Growing flax

Flax Linum usitatissium is grown for linen cloth and paper.

The bast fiber (the outer layers of the stem) of textile flax is the source of elegant linen. Linen rags, cuttings, and threads have been used as the feedstock for papermaking for two thousand (or more) years. More recently the straw (whole stem) from linseed oil flax (flax cultivated for its seed) has been used for the manufacture of cigarette and other high-quality papers. Its high tear and tensile strength is superior to wood pulps. Like hemp and bamboo, flax yields multiple products. Paper has been a lower-value end product.

Fiber flax does best in temperate climates. It is more fickle than oilseed flax, and originally grew in areas with cool, moist springs, moderate summers and rich soil (Belgium and Ireland). In 1843, Sarah Damon Owen brought flax seed west by ox cart from Kentucky, and was amazed that the fiber flax did so well. The flax industry boomed in Oregon, especially during World War II, when European nations stopped exporting.