Article by Bernard Coventry, Director of the Agricultural Research Institute at Pusa, reviewing a century of attempts to grow and process flax for fibre in India, from Roxburgh's early trials near Calcutta through the 1839-41 company experiments and the 1856-60 trials in the Punjab and North-Western Provinces. It quotes a planter's account of a heated-tank retting installation at Beerghem, Belgium, and gives figures from recent trials at Dooriah in Behar on seed rates, yields, costs and profit per acre. Coventry concludes that flax can be grown and manufactured in India, but that skilled instruction in retting, breaking and scutching is essential for commercial success.