. 251 , 



of these, the bunches of flax must be brought to a suitable degree of 

 dryness and crispness, as the object of crushing and breaking the "boon"' 

 into short lengths is thus more completely attained, and the subsequent 

 separation of the fragments from the fibre facilitated. The ordinary and 

 primitive hand machine is extremely simple, but not so effective as that 

 now generally in use, which consists of a series of pairs of fluted rollers-, 

 the rollers of each pair being placed vertically to one another. These 

 rollers are of iron, about two feet long and one foot diameter, and are' 

 horizontally placed nearly to touch each other ; each succeeding pair, from 

 that end of the machine where the flax enters, is made with somewhat 

 finer flutes than the preceding one, and revolves at a somewhat slower 

 speed, in order that the '"boon" may be more effectually broken. Con- 

 venient-sized handfuls of flax are placed upon a board in front of the 

 first pair of rollers, (great care still being taken to keep the wool ends 

 level, ) and are pushed endways into the bite, by which means they are 

 conducted to the next pair, and so on till they finally emerge on to an 

 inclined plank behind the last pair of rollers, from whence they are col- 

 lected and arranged by a second attendant, and delivered to the scutcher. 

 The scutching is performed, both by hand and by machinery, by beating 

 the stricks in the direction of their length, so as to divest the fibres of all 

 their extraneous matter. By hand, this operation is performed by grasp- 

 ing convenient portions in the left hand near the middle, and passing 

 them into a transversal slit cut in an upright board ; the flax is struck 

 repeated blows with the edge of a flat piece of wood, formed something 

 like a sword, being turned from time to time during the operation, and 

 when one end is sufficiently cleaned, the ends are changed. By this 

 method, however, a man cannot clean more than five to seven pounds 

 per day ; therefore the following machine is preferable, as by its assist- 

 ance four or five times the work can be accomplished in the same time, 

 and by an inferior class of work-people. This machine consists of a 

 number of circular discs, upon each of which are fixed the sword or 

 scutching blades, the slitted boards being still retained to support the 

 flax, as well as to protect the workman's hand. It is better to employ 

 three discs to work together, following each other, by which means the 

 tow can be sorted into three different qualities by the machine itself, and 

 the position of the blades can thus be varied so as to act in different ways 

 upon the strick. After being thus scutched, the flax is sorted and tied 

 up in bundles, in which state it is ready for the spinner's use. 



