New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-03-21
NEW-YORK TRIBUNE.
FIax Cotton in Europe and America
~. N 49, - FAs Ttib4fnf.

rax Gotten in Europe and America.
IL Ne RSifov Of The Tribune
NIw HAVEN, 0swego Co n Y, March lss, 1881.
BY the perusal Of your paper find you are tax
ing an interest in the cultivation and the manu-
fscture of Flax in these United States. You state
In late number Of The Tribane that you menu
Whiting the Worlds Fair at London ana s""'
your attention will be directed to the manu,
of Flax sincerely hope 'ur visi' VIII Pf0'e
beneficial to your country.
About thirty years since, there was CONSUMERS
Bile excitement on this subject and lsPent mucn
t;rs IN making experiments with this material,
.rd IN col,acting information upon the subject, as
xon NAV see by the Report Of the Secretary ofthe
NV transmitted to the Senate of the United
s,.,ss. January 5, 1926 and republished again in
1e3O by the Committee on the same subject, OF
,vhich Hon. AMBROSE SPENCER was Chairman
MANY ofmy experiments are there reported, and the
Communications from Ireland to person in this
country were made by me while In Ireland lnvestl'
eating the subject. ,.
send YOU observations published by myself in
1891, BY which you see that we have many incor-
rect opinions both az respects growing the raw
material. and the preparation and manufacture OF
the same. then observed that there are several
opinions prevailing with regard TO Flax which are
mot correct.
First: That the climate and soil of the United
States are not calculated to produce good growth
Of Flax.
Second. That Flax which has been allowed to
stand until the seed was ripe, is not capable OF
being manufactured into fine CLOTH
Third That Flax is not capable Of being spun
BY machinery.
Fourth: That spreading Flax upon the ground,
and dew rotting it, is the cheapest and best meth
3D."
Now 1 shall attempt to show from my own
observations, and the authority OF others tnat
these opinions are incorrect.
AZ regards the quantity of Flax produced per
acre in ireland, Mr.. Marshall, 10 his report to the
LINEN and Hempen Board of Ireland In 1917, gives
the average quantity at 500 lbs. per acre.
In receiving this estimate and comparing It with
the produce OF our own SOIL we must make allow,
snce Tor the difference in acres, between Ireland
and America, also that their Flax is waterrotted,
by which it will give about twenty-five per cent.
more than when dew rotted; for which see the
Report of the Secretary of the Navy, transmitted
as above. In addition to this, Flax does not waste
in cleaning by the Irish process by ours as they
merely free it from the woody part of the stalk,
leaving it to be made fine by what they term
dyessing, which is the same process as we call
betcheling.
Now By looking in the records of our Agrculta'
raj Societies we ind that the quantity OF Flax
produced per acre, and offered for premiums, has
been far greater than MIR. MarshalPs estimate for
Ireland ranging from GIG to 1900 lbs. My own
opinion is that have seen finer Flax grown in
America, than / ever saw in Ireland,
The second erroneous opinion is, that Flax
which has been allowed to ripen its seed, is not tit
for the manufacture of fine Cloth. This point the
Linen and Hempen Board of Ireland have put at
rest. Having been CONVINCED Of the superiority
Of the Dptoh over the Irish Flax, in 1922 this
Board sent Peter Bernard Esq, Inspector Gene
Falior Leinster, Munster, ana Connaught, into the
Netherlands in order to ascertain the reasons for
hne rforffxt ofn ufc In ho
says;
"Why, 80 general an opinion has prevailed in
Ireland for series of years that iax, which gives
seed, 10 not adapted for her fne linens should
have taken place, cannot conjecture" Again,
speaking OF an establishment at Antwerp, he
says: II called at the mandatory and purchased
ANAL quantity OF yarn, for the inspection Of the
Honorable Board, and which is sold at the rate
OF 947,7S6 l3s 4d per ton. The yarn which L por-
chased is not Of the finest kind but have every
reason to suppose, from the inquiries made, that
il was spun from fax that had giren seed" We
have had some yarn from Vslenciennes, which
was much finer than that alluded to, which was
from fax that produced seSS, and T'iioh was Sofd
nj 9i06 per 10.
As TO the generally received opinion. that flax
cannot be spun by machinery, 1t is ridiculous Tue
machinery for spinning fax is not as complicated
nor ss costly as for spinning cotton. On the l2tn
of July, 1929 | visited the Linen Mandatory
establishment Of Mr. Crossthwait Banker, OF Dab
linl at Lucan, about seven miles from Dablln. AT
this establishment was manufactured FIVE tuns
of fax weekly, carrying it through the spinning
weaving and bleaching processes. Ine machln'
ery was quite az simple ss that for spinning cot
ton, and less expensive. The spindles turned
about three thousand times per minute, and one
girl tended about eighty of them which spuniro
one hundred to one hundred and twenty runs y
day. examined about two hundred tuns OF flax
at this establishment, part Of which was Rus
sian, and the remainder Irish The Riga flax,
Mr.. Orosthwait informed me, cost from fifty to
sixty pounds sterling, per tun. The Tandassge
FAX cost eighty pounds per tun which is about
eighteen cents per ID. The same season, Ameri-
can fax was only worth from eight to ten cents
per 10. in New York. For manufacturing, water
rotted fax only, is used, in Ireland as dewrotted
is not considered worth working
1.-the Irish manufacturer can afford to pay egh-
teen cents for fax manufacture and send 10 Anne
rica paying our duties What could the Yankees make
IN the business when they could buy the hax for
half The money N dOODSELL
An Accommodating judge.