West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1888-08-30
In A BIG TWINE FACTORY.
INTERESTING SIGHTS AND FACTS
ABOUT A GREAT INDUSTRY.
Flax and Hemp Used I'm Making the
Twinc-Working Up the Fibre
Tho Flax Supply.

Flax and Hemp Used I'm Making tho
Twinc-working Up the Fibre
Tho Flax Supply.
II Is estimated that there are about
eight million dollars worth OF flax and
hemp strings made in this country every
year, not the big sort of strings that are
digniied by special titles, such as lines,
ropes, cables, and hawscrs, but just
strings that are Jumped together under
the broad name Of twines. And, besides,
there are great quantities Of cotton
strings, and here and there still few
paper ones, though the lattcr--inventcd
when cotton was so high priced during
the war, and then quito common-are
now seldom seen.
There are eight Irvine factories, three
in the upper part of this State, two in
Massachusetts, two in Newark, and one,
the largest, in this city, at Eleventh ave-
nue. and Fifty-seventh street. This latter
employs 500 hands, and turns out II, 900
pounds per diem of finished twines and
shoe thread, ranging in value from IL
cents TO $3.50 per pound. In addition
to these eight there are scattered
through the East several small cstabl sh-
ments, but there arc none, large or small,
in the West and South.
Mr.. Hinde, the general manager Of the
Eleventh avenue factory, accords some
interesting facts concerning the industry.
He says: 1--WE use only fax aud hemp.
We have experimental with other fibres,
principally ramio, but they did not
work we'll. The necessary processes OF
manufacture seemed to take all their
strength out of them. Cotton string is
made in the cotton factories, not by
Irvine makers. Most OF the fax that we
use is imported, the finest grades from
Holland and France, and its cost is from
$40 to e75 sterling per ton. Flax tow,
which we also USE costs 10 or IL cents
per pound. Some fax is supplied
in this country, but not great deal.
Hundreds and thousands Of tons of
flax straw arc burned up annually by
our Western farmers. They grow il for
the sake of the seed, and will not take
the trouble to save the valuable fibre
from the straw. In Canada, the Ontario
millers pay the farmers $40 per acre for
fax land, the miller supplying the seed
and gathering the crop, while all the
farmer does is to plough the land and
seed it in. There both seed and fibre
are carefully saved, and it is much TO be
regretted that our agriculturists are not
equally thrifty. | know that rejudice
exists in the minds of many farmers
against flax, because they believe that it
wears out the land so rapidly; but a
contrary opinion is entertained by many
equally well-informcd growers. know
OF a farm in Canada that has been planted
In flax for twenty years, and yields as
much now as ever.
''We get a good deal of hemp from
Kentucky, and some from Missouri and
1,trE r.. A 4 \
upon foreign supply. Our native hemp
is worth 1920 per ton unhackled, or
about 10 cents per pound unhackled,
while the best from abroad--the Italian
costs $40 per ton Our Kentucky hemp
is of strong and long fibre, generally
about 10 feet long, but has a dark,
dirty brown color There is no reason,
however, why il should not be produced
as tine and white as tho Italian. / re-
member seeing, in 1910, some hemp
grown by Henry Clay on his plantation,
and prepared for the market under his
supervision, which was equal to any i'm
ported. The next best hemp TO the
Italian is the German. The Russian is
coarse and dark. BY bleaching and
sOftening its tibres we arc enabled to
make Irvine from hemp that is so smooth,
strong and fine that it is hardly dis.
tinguishable from linen Irvine, still, for
the best goods, such as ''harness twine1
or loom cord" and fishing lines, we
employ only the purest and best flax.
For certain grades of Irvine, flax and
hemp arc used together, and some of
our small, brightly-colored cords, used
for the ornamental tying up of packages,
are made wholly of hemp, which takes
aud retains bright dyes much better
than fax does
Superintendent Hinde, big, good.
natured, and good-looking young giant,
led the way into n realm of CHATTER. roar.
rattle and dust, the first impress on M
sight Of which was that il was an in
extTicable confusion OF girls and
machinery, that the girls all had their
hair in curl papers, and that they were
fine lot Of sturdy-armed young Amazons.
''The fax fibre" be said, els first
combed, or, rs il is technically termed,
'scutched. Then il goes to the spread
board, where it is laid out straight. and
OF as uniform a thickness as possible, in
four lines, on endless aprons that carry
it up to hackle-like teeth, that hold it
straight and steady while it is subjected
10 tho drawing action OF rollers moving
faster than the rate Of its delivery. The
soft, even band OF straight fbres thus
formed is called silver Twelve OF
these are put into drawing frame *.
tended and delivered as one, and this
operation is repeated three times, twelve
'sliyers' each time being drawn into one
which is not thicker than one OF the
twelve had been before drawing. BY
this time the 6bres arc all straight and
disposed with perfect evcnness. The
silver is now lightly twisted, and so
becomes rove, ready for the spinning
frame. The processes Of spinning and
twisting strands together for the attain.
ment Of any desired degree Of stoutness
are too generally understood 10 be worth
detailing. Hemp is worked up IN the
Same way as fax. Tow. which Is only
used for the coarsest and cheapest
string, is carded, Ike cotton, instead
OF being put upon The spread board. -
NeW Y0rk Sun.