches of the Duna, without employing crates, holding 

 the flax as best they can ; while in the vicinity of St. Petersburg 

 the retting of flax in running water is entirely prohibited, and 

 the operation is carried out in stagnant water, or the process 

 of dew-retting is employed. 



The breaking of the flax is usually performed by means of 

 hand breakers ; for scutching, the ordinary appliances in use are 

 a wooden knife and a scutching board. 



* Etudes sur la Culture du Lin. A. Renouard, fils. Paris : Eugene Lacroix, 

 112, Boulevard de Vaugirard. 



