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The moisture and the heat cause a growth of bacteria which proceeds with more or less rapidity according to the temperature and other conditions. A putrefactive fermentation is thus set up which softens the gummy substance holding the fibres together. The process is known as "retting," and after it is completed the fibres are easily isolated from each other.

The bacillus which produces the "retting" is known now, however, and it has been shown that the "retting" is a process of decomposition of the pectin cement. No method of separating the linen fibres in the flax from the wood fibres has yet been devised which dispenses with the aid of bacteria. Jute and Hemp.

The linen industry, which more and more took the lead, recruited its labour in the same way, not only in Flanders but also in Brabant, Holland and Hainault. The flax of the country provided excellent raw material, notably in the region of the Lys, whose water was specially suitable for retting. In 1530, England bought from Flanders 100,000 marks' worth of linen in the course of the year.

Putrefaction attacks all kinds of vegetable tissue, and if this "retting" continues too long the desired fibre is decidedly injured by the softening effect of the fermentation.

"An article we can illustrate, showing the hemp and flax growing in Russia and Italy, then all the business of pulling, steeping and retting, drying and scutching. That would be one chapter." "It shall be done. I see it I see the whole thing an elegant brochure and well within my power. I am fired with the thought. There is only one objection, however." "None in the world.

Thus the process of decortication is effectively accomplished in a few minutes, instead of requiring, as it sometimes does in the retting process, days, and even weeks, and being at the best attended with uncertainty as to results, as is also the case when decortication is effected by machinery.

As in the case of linen, a fermentation by bacteria is depended upon as a means of softening the material so that the fibres can be disassociated. The process is called "retting," as in the linen manufacture. The details of the process are somewhat different.

The above operation of detaching the bast layer from the stem is technically known as "retting," and a good type of retting or steeping place is an off-set of a run, branch, or stream where the water moves slowly, or even remains at rest, during the time the plants are under treatment.

Moreover, the retting process, which is simply steeping the cut plants in water, is a delicate operation, requiring constant watching, to say nothing of its serious inconvenience from a sanitary point of view, on account of the pestilential emanations from the retteries. Decortication by steam having been effected, the work of M. Favier ceases, and the process is carried forward by M. Fremy.

If the water supply is deficient in the vicinity where the plants are grown, it may be advantageous to convey the fibrous layers to some other place provided with a better supply of water for the final washing and drying; imperfect retting and cleaning are apt to create defects in the fibre, and to cause considerable trouble or difficulties in subsequent branches of the industry.