THE FLAX PLANT. 279 
manner, by beating the unsteeped straw, as observed among some of the 
people of the South Sea Islands, yet we may, I think, infer from the number 
of places to which the name “poll a lin,” t. e. flax hole, is applied, that 
they steeped in water. The plan followed by the farmer, who adopts the plan 
of steeping the flax on his farm in the open air, is to excavate a pond in con- 
nection with some convenient stream. The dimensions preferred are from 
twelve to eighteen feet broad, and about four feet deep. The quality of the 
water employed requires careful consideration, hard waters being found ma- 
terially to interfere with the process; ferruginous waters also are avoided ; 
aud in those districts where the steeper is obliged to make use of them, the 
flax acquires a dark tinge, which the bleacher finds it difficult to remove. 
From the action of the salts of iron upon the modification of tannic acid, 
which I have shown to exist in the straw, we can readily understand that the 
presence of iron in the water of the steep-hole must be prejudicial. As the 
oozing of water from the adjoining soil also frequently produces discoloration 
of the flax, careful steepers place on each side of the-pond a small drain, to 
prevent the entrance of drainage waters. The flax, after pulling, is prepared 
for steeping by removing the seed capsules, or bolls, by means of a simple 
machine, composed of a number of iron teeth, about eighteen inches long, 
screwed to a socket of wood, and fixed perpendicularly on a long bench, upon 
which the workmen sit. The bolls are separated from the stems by the work- 
men taking a handful of the flax, spreading it out, and drawing it through 
the teeth of the ripple, as the machine is termed. Sometimes, however, the 
steeping does not take place until the flax has been stored for some time, and 
has become so dry that the fibre would be liable to injury by using the 
common rippling-machine. In such cases the seed is beaten off by means 
of a “ beater,” formed of a block of wood furnished with a curved handle. 
In England, where the flax plant is cultivated more for supplying food for 
eattle than for its fibre, the value of its nutritious seed is acknowledged by 
every farmer; but in Ireland, unfortunately, industrial knowledge is only 
beginning to influence the practice of the agricultural population. It is in 
Ulster that the chief progress has been made. The Royal Flax Society has 
diffused much useful information ; and another institution, the Chemico-Agri- 
~ eultural Society, by its lectures and publications, has also contributed, in no 
small degree, to overcome ancient prejudices. Yet it must, I fear, be regarded 
by this meeting as but little creditable to our agriculture, that, though annu- 
ally nearly 650,000 qrs. of flax-seed and 70,000 tons of flax-seed cake are pur- 
chased by the farmers of the United Kingdom from foreign countries, only 
about one-tenth of the seed grown in this country is saved, the remaining 
portion, by the prejudices or indolence of the farmer, being consigned to the 
steep-hole. : 
In placing the bundles of flax in the steeping-pond, they are arranged in 
regular rows, placed in an inclined position, so that the tie which confines 
the straw in one bundle rests upon the root end of the preceding bundle ; 
the bundles of flax of equal length being arranged in different parts of the 
pond. When the pond is filled, a thin layer of straw or rushes is spread 
evenly over the flax, and on this covering old sods are placed, so as to keep 
the bundles from rising above the water. In a day or two, according to the 
temperature of the season, fermentation commences in the pool, and in warm 
weather in from eight to ten days, at other times in from twelve to fourteen, 
the steeping and retting, as the process is usually termed, is completed. 
During the steeping the water acquires a dark brown colour, carbonic acid 
is disengaged in great abundance, and the surface becomes covered with a 
gelatinous scum. To remove this matter it is usual to allow a gentle current 
