Scotty Working, age 12, of Glenwood Springs, Colo., for his question:

What is flax?

The farmers of Egypt were growing flax 5, 000 years ago. Then, as now, it was used to make linen. The fine linen of Caesar’s toga came from flax plants. The petticoats of Elizabeth I of England were woven from linen made from flax, The fine cloths from Ireland are made from flax,

The flax plant is a tall and slender herb. Its small flowers are usually blue as the skyp though sometimes it has white or pale pink blossoms, Flax is choosey about where it will grow. It likes short summers with plenty of showers„ Most American flax for linen is grown in Oregon.

For centuries the seed of the flax teas _ used only for planting. Then it was discovered that linseed oil and meal to fatten cattle could be made from it, Flax grown for linen is taller than flax grown just for the seed. Seed flax likes a drier climate, It thrives in Minnesota and the Dakotas, With irrigation, it grows through the California winter.

Flax for linen is harvested when the seeds are ripe. It is bundled and left to dry in the fields, It is then gathered and the seeds threshed out. In olden days this was done with paddles. Nowadays much of this work is done by machines, The next job is to remove the peel from the strong, silky, supple threads of linen inside,

This job calls for a long soak in water, We use the old, old word for this job and call it retting the flax. Often it is done in a river. Wooden dams are built to hold the flax from floating away. It stays there about three weeks, The job can be done in warm water in about four days,

The flax is then dried and threshed again with paddles, this time to loosen and remove the outsides of the stems. Then it is ready to be sent to the weaving mill. The long# silky threads are washed and combed. Shorter threads are sorted for making less perfect yarns, The yarn is spun and wound onto spools. Now the wonder fiber is ready for weaving into yard goods for fine handkerchiefs, tablecloths and clothes.

Flax grown for sees also gathered, dried and threshed. In this case it is the seeds that are sent to the factory. There they go through squeezing and pressing machines, The oil that is squeezed out is linseed oil.  Much of it is marketed for mixing with paints and varnishes, Some goes to make oilcloth and linoleum. Some goes into making candles or printer's ink.

The pulpy mass left after the oil is removed also goes to market, It is a rich meal for fattening cattle. The flax seed farmer also uses the linen threads left after the seeds are threshed. The threads in this kind of flax are shorter and courser than in that grown for liner. Some are used to make twine others in paper making and some are bundled together to make stuffing for furniture,

Nowadays more flax is grown for seed than for linen but it was once the most important fiber crop in the world, Every well dressed girl had a wardrobe stuffed with fine linens and linen underwear. Our word lingeries dates back to when flaxy not cotton, was king of the fiber crops,