154 TIME FOR PULLING FLAX. 



ing crops, consisting of about twelve acres,, ten of which were 

 sown to obtain the finer description of flax. I consider the 

 seed, merely for crushing purposes, to be worth at least 607. 

 Now, were the flax to be immediately pulled, the whole of this 

 sum would be lost ; for, admitting that part of the seed might 

 arrive at a certain degree of maturity, yet the quantity would 

 be so small, and the quality so inferior, that it would not repay 

 the cost of rippling. 



The best criterion for judging the proper time for pulling 

 flax, is precisely that which would influence every judicious 

 farmer in shearing his wheat or mowing his oats, viz. : when 

 the major part of the straw turns yellow, and the kernel of the 

 principal ears brown. With flax, as with those grains, it is 

 perhaps better to begin a little too early than too late. The 

 method of pulling flax is merely to collect a small quantity in 

 the left hand, and to pluck it with the right placed about half 

 way down the stalks. The hands may thus be quickly filled, 

 and the flax laid upon the ground, the bolls of one handful 

 being placed by the root ends of another. Afterwards children 

 carry each handful to the person who forms it into stocks. In 



the course of a few days, according to the weather, they may 

 be turned, and when dried to the state in which hay would not 

 heat on the stack, it should be tied up in small sheaves, about 

 twenty-four inches in circumference, and either put into a barn 

 or stacked. Or, if found necessary to tie up the flax before 

 it is sufficiently weathered, the sheaves may be set up in the 

 field. All weeds ought to be carefully taken out of the flax 

 as soon as pulled; long and short stalks should be tied in 

 separate sheaves, which is easily arranged at the time of 

 pulling. Indeed, every process connected with the cultivation, 

 growth, and preparation of the crop, is extremely simple, 



