Flax-Farming in the Netherlands. 
433 
scutched by machinery were obviously very much broken by the 
process, the " flax-farmers " who possessed machines were very 
well satisfied with the results which they had obtained. One man 
assured me that he had obtained 4 per cent, more weight of 
flax by this method than by hand-scutching-,' and an increased 
price of from 2f?. to Ad. per stone (apparently about 6 lbs. Eng- 
lish), while the cost of scutching was only l^d. per stone by 
machinery against lOrf. per stone by hand. 
Ventilation of Work-sheds. — The great nuisance attending flax- 
scutching is the terrible quantity of irritating dust produced by 
the constant chopping off of little particles of the skin and core 
of the straw. This, however, has been practically overcome in 
the machine scutch-mills by boxing in the whole apparatus, 
fixing a hood over the upper half of each scutching-wheel, and 
placing an aspirator fan at the bottom of the chimney leading 
from the top of the machinery case. Provided that this fan 
has not to draw air from too great a distance, this arrangement 
answers admirably. Accordingly, in some establishments, where 
a large number of scutching-wheels are arranged in two parallel 
rows, there may be two of these dust-chimneys, each fitted with 
an aspirator, and completely ridding the air of the workshop of 
the straw-dust. 
Acreage grown. — Nearly 50,000 acres of flax are grown in the 
Netherlands every year. In 1877 the weight of fibre exported 
was 11,377 tons; in 1878 it was only 7000 tons; but in 1879 
it rose to 8744 tons. About one million stones are annually 
offered for sale on the Rotterdam market, so that not much 
more than a third is exported in the raw state. These figures 
are taken from the ' Report of the Netherlands Society for the 
Encouragement of Flax Industry for July 1880,' from which 
it also appears that the crop of this year, then standing in 
the field, was estimated to be worth from 12Z. to 20/. per acre 
according to district, soil, and other circumstances. In the 
Netherlands, flax is generally grown on strong land, preferably 
rich alluvial soil, but it is also grown on sandy land and on 
reclaimed peat. 
My warmest acknowledgments are due to Mr. C. E. Moll, 
the Secretary of the Netherlands Society just mentioned, for the 
kindness with which he conducted me over the island of Ijssel- 
monde, and explained the various processes to me. 
