Flax

FLAX. The terms flax and lint are employed at once to denote the fibre so called, and the plant from which it is prepared. The flax plant (Linum usitatissimum) belongs to the natural order Lin aceae, and, like most plants which have been long under cultiva tion, it possesses numerous varieties, while its origin is doubtful. As cultivated it is an annual with an erect stalk rising to a height of from 20 to 4o in., with alternate, sessile, narrowly lance-shaped leaves, branching only at the top, each branch or branchlet end ing in a bright blue flower. The flowers are regular and symmetrical, having five sepals, tapering to a point and hairy on the margin, five petals which speedily fall, ten stamens, and a pistil bearing five distinct styles. The fruit or boll is _ round, containing five cells, each of which is again divided into two, thus forming ten divisions, each of which contains a single seed. The seeds of the flax plant, well known as linseed, are heavy, smooth, glossy and of a bright gre.,nish-brown colour.

They are oval in section, but their maxi mum contour represents closely that of a pear with the stalk removed. The contents are of an oily nature, and when liquefied are of great commercial value.

Development of Flax Culture.—The earliest cultivated flax was Linum angusti folium, a smaller plant with fewer and nar rower leaves than L. usitatissimum, and usually perennial. This is known to have been cultivated by the inhabitants of the Swiss lake-dwellings, and is found wild in south and west Europe (including Eng land), North Africa, and Western Asia.

The annual flax (L. usitatissimum) has been cultivated for at least four or five thousand years in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Egypt, and is wild in the districts in cluded between the Persian gulf, the Cas pian sea and the Black sea. This annual flax appears to have been introduced into the north of Europe by the Finns, after wards into the west of Europe by the west ern Aryans, and perhaps here and there by the Phoenicians ; lastly, into Hindustan by the eastern Aryans after their separation from the European Aryans. (De Candolle, Origin of Cultivated Plants.) The cultivation and preparation of flax are among the most ancient of all textile industries, very distinct traces of their existence during the stone age being preserved to the present day. "The use of flax," says Ferdinand Keller (Lake Dwellings of Switzerland, translated by J. E. Lee) , "reaches back to the very earliest periods of civilization, and it was most exten sively and variously applied in the lake-dwellings, even in those of the stone period. But of the mode in which it was planted, steeped, heckled, cleansed and generally prepared for use, we can form no idea any more than we can of the mode or tools employed by the settlers in its cultivation. . . . Rough or unworked flax is found in the lake-dwellings made into bundles, or what are technically called heads, and, as much attention was given to this last operation, it was perfectly clean and ready for use." As to its applications at this early period Keller remarks : "Flax was the material for mak ing lines and nets for fishing and catching wild animals, cords for carrying the earthenware vessels and other heavy objects ; in fact, one can hardly imagine how navigation could be carried on, or the lake-dwellings themselves be erected, without the use of ropes and cords; and the erection of memorial stones (menhirs, dolmens), at whichever era, and to whatever people these monuments may belong, would be altogether impracticable without the use of strong ropes." Flax Manufacture.—That flax was extensively cultivated and was regarded as of much importance at a very early period in the world's history there is abundant testimony. Especially in ancient Egypt the fibre occupied a most important place, linen having been there not only generally worn by all classes, but it was the only material the priestly order was permitted to wear, while it was most extensively used as wrappings for embalmed bodies and for general purposes. In the Old Testament we are told that Pharaoh arrayed Joseph "in vestures of fine linen" (Gen. xlii. 42), and among the plagues of Egypt that of hail destroyed the flax and barley crops, "for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was bolled" (Exod. ix. 31) . Further, numerous pictorial representa tions of flax culture and preparation exist to the present day on the walls of tombs and in Egypt. Sir J. G. Wilkinson in his de scription of ancient Egypt shows clearly the great antiquity of the ordinary processes of preparing flax. "At Beni Hassan," he says, "the mode of cultivating the plant, in the same square beds now met with throughout Egypt (much resembling our salt pans), the process of beating the stalks and making them into ropes, and the manufacture of a piece of cloth are distinctly pointed out." The preparation of the fibre as conducted in Egypt is illustrated by Pliny (q.v.), who says: "The stalks themselves are immersed in water, warmed by the heat of the sun, and are kept down by weights placed upon them, for nothing is lighter than flax. The membrane, or rind, becoming loose is a sign of their being suffi ciently macerated. They are then taken out and repeatedly turned over in the sun until perfectly dried, and afterwards beaten by mallets on stone slabs. That which is nearest the rind is called stupa ("tow"), inferior to the inner fibres, and fit only for the wicks of lamps. It is combed out with iron hooks until the rind is all removed. The inner part is of a whiter and finer quality. Men are not ashamed to prepare it" (Pliny. N.H. xix. i ). For many ages, even down to the early part of the 14th century, Egyptian flax occupied the foremost place in the commercial world, being sent into all regions with which open intercourse was maintained. Among Western nations it was, without any competi tor, the most important of all vegetable fibres till towards the close of the 18th century, when, after a brief struggle, cotton took its place as the supreme vegetable fibre of commerce.

