Editing Flax (section)

== Cultivation ==
Flax is native to the region extending from the eastern [[Mediterranean]] to [[India]] and was first domesticated in the [[Fertile Crescent]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Flax Profile |url=https://www.agmrc.org/commodities-products/grains-oilseeds/flax-profile |website=www.agmrc.org}}</ref> The [[soil]]s most suitable for flax, besides the [[alluvial]] kind, are deep [[loam]]s containing a large proportion of [[organic matter]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grow and Harvest Flax – Materials Matter 2016 |url=https://www.climatecolab.org/contests/2016/materials-matter/c/proposal/1331103 |access-date=25 January 2019 |website=Climate CoLab |language=en}}</ref> Flax is often found growing just above the waterline in [[cranberry]] bogs. Heavy [[clay]]s are unsuitable, as are soils of a [[gravel]]ly or dry [[sand]]y nature. Farming flax requires few [[fertilizer]]s or [[pesticide]]s. Within eight weeks of sowing, the plant can reach {{convert|10|–|15|cm|abbr=on|0}} in height, reaching {{convert|70|–|80|cm|abbr=on}} within 50 days.{{Citation needed|date=June 2021}}
=== History ===
[[File:The Women's Land Army in Britain, 1915-1918 Q30890.jpg|thumb|Flax being harvested during World War&nbsp;I]]
The earliest evidence of humans using wild flax as a [[textile]] comes from the present-day [[Georgia (country)|Republic of Georgia]], where spun, dyed, and knotted wild flax fibers found in [[Dzudzuana Cave]] date to the [[Upper Paleolithic]], 30,000 years ago.<ref name="VintageThreads">{{Cite news |title=These Vintage Threads Are 30,000 Years Old |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112726804&sc=fb&cc=fp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204031535/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112726804&sc=fb&cc=fp |archive-date=4 December 2010 |access-date=13 November 2010 |work=NPR.org |publisher=NPR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Balter |first=M |year=2009 |title=Clothes make the (Hu) Man |journal=Science |volume=325 |issue=5946 |page=1329 |doi=10.1126/science.325_1329a |pmid=19745126}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Kvavadze |first1=E |last2=Bar-Yosef |first2=O |last3=Belfer-Cohen |first3=A |last4=Boaretto |first4=E |last5=Jakeli |first5=N |last6=Matskevich |first6=Z |last7=Meshveliani |first7=T |year=2009 |title=30,000-Year-Old Wild Flax Fibers |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:4270521 |journal=Science |volume=325 |issue=5946 |page=1359 |bibcode=2009Sci...325.1359K |doi=10.1126/science.1175404 |pmid=19745144 |s2cid=206520793|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Humans first domesticated flax in the [[Fertile Crescent]] region.<ref name="Fu">{{Cite journal |last=Fu, Y.-B. |year=2011 |title=Genetic evidence for early flax domestication with capsular dehiscence |journal=Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution |volume=58 |issue=8 |pages=1119–1128 |doi=10.1007/s10722-010-9650-9 |s2cid=22424329}}</ref> Evidence exists of a domesticated oilseed flax with increased seed-size from [[Tell Ramad]] in [[Syria]]<ref name="Fu" /> and [[Linen|flax fabric]] fragments from [[Çatalhöyük]] in [[Turkey]]<ref>{{Cite report |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/206552281/Archive-Report-2013 |title=Çatalhöyük 2013 Archive Report}}</ref> by {{circa|9,000}} years ago. Use of the crop steadily spread, reaching as far as [[Switzerland]] and [[Germany]] by 5,000 years ago.<ref>Barber E. (1991) "Prehistoric Textiles: The Development of Cloth in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages with Special Reference to the Aegean". Princeton University Press, p.12</ref> In China and India, domesticated flax was cultivated at least 5,000 years ago.<ref name="cullis275">{{Cite book |last=Cullis |first=Chris A. |title=Oilseeds |date=2007 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-540-34387-5 |editor-last=Kole |editor-first=Chittaranjan |page=275 |chapter=Flax}}</ref>

