The Portland daily press., 1901-02-15

AA8 he1oAt INV oHHAHf nuu uhAuuAA ala al
linen IL SEEMED As II an American
linen Industry was really close ct hand
Bot mark the sequel Over-conhdence
ever breeds oonoeit The price OF lax
advanced. The manufactures must pay
the merchant bis prics or go without
The deadlock was broken az last BY the
importation OF flax and juts from abroad.
Prices In consequencv ce5iined 70 such an
extent that depression followed where
once there was enthusiasm. The rout
Was completed In 1879, BY Che new tarld,
which removed the duty on jute butts,
and thersby placed them on the free list
Mil after mill throushort the West de-
voted to the manufacture OF hsx bag
cling, shut down, and the industry has
never heen resumed.
Millions OF dollars have thus been lost
to the American farmer, for besides the
cotton crop, the grain crop OF the country
consumes an enormous amount OF bag
ging, all or the greater part Of which
might havs been made from fax grown
on American farms This short sighted
policy Is perpetuated In the Dinglsy tarin
OF 1897, In which j1te and jute butts are
still on the free list.
But III 10 no longer pays 20 grow max
for bbgging, the cass is different when
other products OF the loom are considered.
since October, 1879, the price OF fax IN
continental and British markets has been
steadily advancing. The Russian crop
has been short for two seasons past. The
German spinners are eagerly looking to
this country for relief. In 1870. Ameri-
can lax was first offered In Germany BY
Chicago merchant. lt was found to be
fair for the coarser yarns, but was mucn
tangled. This condition is inevitable
when the fprs Ia treated as n by product,
and the seed as the main crop. Flax
straw as handled By the fiax seed farmer
is put through a thrashing machine
which, while extracting the seed, of
necessity tanglee the straw and the fibre
exti acted therefrom,
American fax, when 1t comes Into the
market at all, has hitherto competed with
third crown archangei, q Russian FRO
duct. and Russian FAX, whicn for the
past ten years has sold at ssven cents to
ten cents per pound is now bringing from
Is cents to 30 cents per pound.
But American growers can do better
than that. The average quantity or spin
ming nare obtsinabIe from given
amount OF raw fax Is 10 per csnt, but the
raw fax from one lot experimentally
retted Puget Sound straw gave ~ per
cent of spinning fibre, worth $500 per
ton, and 4 have before me as l write a
beautiful specimen OF hackled flax grown
at Yale, Michigan. worth $500 per ton.
This is conclusive evidence that fine TAX
can be produced In this country.
From Census Bulletin No. 177 l extract
the following:
''The fibre reported at the various cen-
suseS up 20 and inoiuding that OF 1889, was
an excellent grade OF scutohed hax, fit
for spinning, and able to hold its own
against all but the finest imported varie-
ties. The fibre reported at the Gems IS OF
1870, which Was raised TO meet the enor
nous demand for bagRing. was on the
other haad. only a very common quality
of tow, abounding In woody refuse, and
so careiessly prepared as doubtless In
some measure to have led the way for
that adverse legislation which practically
put an end TO It's production. The nhra
of the present day is likewise, with few
exceptions. only coarse by-product, used
mainly as upholstery tow. AS result,
however. of the we'll directed efforts CT
the Department OF Agriculture, there are
indications of the revival in the Unitsd
States OF a genuine tiax industry that
should ultimately render the American
people the largest consumers OF linen In
the world, entirely independent OF tie
foreign manufacturer
In France the oulturs of hax has
rapidly declined during the past thirty
years, having ERASED entirely in some de-
partments, while the quantity produced
has diminished In nearly all, The reason
given 10 a commercial ons. For whereas
lt costs the French farmsr about SIS 20
per acre, rental included. TO grow fax, hs
has received for his product from IA 20
$50 per acre. Ths highest nrioss are
given only for such fiax as has been ret
ted in the river Lys, and hence In the
neighborhood or that river alone TN
wbich also all the Courtrai flax is rettedl,
Is fax TO any extent cultivated in France
today.
In Ireland also the culture CT fax has
steadily declined. In 1889, ther5 was an
acreage OF 229,l1S acres; in 1891, bnt
rs, ,0c0 acres. Ireland has about the same
area as Maine, and these figures are in
haa
state would support IL the farmers were
so minded. The principal Gauss OF de
clins in Ireland is an agricultural one.
The land 10 poor, damp ana 1ull oi
weeds, and obstinately refuses TO grow
fax except In long rotation. Seven ana
even twelve years elapse between crors
The fiax OF Austro hungary Is OF low
grade, and somewhlG resembles the
cheaper varieties or Russian hax, Tnf
Dutch is ike the Belgian lax OF the bets
quality.
For one reason and another, therefor,
Europe has failing supply, and not oniJ
German spinners but Irish az well are
looking our way, for the crops which are
not undertaking. on their own side OF thf
ocean. The Canadians are already jump
ing into the gap and exporting max. Ore
gon fax was sold . year or two a9o In
Scotland at more than double the prices
offered by American spinners.
Is 1t not time, therefore. that the
American farmer should rise to the occas.
ion, ana the Maine farmer in PARTICULAR
We can grow fax and good iiax. 1t has
been done In this past; we can learn how
20 do it again. And as In all probability
the time win come, for the movement
has bsgun--wnen tae cotton Industry
Will leave New England for the South,
should we not do what we can to replace
1t by a more abiding form,
m ore indigenous TO the soil, viz: linen
Industry
In another letter 1 will consider the
AGRICULTURAL questions involved, and aisn
the methods followed In preparing the
raw flax for market,