flax+fibre

Flax, Broken - Scutched flax which is less than 20-in. long and therefore unfit for hackling in the spinning mill. Flax, C.D. and T. - Graders' marks which denote the type of scutched flax: c (chaine) to represent warps, D (demi) to represent medium warps, and T (trame) to represent wefts. Flax, Green, or Natural - Scutched flax produced from de-seeded straw without any intermediate treatment such as retting. Flax, Line - The hackled flax produced by a hackling machine or hand hackling. A term sometimes erroneously applied to scutched flax. Flax, Retted - Scutched flax produced from straw which has been retted. Usually divided into three main classes, namely, water retted flax, dew retted flax, and chemically retted flax. Flax, Scutched - The product from the delivery end of a scutching machine or from scutching flax straw on a wheel. It consists of the long fibre strands in a parallel condition and substantially free from wood and other extraneous material. The yield of scutched flax is commonly expressed as stones (14-lb.) per acre, but in Ireland it is sometimes expressed as stones per peck of seed sown. The average yield per acre of scutched flax has varied according to year from about 20 stones per acre to 40 stones per acre, with occasional exceptional yields of 80 and 90 stones per acre. Grader, Flax - The man who places the scutched flaxes in their appropriate grades of quality by eye judgment and feel. Grades, Flax - Tank retted flaxes are graded from A through the alphabet in ascending order of value. Dam retted flaxes are graded from 1-7 in descending order of value. Dew retted flaxes are graded 0-6 in descending order of value. Grades, Tow - Green tow is graded 1-8 and then 9a, 9b, Z, Z₂, and beater tow in descending order of value. Tank retted tow is graded I, II, III, 1, 2, 3, 3X, 3XXX, in descending order, whilst dam and dew retted tows are I, II, II, 1, 2, 3. Pluckings - The short, clean fibre produced at the end of the scutching machine where the operatives dress and square the pieces of flax ready for selection. In grading pluckings are classed as tow (q.v.). Root Ends, Straw - The broken-off roots which fall from the straw under the breaking rollers. Rug, Scutching - All the detritus which falls below the two compartments of the scutching machine after the shives have been shaken out of it, or the waste made when producing scutched flax on a wheel. It consists of partly scutched short straws, broken straws, weeds, and beater tow. It is classed as root end rug or top end rug, according to which end of the flax it comes from. Selection - The preliminary sorting of the scutched flax into main grades at the delivery end of the scutching machine. Shives - The short pieces of woody waste beaten from the straw during scutching. Tow - Any substantially clean but tossed and tangled flax fibre of less than scutched flax length. Tow Baling - The operation of making-up tow into bales. Tow, Beater - Short, fine, clean fibres which fall from the last third of the compartments during scutching. Tow, Inferior low grade (Green) - Green tow of a grade lower than 9a. Tow, Inferior low grade (Retted) - Retted tow of a grade lower than 3XXX. Tow, Machine, or Cast - Tow produced by the hackling machine. Tow, Rejected - Tow unsuitable for spinning on flax tow machinery. Tow, Rescutched - Two scutched on tow handles or a tow scutching machine. Tow, Rolled - The product from passing scutching rug through tow rollers and highspeed shaker. Tow, Rolled and Beaten - The product from passing scutching rug through tow rollers and beaters, and a high-speed shaker. The principal flax markets of the world are at Courtrai, Bruges, Ghent, Lokeren and Zele in Belgium; Rotterdam in Holland; Riga in Latvia; Leningrad, Pernau and Witebek in Russia; Douai and Flines in France; Newry, Rathfriland, Strabane, Ballymoney, Lisnaskea, Ballybay and Armagh in Ireland. Courtrai flax is the finest produced. It is uniform in fibre, strong, clean and of a good colour. Yarns up to 200's lea are spun from it. Irish flax comes next in spinning qualities from 90's to 120's lea are produced. As a warp yarn it is much preferred as the strength is greater than other types. Flemish flax is dark in colour, dryer than others, strong, and can be spun up to 120's lea. Dutch flax is clean, good colour and spins into yams up to 90's lea. Russian flax is coarser than the above types and is usually spun up to about 70's lea.

