Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-03-08
BY Professor n. /. BoMey.


Ever since ! commenced working
with the flax crop in North Dakota,
some 20 years ago, | have been aware
Of the fact that it would be Of the
greatest Importance to the farmers
of the northwest if some sort Of in
dustry could be built up about the
straw and fiber side of the crop. Grad
ually such industries are taking
shape. Many of the products of man.
ufacturing, such as insulating board.
coarse Irvine, binder Irvine, much tow
for upholstering work, and even
coarse toweling, is now beginning to
be made from the ordinary northwest
ern grown fax straw. and the tow
mills located in North Dakota are be-
ginning to show signs of permanency.
Having in mind this important side OF
the flax crop ! have continuously, for
a number Of years, conducted various
experiments to ascertain the probable
value Of the fibre, that might be
grown in the northwest, especially In
North Dakota.
In 1906, after careful study conduct
ed in all European fax growing dis
tricts, and after careful experiments
conducted upon the flax fiber which
could be made from the straw Of both
the seed fax and fiber varieties as
grown in the various parts of North
Dakota, l published Bulletin II, and
indicated by that report that there is
much valuable fb ,r to be had In the
common fax straw, and that the quail.
ity Of the same depends almost en-
tirely upon the manner Of taking 1t
out and upon the manner of seeding
the crop. l also cited the fact that
fiber flax of the very best quality
could be grown in the Red River val
ley. These statements were not bas-
cd upon imagination, nor personal
opinion, but upon actual experiments.
For those statements l have at times
been harshly criticised by those who
think that the various stock jObbing
concerns were able to build up a
thriving robbery business by citing
the statements which | had made.
This, of course, | could not help.
There can be nc question but that
most Of the schemes for taking fiber
out of the northwestern grown flax
straw, or for making use Of that straw
have been, at best, stock jobbing at
fairs, but this has nothing whatsoever
to do with the truth or falsity Of the
statement that such crop does con-
tain valuable fiber products.
Our first experiments made it clear
that we could raise good fiber flax for
fiber purposes if we SOW the right
varieties. Also, that the mcthods for
taking the fiber out would be too
costly for our present labor and eco
nomic conditions. However, these
are liable to change at any time, and
l have continued to have experiments
conducted in the botanical depart
ment, looking to ascertaining wheth-
er the common straw Of the seed crop
as produced in North Dakota does or
does not contain valuable fiber, and
our later tests have been conducted
upon all types of straw, from the very
shortest, grown under dry, harsh con
ditiOns, as we'll as those grown under
moist and more suitable fiber produc-
ing conditions. The results Of these
experiments are extremely %encourag-
ing. They show that even in the short.
est, harshest, c%oarsest straw there
is fiber Of good quality. Straw less
than one foot high and grown In west
ern portions of the state in the dry
years of 1910 and II, produced fiber
of fine quality when handled in Ger
tain specific ways.
The difficulty with flax straw which
has been subjected to dry weather is
that it is more woody than the wet
land grown flax straw, and the meth
DDS ordinarily used have a tendency
to break up the fiber, hut the fact that
the methods commonly used now de.
stroy tho fiber does not change the
fact that the fiber is there. 1t IS,
therefore, OF very great Importance
that careful experiments should be
conducted which shall ascertain
khether it, is possible to remove such
fiber, or make use of it, and do it in
an economical manner. No doubt the
American method of removing that
fiber will involve the use Of SPECIAL
or new machinery. 1t is hardly prob
able that a great amount of fiber will
be produced under the old hand meth
DDS characteristic of the work Of the
European pcasantry. E:r.
Up to the last year u experiments
have consisted in taking out the fiber
in various ways and comparing 1t
with standard samples obtained in
the various fiber producing regions
Of Europe. My earlier statement that
there is good fiber present was also
based ulon careful studies by means
Of the microscope regarding the
length and size Of the flbers and per
centage of fiber present in the straw.