the Central Provinces. (G. Watt.) LINUM usitatissimum sively for its seed, and that it was always short and bushy, seldom exceeding one foot in height. "Captain MacDougall, Honorary Secretary of the Nagpúr Agricultural and Horticultural Society, wrote that wherever the plant is raised in that locality, thick, indeed immoderately thick, sowing was the rule, which is the reverse of the practice in North India, and that the exception will only be met with at headlands of fields, where the individual plant, having air and room, tillers out and becomes bushy. "Again,' he continues, the inference to be gained from Mr. D'Oyly's wish to see thick sowing followed in order to gain fibre-namely, that the plant will run tall and thin-is refuted by the habit of the plant, as seen in our fields. Nowhere does the present system of thick sowing produce plants more than a foot in height, with perhaps five or six seed capsules.' Captain MacDougall, moreover, differs from all the opinions expressed as to the kind of soil which is most suitable to the growth of flax. He observes that it is plain that there is a great want in the plants grown in the Central Provinces of that woody tissue which constitutes the strength of the bark, the portion from which the flax would be scutched; and he attributes the want of this tissue to the plant being grown in the stiff black clay of the cotton soil, which, unless well stirred up and rendered friable, would prevent its roots permeating downwards into the subsoil and there gathering nourishment. He also gives another reason, vis., that the plant is solely treated as a rabi crop instead of as a late kharif one. Treated as a rabí crop,' he argues, the plant has not as good a chance of nourishment as a late kharif crop would ensure. If during the cold weather there are heavy dews and occasional sharp showers of rain, such as sometimes fall about the Dewali and Christmas, the crop gains something; but still this is hardly sufficient, for the soil does not absorb the quantity of water thus given to any great depth, and the roots (unless it is a good free soil) have still to struggle hard to get downward to meet the moisture stored up in the subsoil. The result of the present system of cultivation is that the roots, from want of a nice, light, and free bed remain near the upper surface, and the life of the plant never exceeds four and a half montlis.' "In order to gain a satisfactory result, this is what should, in Captain MacDougall's opinion, be done: If patient attempts are persistently made year by year to change the habit of the plant, and we could succeed in sowing it on well-ploughed and manured land in August with its life prolonged to February, I feel confident we should find a marked improvement both in flax and seed-bearing properties.' "Captain MacDougall cannot quite see the cause of the alarm as to the effects of thin sowing expressed by Mr. D'Oyly; and he says that a plant can tiller and yet give shoots. He compares the flax-producing plant to wheat, and observes that a single seed of the latter sown in good soil will give five and six (if not more) stalks, each of equal length, strength and productiveness. "The Chief Commissioner, referring to the allusion made by Mr. D'Oyly in paragraph 13 of his report to certain experiments made by Mr. J. B. Williams in the Jubbulpore District, says that they have been discontinued, and practically they did not result in much. This gentleman, it seems, who for many years was in charge of the Thuggy School of Industry in that district, prepared the fibre, but had no idea of its commercial value. His fibre attracted notice in Calcutta, thanks to his having to send some valuable glass-ware to the care of Messrs. Colvin, Cowie & Co., which he packed with this fibre. It appears that Mr. Williams even received orders from a Calcutta firm to supply any quantity he could. CULTIVA TION. Central Provinces. LINUM. usitatissimum. CULTIVA TION. Central Provinces. IN BERAR. 26 Flax Cultivation But no account is given as to the particular manner in which these plants were cultivated, nor is it stated what the length of the flax was when prepared. Mr. Williams' business was subsequently purchased by Messrs. Maclean and Warwick, but it is not known whether this new firm still carries it on. "An ex-partner of Mr. Williams' (a native) writes that the 'gundy sunn' produced in Jubbulpore used to be purchased by them in co-partnership and forwarded to Calcutta, and that sometimes a little used to be shipped to England. In the publications of the Agri.-Horticultural Society no mention is made of Flax in the Central Provinces, though several papers deal with Linseed (see below). V.-BERAR. The Resident at Hyderabad transmitted to the Government of India the reports contributed by the local officers of the Assigned Districts. The Officiating Commissioner of West Berar (Major J. G. Bell), for example, wrote: "In this division last year it was estimated that 162,693 acres of land were under oil-seeds, of which a large proportion may be taken to be linseed. An acre of good land in a good season is estimated to produce 250 seers of linseed, and the average price in 1869-70 was from R18 to R20 per candy of 540 seers. In 1872-73 the prices, it is said, rose to R65 per candy. Linseed is chiefly grown for the sake of oil, for the purpose of extracting which it is mixed with the kurdee seed (Carthamus tinctorius). The stalks of the linseed plant are thrown away or burnt, though occasionally they are used for thatching huts. "The Assistant Cotton Commissioner, East Berar, reported that the rich and loamy soils in the Purna valley will be best adapted for cultivating flax, and also such lands as are subject to inundation by the waters of the Purna and Wurdha rivers. He adds that ulsee is now grown on the best and cleanest lands, but that he is unable to say whether flax cultivation would pay better than ulsee (linseed), and he is therefore desirous of growing some seed on an acre or two of land in the Purna valley. "The Resident states that it appears that, although flax is cultivated to some extent in those districts, it is chiefly for the object of extracting oil rather than for the manufacture of fibre. "This preference of the people for the extraction of oil is attributed to the shortness of the stems, as well as the greater expense and trouble of converting them into flax as compared with hemp [Crotalaria ?