Flax was cultivated extensively in [[ancient Egypt]], where the temple walls had paintings of flowering flax, and mummies were embalmed using linen.<ref>Sekhri S. (2011) "Textbook of Fabric Science: Fundamentals to Finishing". PHI Learning Private Limited, New Delhi, p. 76</ref> Egyptian priests wore only linen, as flax symbolized purity.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials |date=1994 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-2-88124-631-9 |editor-last=Wisseman |editor-first=Sarah Underhill |page=124 |doi=10.4324/9781315075396 |editor-last2=Williams |editor-first2=Wendell S. |s2cid=128265510}}</ref> [[Phoenicians]] traded Egyptian linen throughout the [[Mediterranean]] and the [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] used it for their [[sail]]s.<ref>Buchanan R. (2012)  "A Weaver's Garden: Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers". Courier Dover Publications, p. 22</ref> As the [[Roman Empire]] declined, so did flax production.  But with laws designed to publicize the [[hygiene]] of linen textiles and the health of linseed oil, [[Charlemagne]] revived the crop in the eighth century [[Common Era|CE]].<ref name="Wisseman S., p.125">Wisseman S., p.125</ref> Eventually, [[Flanders]] became the major center of the European linen industry in the [[Middle Ages]].<ref name="Wisseman S., p.125" /> In North America, colonists introduced flax, and it flourished there,<ref name="cullis275" /> but by the early 20th century, cheap [[cotton]] and rising farm wages had caused production of flax to become concentrated in northern Russia, which came to provide 90% of the world's output. Since then, flax has lost its importance as a [[commercial crop]], due to the easy availability of more inexpensive synthetic fibres.<ref>(2003) "The Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History, Volume 1" Oxford University Press, p.303.</ref>

=== Diseases ===
{{Main|List of flax diseases}}

=== Production ===
{| class="wikitable" style="float:right; width:14em; text-align:center;"
! colspan="2" |Flax production – 2022
|-
! style="background:#ddf; width:75%;" | Country
! style="background:#ddf; width:25%;" | <small>tonnes</small>
|-
| {{FRA}} ||652,680
|-
| {{BEL}} ||77,910
|-
| {{BLR}} ||47,626
|-
| {{CHN}} ||29,035
|-
| {{RUS}} ||24,103
|-
| '''World''' || '''875,995'''
|-
| colspan="2" |<small>Source: [[FAOSTAT]] of the [[United Nations]]<ref name="fao">{{Cite web |date=2024 |title=Flax (raw or retted) production in 2022; Crops/Regions/World List/Production Quantity (from pick lists) |url=http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QC |access-date=7 June 2024 |publisher=UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Statistics Division (FAOSTAT)}}</ref></small>
|}

In 2022, world production of raw or [[retting|retted]] flax was 875,995 [[tonne]]s, led by [[France]] with 75% of the total.<ref name="fao" /> One of the largest regions in France for flax production is [[Normandy]] with nearly one-third of the world's production.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Beauvais |first1=François |last2=Cantat |first2=Olivier |last3=Le Gouée |first3=Patrick |last4=Brunel-Muguet |first4=Sophie |last5=Madeline |first5=Philippe |last6=Gaillard |first6=Hervé |last7=Bataille |first7=Marie-Paule |last8=Sallent |first8=Augustin |last9=Preux |first9=Thibaut |last10=Medjkane |first10=Mohand |date=2022 |title=Consequences of climate change on flax fiber in Normandy by 2100: prospective bioclimatic simulation based on data from the ALADIN-Climate and WRF regional models |journal=Theoretical and Applied Climatology |volume=148 |issue=1–2 |pages=415–426 |bibcode=2022ThApC.148..415B |doi=10.1007/s00704-022-03938-4 |issn=0177-798X}}</ref>

=== Harvesting ===
{{More citations needed section|date=June 2021}}

==== Maturation ====
Flax is harvested for fiber production after about 100 days, or a month after the plants flower, and two weeks after the seed capsules form. The bases of the plants begin to turn yellow. If the plants are still green, the seed will not be useful, and the fiber will be underdeveloped. The fiber degrades once the plants turn brown.

