FLAX CLEANING.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXV, Issue 3086, 17 December 1870, Page 2

FLAX CLEANING.

(to the bditob of the independent.) Sib, — I perceive in tbe Canterbury " Press" an able article on flax. Tbe writer stated, among other suggestions, that probably steam will be found eventually to be tbe most useful agent in cleaning the fibre. If this idea is likely to be correct, why is it not tried and the question set at rest? There are now any number of boilers in connection with flax machines, and a series of experiments need not , occupy many weeks. The matter is urgent, for the flax industry is sick and almost on its death bed, and may die unless prompt measures are taken for recovery. Major Edwards, of Porirua, tried flax in his boiler under a high pressure, and found that in a few minutes it was not only cleaned but disinte- , grated and destroyed. Between a pressure of 401bs, and a mere steaming of the leaf, there is a vast range for experiment, and if a steaming plan is to succeed, the proper amount of pressure, time of exposure, and other details must be arrived at. In olden times in Wellington the human body was thorougly cleansed by what was called a Russian bath, established by the late Baron Alzdorf at the Wellington Hotel, now the Club house. A close chamber was fitted with three steps at one end, and a shower bath at the top. A pipe from a boiler conveyed steam into the chamber, and the bather entered and was steamed lying on one of the steps. When sufficiently steamed he soaped himself and got under the shower bath. He was again steamed in the hot stage, soaped himself) and repeated the shower bath, and so on alternately a 9 long as he pleased, always leaving the bath room in the warm state, and then covering himself up with blankets until dry. If steam is to succeed in cleaning flax I think we have in tbe above a good idea of the principle. The steam to soften the parenohyma gum, and so allow a bath of warm or cold water to remove the refuse, a stop cock being provided to draw it off. The operation to be repeated with or without tbe help of chemicals, until the fibre shall be left in a clean and marketable condition. The object, of course, is to arrive at what temperature and mode of action will effectually clean the fibre without destroying it. Softness and pliability are what should be arrived at. So long as the fibre has the qualities of a stick it can be but of small value. — I have, &c, X,