c 283 
PER CEXTAGE COMPOSITION. 
Fresh plant. Dry. 
Water 56.64 
Organic matters 41.97 96.89 
Ash 1.39 3.11 
100. 100. 
The above will indicate the advantages of that extended 
investigation which may do much to remove the obscurity of 
the practice of ages, and throw light upon operations de- 
pendent upon changes which the practical man must be able 
to appreciate, yet finds difficult to describe, and, indeed, im- 
possible to explain, until the full chemistry of flax is known. 
Various methods have been suggested to enable the change 
of temperature and time to be estimated, and rapidly or 
certainly discharge the matters bound up with the gum, or 
to lessen the risk of rottenness of the fibre. Chemical 
solvents frequently diminished the time, but changed the 
fibre from a glossy hue and silky quality to one unpleasant 
and harsh to the touch. Steeps of chemical alkalis, and 
nostrums of all kinds, have been tried without producing 
much general change, improvement, or profit. 
The plan of " retting" by means of warm water, and a 
uniform and desired temperature, was introduced by Mr. 
Schenck, of New York, into the county of Mayo, about 
1848 : it is a plan that offers peculiar advantages. The flax 
plants are first collected and then dried, then the seed is 
taken from the plants, and the retting of the plant is per- 
formed by the bundles of flax being placed in large vats, 
and kept down by weight or pressure ; the vats are filled with 
water, and steam, passing through pipes, gives the desired 
temperature. Thus, the fermentation can be accelerated 
and controlled, all the uncertainty of the cold steep plan 
is removed, by attention for three or four days instead 
of as many weeks, while more equality of fibre is obtained : 
