1 Jaw., 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 13 
slimy state it comes out of the water, while, at the same time, if this work is 
not done expeditiously the stuff will heat and totally spoil. Dew retting, on 
the other hand, is a simple and interesting work, suitable for young lads or 
elderly people. The spreading can be done at any time, but should be done 
in such a way as to permit any stuff which has been out three weeks to be 
turned over, so as to allow both sides to be evenly retted. When the fibre is 
sufficiently retted (which on an average takes about six weeks, according to 
whether the weather is moist or dry), the first opportunity of a few fine days 
must be taken to dry the stuff and cart to the mill, where it should either be 
stored in a barn or stacked outside, and well thatched. Any fine day will dry 
the stuff if turned a day before, and when gathering it up we find that each 
man should gather as much as he can hold in his arms, and tie with binder 
twine round the bundle. On the other hand, should the weather be unfavour- 
able, we gather up armfuls and stand it up in the shape of a sugar-loaf. It 
will stand readily in that form, and by that means we prevent it from spoiling 
in bad weather. Asa rule, however, this work can be avoided by either doing 
the retting in the early autumn, say April and May, or in early spring, when a 
few fine days can be expected with confidence. Onan average, the whole work 
of retting has cost us £1 per acre. : 
Now comes the breaking and scutching. When the flax is retted the 
grower’s work is supposed to be done, and in Europe he generally sells his 
retted straw to the millowner or else pays him so marl per stone for scutch- 
ing. ‘This system may be all right in Europe, where a lot of small farmers 
grow a few aeres each, but in this country, where farming has to be done on a 
fairly large scale to make a living, a farmer will grow at least 15 acres, and 
then, after he has learned the details of the business, it will pay him to get his 
own plant and manufacture the crop during his spare time. A.plant like ours, 
capable of treating 3 acres of flax per week (abont 17 cwt. of clean fibre), will 
cost £100, without driving power, and on many farms that already exists for 
other purposes. We find the oil engine very suitable to do the work, or a large 
horseworks would do equally well. About 3 h.p. is what is required for our 
lant. 
: In breaking and scutching flax the straw is first passed through the 
breaker, which is composed of two pairs of 6-inch iron rollers, corrugated like 
cogwheels. These rollers break the woody stem inside the fibre in little bits 
like chaff. Krom there the handfuls are passed on to the scutchers, 
where it is subjected to rapidly revolving beaters, which clean out all the broken 
fibre and the particles of tow still adhering to the fibre. It is then packed in 
bales ready for market. The broken fibres are cleaned by shaking the pieces 
out of them, and this is sold as tow, which is worth about one-seventh of the 
value of clean fibre. In well-retted straw the proportion of tow to fibre should 
be as one in seven. The more retted or rotten the straw is the greater the 
quantity of tow. In the early stages of the industry Ihave known caxes where 
there was more tow than fibre, and that is the one thing growers must learn to 
guard against. 
We have no _ hesitation in affirming that flaxgrowing ought to become one 
of the principal rural industries of such States as’ Victoria, New South Wales, 
South Australia, and Tasmania. After having to do with dairying for a number 
of years we chose flaxgrowing as the more congenial and profitable, while at 
the same time the two industries are dependent on each other, inasmuch as the 
by-product of the flax—yviz., linseed—is excellent feed for calves, and the oil 
cake is invaluable as feed for milch cows in the winter months. 
Any intelligent farmer can grow and harvest the crop, but beyond that it 
will pay him to come and have a look at our machinery for threshing and manu- 
facturing the fibre. We will always be pleased to give what advice we can to 
any bond fide grower, and point out many things personally that it is difficult 
to put on paper. The greatest difficulty for growers who know nothing about, 
the manufacturing would be the necessity of getting a man who could superin- 
tend the retting and work the machines for. breaking and scutching.. Atpresent, 
