Griggs courier. (Cooperstown, Griggs Co., Dak. [N.D.]) 1885-1902, 1899-12-21
ALL ABOUT FLAX.
First Annual Meeting Of the Ma
tional Flax Association.

PROFIT. Many distressing Papers
Were Read. The GoveEnmentS
Asleed 70 Experiment.
The first, annual convention Of the
National Flax, Hemp and Ramie AS
ISOLATION was convened in; .deLendre-
cie's hall at Fargo, Dec. II, the hall be-
ing well filled with prominent farmers
from every part of the state and
northern Minnesota: .sse
In the absence Of. President ]. ster-
ling Morton, the meeting was called
to order by the secretary, Henrietta
C. Olberg, of Albert Lea; Mimi,
Bishop Edsall, of the. Episcopal
church, invoked the divine blessing on
the deliberations of the convention,
and Mayor johnson delivered an adj
dress of welcome. Z.
The meeting was then adjourned,
until afternoon, the session being
called to order by Mayor johnson,
who stated that on account of some
Of the members who were on the
program being absent some changes
would be necessary, and he introduced
Prof. Sheppard. of the Agricultural
college, who presented an able paper
on .sGrowing Flax for Seed" A gen.
eral discussion followed the presenta-
ton of the paper and great deal of
interest was manifested in the sub
ject.
Wednesday, Mrs. Henrietta c. Oh
berg, the secretary, read q paper pre-
pared by j. I. Reynolds, of Kansas
City, Mo-, that gentleman not being
able to be present. The subject was
FLAX Fibre and It's Uses" Mr..
Reynolds has made a careful study Of
the subject, and thinks that while the
farmers are receiving from $sO,000,-
600 to 100000 annually for the seed
they had just as we'll be receiving
from $4,000, 900 to $6O,OOO,0OO for the
products of the straw which are now
being thrown away. From the straw
could be made bags, rope, paper and
Irvine, in addition to the linen. On
the bags alone Mr.. Reynolds thought
the value would be a million dollars
annually, and cited their superiority
over the jute and cotton bags, espe-
cially for handling smaller seeds like
clover. timothy and millet. Rope
could be secured that would last five
times as long as Manila rope. Millions
of dollars were being annually thrown
away in linen, and Mr.. Reynolds want
ed to see the government offer prices
for new machinery and inventions for
the use of manufacture Of fibre, and
methods for pulling the fax from the
ground, 80 that the lower half and the
most valuable part of the stalk-for
flax purposes-could be saved.
II. u. Thomas, secretary of agricul-
ture for North Dakota, read an inter
esting statistical article on fax cul-
ture, giving the figures, showing the
acreage in the different states, with
especial emphasis on North Dakota,
where he thought at least 10000 acres
were in cultivation this year, an in
crease of about so per cent over '9S.
He thought the conditions in North
Dakota and northern Minnesota were
as nearly ideal as possible for the
growth of flax.
Then came DIR. 7. C. Hinebauch, of
Tower City, N. D., who read an inter-
esting paper on "Flax Breaking and
Reducing Machinery of T. C. Smith,
of Heron Lake, Mimi" This machine
is on the principle of a threshing ma
chine and can be moved from field to
field, and used at the fax stacks after
the threshing is done. 1t is powerful
enough to reduce the fibre considers
ably and bale it for shipment. N,
Hon. Thomas Harrison, of Blanch-
ard, spoke on the growth of fax and
wheat together and staed that piece
of wheat had been sown one year
upon which poor stand was Sc
cured. The result was mixed crop
which gave a splendid yield of each.
He gave figures to prove the success
of. the crop and thought the best re-
suits were obtained from low land. One
interesting point brought out was the
value of the mixed straw for feeding
purposes, which he claimed was much
better than wheat straw alone. The
stock liked it better and there seemed
more nourishment.
Much discussion followed upon the
subject and it seemed that for low
land the experiment was success.
Again this attention was directed
to the display of the products of fax
fibre which consisted Of the straw,
now and the fibre in the first and
more reduced stages before being
woven into cloth. sAll grades of bur-
lap up to the finest and most delicate
linens were to; be seen as an illustra-
ton of the possibilities of its growth,
ana great interest on these subjects
was manifest. =.
In the evening. Chairman johnson
called the evening session to order.
After few selections, by the orches-
ira, Prof. H. L. Rolley, Of the Agricul-
tural college, was substituted in the