The following terms as given under the authority of the Ministry of Supply, are reprinted here with their permission. Flax Plants - of the species Linum usitatissimum cultivated for the production of seed or fibre or both. Flax, Fibre (Fibre Flax) - The variety of flax cultivated mainly for fibre production. Flax, fibre strands, or bundles - The aggregates, about 32 in number, of ultimate fibres which run from the level of the seed leaves up to the top of the branches of the flax straw. They are each composed of large numbers of ultimate fibres overlapping each other. Flax Fibres, Ultimate - The component cellulose fibres, about 1¹/₄-in. long by 1/1000-in. wide, making up the fibre system of the flax straw. Flax, Linseed - The variety of flax cultivated mainly for seed production. Flax Seed - The term usually applied to the seed of fibre flax. A bag of flax seed in Ireland is sometimes 3¹/₂ bushels, but it is more usual now to put up seed in 1-cwt. bags as in England. A peck of flax seed weighs approximately 14-lb. Flax Seed, Blue Blossom - Seed of a blue-flowered variety of flax. Flax Seed, Commercial - Flax seed usually named after its country or place of origin, but without a pedigree and without guarantee as to colour of flower. Flax Seed Germination - That percentage by number of a sample of seed which shows visible signs of growth within a stated time when kept under standard conditions of temperature and moisture. Flax Seed Germination, Standard - An arbitrary standard of germination of 90 per cent or more, incorporated in the flax growers' contract of the Ministry of Supply. Flax Seed, Lital - The generic name given to pedigree flax seed of several strains bred by the Linen Industry Research Association, Lambeg, and derived from those initials. Flax Seed, Minty - Seed which has been attacked by species of mites, usually owing to it being cracked and too damp. It is characterised by a dusty appearance and a distinct musty sweet smell. Flax Seed, Mixed Blue Blossom - A term used in Northern Ireland for seed from two or more blue-blossomed pedigree flaxes mixed together. Flax Seed, Pedigree - Seed of a strain of flax which has been improved by some recognised system of flax breeding and originally derived from the bulking of the seed from a single flax plant. Flax Seed, Plimmed - A local term for seed which has swollen through excess of moisture. Flax Seed Purity - That percentage by weight of seed taken from bulk which consists of whole flax seeds. Flax Seed Purity, Standard - An arbitrary standard of purity of 96 per cent or more with a weed seed content of 0.25 per cent or less, incorporated in the flax growers' contract of the Ministry of Supply. Flax Seed, Sowing - Seed of a germination and, purity making it acceptable for sowing. Flax Seed, Stormont - The generic name given to pedigree flax seed produced by the Plant Breeding Division, Ministry of Agriculture, Northern Ireland. Flax Seed, Weight per 1,000 - The weight in grams of 1,000 flax seeds picked at random from a sample. It is used as a measure of the plumpness and general quality of seed. Flax Seed, White Blossom - Seed of a white-flowered variety of flax. Flax Variety, Cross breeding - A method of flax breeding, based on fertilising the seed of a single plant of one strain by the pollen of a single plant of another strain and the study of the progeny. Flax Variety, Single Plant Selection - A method of flax breeding based on the study of a single self-fertilised flax plant and its progeny in subsequent generations. Linseed - The seed of linseed flax: and also of fibre flax when it is used for the same purposes as linseed. Moisture Content - To conform with the International ruling for seed testing the moisture content of flax seed should be expressed as a percentage of the original weight; the moisture content of other flax products being expressed as a percentage of the dry weight. Nomersan - A proprietary powder for dusting on flax seed as a prevention of certain seed-bome fungal diseases. Pickle - The term often applied to a single flax seed, i.e., a sample of seed is said to he of a large pickle or a small pickle. Weed Seed - The seed of any other species of plant present in a sample of flax seed.

