UNACEJi. 1S7 



many circumstances to be taken into account in the clioice of land for a Flax crop, 

 wliicli are fully explained in agricultural works. When a fine fibre is required, the 

 Flax should be sown thickly, but more sparingly for coarser qualities. It is generally 

 sown in March or April on land carefully prepared and kept free from weeds by a 

 long course of ploughing. Much manure is required ; rape-cake is recommended, and 

 peat-ashes are said to be particularly serviceable. Flax is best when gathered when it 

 is in full flower ; but this is seldom done, as the seed is almost as valuable as the 

 fibre. The crop is gathered by hand, and the plants are pulled up by the roots and 

 collected into bundle.'^. Experience has shown that when the blossom has just fallen, 

 when the stalks begin to turn yellow, before the leaves fall, the fibres are softer and 

 stronger than if left standing till the seed is quite matured. The seeds will ripen 

 after the plant is gathered, if they be allowed to remain on the plant for a time. 

 The Dutch avail themselves of this fact with regard to their Flax crop. After 

 pulling the plants they stack them. The seeds by this means ripen, while the fibres 

 are collected at the most favourable period of their growth. They thus obtain both 

 of the valuable products of the plants, and supply their less careful neighbours with 

 the seeds. 



After the plants have been pulled and sorted, they are usually laid in hand- 

 fuls across the field, or loo.sely tied in large bundles and set upright. All Flax 

 growers do not follow precisely the same plan in tliis respect ; many dispense with 

 drying the crops altogether. In some parts of France the Flax is left on the field for 

 a day or two. In Yorkshire the sheaves are taken immediately to the watering-place. 

 The first operation which Flax undergoes is called " rippling," and this can be per- 

 formed equally well whether the plants be green or dry. This is done to free the stalk 

 from the leaves and seed-pods called bolls. The ripple is a kind of coarse comb, con- 

 sisting of six or eight triangular teeth set in a narrow piece of wood so that their 

 bases nearly touch each other. This being firmly fixed on a beam of wood, two 

 persons sit, one at each end, and draw the flax in handfuls repeatedly through this 

 ripple ; in a very short time the stems become quite free and clean. If the seed is to 

 be preserved, a large cloth is laid underneath to catch the pods as they fall ; these are 

 laid out in the suu to dry, and the seeds are carefully sifted away from the husk. 

 Those which separate spontaneously are reserved for sowing. The delicate fibres of 

 Flax intended for cambric would be injured by the use of the ripple, so the stalks are 

 cleaned either by a wooden knife or the use of a mallet. To obtain the fibre which 

 lies between the bark and the wood, the plant is now steeped in water until decompo- 

 sition commences, and the fibres set free from the gummy sap by which the, bark 

 adheres to them. This process is called " water retting," and usually occupies ten or 

 twelve days. The decomposition of so large a quantity of vegetable matter in contact 

 with water is found to be very injurious both to the purity of the atmosphere and the 

 streams in which the Flax is placed. An Act was passed in the reign of Henry VIII. 

 forbidding the watering of Flax or Hemp in any common pond or where cattle drink, 

 and this Act still continues in force ; canals are therefore generally dug for the purpose. 

 Other plans have been suggested for obtaining the fibre without the annoyances of 

 this water retting. A Mr. Lee, of Middlesex, invented a process by which, with the 

 aid of soft soap and machinery, the fibre is more completely separated than by steep- 

 ing, and in a better state. In 1810 a patent was granted to Mr. Lee for this invention, 

 but it has not been generally adopted. In Sweden the stalks are boiled in a mixture 

 of .sea-water, lime, and birch-ashes, and afterwards cleansed with soap. There are few 

 branches of manufacture in which inventors have been more busy than in the preiiarniion 



