- 454 LINE. 
ploughed. At seed time harrow the land well before the seed is 
distributed, then cover the seed to a sufficient depth by giving 
a close double tine of the harrows. Water-furrow the land, 
and remove any stones or roots that may remain on the surface, 
which finishes the process. 
The ordinary season of sowing flax-seed is from the middle 
of March to the end of April, but the last week of March and 
the first 10 days of April is esteemed the best time, and accord- 
ingly within these periods the greatest quantity of flax-seed is 
sown in this country. In France and Italy it is often sown in 
the autumn, by which a larger crop is produced, especially when 
seed is desired. 
The quantity of seed depends upon the intention of the crop. 
When a crop of seed is intended to be taken, thin sowing is pre- 
ferable, in order that the plants may have room to throw out 
lateral shoots, and to obtain air in the blossoming and filling 
season. Bit it is a mistake to sow thin when flax is intended 
to be taken, for the crop then becomes coarse, and often unpro- 
ductive. From eight to ten pecks per acre is the proper quan- 
tity when flax is intended, but when seed is the object six pecks 
is sufficient, for seed from thick sown crops is never so good, 
nor so abundant. (Donaldson.) Inthe choice of seed, that which 
is of a bright, brownish colour, oily to the feel, and at the same 
time weighty, is considered the best. Linseed imported from 
various countries is employed. That brought from Holland is 
in the highest estimation, as it not only ripens sooner than any 
other that is imported, but also produces greater crops, and flax 
of that quality which best suits the chief manufactures of the 
country. American seed produces in common fine flax, but 
neither the quantity of flax, nor capsules, nor are they so large 
as the produce of Dutch linseed. Riga seed yields a very 
coarse sort of flax, but greater in quantity of seed than any 
other. It is common in some parts of Scotland to sow seed 
saved from the crops of the preceding year, especially when 
that crop was raised from seed imported from Holland. The 
success of this practice is found to depend greatly on changing 
the seed from one sort of soil to another of an opposite nature. 
But. the saving in the expense of purchasing that sort of seed in 
place of what is newly imported from Holland is so inconsider- 
able, and the risk of the crop misgiving so much greater in the 
one case than in the other, that those only who are ignorant of 
the consequences, or who are compelled from necessity, are 
chargeable with this act of ill-judged parsimony. Flax-seed 
is by some farmers changed every three years in succession 
without perceiving any degeneracy. When any degeneracy 
takes place the seed of flax grown on a different soil, as moss, | 
moor, sand, &c. without any view to the produce in fibre, will, 
it is said, answer as well as foreign seed. 
The manner of sowing flax is almost always the same, but 
when seed is the main object drilling may be adopted, by which 
seed may be saved in sowing, cleaning cenducted at less expense, 
and the plants rendered more vigszous and branchy, by the 
stirring of the soil, and the admission of air between the rows. 
The fibres of flax grown in this way will be shorter, and less 
equal in thickness throughout their length, than flax grown by 
the broadcast mode and tolerably thick. 
The after culture consists chiefly in weeding, but sometimes 
it commences with rolling the surface, which is a very proper 
operation when the soil is very dry, the season advanced, or the 
earth very porous. By this process the earth is pressed firmly 
to the seeds, and they are thereby stimulated to vegetate sooner, 
and the drought is kept out. On some soils, and in wet and 
stormy seasons, flax is apt to be laid, to guard against which 
some ‘cultivators run across their flax-field slender poles, fixed 
to stakes ; but a better method is to run small ropes across the 
field both lengthwise and breadthwise, so as to form a sort of 
I. Linum. 
net-work, fastened to stakes at due distances, which is proof 
against almost every accident that can happen from tempestuous 
weather. In Scotland a crop of flax is sometimes weeded by 
turning a flock of sheep at large into the field. They will not 
take the young flax plants, but they carefully search for the 
weeds, which they devour. ; 
The crop of flax is taken in by pulling, on which there is 
considerable differences of opinion. None, however, think of 
pulling it before it comes into flower, when fibre is the sole 
object, or before the seed in the capsules acquires a brownish 
colour, when fibre and seed, jointly or fibre alone is the object. 
Some argue for pulling while it is green, in order that its fibres 
may ke softer and finer ; others, with the same view, pull it up 
before its seeds are quite formed, and others again think that it 
should not be pulled till some of the capsules have begun to 
open, being of opinion that the fibres of green flax are too 
tender, and that they fall into tow. On the other hand it is 
certain that the fibres of flax which has stood till it is very ripe 
are always stiff and harsh, that they are not easily separated 
from the woody part, and that they do not bleach so well, there- 
fore both extremes should be avoided, and it seems most reason- 
able to think that the properest time for pulling flax is, when 
its stalks begin to turn from a green to a yellow colour, when 
its leaves begin to fall, and when its seeds begin to be brown. 
Donaldson observes that a crop of flax frequently grows and runs 
out a great number of seed-bearing branches. When that is the 
case the seeds, not the flax, ought to be the farmer’s chief object, 
and the crop should be allowed to stand till the seeds are 
perfected. But that when the crop thrives and is likely to 
become more valuable for the flax than the seeds, it should be 
pulled soon after the bloom drops off, and before the pods turn 
lard and sharp in the points. When flax is grown for its fibre, 
Brown considers it the safest course to take it in a little early, as 
any thing wanted in quantity being in this way made up by the 
superiority of the quality. The operation of pulling flax 
differs according to the intention of the crop. When it is grown 
for the fibre it is pulled and tied immediately in sheaves like 
corn, being carried off immediately to be watered. But when 
seed is the object of the crop, it is pulled up and laid in handfuls 
across each other, the reason of which is, the business of rippling ` 
is facilitated, as the ripplers, in place of having to separate 
each handful from the bundle, find it by this simple precaution 
already done to their hand. In most fields there are varieties 
of soils, of course some parts of a field will produce fine flaz, 
others coarse, some long and some short; in a word, crops of 
different lengths and qualities. It cannot be supposed that all 
these different kinds of flax will undergo an equal degree of 
watering, grassing, breaking, and heckling without sustaining 
much injury. Although it is of much importance yet it very 
seldom happens that much attention is bestowed to separate the 
different sorts of flax from each other, in pulling the crop. 
Some instead of laying the flax in loose handfuls, tie them up 
loosely at the top, and then spread out their roots and set several 
of them together in an upright position upon their roots. In 
either case the flax is left twelve or fourteen days in the field 
to dry it. This drying is certainly not necessary for the rippling, 
because the ripple will separate the capsules from the flax as 
effectually before it has been dried as it will afterwards, and if 
it is done with a view to ripen the seed, it should be considered 
that the flax will be more hurt by the longer time of steeping: 
which will become necessary in consequence of this drying; 
than the seed can be benefited, because the more the membrane 
which connects the fibres to the reed is dried, the greater must 
be the degree of putrefaction necessary to loosen and destroy 
the cohesion of this connecting membrane ; the finer parts of 
the flax itself must necessarily be destroyed by the degree 
1 
