PROCESS OF GROAVING AND PREPARING FLAX. I75 



of the stones are taken of. If this should be neglected, the box 

 would sink to the bottom, which has happened in some instances. 

 If several boxes are put in simultaneously, the upper one is nailed 

 shut with boards at the side facing the current ; then the other 

 boxes are drawn up as closely as possible against the first in a 

 row, all of which is done to lessen the streaming of the water 

 through the flax. 



In rotting flax, it must be considered, whether the flax is fine or 

 coarse, weak or strong, and whether dry or wet weather prevailed 

 while it was growing, and even the weather during the rotting 

 time is to be considered. In dry weather the fermentation is fin- 

 ished generally in 6 to 14 days ; a complete rotting is very seldom 

 done between the 3d and 6th day. The more the rotting box 

 sinks, the nearer approaches the end of fermentation. The signs 

 of it being sufficiently rotted, are as follows : 



1. When the woody stock has become brittle and fragile, so 

 that it breaks like glass, with a peculiar sound ; when bent, on the 

 contrary, if the halms may be wound around the finger without 

 breaking, the rotting is not yet completed. 



2. When, in breaking off the root of a halm, the base is loose 

 around it, and the woody stalk may be drawn out, as out of a 

 sheath. 



3. When the drawn off bark or fibre coils together, or when a 

 wet stock, wrapt together and thrown into the water, sinks. 



It appears that flax taken out of the water is not yet rotten 

 enough, the same is put upright on the shore, as close to the water 

 as possible, and remains standing there for 12, 24, or 36 hours to 

 rot more. In this case, the flax is covered with straw to- protect 

 it from the rays of the sun, which injures the color. In taking the 

 flax out of the rot, many submerge it several times in water to 

 clean it ; others do not deem this advisable. The rot being finished, 

 the flax immediately is put up in trusses, called chapels, to dry. 

 As soon as the outside is dry, the chapels are turned so tliat the 

 inside comes outside. When dry, the chapels are bound together, 

 two and two, then the flax is hauled home, or put up in shocks, 

 until it is laid down for bleaching. If it should appear afterwards 

 that the first rot has not had the desired effect, a second rot is 

 resorted to, several weeks later, or in the next spring. By a sec- 

 ond water rotting, which limits the bleaching or dew rotting, the 

 flax is said to gain in weight and flexibility. 



