Flax for Paper-making. 
471 
"For one Enf/Jish acre. Seed — according to nature and preparation of the 
soil, &c., Ij to 3 bushels — usual average 2 bushels; pioduce of dry or win- 
straw varies with the culture, quality, and seed, season aud setting, from 
20 to 50 cwt., recognised average or standard of fair crop being from 30 to 
40 cwt. Yield of fibre (affected by the points already mentioned, and in 
addition by its manipulation in the scutching process) ranges from 3 to 
10 cwt., usual result being from 4 to 5 cwt. 
" The respective averages are therefore : for fair medium to good fJax-seed, 
2 bushels ; win-straw, 35 cwt. ; fibre, cwt. — a yield from the dry straw of 
12"86 per cent. An exceptional case was where, from 3 bushels of seed to 
the English acre, in a good season — weight of straw not recorded — 85 stones 
(1-1 lbs.) or 10 cwt. 2 qrs. l-l- lbs. of fibre was produced. 
"The cost of scutching goes on the principle of 'payment by results,' 
varying with the number of scutch-mills in the district, the large or small 
yield of straw in a season, probable quality of fibre, and the name the scutcher 
has for good or bad scutching. From Is. to l.s. Qd. per stone (14 lbs.) of the 
fibre produced — average, about Is. 2(/., less the value of the scutcIiiiKj tow (dirty 
and short fibre taken off during the scutching process), about 2 to 2^ cwt. 
from an English acre produce of win-straw ; value of the scutching tow, 3s. to 
4s. 6d. per cwt. — average, 3s. Gd. 
" Yield of fibre fror)i straw. — This depends on the growth of the flax, 
and to proper attention having been paid to retting, a healthy growth and 
good rttting giving of course a much better result in fibre from a given weight 
of straw than where one or both of those points have been missed ; a short, 
poor, or sticky growth on the one hand, and under or over retted flax on the 
otlier, will, separately or combined, cause a yield of say only 6 per cent, of 
fibre, when from a healthy grown plant and good retting a yield of 17 to 20 
I^er cent, might be procured. 
" The scutching also is a vital point, which has been, and is still, sadly — too 
often willingly' — neglecteil. The farmer wants weight, often forgetting that 
the scutcher gives him this at the expense of quality, and also of ultimate 
profit; while for the scutcher, the more weight the better the flax pays. 
Com]iared with French, Dutch, and Belgian flaxes the style of handling and 
scutching Irish flax is in eighty cases out of a hundred simply abominable, 
and can never well be otherwise till the 'armer's interest terminates in the 
flax when pulled, the after-processes of retting, scutching, &c., being carried 
on by a specialist, having not only the knowledge but the time to carry out 
these processes successfully. By some of the patent scutching processes 
(Schenck's, Watt's, &c.) the yield of fibre from straw runs from 6 to 14, 17, 
20, and even 25 per cent. — average, about 16 or 17. In hand-scutching the 
yield is still greater than by any of the other processes for the same straw, 
but in Ireland this arises too often from insufficient scutching, a good deal of 
straw being left sticking on the fibre, in consequence of which hand flax is 
generally worth from 4Z. to 71. per ton less than milled (or even patent 
scutched) for the same straw — the extra weight, however, sometimes more 
than compensates (especially in poor flax) for the difference in price. 
" The fibre of all classes and prices of flax is spun into yarn (either iu the 
form of ' line,' dressed flax, or tow), the scutching tow is again scutched at 
the end of the season and sold as ' rescutched tow,' to be spun into yarn. 
The poorer qualities not worth rescutching are sold for paper-making, and 
are worth from 3/. to 18/. 'per ton, according to quality — average value of paper- 
making wastes, 4/. to il. 10s. per ton. 
"Having given you the information you ask for on the acre standard and 
in a general way, I will try to reduce it to your particular standard of the ton 
of straw. 
