FLAX SUBSTITUTES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIV, Issue LIV, 19 August 1920, Page 6

FLAX SUBSTITUTES

A report of a committee appointed by the British Board of Trade to investigate the question of increasing the supply of flax in the British Empire, states that an investigation of flax substitutes had been made. As far as ramie was concerned the main difficulty in preparing it for spinning is in the elimination of the gum which holds the fibres together. Before the war a considerable measure of success in discovering a process of r!egumining bad been attained in Germany, and this process, which

|is a secret pne, lias been successj fully transferred to England, and [ramie yams of very good quality (are now being produced in Yorkshire. In Germany it has been used successfully for tho ■ manufacture of underclothing, and the committee see no reason why it should not be put to that purpose in England. There was little doubt that it could be used as asubstitute for flax to a much larger extent, especially as there was an almost unlimited supply of raw material to be drawn upon at a price ranging from £l2O to £l5O a ton. Dealing with Italian hemp, the report states that the finest qualities have never reached this country, having before the war beentaken by Germany. Much of the difficulty experienced by spinners •in the United Kingdom appears to be due to the fact that Italian hemp must be softened if it is io be successfully used, and the exact effect of the softening process does not appear yet to have been determined. In regard to nettle fibre, it is contended that the difficulties of cultivating the nettle would probably be as great as those of cultivating flax. It would seem probable that further investigation will enable a still greater use to bo made of flax substitutes, but the solution of the difficulties now confronting manufaot.iirers and users of linen must be sought by extending the cultivation of flax.