3. That the system of retting (Loppens and Deswarte's patent) is at
least equal to the Lys, as to quality and yield of fibre produced."
Since these results appear to be satisfactory, it is natural to expect
further attempts with the same object of supplanting the ordinary
steeping. A really good chemical, mechanical or other method would
probably be the means of reviving the flax industry in the remote parts
of the British Isles.
_Scutching_ is the process by which the fibre is freed from its woody
core and rendered fit for the market. For ordinary water-retted flax two
operations are required, first breaking and then scutching, and these
are done either by hand labour or by means of small scutching or lint
mills, driven either by water or steam power. Hand labour, aided by
simple implements, is still much used in continental countries; also in
some parts of Ireland where labour is cheap or when very fine material
is desired; but the use of scutching mills is now very general, these
being more economical. The breaking is done by passing the stalks
between grooved or fluted rollers of different pitches; these rollers,
of which there may be from 5 to 7 pairs, are sometimes arranged to work
alternately forwards and backwards in order to thoroughly break the
woody material or "boon" of the straw, while the broken "shoves" are
beaten out by suspending the fibre in a machine fitted with a series of
revolving blades, which, striking violently against the flax, shake out
the bruised and broken woody cores. A great many modified scutching
machines and processes have been proposed and introduced with the view
of promoting economy of labour and improving the turn-out of fibre, both
in respect of cleanness and in producing the least proportion of codilla
or scutching tow.
The celebrated Courtrai flax of Belgium is the most valuable staple in
the market, on account of its fineness, strength and particularly bright
colour. There the flax is dried in the field, and housed or stacked
during the winter succeeding its growth, and in the spring of the
following year it is retted in crates sunk in the sluggish waters of the
river Lys. After the process has proceeded a certain length, the crates
are withdrawn, and the sheaves taken out and stooked. It is thereafter
once more tied up, placed in the crates, and sunk in the river to
complete the retting process; but this double steeping is not invariably
practised. When finally taken out, it is unloosed and put up in cones,
instead of being grassed, and when quite dry it is stored for some time
previous to undergoing the operation of scutching. In all operations the
greatest care is taken, and the cultivators being peculiarly favoured as
to soil, climate and water, Courtrai flax is a staple of unapproached
excellence.
An experiment made by Professor Hodges of Belfast on 7770 lb. of
air-dried flax yielded the following results. By rippling he separated
1946 lb. of bolls which yielded 910 lb. of seed. The 5824 lb. (52 cwt.)
of flax straw remaining lost in steeping 13 cwt., leaving 39 cwt. of
retted stalks, and from that 6 cwt. 1 qr. 2 lb. (702 lb.) of finished
flax was procured. Thus the weight of the fibre was equal to about 9%
of the dried flax with the bolls, 12% of the boiled straw, and over
16% of the retted straw. One hundred tons treated by Schenck's method
gave 33 tons bolls, with 27.50 tons of loss in steeping; 32.13 tons
were separated in scutching, leaving 5.90 tons of finished fibre, with
1.47 tons of tow and pluckings. The following analysis of two
varieties of heckled Belgian flax is by Dr Hugo Muller (Hoffmann's
_Berichte uber die Entwickelung der chemischen Industrie_):--
Ash 0.70 1.32
Water 8.65 10.70
Extractive matter 3.65 6.02
Fat and wax 2.39 2.37
Cellulose 82.57 71.50
Intercellular substance and pectose bodies 2.74 9.41
According to the determinations of Julius Wiesner (_Die Rohstoffe des
Pflanzenreiches_), the fibre ranges in length from 20 to 140
centimetres, the length of the individual cells being from 2.0 to 4.0
millimetres, and the limits of breadth between 0.012 and 0.025 mm.,
the average being 0.016 mm.
Among the circumstances which have retarded improvement both in the
growing and preparing of flax, the fact that, till comparatively recent
times, the whole industry was conducted only on a domestic scale has had
much influence. At no very remote date it was the practice in Scotland
for every small farmer and cotter not only to grow "lint" or flax in
small patches, but to have it retted, scutched, cleaned, spun, woven,
bleached and finished entirely within the limits of his own premises,
and all by members or dependents of the family. The same practice
obtained and still largely prevails in other countries. Thus the flax
industry was long kept away from the most powerful motives to apply to
it labour-saving devices, and apart from the influence of scientific
inquiry for the improvement of methods and processes. As cotton came to
the front, just at the time when machine-spinning and power-loom weaving
were being introduced, the result was that in many localities where flax
crops had been grown for ages, the culture gradually drooped and
ultimately ceased. The linen manufacture by degrees ceased to be a
domestic industry, and began to centre in and become the characteristic
factory employment of special localities, which depended, however, for
their supply of raw material primarily on the operations of small
growers, working, for the most part, on the poorer districts of remote
thinly populated countries. The cultivation of the plant and the
preparation of the fibre have therefore, even at the present day, not
come under the influence (except in certain favoured localities) of
scientific knowledge and experience.
_Cultivation._--The approximate number of acres (1905) under cultivation
in the principal flax-growing countries is as follows:--
Russia 3,500,000 acres.
