Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-09-29


This area in fax in the West was divided
as follows: Iowa, 2s7, 400 acres; Indiana,
19S, 400; Kansas, 1850; Illinois, 160, 300;
Minnesots, 90, 200; Ohio, $4,000; Missouri,
$4,000; Nebraska, $4,000; Wisconsin, A, 500.
On all this area no merchantable fax fiber
was produced. The fax was burned or al
lowed to rot. The..yield of seed was about
100000 bushels, valued at SIS, 900, 900. The
average yield per acre in hax-seed, therefore,
an average yield in Europe for kber alone OF
S32. There was imported into the United
States from 1871 TO 1881, inclusive, "A, 1926
tons of raw fax, valued at S12, 44S,745, and
fax manufactures valued st $l9S, 76S, 942, a
total importation amounting to $2ll I'll, 687.
OF this S22, 4S2, 1857 worth was imported in
the single year of 1881.
On our large area, therefore, of 1927 300
acres given 10 hax.culture in the West an
area second only to that given to fax in
Russia-we annually produce only fax-seed
to the value OF about SS,000,000 Ian average
and seed IN Russa e mofe 81 Deer
acre. The little State of Belgium, on an srea
Just one-eighth as great as the area already
given to fax in the West, annually produces
100000 more than we. France, with one
seventh as great an area, produces $4,000, 900
annually more than we The fiber produced
in Sweden alone will nearly supply the pres
ent demand of our home industry.
These statistics show both an agricultural
and a manufacturing possibility that is
startling 1t has been demonstrated time
and again that the soil, the climate and
every other condition of fax culture in the
West are IN some respects better than in
most European countries. The failure here
tofore of the farmers 10 grow fax for the
fiber is easily explained. They have never
had demand for it and they have never
learned the process of curing it. The de-
mand supposed TO be made by the fax mills
in the Eastern States is fictitious rather than
real. So long as the duty remains on fax
products-parIicularly on twines and the
like-they can import the raw material and
make these products at profit without
taking the trouble to encourage and instruct
the Western farmers. Besides, if the farm
ers were TO learn the art of cultivating lax
for the fiber, rival manufactures would
spring up in the West. This is sufficient |
reason why the Eastern M manufacturers refnss |
TO give proper encouragement to hax-culture |
here. The prosperity of the Western agri- |
culturists and their success 10 growing cereals |
have naturally caused them 10 leave |
such crops IS fax for the fiber thus far |
1ntried. The time has now come, how
sver, when their attention has been called to /
i, and the erection Of mapufactories in the |
West would create demand for such ma
erial. The land here is much cheaper than
n Europe, and The American agricultural
machinery is so liar superior 10 the ma
.hinery and hand work in Europe that after
be simplest lesson In the art the fiber could
,e grown by the Western farmers cheaper
han ii can be imported. "Pulling" the fax
8 one OF the difficulties in its preparation,
nd harvester and self-binder, such as
lmost every Western farmer has, will do
his work much better and more regularly
han it can be done by hand and at the same
Ime more economically. The preparation
The fibre for the market has hitherto been
he chief and most powerful obstacle to the
evelopment of the fax industry in the
Western States. The various complicated
rocesses of retting, breaking. scutching, etc.,
n which great deal depends, require much
lore time and attention than the farmer
An spare, not 10 speak of the ex-
erience which has first to be |
cquired before the above opera
ons will be successful. OF these operations |
he American farmer under a proper system
,nld easily be relieved. IBdeed even the !
II the the fax can be bought from the
-ower and the retting and scutching carried 8
! the year round. 1t would almost revolu- 6
ouize the linen trade in ireland. Fl>x ;
'uld be prepared for sale with a regularity l
color and quantity unattained now. 1t is I
,ssible to avoid the mistakes OF European G
mpetitors in fax production rgsrds '
e division of labor by relieving the farmer q
the trouble and anxiety connected with 3
e preparation of fax fiber for the market
, for instance, q company formed for that | J.
ject were preparing in one establishment v
I'd with one set of experienced men the v
x straw produced by 100 farmers, the labor !,
al least ninety farmers out of the 100 Ii
in other words, nine-tenths of the labor, g
d, OF course, also the same proportion Of "
e expense would be saved, not 10 speak of v
E infinitely better work done by men l
lined and more thoroughly acquainted
III the work than any ana each
iividual farmer could hope to find a
the purpose. All that now re-
lins to be done ia that a few pub Ii
spirited aud influential men in each OF | tf
, hax-produciDg States should take up | b
s matter in the interest of their respective Il
ties and form an association with the M
Jet of promoting the hax-6ber industry | 20
'ough an improved mode of culture and al
.paration of the fiber. There are already
eral machines for preparing it that have N
cd several years test, both in Europe aud
1erica. eli
instead, therefore, of being insignificant W
! hopeless industries, the culture OF fax in
The West for the fiber and the manufac- re
e OF hax products here Will, soon or late b;
ID there Ia no reason why il should not be
NJ, become important not only to the be
tied States, but 10 all the hax-consuming 50
ntries in the world. Only Two hindrances he
' stand in the way, VIZ, the proper and lii
ctical encouragement Tor the farmers 10 G,
m the art and the encouragement of the Al
fax-spinners in the Eastern tales, who M
lersiand that the erection OF rival mills ne
the West would seriously affect their til