The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1899-12-22
ALL ABOUT FLAX.
First Annual Meeting of the Ma
tiona1 Flax Association.
The Meeting was One of Instruction and
Profit. Many Interesting Papers
Were Read. The Government
Asked to Experiment.

National Flax, Hemp and Ramie As
ISOLATION was convened in deLendre-
cie's hall at Fargo, Dec. IA, the hall be-
ing well filed with prominent farmers
from every part of the state and
northern Minnesota.
In the absence of President j. 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 ad-
dress of welcome.
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 ''Growing Flax for Seed" A gen.
eral discussion followed the presenta-
ton of the paper and great deal OF
| interest was manifested in the SUBJ
| ject.
Wednesday, Mrs. Henrietta c. Oh
berg, the secretary, read paper pre-
| pared by J. 1. Reynolds, of Kansas
| City, Mo-, that gentleman not being
| able to be present. The subject was
| FLAX Fibre and Its Uses" Mr..
REYNOLDS has made a careful study of
the subject, and thinks that while the
farmers are receiving from $4,000
900 to $50, 900. 900 annually for the seed
they had just as well be receiving
| from $4,000, 600 to 500, 600, 900 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, so that the lower half and the
most valuable part of the stalk-for
| fax purposes-could be saved.
/ II. q. 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 $4,000 acres
were in cultivation this year, an in
crease of about so per cent over '98.
He thought the conditions in North
Dakota and northern Minnesota were
as nearly ideal as possible for the
growth of fax.
Then came DR.. T. c. Hinebauch, OF
Tower City, n. D., who read an inter
esting paper on FLAX Breaking and
Reducing Machinery of I. c. Smith.
of Heron Lake, Mimi" This machine
is on the principle of 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 consider.
ably and bale it for shipment.
Hon. Thomas Harrison, of Blanch-
ard, spoke on the growth of fax and
wheat together and staed that a piece
of wheat had been sown one year
upon which a poor stand was Sc
cured. The result was a 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 fa1
fibre which consisted of the straw
now and the fibre in the first anC
more reduced stages before being
woven into cloth. All grades of bur
lap up to the finest and most delicat,
linens were to be seen as an illustra
ton of the possibilities of its growth
and great interest on these subject.
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 tn,
place of an absent speaker and CAV
short, but very interesting talk OF
the characteristics of the fax plan
and lent life to his subject by tn,
use of illustrations. He spoke of tn,
different stages in the growth of tn
, plant and the effect of the weathe
upon it in the respective stages. A
to the possibilities of disease the pro
fessor stated that they were few, tn
principle one being rust, and tn
cause of it's spreading was the fac
that the germs were often carries
. from affected fields to healthy ones b,