Bart - See sheigh, etc. Beet - A bundle or sheaf of tied flax crop or straw. Boll, Flax in - The growing flax when the seed capsules have formed. Braird (n. or v.) - Flax in the seedling stage. To germinate in the field. Butt (v.) - To level the root ends of straw at any stage by vibrating it upright on a flat surface either by hand or mechanically. Crop, Flax - Flax at any stage before it is processed. A fair average flax crop would be 2 tons per acre of air dried crop, yielding 10 per cent of clean seed and 10 per cent of scutched flax. But it should be remembered that the actual long fibre content of the straw averages 20 per cent. D.N.O.C. - A proprietary spraying mixture used as a weedicide on flax. Drill, Flax - A sowing machine made primarily for sowing flax in narrow rows at an appropriate rate. Fiddle - A sowing box with a hand-worked distributor for sowing flax and other seeds broadcast. Frandy - See Sheigh, etc. Gait - A large handful of loose, pulled flax stood up on end in a cone form to dry. See also Retting. Grades - Under the Ministry of Supply home flax scheme, flax crop is graded 1, 1X, 2, 2X, 3, 3X, or for seed and tow only in descending order of quality. Lodge - A lodged crop is one bent or laid flat by the weather. Pulling - The operation of harvesting flax by pulling it from the ground. It may be hand pulled or machine pulled. Pulling Machine - Any type of harvesting machine which pulls flax by mechanical means and delivers it either loose or tied in beets (q.v.). Sheigh, Frandy, Bart, Windrow - Local names for forms of compound stocks where a number of beets are built up and usually roughly thatched as an intermediate stage between stooking and stacking. Shock, or Stook - To set up a number (usually six a side) of beets in inverted ??? form to dry. Stook - See Shock or Stook. Weeds - The chief weeds in flax and their local names are: Charlock, Carlick or Preshaugh (Brassica Sinapis); Wild Radish, White Charlock, or White Carlick (Raphanus Raphanistrum); Poppy or Redweed (Papaver Rhoeas); Knotweed, Knotgrass, or Crabgrass (Poly-gonum aviculare); Good King Henry or Fathen (Chenopodium sp.); Persicaria or Redshank ( Polygonum Persicaria); Bine or Bindweed (Convolvulus sp. or Polygonum Convolvulus.) Windrow - See sheigh, etc.

Bale Blades, Tapered - A turbine scutching machine in which the scutching blades are tapered in width in the first third of each compartment in contradistinction to the usual parallel sided blades. Blades, Tapered and Coned - A turbine scutching machine in which the blades are tapered and at the same time the first third of each scutching rotor is coned. Bunch - The aggregate of pieces which is tied up with two or more ties preparatory to baling. Conditioning - The operation of adding moisture to or abstracting moisture from straw to put it in the optimum condition for scutching. Decortication - The term sometimes applied to the scutching of unretted straw in contradistinction to retted straw. Handles - See Scutching Wheel or Handles. Piece - The small handful which is the unit of scutched flax. Scutching - The mechanical operation of separating the fibre from the woody part of the de-seeded or retted flax straw. Scutching, Automatic - See Scutching, machine or turbine or automatic. Scutching, Hand - The operation of scutching as carried out on a Belgian or Irish scutching wheel. Scutching, Machine, or Turbine, or Automatic - The operation of scutching flax entirely mechanically. Scutching Machine, Monoblade - Similar in principle to a turbine machine, but each compartment has a single steel blade on one shaft in place of multiple blades on two shafts. Scutching Machine, Turbine - A scutching outfit consisting generally of (a) prebreaking rollers to crimp the centre of the straw (b) a set of fluted breaking rollers to crimp the ends of the straw (c) a conveyor to hold the straw during processing; (d) a root end compartment where intersecting steel blades scutch the root end and middle of the flax; (e) a top end compartment where similar blades scutch the middle and top end of the flax; (f) a delivery bar where the scutched flax is piled up for removal. Scutching Wheel, or Handles - The machine on which hand scutching is done. It consists of an upright wooden or metal stock in a notch of which the broken flax straw is held and is there operated on by a number of wooden blades mounted equidistantly on a central shaft. Scutching Wheel, Belgian - A scutch wheel which usually has 12 light blades of walnut. Scutching Wheel Irish - A scutch wheel which usually has 6 blades, much heavier than those in the Belgian wheel. Strick (v.) - To divide straw from the breakers into suitable pieces and to level the ends before hand scutching.

