Textiles and Clothing | Page 6

from a little over a half to one-third or less of the weight of the fleece.
[Sidenote: Hydroscopic Moisture]
Wool has the remarkable property of absorbing up to 30 per cent or more of its weight of water and yet not feel perceptibly damp to the touch. This is called "hydroscopic moisture." To this property wool owes its superiority as a textile for underclothing.
[Illustration: WOOL SORTING]
The thoroughly cleansed fiber is made up chiefly of the chemical substance keratin, being similar in composition to horn and feathers. In burning it gives off a characteristic disagreeable odor. It is a substance very weakly acid in its nature, for which reason it combines readily with many dyes. Wool resists the action of acids very well, but is much harmed by the alkalis, being dissolved completely by a warm solution of caustic soda. High temperature harms wool.
FLAX
Next to wool and cotton, flax is used most largely in our textile manufactures. The linen fiber consists of the bast cells of certain species of flax grown in Europe, Africa, and the United States. All bast fibers are obtained near the outer surface of the plant stems. The pith and woody tissues are of no value. The flax plant is an annual and to obtain the best fibers it must be gathered before it is fully ripe. To obtain seed from which the best quality of linseed oil can be made it is usually necessary to sacrifice the quality of the fibers to some extent.
[Illustration: FLAX]
[Sidenote: Treatment of Flax]
Unlike cotton, flax is contaminated by impurities from which it must be freed before it can be woven into cloth. The first process to which the freshly pulled flax is submitted is that of "rippling" or the removal of the seed capsules. Retting, next in order, is the most important operation. This is done to remove the substances which bind the bast fibers to each other and to remove the fiber from the central woody portion of the stem. This consists of steeping the stalks in water.
[Illustration: A FIELD OF FLAX IN MINNESOTA
The Flax Must Be Pulled Up by the Roots to Give Fibres with Tapered Ends.
(Photograph of C. R. Dodge).]
[Sidenote: Retting]
(1) Cold water retting, either running or stagnant water. (2) Dew retting. (3) Warm water retting.
[Illustration: RETTING TANK A--Inlet; B--Undisturbed Water; C--Bundles of Flax.]
Cold water retting in running water is practiced in Belgium. Retting in stagnant water is the method usually employed in Ireland and Russia. The retting in stagnant water is more rapidly done, but there is danger of over-retting on account of the organic matter retained in the water which favors fermentation. In this case the fiber is weakened.
[Illustration: RETTING FLAX IN THE RIVER LYS, BELGIUM
From the Government Bulletin, "Flax for Seed and Fiber."]
In dew retting, the flax is spread on the field and exposed to the action of the weather for several weeks without any previous steeping. This method of retting is practiced in Germany and Russia. Warm water retting and chemical retting have met with limited success.
When the retting is complete, the flax is set up in sheaves to dry. The next operations consist of "breaking," "scutching," and "hackling" and are now done by machinery.
[Illustration: FIBERS OF FLAX]
Breaking removes the woody center from the retted and dried flax by being passed through a series of fluted rollers. The particles of woody matter adhering to the fibers are detached by scutching.
[Sidenote: Hackling]
Hackling or combing still further separates the fibers into their finest filaments--"line" and "tow." The "flax line" is the long and valuable fiber; the tow, the short coarse tangled fiber which is spun and used for weaving coarse linen.
[Illustration: FLAX
A, Unthrashed Straw; B, Retted; C, Cleaned or Scutched; D, Hackled or Dressed.
(Photograph of C. R. Dodge).]
[Illustration: HACKLING FLAX BY HAND
The "Tow" Is Seen at the Left and a Bunch of "Flax line" on the Bench.
(Photograph of C. R. Dodge, Special Agent U. S. Department of Agriculture.)]
[Sidenote: Characteristics of Linen]
When freed from all impurities the chief physical characteristics of flax are its snowy whiteness, silky luster and great tenacity. The individual fibers may be from ten to twelve inches in length; they are much greater in diameter than cotton. It is less pliant and elastic than cotton and bleaches and dyes less readily. Linen cloth is a better conductor of heat than cotton and clothing made from it is cooler. When pure, it is, like cotton, nearly pure cellulose.
[Sidenote: Ramie]
Besides the linen, there is a great number of bast fibers fit for textile purposes, some superior, some inferior. India alone has over three hundred plants that are fiber yielding. One-third of these furnish useful fibers for cordage and fabrics. The next in importance to linen is ramie or rhea, and China grass. China grass comes from a different plant but is about the same as ramie. The