250 



were not for the sake of the seed, they might be pulled a little before 

 the seeds ripen, by which the flax is generally better coloured and 

 finer; but if suffered to sland till the seeds are fully ripe, it is 

 commonly stronger, somewhat coarser, and more in quantity. It 

 should be pulled up by handfuls, roots and all, shaking off all 

 the mould ; then cither spreading them on the ground by hand- 

 fuls, or binding them in small bunches, and setting them upright 

 sigainst one another, for ten days or a fortnight, tiil they are per- 

 fectly dry, and the seed fully hardened, then housed, and the seed 

 thrashed out, cleaned, and placed in a dry airy situation, being 

 afterwards put up for use. The flax, after being rippled and 

 sorted, should be carried to a pond of nearly stagnant waier, being 

 placed in it with the bundles crossing each other in different di- 

 rections, so as to keep the whole in a close compact state, being 

 kept just below the surface of the water, by proper weights ap- 

 plied upon it. It should remain in this steep till the stems become 

 brittle and the bark readily separates, when it must be taken out 

 and spread thinly on a short pasture, being occasionally turned 

 until it becomes perfectly bleached and dry, when it is in a proper 

 state for the purpose of being converted into flax. 



The latter, or perennial sort, should be sown in a bed or border 

 of good earth, in shallow drills at the distance of six inches; and 

 when the plants are two or three inches in height they should be 

 thinned to the same distances, and in autumn be planted out in the 

 places where they are to grow. But it is probably a better practice 

 to sow them at once in the places where they are to grow, thinning 

 them out properly afterwards. 



The three other sorts may be best increased by planting cut- 

 lings of the branches in pots of light fresh earth, plunging them in 

 the tan hot-bed, or by layers laid clown in the later summer months. 

 When the plants in either mode have stricken good root, they 

 may be removed into separate pots, and be managed as other 

 tender exotic plants that require the protection of the green- 

 house. 



