588 REPORT OP THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



fine fiber is desired. Allowing- the seed to mature injures the quality of 

 flax, and the seed will mature on the plant equally well after cutting or 

 pulling, if it is suffered to remain until perfectly dry. 



Wm. L. Lowrey, a practical flax-grower of New York, makes the fol- 

 lowing suggestions in regard to pulling : 



This should be done when one-half or two-thirds of the bolls are brown. Allow me 

 to remark that work on the flax crop has just commenced at this period of its growth, 

 and that if the flax is uneven, poorly coated, and in wet spots badly lodged, it will 

 be impossible by any other method to produce good fiber. On the other hand, if the 

 flax is in quality and yield of fiber prime at this stage, and care be not exercised in 

 handling and rotting, the result will be the same. Clasp several straws in the right 

 hand, pass them to the left and pull with both hands. Repeat this until the hand is 

 full, lay this down, repeat again, and then tie both handfuls in one bundle. At night 

 we set up all that is pulled during the day in loose stooks. This method preserves uni- 

 formity in curing, and part of the flax is not sunburned while the other is green and 

 unfit for sheltering. As soon as it i^ dry, draw it into the barn to whip. 



Another method : 



When the flax is standing erect, a handful should be grasped with both hands just 

 below the seed-bolls, and pulled obliquely from the ground with a sudden jerk, the 

 dirt adhering to the roots shaken off or knocked off against the boot. The handful 

 or " beets " should be kept even at the root ends, of an even size, and laid straight 

 upon the ground, two handfuls together crossing each other diagonally. 



Second growth, or short flax, should be pulled afterwards, and bundled 

 separately. The flax should be put in small bundles or sheaves, tied 

 with sun-dried rushes or wisps of hay, or similar material, and not with 

 flax straw, though if the seed is ripe the farmer may proceed with the 

 rippling at once. As a general rule it is best to set up the flax in the 

 field for a few days that it may be thoroughly dried. In Courtrai the 

 flax is always dried in the field, stacked without rippling, and left 

 for steeping until the next spring. To insure preservation of the seed, 

 the straw is put into stooks without tying into sheaves, and placed upon 

 cradles for preservation from dampness. " The seed ends are put in 

 alternate layers, and the stooks are from four to six sheaves in height 

 and from three to four wide, the whole thatched with straw." After 

 thorough drying the flax is put into stacks like ordinary grain. Keeping 

 for three years is said to improve the fiber, which will scutch more easily 

 and profitably. 



Separating the seed-bolls from the straw is termed " rippling," and it 

 is performed either in the field or in the barn during winter. Much of 

 the Irish flax is placed in the steeping-pools without the removal of the 

 seed, though such a wasteful plan should not be practiced. Eippling is 

 performed in many ways, among which may be named tramping the 

 straw with horses moving in a circle; by the use of the cylinder of a 

 thrashing machine ; by drawing through a heckle ; by rollers operating 

 by horse-power ; by thrashing with flails, or by whipping over a smooth 

 stone or board. When done with a heckle — which is provided with iron 

 or steel teeth set in a solid block of wood — the workman grasps a small 

 handful of stalks near the butt end and draws them through the comb, 

 a large winnowiug-sheet having been placed underneath the apparatus 

 to catch the seed as it faUs. Leveling the ground and tramping it hard 

 will answer the same purpose. One of the best methods of rippling is 

 to pass the heads through plain rollers— allowing the heads only to come 

 in contact with them — which crushes the bolls and allows the seeds to 

 separate and fall. In Great Britain a machine is in use for this purpose 

 constructed with a powerful framework, the rollers remaining free at 

 one eudj so that the flax-stalks may be held in the hand while the heads 



