UTILIZATION OF AMERICAN FLAX STRAW. 5 
fiber which would be of value could it be separated economically 
from the straw. Different requirements are made of a raw material, 
however, depending on the grade of product desired. It might, for 
example, meet the requirements of the board manufacturer in regard 
to product and cost and not be capable of interesting the writing- 
paper or wrapping-paper manufacturer, for reasons of product or 
cost, or both. It may be found also that the straw can be used in only 
one or two grades of product, as is the case with poplar wood and 
esparto grass. 
Much work has been done by different experimenters in testing this 
straw for its paper value, and samples of writing and sack papers 
have been produced which, so far as quality is concerned, seem to be 
satisfactory. A small flax-tow mill is in operation in North Dakota, 
which is equipped with a pulping boiler, beater, and other apparatus, 
and it has produced bleached flax pulp of an apparently satisfactory 
quality, from which good grades of writing paper have been manu- 
factured. But the work, although promising, is yet in the experi- 
mental stage. 
In 1908 the Bureau of Plant Industr}^, cooperating with the United 
States Forest Service, conducted a number of pulp-making tests with 
the straw and found that a very severe chemical action was required 
and that it was impossible to bleach the pulp economically with 
ordinary bleaching-powder solutions. 
In spite of all the activity in this direction, however, no industry 
has been established whereby paper manufacturers have been enabled 
to utilize this immense and valuable crop waste. 
UTILIZATION OF FLAX STRAW IN THE FIBER-BOARD INDUSTRY. 
In the manufacture of certain grades of .fiber board known as 
counter board, one of the main constituents is flax waste from the tex- 
tile industries of Europe. The total quantity so used in this country 
is approximately 7,000 tons per annum. This waste is divided into 
four distinct classes, namely, flax card waste, flax card strippings, 
flax rove waste, and flax washed waste, depending on the particular 
operation from which each is derived. These wastes, with the excep- 
tion of the washed waste, have a certain amount of flax wood shives 
associated with them, the card waste containing the most and the rove 
waste the least. The washed waste contains no shives and is the 
highest priced; likewise, the least used in board manufacture. 
As to the possibility of substituting domestic flax straw for the im- 
ported flax waste, a comparison from a chemical and physical stand- 
point brings out the following facts : 
(1) Flax waste is derived from retted flax straw and consequently 
contains very little of the mucilaginous pectin compounds, such as 
