116 RETTING. 



favourable period for obtaining good fibres. Experience has 

 shown that when the bloom has just fallen, when the stalks 

 begin to turn yellow, and before the leaves fall, the fibres are 

 softer and stronger than if left standing until the seed is quite 

 matured. 



It has been found, from experience, that most seeds, though 

 not quite mature when gathered, ripen sufficiently after being 

 plucked, provided they be not detached until dry from the 

 parent plant; all the sap which this contains contributing 

 towards further nourishing and perfecting the seed. 



The Dutch avail themselves of this fact with regard to their 

 flax crop. After pulling the plants they stack them. The 

 seed by this means becomes ripe, while the fibres are collected 

 at the most favourable period of their growth. They thus 

 obtain both of their valuable products from their plants, and 

 supply their less careful neighbours with the seeds. 



The water-retting for very fine flax is more carefully per- 

 formed, and in this process the advantages of running and still 

 water are endeavoured to be combined. The pit into which 

 the water is introduced for this purpose is made three or four 

 months before it is wanted. A pure stream from a soft spring 

 or a small rivulet is always gently running through ; the pit 

 having only two small apertures at opposite sides for the ingress 

 and egress of the water. This receptacle should be about five 

 feet deep, narrow, and of a length proportionate to the quantity 

 of flax under process. Poles with hooks attached to them are 

 driven in along the sides, the hooks being rather below the 

 surface of the water ; a long pole, the whole length of the pit, 

 is fixed into these hooks. The flax is then made into narrow 

 bundles of about two and a half feet long and four feet high, 

 and these being wrapped in straw, are immersed in the water, 

 where they are kept securely by means of horizontal cross 

 poles, which are then introduced between the long pole and the 

 hooks. 



Through the employment of Belgians upon my own premises, 

 I find that but little can be added to the stock of information 



