LETTER OF SUBMITTAL. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, SIR: In accordance with instructions in my commission from the Secretary of Agriculture, under date of July 11, 1889, I have the honor to submit herewith a report embodying the account of my investigations and studies in Europe last season, in relation to flax and hemp culture, and flax and ramie machinery and processes, together with special chapters on the present status of the flax, hemp, ramie, and jute industries in the United States. In the preparation of this document many interesting and useful facts have been omitted necessarily, for reasons given in my introductory remarks, but I trust enough has been presented to fully answer the questions of the many correspondents of the Department, and others, who are seeking information relating to these fibers, at the present time. I am, sir, respectfully yours, CHARLES RICHARDS DODGE, Special Agent, In charge of Fiber Investigations. Hon. EDWIN WILLITS, 5 INTRODUCTION. During the season of 1889 I spent some six months in Europe, where, among other things, I was commissioned to study the foreign practices or methods of fiber culture, chiefly of flax and hemp, and to investigate the new machinery for the cleaning of these fibrous plants, as well as the important machines or processes for the decortication of ramie. Through my official connection with the American Commission to the Paris Exposition, many facilities for the pursuit of this undertaking were afforded which otherwise might not have been available, and through which I was able to secure much valuable information. At the close of my labors in behalf of the American Commission, the inquiries were continued as a special agent of the Department of Agriculture, and on my return to the United States in November last, a similiar line of investigation was entered upon for this country, with a view to bringing the knowledge of the progress and present status of the fiber industry, on both sides of the ocean, up to date. It was intended to embody this information in a special report, to be published at an early date, and which should cover the ground as completely as possible. As the work proceeded, however, and was pushed in different directions, it soon appeared that only a small part of the valuable material which would be available could be published in a bulletin of forty or fifty pages, as originally intended, and to wait for the completion of the full report would delay too long the printing of the special information obtained abroad, which it was desired to publish at once. The present report is issued, therefore, as preliminary to the final report, in which not only flax, hemp, ramie, and jute will be treated as fully as possible, but many other fibers of commercial interest, or that might from their cultivation add to the resources of our country. The present report is arranged in two parts, the first relating to fiber matters and machines in Europe, while in the second is presented some interesting facts regarding the present status of flax and hemp culti vation in the United States, together with some important statements bearing upon ramie. Much interesting material upon the subject of indigenous fiber plants, or others which might be successfully cultivated here, has been collected, but this must necessarily await the publication of the later report. Before closing, I wish to make my acknowledgments to the following persons to whom I am especially indebted for favors or assistance in the prosecution of my investigations abroad. To General William B. Franklin, commissioner-general of the United States to the Paris Exposition of 1889, for his kind co-operation in and hearty appreciation of the work in hand. In France, to M. Leopold Faye, minister of agriculture, M. Eugene Tisserand, director of agriculture, and M. Henri Grosjean, inspector of agricultural instruction, for official papers and special information. To M. P. A. Favier, of Paris, for statements regarding ramie culture and manufacture, together with a complete series of specimens. To Alfred Renouard, jr., of Lille, for references and information. In Belgium to M. J. Cartuyvels, director of the administration of agriculture, for sets of official documents, and to M. Paul De Vuyst, state agronomist, and to Prof. Adolphe Damseau, director of the state agricultural experiment station, who visited with me some of the flax fields of the Brabant, and furnished me with valuable facts regarding the special practice in this district and in other portions of Belgium as well. To M. Frederick D'Hont, director of the communal laboratory of chemistry and agriculture at Courtrai, through whose untiring endeavors I was enabled to learn much regarding the culture and management of flax in Flanders, and especially of the treatment of flax along the River Lys. For valuable aid and kind offices in England I am indebted to Dr. D. Morris, assistant director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, and to Edmund J. Moffat, United States deputy consul-general, London, for assistance and favors. In Ireland I was placed under obligations to Mr. John Orr Wallace, Mr. William Morton, secretary of the Flax Supply Association, to Mr. F. W. Smith, editor of the Irish Textile Journal, and to Mr. J. Carmichael Allen, for useful information, statistics, and documents. And I gratefully recall the memory of another Belfast gentleman whose acquaintance was made in Paris, and to whom I was indebted for much that made my brief stay in Ireland pleasant and instructive, and through whose influence doors were opened to me that might otherwise have remained closed, the late William K. Brown, J. P., of the firm of John S. Brown & Sons. To the flax and hemp manufacturers and growers in the United States, the ramie experimenters, and all others in this country, who have taken an interest in the present investigation, or have in any way aided in the work, I beg to make acknowledgment, and to thank them for their kind efforts in behalf of American agriculture. |