Cultivation and Proper Management of Flax. 189 



tions for placing or fixing' tlie comb for use may be serviceable. 

 Take a cart to the field when the flax is being pulled ; take off 

 the wheels, and lay the body flat upon the ground ; let the comb 

 be fixed to a strong piece of wood like a short plank, bind this 

 plank hard and fast across the box, tying down each end to the 

 arm of the axle that is lying on the ground ; then one man can 

 take up his place between the shafts, and another facing him 

 behind, and they can pull their handfuls alternately through the 

 same comb. Twice through is enough for anv handful. The 

 seed drops into the box, which can be emptied when full into 

 sacks, and the balls carted into the open " shed" or " winning" 

 loft. After being rippled the flax should be carted at once to 

 the steeping-dam. If it be allowed to stand for any length of 

 time, the wounded tops will blacken in the stook, and the fibre 

 will be more or less injured. Whether rippled or not, it is a 

 mistake to allow the pulled flax to remain for days in the stook. 

 If it were possible it would be all the better to have the whole 

 crop taken up on the same day, and in a few hours rippled and 

 committed to the water. The bolls should be deposited in a dry, 

 airy place, and frequently turned. When dry they can be broken 

 and the seed separated from the husks, which with the refuse 

 seed, make capital food for almost all the animals of the 

 farmyard. If there be no convenient way of drying the bolls 

 they can be taken at once to a common kiln, dryed and ground 

 in a mill, husks and seed together ; and in that way though the 

 seed is lost either for sowing or crushing, yet the very best kind 

 of provender is secured. 



In some parts of England the farmers dry or " win " their 

 pulled flax for some days in the field, in the same manner almost 

 as a white crop, and then put it for a time into narrow stacks, 

 that the seed before being taken off may ripen and mature upon 

 the stalks or straw. Where the quality of the seed is a matter of 

 great importance (as it always is in seed for sowing), this mode 

 of managing the flax when pulled is to be highly commended. 

 It is the only method in which first-class seed can be secured ; 

 and although it is the opinion of some that the quality of the 

 fibre is much impaired by allowing the seed to ripen thus upon 

 the straw, yet it will be found, after sufficient experience, that 

 this is a mistake. 



Many again consider that the farmer should go no farther than 

 the pulling of the flax ; that at that stage his skill generally ends, 

 and that then the factor, spinner, or manufacturer, should step in, 

 purchase the flax when pulled, if not on the foot, and carry through 

 the remainder of its management by his skilled labour. This is 

 an admirable theory, and if it could be got to work satisfactorily, 

 would no doubt be advantageous to all parties. But in Ireland it 



