250 



were not for ibe sake of ihc seed, they might be pulled a little before 

 the seeds ripen, by which the flax is generally better coloured and 

 finer; but if suftered to stand till the seeds are fully ripe, it is 

 commonly stronger, somewhat coarser, and more in quantity. It 

 should be pulled up by lianclfuls, roots and all, shaking off all 

 the mould; then either spreading them on the ground by hand- 

 fuls, or binding them in sniall bunches, and setting them upright 

 against one another, ibr ten days or a fortnight, till they are per- 

 fectly dry, and the seed I'ully hardened, then housed, and the seed 

 ihraslicd out, cleaned, and placed in a dry airy situation, being 

 afterwards pnt up for use. The flax, after being rippled and 

 sorted, should be carried to a pond of nearly slagnaiit water, being 

 placed in it with the bundles crossing each other in difterent di- 

 rections, so as to kcop the whole in a close comj)act state, being 

 kept just below the surface of the water, by proper weights ap- 

 ])iied upon it. It sliould remain in this sleep till the stems become 

 brittle and the i)ark readily separates, when it must be taken out 

 and spread thinly on a short pasture, being occasionally turned 

 imtil it becomes perfectly bleached and dry, when it is in a proper 

 slate for the jjurpose of being converted into flax. 



The latter, or perennial sort, should be sown in a bed or border 

 of g(K)d earth, in shallow diills at the distance of six inches; and 

 when the plants are two or three inches in height they should be 

 thinned to the same distances, and in autumn be planted out in the 

 places where they are to grow. But it is probably a better practice 

 to sow them at once in the places where they are to grow, thinning 

 them out properly afterwards. . . 



The three other sorts may be best increased by planting cut- 

 tings of the branches in pots of liglit i'resh earth, plunging them in 

 the tan hot-bed, or by layers laid down in the later summer months. 

 When the plants in either mode have stricken good root, they 

 may be removed into separate pots, and be managed as other 

 tender exotic plants that require the protection of the green- 

 house. 



