ANNUAL REPORT—AGRICULTURE. 
31 
9. Immersing in stilpliuric acid for 2 liours, (of one degree of strength.) 
10. Dipping in a solution of alum, borax and salt. 
11. Washing in distilled water with a little sal soda. 
12. Drying by heat from steam pipes. 
13. Passing the fibre through a “ lapper.” 
14. Carding on machines similar to wool cards. 
15. Passing through a vent way heated with rotary gills. 
16. Passing through a drawing frame. 
The loss in passing through the breaker was estimated at 30 
per cent.; through the duster, 30 percent, more ; in scutching, 5 
per cent. The entire loss from straw to cottonized flax, 75 
per cent. 
The cost of straw was estimated at §10 per ton, green ; rolled 
$12 to $15 per ton ; cost of labor 3 1-3 cents per pound ; cost 
of rolled flax, 3 cents. Total cost 6 1-3 cents per pound. 
It is probable that subsequent improvements in the process 
of cottonization have added yet further to the economy of the 
production. 
The difficulties not yet perfectly overcome are to make a 
perfect separation of the linen fibre from the skives or broken 
fragments of the woody portion of the straw, and to find a sat¬ 
isfactory solvent for the cement which binds together the ulti¬ 
mate fibres of flax proper. 
In 1863 Congress, impressed with the importance of extra- 
ordinary efforts to improve the manufacture of flax, appropri¬ 
ated $20,000 to be used under the direction of the Department 
of Agriculture in such manner as should seem best calculated 
to promote that object. 
In fulfillment of the obligation thus imposed upon the De¬ 
partment, the Commissioner of Agriculture appointed Hon. J. 
K. Morehead, of Pittsburg, Hon. Charles Jackson, of Provi¬ 
dence, and Dr. John A. Warder, of Cincinnati, a commission 
to carry out the provisions of the act. 
The general result obtained by this appropriation is thus 
stated in the Commissioner’s Report for 1866: 
“ Since my last report, I liave returned to Congress the trust confided to 
my care, relative to improvements in processes for preparing fiax fibres for 
manufacture, and to tbe treasury of the United States tbe sum of $10,500, 