Flax grown for seed is allowed to mature until the seed capsules are yellow and just starting to split; it is then harvested in various ways. A [[combine harvester]] may either cut only the heads of the plants, or the whole plant. These are then dried to extract the seed. The amount of weeds in the straw affects its marketability, and this, coupled with market prices, determines whether the farmer chooses to harvest the flax straw. If the flax straw is not harvested, typically, it is burned, since the stalks are quite tough and decompose slowly (''i.e.'', not in a single season). Formed into [[windrow]]s from the harvesting process, the straw often clogs up tillage and planting equipment. Flax straw of insufficient quality for fiber use can be baled to build shelters for farm animals, sold as biofuel, or removed from the field in the spring.<ref>{{Citation |last=Michael Raine |title=The last straw: nine ways to handle flax straw |date=27 March 2008 |work=The Western Producer |url=http://www.producer.com/2008/03/the-last-straw-nine-ways-to-handle-flax-straw/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518092042/http://www.producer.com/2008/03/the-last-straw-nine-ways-to-handle-flax-straw/ |archive-date=18 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Two ways are used to harvest flax fiber, one involving mechanized equipment (combines), and the second method, is more manual and targets maximum fiber length.

==== Harvesting for fiber ====

===== Mechanical =====
Flax for fiber production is usually harvested by a specialized flax harvester. Usually built on the same machine base as a combine, but instead of the cutting head, it has a flax puller. The flax plant is turned over and is gripped by rubber belts roughly 20–25&nbsp;cm (8–10&nbsp;inches) above ground, to avoid getting grasses and weeds in the flax. The rubber belts then pull the whole plant out of the ground with the roots so the whole length of the plant fiber can be used. The plants then pass over the machine and are placed on the field crosswise to the harvester's direction of travel. The plants are left in the field for field [[retting]].

The mature plant can also be cut with mowing equipment, similar to hay harvesting, and raked into windrows. When dried sufficiently, a combine then harvests the seeds similar to wheat or oat harvesting.

===== Manual =====
The plant is pulled up with the roots (not cut), so as to increase the fiber length. After this, the flax is allowed to dry, the seeds are removed, and it is then [[Retting|retted]]. Depending upon climatic conditions, characteristics of the sown flax, and fields, the flax remains on the ground between two weeks and two months for retting. As a result of alternating rain and the sun, an enzymatic action degrades the pectins that bind fibers to the straw. The farmers turn over the straw during retting to evenly rett the stalks. When the straw is retted and sufficiently dry, it is rolled up. It is then stored by farmers before extracting the fibers.
[[File:Emile Claus001.jpg|thumb|''De vlasoogst'' (1904) ("''The flax harvest''") painting by [[Emile Claus]], [[Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium]], [[Brussels]], [[Belgium]]]]

=== Processing ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2021}}
[[File:Hatchel of the Bugg Family.jpg|thumb|A hackle or heckle, a tool for threshing flax and preparing the fiber]]
[[File:58-aspetti di vita quotidiana,abbigliamento lino,Taccuino Sa.jpg|thumb|upright|Flax tissues, [[Tacuinum sanitatis]], 14th century]]
[[Threshing]] is the process of removing the seeds from the rest of the plant. Separating the usable flax fibers from other components requires pulling the stems through a hackle and/or beating the plants to break them.

Flax processing is divided into two parts: the first part is generally done by the farmer, to bring the flax fiber into a fit state for general or common purposes. This can be performed by three machines: one for threshing out the seed, one for breaking and separating the straw (stem) from the fiber, and one for further separating the broken straw and matter from the fiber.

The second part of the process brings the flax into a state for the very finest purposes, such as [[lace]], [[cambric]], [[damask]], and very fine [[linen]]. This second part is performed by a refining machine.