616 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



able difficulty is experienced in drying the crop : rain and 

 inclement weather generally set in before the operation can be 

 accomplished in the ordinary way. To overcome this difficulty, 

 large drying sheds with open sides are erected which are fitted 

 with lattice shelves upon which the flax is laid as soon as it is 

 pulled. Again, in the neighbourhood of Rsheff, after the crop 

 is pulled and has been allowed to dry out of doors as far as the 

 climate allows, it is removed to a drying house, where it is 

 artificially dried in an oven before the seed is taken off. 



There are numerous methods of separating the seed from 

 flax straw. Ordinary machine thrashing is strictly avoided, if 

 the straw is to be of much value for subsequent retting, because 

 this method occasions serious damage to the fibre. The method 

 most generally used is that known as " rippling," which is 

 effected by drawing the top part of the straw through a vertically 

 placed iron comb which does not allow the seed capsules to 

 pass between the closely arranged teeth. Men do the actual 

 rippling and women and children bring the sheaves, untie and 

 retie them again. To avoid loss of seed, rippling is carried out 

 over a large cloth spread upon the ground ; when the crop is 

 stored until the next year, the rippling is done in the barn in 

 which the straw is housed during the winter This operation of 

 rippling affords an excellent opportunity of taking out any 

 weeds as well as of grading the straw into bundles of approxi- 

 mately uniform length ready for steeping. Besides being a good 

 practical method of removing the seed, rippling has much in its 

 favour as a means of straightening out the straw and cleaning it 

 from short pieces as well as from weeds. Some go so far as 

 to say that this would be a profitable expenditure even if the 

 value of the seed alone did not completely cover the cost of 

 rippling. 



Flax grown in Belgium is sometimes rippled as soon as it is 

 pulled or, after being well dried, the crop is deprived of the seeds 

 it carries by spreading it on an even stone floor and then beating 

 the top ends of the flax with flat wooden mallets. It is quite 

 the practice in West Flanders, especially during the winter 

 months, to effect the removal of the seed by this method. 

 Without having the advantage of straightening out and cleaning 

 the straw, this method of seed separation seems to necessitate 

 the employment of as much labour as does rippling ; moreover, 

 it is doubtful whether the seed does not suffer under the treat- 



