Flax Industry of Courtrai. 



harvest is concluded, under normal circumstances, at the 

 beginning of September ; but when the weather is unfavourable 

 it is frequently delayed much later, sometimes until October. 



Cattle-raising up to the present time is stated to have 

 played only a secondary part in the economic life of the 

 population, although the countrv is, on the whole, rich in 

 grass land ; but the low nutritive value of the forest herbage 

 makes it necessary in the greater part of Siberia to expend 

 much more hay and grazing space upon rearing cattle than 

 is required under similar circumstances in European Russia. 

 The horned cattle are small and belong to the ordinary 

 Russian breed. The sheep are for the most part of a very 

 poor breed, yielding little meat, very little tallow, and wool 

 of inferior quality. 



The Flax Industry of Courtrai. 



The town of Courtrai, in Belgium, ranks second among 

 the commercial and industrial centres of the province of 

 Flanders, and at the commencement of 1898 had a popula- 

 tion of $3,128. The exceptionally favoured situation which 

 Courtrai occupies on the banks oi the River Lys, in the 

 midst of the flax retting district, is the main cause of the 

 town's prosperity. 



The success which attends the manufacture of flax at Courtrai 

 may be attributed, in a great measure, to certain properties 

 possessed by the waters of the Lys, which impart to the flax 

 a remarkable fineness, or spinning quality, combined with 

 extreme tenacity. The peculiar properties with which nature 

 has endowed this stream would appear to have baffled scien- 

 tific research. Continuous efforts have been and are being 

 made by scientists, especially in Russia, to ascertain the 

 nature of the chemical components to which the Lys owes 

 its rare quaJities, but their endeavours have so far proved un- 

 availing. This sluggish and apparently insignificant river 

 thus possesses what may be called a unique monopoly, and, 

 on account of the great benefits it confers upon the district 

 through which it flows, has been well styled "the golden 