Caucasia 450,000 "
Austria 175,000 "
Italy 120,000 "
Poland 95,000 "
Rumania 80,000 "
Germany 75,000 "
France 65,000 "
Belgium 53,000 "
Hungary 50,000 "
Ireland 46,000 "
Holland 38,000 "
Although the amount grown in Russia exceeds considerably the combined
quantity grown in the rest of the above-mentioned countries, the quality
of the fibre is inferior. The fibre is cultivated in the Russian
provinces of Archangel, Courland, Esthonia, Kostroma, Livonia, Novgorod,
Pskov, Smolensk, Tver, Vyatka, Vitebsk, Vologda and Yaroslav or
Jaroslav, while the bulk of the material is exported through the Baltic
ports. Riga and St Petersburg (including Cronstadt) are the principal
ports, but flax is also exported from Revel, Windau, Pernau, Libau,
Narva and Konigsberg. Sometimes it is exported from Archangel, but this
port is frost-bound for a great period of the year; moreover, most of
the districts are nearer to the Baltic.
_The following Prices, taken from the Dundee Year Books, show the
Change in Price of a few well-known Varieties._
+-----------------+-------------+-------------+------------+------+--------+------+-----+------+------+------+
| | Dec. | Dec. | Dec. | Dec.| Dec. | Dec.| Dec.| Dec.| Dec.| Dec.|
| | 1897. | 1898. | 1899. | 1900.| 1901. | 1902.|1903.| 1904.| 1905.| 1906.|
| +-------------+-------------+------------+------+--------+------+-----+------+------+------+
|Riga-- | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L | L |
| SPK | 23-1/2 | 21 to 22 | 28 to 32 | 42 |28 to 32| 32 | 39 | 33 | 35 | 32 |
| XHDX | 27 | 26-1/2 |32-1/2 to 33|43-1/2| 34 | 35 | 42 | 34 | 36 | 33 |
| W |16 to 16-1/4 |15-1/2 to 16 |22-1/2 to 24| 31 |18 to 19| 22 | 29 | 23 | 24 | 24 |
|St Petersburg-- | | | | | | | | | | |
| Bajetsky | 28 to 29 | 26 to 27 |32 to 32-1/2| 46 | 37 | 33 | 49 | 36 | 42 | 38 |
| Jaropol | 24 to 25 |23 to 23-1/2 | 30 | 42 | 32 | 30 | 42 | 33 | 35 | 33 |
|Tows-- | | | | | | | | | | |
| Mologin |24 to 24-1/4 |23 to 23-1/2 |24-1/2 to 25|31-1/2| 32 | 32 | 42 | 32 | 34 |32-1/2|
| Novgorod |23-1/2 to 24 | 23[1] |26 to 26-1/2| 33 | 31-1/2 |32-1/2| 41 |31-1/2| 37 |34-1/2|
| | [1] | | [1] | | | | | | | |
|Archangel-- | | | | | | | | | | |
| 1/2 and 1/2 tow| 25 |24 to 24-1/2| 26 to 27 | 32 | 31 | 32 | 41 |31-1/2|32-1/2| 31 |
| 2nd Codilla | 25 | 24 to 24 |25-1/2 to 26| 32 | 31 | 32 | 41 | 32 | 33 | 31 |
+-----------------+-------------+-------------+------------+------+--------+------+-----+------+------+------+
The raw flax is almost invariably known by the same name as the district
in which it is grown, and it is further classified by special marks.
The following names amongst others are given to the fibre:--Archangel,
Bajetsky, Courish, Dorpat, Drogobusher, Dunaberg, Fabrichnoi, Fellin,
Gjatsk, Glazoff, Griazourtz, Iwashkower, Jaransk, Janowitz, Jaropol,
Jaroslav, Kama, Kashin, Konigsberg, Kostroma, Kotelnitch, Kowns,
Krasnoholm, Kurland (Courland), Latischki, Livonian Crowns, Malmuish,
Marienberg, Mochenetz, Mologin, Newel, Nikolsky, Nolinsk, Novgorod,
Opotchka, Ostroff, Ostrow, Otbornoy, Ouglitch, Pernau, Pskoff, Revel,
Riga, Rjeff, St Petersburg, Seretz, Slanitz, Slobodskoi, Smolensk,
Sytcheffka, Taroslav. Tchesna, Totma, Twer, Ustjuga, Viatka, Vishni,
Vologda, Werro, Wiasma, Witebsk.
These names indicate the particular district in which the flax has been
grown, but it is more general to group the material into classes such as
Livonian Crowns, Rija Crowns, Hoffs, Wracks, Drieband, Zins, Ristens,
Pernau, Archangel, &c.
The quotations for the various kinds of flaxes are made with one or
other special mark termed a base mark; this usually, but not
necessarily, indicates the lowest quality. The September-October 1906
quotations appeared as under:--
Livonian basis K L26 to L27 per ton,
Hoffs " HD L21 to L22 "
Pernau. " D L28 to L28: 10 "
Dorpat " D L32 to L32: 10 "
cleaned.
It will, of course, be understood that the base mark is subject to
variation, the ruling factors being the amount of crop, quality and
demand.