192 Cultivation and Propei' Management of Flax. 



much of the water, it must only remain on the grass till it is 

 fully dry. 



Lifting and drying. — Let a dry, sunny, and, if possible, a 

 breezv day be selected for taking up the flax off the grass. If it 

 be taken up damp, it will occasion a world of trouble afterwards. 

 If perfectly dry, it may be bound in beets at once, and in the 

 evening put into a long " rack." The "rack" is constructed by 

 setting a long range of beets up perpendicularly on their butt 

 ends, making the range about 5 or 6 beets broad, and on the top 

 of these buildinjr other beets slantina: down on either side like 

 the roof of a house. If a little damp, the flax may be set up for 

 some hours in " gaits," i.e., loose sheaves spread out very wide 

 at the base, and held together by a band at the very top. After- 

 wards it can be properly tied up and put into the " rack." In 

 this form it might stand safely for weeks, if carefully watched 

 and kept up. Moreover it is important to get it thoroughly 

 crisp and dry, for otherwise the fibre will be largely cut down 

 and carried away in the mill. No artificial drying process, on 

 liilns or otherwise, has ever answered the purpose ; and therefore 

 these are never resorted to now by experienced persons. The 

 fibre has been frequently injured thereby to the extent of one- 

 fourth of its value. If the mill is not ready to take up the parcel 

 when it is perfectly dry, it is better to shift it from the " rack " 

 and put it into a round stack, thatching and roping it carefully. 

 It can stand then safely for any length of time, and in all 

 weathers ; and the stacking is a process that is generally sup- 

 posed to improve the quality of the fibre. 



Dressing or milling. — This last process, with which the farmer 

 is concerned, is carried out sometimes by the hand and some- 

 times by machinery. Hand-scutching is supposed to get more 

 weight out of the same quantity of raw material ; but flax thus 

 dressed never commands so high a price as that cleaned by 

 machinery. Among mills the farmer should select one driven 

 by light water. Such machinery is easy upon the fibre, and 

 carries away little but the " shoves." On the other hand, where 

 there is a large number of scutchers, and where heavy water is 

 required to give sufficient impetus to a vast array of " scutching- 

 handles," much of the good flax is " hagged " down and cast off 

 among the tow, especially if the beets have any dampness about 

 them. The system of cleaning flax by what is called "half- 

 labour," is sometimes not very profitable to the farmer. The pro- 

 prietor of the mill gets the one-half of the price of scutching for 

 the use of machinery, and the scutchers get the other half for their 

 labour. This drives the working-men sometimes to pass over 

 the flax without cleaning it out thoroughly, that by the greater 