Cultivation of Land.—Flax prospers most when grown upon land of firm texture resting upon a moist subsoil. It does well to succeed oats or potatoes, as it requires the soil to be in fresh condi tion without being too rich. Lands newly broken up from pasture suit it well, as these are generally freer from weeds than those that have been long under tillage. The land, having been ploughed in autumn, is prepared for sowing by working it with the grubber, harrow and roller, until a fine tilth is obtained. On the smooth surface, when the plants are intended for fibre, the seed is sown broadcast by hand or machine, at the rate of three bushels per acre, in order that the plants may be rank, and thus prevent branching especially from the lower parts. It is advisable immedi ately to hand-rake it with common hay-rakes, and thus to remove all stones and clods, and to secure a uniform close cover of plants. When these are about 2 to Sin. long the crop must be carefully hand-weeded. This is a tedious and expensive process, and hence the importance of sowing the crop on land as free as possible from weeds of all kinds. The weeders, faces to the wind, if any, move slowly on hands and knees, and should remove every vestige of weed in order that the flax plants may receive the full benefit of the land. The time of weeding should be chosen when the ground is damp. When flax is cultivated primarily on account of the fibre, the crop ought to be pulled before the capsules are quite ripe, when they are just beginning to change from a green to a pale-brown colour, and when the stalks of the plant have become yellow throughout about two-thirds of their height.

The various operations through which the crop passes from this point till flax ready for the market is produced are (1) Pulling, (2) Rippling, (3) Retting, (4) Drying, (5) Rolling, (6) Scutch ing.

Pulling and Rippling.

Pulling and rippling may be dis missed very briefly. Flax is always pulled up by the root, except in some parts of America and Canada where the plants are grown solely for seed. It is usually pulled by hand, but recently mechan ical flax pulling machines have been introduced. The pulling ought to be done in dry clear weather ; and care is to be taken in this, as in all the subsequent operations, to keep the root-ends even and the stalks parallel. At the same time it is desirable to have as far as possible, stalks of equal length together—all these conditions having considerable influence on the quality and appearance of the finished sample. As a general rule the removal of the "bolls" or capsules by the process of rippling immediately follows the pull ing, the operation being performed in the field ; but under some systems of cultivation, as, for example, the Courtrai method, allud ed to below, the crop is made up into sheaves, dried and stacked, and is only boiled and retted in the early part of the next ensuing season. The simplest type of rippler, or apparatus for separating the seed capsules from the branches, consists of a kind of comb having, set in a wooden frame, iron teeth made of round-rod iron T s of an inch asunder at the bottom and half an inch at the top, and 18in. long, to allow a sufficient spring, and save much breaking of flax. The points should begin to taper Sin. from the top. When such a rippler is used, a sheet or other cover may be spread on the field, the apparatus placed in the middle of it, and two ripplers, sitting opposite each other, with the machine between them, work at the same time. Suitable machines are now made for this operation. In any case, it is inadvisable to ripple the flax so severely as to break or tear the delicate fibres at the upper part of the stem. The two valuable commercial products of the flax plant, the seeds and the stalk, are separated at this point. We have here to do with the latter only.

Retting.

Retting or rotting is an operation of the greatest importance, and one in connection with which, during the last so years, numerous experiments have been made, and many projects and processes put forth, with the view of remedying the defects of the primitive system or altogether supplanting it. Up to the present, however, the so-called primitive method remains the chief one. From the earliest times two leading processes of retting have been practised, termed respectively water-retting and dew-retting; and as no method has yet been introduced which satisfactorily supersedes these operations, they will first be described.

For water-retting—the process by which flax is generally pre pared--pure soft water, free from iron and other materials which might colour the fibre, is essential. Any water much impregnated with lime is also specially objectionable. The dams or ponds in which the operation is conducted are of variable size, and usually between 4 and 5ft. in depth; much retting is done in slowly running rivers. The rippled stalks are tied in small bundles and packed occasionally root downwards, but often flat, in the dams till they are quite full ; over the top of the upper layer is placed a stratum of rushes and straw, or sods with the grassy side downwards, and above all stones of sufficient weight to keep the flax submerged. Under favourable circumstances a process of fermentation should immediately be set up, which soon makes itself manifest by the evolution of gaseous bubbles. After a few days the fermentation subsides; and generally in from ten days to two weeks the process ought to be complete. The exact time, however, depends upon the weather, the temperature, and the particular kind of water in which the flax is immersed. The immersion itself is a simple mat ter; the difficulty lies in deciding when the process is complete. If allowed to remain under water too long, the fibre is weakened by what is termed "over-retting," a condition which increases the amount of codilla in the scutching process ; whilst "under-retting" leaves part of the gummy or resinous matter in the material, which hinders the subsequent preparing and spinning processes. As the steeping is such a critical operation, it is essential that the stalks be examined daily and tested as the process nears completion. When it is found that the fibre separates readily from the woody "shive" or core, the beets or small bundles are ready for removing from the dams. The plants are drained, and then spread, evenly and equally, over a grassy meadow to dry. The drying, which takes from a week to a fortnight, must be uniform, so that all the fibres may spin equally well. To secure this uniformity, it is nec essary to turn the material over several times during the process. It is ready for gathering when the core cracks and separates easily from the fibre. At this point advantage is taken of fine dry weather to gather up the flax, which is now ready for breaking, but the fibre is improved by stooking and stacking it for some time before it is taken to the breaking and scutching mill. • Dew-retting is the process by which all the Archangel flax and a large portion of that sent out from Leningrad are prepared. By this method the operation of steeping is entirely dispensed with, and the flax is, immediately after pulling, spread on the grass where it is under the influence of air, sunlight, night-dews and rain. The process is tedious, the resulting fibre is brown in colour, and it is said to be peculiarly liable to undergo heating (probably owing to the soft heavy quality of the flax) if exposed to mois ture and kept closely packed with little access of air. Archangel flax is, however, peculiarly soft and silky in structure, although in all probability water-retting would result in a fibre as good or even better in quality.