-Ed.]. The Resident states, moreover, that cotton, jowari, and wheat are the staple products, and that so long as the rayats find these more profitable than any others, there is but little hope of flax being taken up by them willingly for more extended cultivation than at present obtains. On the receipt of the circular a plot of land in the model farm at Akola was sown, however, with flax by way of experiment, and a communication on the result of this trial was promised in due course. But, as the farm has since been abolished, it may be inferred that the experiment came to nothing. "The Resident expresses his readiness to give effect to any general measure which the Government of India may direct in view to the extension of the cultivation and manufacture of flax in Berar." In Vol. X. of the Journal of the Agri. Horticultural Society of India (p. 97), Captain Ivor Campbell states that he forwarded, in 1856, a sample of flax and coarse cloth made of it which he had prepared in North Berar. He then writes: "Although this district furnishes a large proportion of the linseed which is exported from Bombay, and last year there were more than 100,000 bighas of land under the cultivation, the people were not aware that the plant, which is sown wide apart, for seed only, produced any fibre." VI.-BOMBAY. The Government of Bombay submitted a summary of information which had been furnished by the Commissioner in Sind and the Revenue Commissioners of the Northern and Southern Divisions of the Presidency, in reply to the Government of India's Circular letter on the subject of Flax : "In Sind no flax is grown except in the Upper Sind frontier district, where flax alone is grown to a very limited extent for local use only, the zemindars making ropes from it. Two acres would cover the whole area grown annually for the whole district. "The Collector of Karachi, in 1869, obtained 11 maunds and 3 seers of linseed from Fleming & Co., and distributed it among fifty-three different zemindars in the Sihwan taluk. The result was not very successful : the average produce was threefold; in some cases it was thirty-one times the amount of seed. The Collector attributes the failure of the crop to inattention and ignorance on the part of the zemindars, but considers that an experiment conducted at the Hola Government farm could not but have good results. "In Belgaum and Kanara flax is grown to a very limited extent. "It is reported by the Collectors of Poona, Dharwar, and Belgaum to be used in making cords and ropes; oil is extracted from its seed, and the refuse is turned into cakes for cattle. "Northern Division.—In this division flax is grown to a limited extent, oil being extracted from the seed for local use. But nowhere is it grown for the sake of the fibre. "The Government of Bombay also forwarded two letters from Mr. W. F. Sinclair C.S., Assistant Collector, Kolaba, containing his observations on the possible development of the production of flax in that Presidency and the preparation of the fibre. In acknowledging the receipt of these letters, which are given below, the Government of India expressed a hope that His Excellency the Governor in Council might find it practicable to extend some encouragement to Mr. Sinclair in carrying out the experiments he proposed to undertake." The following passages from Mr. Sinclair's letter are of considerable interest, and may, therefore, be reproduced here:-" The flax plant (Linum usitatissimum) is very largely cultivated in Khandesh, and also, I believe, in Násik and Nuggur. The linseed alone is used; the fibre, which is useless as fodder, is thrown away. It is obvious that, since it pays to cultivate the crop for the sake of the seed alone, a very small success in utilising the fibre now wasted would be profitable. I may remark aliter that hemp also is much cultivated here without regard to the fibre ; but that of our Indian variety has been, I believe, proved by experiment to be of little value. The contrary, I think, is the case with the flax. The plant is short and branchy, unlike the long single stem of that raised in Europe from seed chiefly furnished by Russia and Belgium. (Ireland produces no linseed; England little for agricultural purposes, the climate being unfavourable.) The Indian flax, therefore, is what cotton merchants call short in staple; but it is not deficient in tenacity, and would be worth, if properly prepared, at least £25 per ton in the Irish market. The present lowest price is £35 to £40 per ton, so I have allowed a good margin. "It may be worth while to describe the Irish process of preparing flax. The plant is pulled up by the roots when the seed is nearly ripe, steeped in water for some time, and then rolled or beaten to break up the pith. It is next scutched, i.e., submitted to an action like that of loosely-set CULTIVA- IN BOMBAY. 