A paper by H. R. Carter of Belfast, read to the Textile Institute and printed in its Journal in November 1913, on separating (decorticating) fibre from flax, hemp, jute, ramie and the leaf fibres such as sisal, Manila and New Zealand flax. It covers retting methods (pool, river-crate, vat and dew retting), the scutching of flax, and the Belgian flax industry along the Lys. A large part describes decorticating, stripping, washing and scutching machines, many shown in photographs and line drawings, with yields, speeds and power requirements. The paper ends with a list of exhibited fibre samples and the recorded discussion.