Retting is really a complicated process of fermentation, as the amount of retting bacteria is regulated by the rate of movement of the water and by the temperature.

The only modification of water-retting which has hitherto en dured the test of prolonged experiment, and taken a firm position as a distinct improvement, is the warm-water retting, the original of which was patented in England in 1846 by an American, Robert B. Schenck. For open pools and dams Schenck substitutes large wooden vats under cover, into which the flax is tightly packed in an upright position. The water admitted into the tanks is raised to and maintained at a temperature of from 75° to 95° F. during the whole time the flax is in steep. In a short time a brisk fermen tation is set up, gases at first of pleasant odour, but subsequently becoming very repulsive, being evolved, and producing a frothy scum over the surface of the water. The whole process occupies only from so to 6o hours. Since that time, several other methods have been tried and only recently Dr. Pritchard's method formed the chief part of the prospectus of a new large limited company.

Breaking.

On the completion of the retting operation, the flax stalks are treated in a breaking machine, where several pairs of fluted rollers break the woody centre of the stalks into small pieces without damaging the fibrous layer. In passing, it should be stated that the fibrous layer is just under the cuticle or outer bark of the plant. Specially constructed rollers are used to feed the stalks to the fluted rollers, and other rollers to deliver the treated stalks. Scraping mechanism works in conjunction with the breaking rollers so that the bulk of the woody matter may be removed from the interior of the plant and from the fibrous layer. When this operation is finished, the fibrous layer is ready for the scutching mill. This is the process by which the woody matter not removed in the breaking is scraped off the fibrous layer, either by hand or machine.

Scutching.

Hand labour, aided by simple implements, is still much used in Continental countries both for breaking and scotch ing; 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. A great many modified scutching machines and processes have been proposed and intro duced with the view of promoting economy of labour and improv ing the turn-out of fibre, both in respect of cleanness and in pro ducing 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 par ticularly 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 great est care is taken, and the cultivators being peculiarly favoured as to soil, climate and water, Courtrai flax is a staple of unap proached excellence.

An experiment made by Professor Hodges of Belfast on of air-dried flax yielded the following results. By rippling he separated 1,946lb. of bolls which yielded 91olb. of seed. The 5,8241b. (52cwt.) of flax straw remaining lost in steeping 13cwt. left 39cwt. of retted stalks, and from that 6cwt. 'qr. 21b. (7021b.) 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 bolled straw, and over 16% of the retted straw. One hundred tons treated by Schenck's method gave 33 tons bolls, with 2 7.5o 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 pluck ings. The following analysis of two varieties of heckled Belgian flax is by Dr. Hugo Muller (Hoffmann's Berichte fiber die Ent wickelung der chemischen Industrie) :— According to the determinations of Julius Wiesner (Die Roh stoffe des P flanzenreiches) , the fibre ranges in length from 20 to 14o centimetres, the length of the individual cells being from 2.0 to 4•o millimetres, and the limits of breadth between 0•012 and 0•025 mm., the average being o•o16 mm.

Vicissitudes of the Trade.

Among the circumstances that have retarded improvement both in the growing and preparing of flax, the fact that, till comparatively recent times, the whole indus try was conducted only on a domestic scale has had much influ ence. 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 prem ises, 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. By degrees, the operations of spinning and weaving ceased to be followed as a domestic industry, and were ultimately merged into factory processes.

For a considerable number of years before the World War, the number of areas under flax cultivation in Russia exceeded the combined areas of all the rest of Europe. There was also a com plete classification of the various kinds. All this, however, has been changed and any data referring to the subject is more or less un reliable. Nevertheless, those interested in the districts in which flax culture prevails, the present methods of classification, and other particulars, can obtain these from the booklets issued by the Northern and Eastern European Trading Company, Ltd. Many attempts have been made, and are still being made, to extend the cultivation of flax in Great Britain and Ireland. Much progress has been made, but much more remains to be done, before the flax industry recovers its prestige.

See T. Woodhouse and P. Kilgour "Flax and Flax Spinning" in The Textile Recorder (Jan. 1917 to July 1919) ; F. Bradbury, Flax Culture and Preparation (192o). (T. W.)