27 LINUM usitatissimum. CULTIVA- 66 Flax Cultivation scissor-blades, whereby the fibre is cleared of the broken refuse, called "In the Panjáb, first-rate machinery, skilled labour, and Riga seed were imported. The article produced was at the top of the market, but the production was insufficient to keep the machinery going. The Belfast men got tired of waiting for profits, and the Government of advancing subsidies; the chief manager died, I think, and the whole concern rotted away, after a fashion not unfortunately outside of our own experience in industrial enterprise. The matter had been pushed too fast, and without regard to the caution of the rayat in venturing upon any new thing before he feels the ground firm under his feet. "Upon understanding these things, I turned my attention during my leave, which was spent in the flax districts of Ulster, to the process of hand-beating and hand-scutching. These are chiefly performed by women; the former with the beetle' used in cookery (which would be efficiently replaced by its Indian representative, the musal or rice-pestle), and sometimes, where horse-power is available, the flax is rolled in a machine exactly like our Indian chunamchakar or lime-mill. The handscutching is done with tools that any village carpenter could make out of a two-dozen claret case, and so small that I brought the most important out with me in my portmanteau. The fibre, however, is inferior to that which is machine-scutched. "I am certain that at a slight expense in tuition the rayats could be taught to use these tools and prepare an article saleable in Belfast and Dundee at remunerative prices; and that when at the end of a few years the trade had taken root, the time would come for the importation of seed and the erection of machinery, which could in many cases be set up in the cottonginning mills already in existence. No steam machinery is better fitted for use in India, because scutchers can 'fire up with shoves,' i.e., depend chiefly upon their own refuse for fuel. I should add that they are more in danger from fire than most other trades, and can seldom effect an in surance. "The process of production would be shortly as follows: After pulling, the flax would be rippled, i.e., stripped of its seed by hand or by pulling it through a 'rippling comb,' which consists of a set of iron teeth set upright in a block. The seed would then be laid out to finish ripening, and the 'reed' or stalk stacked till the monsoon (flax is a rabi or cold-weather crop), when it would be steeped with proper precaution against the pollu. in Bombay. tion of rivers by the poisonous flax broth,' broken and scutched by the cultivators' wives, and pressed or half-pressed, like cotton, for export to Belfast or Dundee, from both of which places I have valuable assurances of interest in the matter. "At present the flax supply is diminishing in Ireland, from the high price of labour and the rapid conversion of arable land into pasture, which is the main feature in the phase of agricultural progress through which that country is now passing. I have the high authority of M. Emile de Laveleye for the fact that the former cause is producing a similar effect in Flanders. Of Holland I do not know. Russia produces much fair flax; Egypt some very bad and some very good. I am promised details with regard to the last-named country, and shall in the meantime be glad to answer any reference Government may please to make upon the subject, and to put my information and materials at the disposal of any officer who may feel inclined to take the matter up. I should propose the despatch of samples of this year's crop to England for examination, and the engagement of hands to teach the scutching for a couple of years." Mr. Sinclair's further letter ran thus:—“The technical vocabulary of the flax trade is as follows: : "Flax " means, firstly, the whole crop; secondly, the fibre after it has been scutched, in which state the spinners buy it. "Linseed " or "seed, "—the seed. "Reed, "-the stalk, of which the fibre is the outer part. "Rippling, "-the separation of the seed from the reed. 66 Scutching, "-the separation of the fibre from the pith. "Breaking," "rolling," or "beating" is the operation of preparing the flax for scutching which is done either by mere pounding or by passing between rollers at a high pressure. "Shoves' are the broken refuse of pith and bad fibre which remains after scutching. In Ireland this refuse is generally used as fuel; but the Dundee men work it up into sacking, and it is also much used in making roofing-felt. "Retting' is the steeping of the flax in water to facilitate the separation of fibre from pith. "Beets' are the bundles or sheaves in which flax is tied up for the retting. 666 Scutching handle' is a wooden tool about 28 inches long, 4 inches wide, and Ifb in weight. It is bevelled off at the edge. "Scutching-block, -a plank set up on edge and so bevelled above as to correspond to the scutching-handle. It is nailed to a block, stool, or table, to keep it steady. The bundle of broken flax is held in the left hand over its edge, and turned and exposed to sharp drawing cuts of the scutching-handle, which separate shoves from the fibre. The bevelled edges of the block and handle are turned away from each other during this operation. "So effective are these simple instruments that those worked by steam differ from them very little in shape or application. "I would suggest that the model farms might, if they conveniently can, send in each six samples of 1ft a piece, viz., three of untouched straw and three of flax cleaned, the best way they can. A chattiful of any water (not containing lime in solution) would steep 3ft of flax very easily. A few blows of a rice-pounder, or passing it under a chunam-mill or gardenroller, would break it, and some primitive attempt might be made at scutching so small a quantity. If the model farms think they cannot manage it, and will send me the flax, I will try it. The test of sufficient steeping is a green slime which comes off easily between finger and thumb; CULTIVA- Bombay. |