NEW SYSTEM OF RETTING FLAX.

Press, Volume LIII, Issue 9604, 19 December 1896, Page 7

NEW SYSTEM OF RETTING FLAX.

In a recent issue the Farmers' Gazette of Dublin gives a report of a meeting of linen merchants, agriculturists, and others interested in the cultivation of flax, held at Belfast, for the purpose of hearing a description of a new system of retting flax. For the new process, which is the discovery of a Belgian expert, it was stated that the retting tanks, or dams, are made up of two principal parts ; the upper and the lower are separated from each other by an open floor. On the walls of the upper parts means are provided for keeping the flax straw suitably submerged by crossbeams working in vertical slides, and capable of being fixed at any required height. In the lower part of the tank the inlet is provided just under the open floor, and the outlet at the floor proper. The fiax straw is tied up in double sheaves, the root end of one half being placed alongside the top end of the other, and so approximately cylindrical in shape; these sheaves are placed in a vertical position on the open floor, moderately tight and as regularly as possible; ordinary straw is then spread over the top to keep off the dust or the effects of the weather, and boards are placed on this to equalise the Dressure of the cross-beams, which are faxed so as to ensure the straw being suitably submerged when'the tank is fufl and working. The tank is then filled by opening the inlet and closing the outlet, and as the level of the water rises the straw rises also, till it is stopped by the cross-beams, where it remains motionless, pressing upwards all the time more or less. The inlet and outlet taps are then regulated so as to maintain the water at the right level and ensure its being often enough changed. The water surrounding the stalks dissolves various vegetable substances, some of which are naturally soluble, while others become so under the action of fermentation. Thin streamlets of heavy juices are thus formed, which flow down the stalks and slowly cross the layer of fresh water below the retting mass, and this without mixing with it, owing to the extreme slowness of the motion. On the bottom of the tank they then form a layer of dirty and denser water, which runs off by the outlet, while at the same time the fresh water just above it works its way up through the retting straw, also in the form of thin streamlets, which take the place of the descending ones. This circulation, consisting in the natural fall of heavy juices and the corresponding rise of fresh water, takes place uniformly and to the exclusion of every other, with equal facility in every part of the retting mass, owing to the vertical position of the stalks and the equal pressure all over the tank.

GAMBLING IN " FUTURES." "The Rnin of the World's Agriculture and Trade" is the title of a lengthy pamphlet just published on international fictitious dealing in "futures" of agricultural produce, with their effects on prices, by Dr. G. Ruhland, of Berlin. When Bismarck retired from official life Dr. Ruhland was offered and accepted his present appointment of Professor of Political Economy at the Vienna University. In this capacity it became his duty to press forward, for the reasons he himself gives, a crusade against " fictitious" dealings in produce, and when the Imperial Government decided to introduce a Bill to control these gambling innovations, the excitement and opposition it called forth from those interested in their continuance rendered its prospects at first very uncertain. In Committee the Bill had" been originally accepted by the narrow majority of eleven against ten, and was subsequently rejected by exactly the same majority, rendering it very improbable that a majority in the Reichstag in its favour could be secured. But the truth of the facts brought forward could not be gainsaid, nor could produce gamblers screen from the public the absolute evil to the agricultural interests which their gambling operations brought about, without any corresponding benefit whatever as a set-off. Professor Ruhland wrote and circulated the present work in a few weeks, and its effect was magical. Some 14,000 copies were at once in circulation amongst the members of the Reichstag and all the various Agricultural Societies, in spite of the issue of a cheap popular edition of 25,000. A strong agitation soon arose amongst German fanners for the absolute suppression of produce gambling, which forced the Parliament Committee to take further evidence, and in consequence to abandon the proposed Bill for controlling this gambling, and in its place to introduce a measure for its " total prohibition." This Bill passed last month its second reading in the Reichstag by a majority of 200 against 39, and by a similar overwhelming majority it was read a third time, and finally adopted by the Imperial Diet. The measure will come into force on January Ist, 1897. A BIG COAL COMBINATION. The prospectus of Wm. Cory and Son, Limited, the big London coal combination, appeared in the papers which arrived by the last mail. The capital consisted ef £2,000,000 in shares and £800,000 in debenture stock, and the plant and English business of eight important firms were transferred to the undertaking. It was stated that their turnover exceeded 5,000,000 tons annually. Amongst the plant were eighteen steamers, controlling interests in many others, twenty-one steam tugs, 1200 barges, 2500 railway waggons, and fortytwo hydraulic cranes. Their average annual profits for seven years were stated at £143,023, so that it was a fairly large Company even for London. TRADE IN THE UNITED STATES. The state of trade in the United States at the end of October was very peculiar, and was thus described in Bradstreet's : — " Business in staple lines is confined to immediate wants, interest in election absorbing attention. The volume of trade is smaller than a week ago, and will continue restricted until the results of the election are known. Orders to an enormous amount have been placed with manufacturers, jobbers, commission houses, and importers, to be cancelled in the event of the success of the free-silver cause. An encouraging feature is a further advance in the prices of leather, wool, Bessemer pig iron, wheat, Indian corn, lard, raw and refined sugar, and for crude and refined petroleum. Only moderate orders have been placed for woollen goods for spring delivery, but manufacturers are disposed to buy some raw material.