Ret, Aerated - A type of ret where compressed air is forced into the bottom of the tank to maintain the retting liquor at or near the neutral point as regards acidity. Ret, Aerobic - A type of bacterial ret where the predominant bacteria are aerobic, i.e., work only in the presence of oxygen. Ret, Anaerobic - Any type of bacterial retting where the predominant bacteria are anaerobic, i.e., work in the absence of oxygen. This is the usual condition. Ret, Belgian - A term applied to a tank ret where warm water is sprayed into the bottom of the tank at intervals. Ret, Channel - A ret in which crates of flax are regularly introduced at one end of a water channel and removed at the other end. Ret, Chemical - The straw is subjected to chemical solutions to induce loosening of the fibre from the wood. Ret, Dam - Water retting by immersing the crop or de-seeded straw in dams cut in the earth and filled with water at natural temperature. Ret, Dew - The straw is spread on the ground in the open, in a thin layer and retting is effected by the action of fungi in the presence of rain, dew and sunlight. Ret, Double - The straw is subjected to two independent rets with intermediate drying. Ret, Duplex - A form of tank retting in which one tankful of straw undergoing the second half of its ret is in circulation with another tankful undergoing the first half of its ret. Ret, Interrupted - Essentially a two-stage warm water tank ret, the retting liquor being replaced by fresh water when the ret is about one-half to two-thirds complete. Ret, Pond - Water retting by immersing the crop or de-seeded straw in natural ponds. Ret, River - The straw is immersed in rivers, but usually after being packed in crates. Ret, Rossi - A type of aerated or aerobic retting in which a pure culture of bacteria is introduced. Ret, Tank- - The straw is packed into concrete or other tanks and the temperature of the water and its renewal during the ret is controlled. Ret, Water - The total immersion of the straw in water to induce retting by bacterial action. Retting - The subjection of crop or deseeded straw to chemical or biological treatment to make the fibre strands more easily separable from the woody part of the stem.

The bast fibres that resemble flax are: - Hemp, Gambo-hemp and Yercum fibre.

See Chamaerops fibre.

A very long and coarse flax fibre of reddish hue.

The term formerly given to the process " to straighten the flax fibre and free it from tangles."

Russian ungraded flax fibre chiefly from Petrograd.

The fibre obtained from the Phormium Tenax plant which is a native of New Zealand and South Australia. The fibre is very white, soft and flexible and has a high lustre. It differs from most hemp fibres in that it is obtained from the leaf and not the bast. It is not so fine or regular as true flax, nor does it spin as well, but it is superior to either flax or hemp in its tenacity. It is largely used for cordage, twine and floor-matting, through the best fibre is woven into a duck fabric closely resembling linen. There are numerous local names for this plant - The common variety of the lowland swamps is Harakeke, that of the higher ground is Paritanewha, and the best variety is called Taihore. The fibre is generally known as Muka.

Scutched flax implies that the fibres after retting have been subjected to the process of scutching which consists of separating the fibre from the wood. In some countries this is done by merely striking the stalks with a wooden knife or flail, but where large quantities are dealt with, the flax is sent to a scutching mill. In this mill there are a number of beaters fixed to horizontal shafts revolving at a high speed which strike upon the flax. The shorter fibres of flax are removed in this treatment as waste and are used for the coarser flax products. This waste is known as " cordilla."

The term by which dew-retted Russian flax is known and also indicates brown fibre as distinct from white; water-retted Russian flax is called Motchenetz, and ungraded flax Siretz.

Is a mineral substance resisting the action of fire. It is spun into single and two or more fold yarns, the yarn is very smooth and slippery. Canadian asbestos is the most valuable for textile purposes, as it gives a curly fibre which is more easy to spin into threads than any other. It is a long, white, lustrous fibre, difficult to spin alone, so a little cotton is mixed with it, the cotton eventually being burnt away. Used for making fireproof curtains, for packing purposes, gloves, clothing for firemen and workers in furnaces,etc.

A fibre obtained from the Urena Lobata belonging to the mallow family, and is a native of China and India. Used for making sacks, and in India as a substitute for flax. It is white coloured, strong and fine. Also known as Toja Fibre.

Strong, fine and durable bast fibre, obtained from bark and stem of species of securidaces in Upper and Lower Guinea and Mozambique. Used for fishing net and bead strings by the natives. Some authorities say this fibre is stronger than flax and much finer.

Poseidonia Australia, obtained from the bottom of Spencer's Gulf in South Australia. The fibre is not very strong and is brittle when dry. It is believed to be New Zealand flax submerged and rotted in salt water. It has good affinity for basic dye-stuffs, but acid, salt and sulphur dyes produce poor results. This fibre is a recent discovery and has been experimented with as a wool substitute for cheap clothing and rugs, but no satisfactory results have been obtained as yet.

Flax of superior quality for the very best yarn and for which only the middle portion of the fibre is used, which is called " cut lace." This cut line varies from 9-in. to about 18-m. in length.

The very fine flax of long, white, and soft fibre, grown in Belgium.

A term under which water-retted Russian flax is known. It also indicates white fibre as distinct from dew-retted, or Slanitz. The varieties are known as Pochochon, Ouglitz, Rjeff, Jaropol, and Stepurin.