St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-11-26
WHAT HAS BEEN DONE.
Linen Goods Made From Mime
sofa Flax Fiber.

The growing of fax and hemp is
bound to be largely taken up by the
farmers of this state. The manufacture
of the fiber has been undertaken by the
state prison management OH large
scale. and dotted ali over the country
small manufacturers are starting the
same industry. A very interesting fact
related in the report of the committee
already referred TO is this:
ION the 18th of December. 1890, John
KerWin and Charles n. Bell, of st.
Paul, obtained OF Mr.. BaSSe, of st. Paul
Park, one bale of his flax fiber grown
and made by him at st. Paul Park i'll
1890. They shipped it to one of the
largest linen mills in Belfast, Ireland,
to be made into linen goods and re-
turned to st. Paul. The manager of
the mill. in letter received by Mr..
Kerwin on March IA, 1891, declares his
establishment over the good quality of
the fiber, aud says he has dressed down
1l2 pounds of the fiber to So pounds, and
that when so dressed it has value of
965 per ton; also that he will soon re-
turn to st. Paul linen products of the
fiber, and he also urges tile production
of the fiber in large quantities for ship
ment to Ireland. These gentlemen
Cidllll llllS W UC IllC nlSG lDulCltI vi
Minnesota fiber to Europe, and that it
also shows another outlet for the prod
uct of this new industry"
1t will thus be seen that TO the Min
neSota farm, in flax and hemp, an al
most EOundless field is afforded. J. Car
michael Allan, general superintendent
of the Minneapolis Linen company. says:
ut was a matter of vital importance to
me, before becoming identified with the
manufacture of linen in Minnesota, to
satisfy myself that there were undOubt-
ed advantages to be gained 10y coming to
this state, and principal among these L
reckon the nature of the soil, which
consider is the best L ever saw for pro-
ducing fibrOus plants. The highest au-
thOrities claim that black, sandy loan
is the best of all soils for flax and hemp
and that such soil Will, combined with
a level district, almost invariably give
good crops of both seed and fiber;
provided, of course, that the
farmer puts in decent seed and
gives his crop fair attention.
Our company has been organized to
start a complete system for fax spin
ming, weaving and finishing linen cloth,
and If success attends the venture. ar
rangementS have been made whereby
the mill will be extended to a consider
ably larger size. Our intention is to
use, as far as we possibly can, fiber flax
grown in this state. l am perfectly
satisfied from samples that l have seen,
that the very finest fiber suitable for the
best goods can be grown, and OH small
scale has been grown, in Minnesota +"
Having thus said so much of the great
opening that awaits the farmers of Min
nesota and the cultivation of flax and
hemp, it will not be out of place to
notice, without any inducements, what
has been done the past eighteen years.
In 1872 there was an acreage of 10, 129
for flax, and a yield of 71.752 BUSH
els of seed. This, in 1899, had
become 255,602 acres with 1888
217 bushels of seed. The flax
fiber has, up TO within few years, been
thrown away as practically worthless,
To use the remark of a Scotchman,
brought up III the linen business, who
visited our Western country not long
ago, when he saw the fax fiber and its
lack of use, he said: "What a waste of
Gods mercies." If the farmers follow
the advice of the late legislative COM
mittee there need be no necessity for
such waste, their advice being:
In regard to the cultivation of fax:
Select clean land, work it deep and fine,
make it level by rolling, SOW before the
10th of May one and Une-haIf az bush
els of seed per acre. In order to pro-
duce fine fiber we must have imported
seed. With our ordinary seed we can
not expect to raise anything better than
second or third class fiber, but even this
grade of fiber will be amply good enough
to make the best quality OF binding