Flax, hemp, and nettles are examples of a number of plants which produce long, elastic fibers that can be used for making cloth. The bast fibers, as they are known, surround the water-bearing cells of the plant stem. There is not much discussion on the web of the function of the bast fibers in the plants themselves, but they are usually found closely associated with woody material (lignin) providing structural strength for the stem. Perhaps the elastic bast fibers serve to add elasticity, and resist breakage of the stems. In any case
- From the stalks the bast fibers must be got out whole and in spinnable condition. The fibers still possess their natural oil and gum and are bound together, and to the woody stem, by the plant substance known as pectose. This must be broken down by decomposition in order to extract the fibers. From the earliest times, the common method has been to subject the stalks to the action of water either in pools or streams — the surer and quicker way — or by exposure in the fields to the dews and rains, a somewhat longer and less certain means. Source:Barker, 1917:508.
The process of removing the woody material from the bast is known as "retting". There are a number of ways that retting can be accomplished, as suggested above. In pioneer settlements, exposure to the elements by leaving the stalks in the field, was the usual method of retting. In any case, the essential element of the retting process was to allow bacteria to work on the woody elements, in effect "rotting" them. Thus, early records of Augusta County often refer to "winter rotted" flax, meaning flax plants that had been harvested, and left to "rett" in the fields.
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