56 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



three to four weeks, during which it had been 

 turned several times, it had become sufficiently 

 rotted and was then bound in large bundles and 

 stored in the barn. Early in the following spring, 

 on some crisp, windy day, a portion of the straw 

 was spread out in the sun and wind preparatory 

 to being run through the brake. The lower part 

 of the brake consisted of four hardwood boards 

 set in a heavy frame about four feet long, each 

 sharpened on the upper edge and fastened, closer 

 in front than at the back, in two blocks of wood 

 which were furnished with suitable legs. The up- 

 per part was made in a similar manner except that 

 there were only three sharpened boards set in 

 smaller blocks and so placed that the upper bars 

 would mis-match with the lower ones. The rear 

 block or head served also as a hinge which per- 

 mitted the front end to be raised or lowered. 



The operator, with as much straw as he could 

 hold in his left hand, raised the brake, thrust the 

 flax first under the rear end where the spaces were 

 largest between the sharpened boards, then let the 

 top or swinging part of the brake fall upon it. 

 This process repeated caused the woody parts to 

 drop away from the fine fibre. The flax had still 

 to be " scutched," that is, dressed over a sharpened 



