New-York tribune., 1900-10-28
FLA1SEED AND IT'S OIL.
IMPORTANCE OF THE INDUsTRY-LARGE
INTERESTS AFFECTED By
THE HIGH PRICES

The recent advance in the price of unsaad al has
attracted much attention in the commercial world
" e OoHuiuon or this years crop of haxseed from
"hi1h TINS important oil Is made. The uses of lin
oii are many and varied. but ollcloth and ino-
ieuh men are perhaps those chiefly affected by the
eset hhsh values. Several of the larger oIlcloth
factories OF the country, II Is reported from Chi
oaeo' are eltner shut down or able to do little
BUSINESS as result OF the market conditions Trade
80 80 'e OH''eu states is said to require something
hKe iory million gallons Of llnseed oil annually.
hsuihates OF the years crop Of haxseed have been
steadily reduced OF late The crop year is supposed
10 nesln in September but it is as yet practically
impossible to gauge the yield for this year ac-
ourateiy' The first estimates of the total product
were about twenty-five million bushels Now the
hgures are about eighteen million bushels
TO the average the mention of faxseed
brings recollections of younger days of poultices
and haxseed tea, of pneumonia and the drug store
where the slippery seed is carefully weighed out
In minute quantities. The commercial uses of flax
seeu' ihe vast amount used IN making linseed OIL
the methods of handling great quantities in bulk
just as Wheat is handled, matters outside the
range OF the average mans knowledge
Each oushel of faxseed yields a little over two
gallons of OIL The pulp or cake remaining after
the extraction of the oil has value as fodder and
is an important by-product. While cottonseed meal
and rice meal are used to some extent as substi-
tutes for oil meal yet there has never been found
satisfactory substitute for linseed oil. The
P"Ai'Si' NAC Hllitt leau maker, the OllcOth manu-
facturer, must have linseed OIL and so the farmer
in the far Northwest tends carefully his faxseed
crop and the mills crush the slippery seed in order
that their wants may be supplied The centraliz-
ing tendency of modern business was never better
illustrated than In the of the Iinseed oil in
dustry In fact the history of this industry shows
competitive period, period Of combination when
competition began to be too severe and finally a
is passing ~ 'e "N9i
The haxseed crop of the country varies from
ten 10 tWents millions of bushels nearly three
quaI teIs pelhg raised in Minnesota and the Da-
kolas. Cnlcago and Duluth are the great flax
markets or the country, and the trading in futures
of faxseed Is one of the most baza rd6ns " snacrs
Uons known, The range Of prices is extremely wide
from 20 cents to & bushel and fuctuation Of
~ or 10 cents Is an ordinary occurrence. The small
size or the crop as compared with wheat or corn
tehdS 10 encourage corners and many fortunes have
Deeh mace ana lost in the uncertain market. At
present the price is high owing to bad weather in
the Northwest, which has damaged large portion
ess OF extracting the oil from the seed it crushed
py rollers going through set after until it ap-
pears, as fine meal Then it is steam heated in
TANKS, 10 soften 1t and free the oil. AS ii comes
from the tanks, sticky, sweet smelling mass it
is SNAPPED by a small press Into blocks and these
DlockS are put under powerful hydraulic presses.
The oil begins to flow in the cutters as soon as
the power is put on, but 1t is an hour before the
press Is opened and the oilmeal taken out. The
oil passes through various refining processes which
prepare X for market. The cake is either shipped
unbroken for export is ground into oilmeai for
the home market. Germany is a large importer of
oilmeal