308 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



stance and the woody tissues. It may be done 

 chemically in a short time, but that injures the 

 fabric. "Dew-retting" is laying the straw on the 

 grass and letting the rain and dew rot away the 

 parts that support the soft, strong threads. It 

 takes weeks for this method of retting, and the 

 fibres are stained by uneven contact with the earth 

 and sun. 



"Pool-retting" is submerging the bundles of 

 straw in natural or made pools of soft water until 

 the fibres are freed by fermentation. 



"River-retting" substitutes running water for 

 stagnant. The most perfect place for this process 

 yet found is a stretch of several miles near Cour- 

 trai, in Belgium, in the bed of the River Lys. Its 

 murky waters barely creep along over a bottom of 

 blue clay. Flemish flax-growers draw their heavy 

 loads of straw to the river, pack their crates, and 

 wait their turn to push off these precious loads 

 into the river. Each crate is covered with a 

 protecting layer of rye straw and properly bal- 

 lasted with stones so that the flax will all be under 

 water. When the process of retting is complete, 

 a crane raises the crate, the straw is spread on the 

 grass till thoroughly dried, then carried away. 



Flax retted in the "Golden Lys" is soft and 

 silky, and finer than any retted elsewhere. Just 



