Cultivation of Arabic Land. Flax Scutching of. 23 1 



being pulled, is fpread out in rows thinly upon a grafs field, where it is occa- 

 fionally turned until the procefs of putrefaction has, in a more flow and gradual 

 manner than in the above practice, affected the condition which is necefiary for 

 the eafy and perfect feparation of the flaxy material from the reed or ftem. But 

 in this mode there is considerably more danger, from the flax being, under the 

 neceflity of remaining a much greater length of time expofcd to the action and 

 effects of the weather and other caufes. But in whichever method the flaxy 

 material is brought into the proper condition for being feparated from the reed 

 or flem, great care fliould be taken that it be not damaged by continuing too 

 long upon the grafs, as in many cafes, efpecially in rainy feafons, the under fide 

 next the grafs is liable to be rotten or greatly tendered, before the upper one is 

 nearly in a luitable flate of preparation. The fuppofition that expofure in the 

 field tends to expedite the procefs of bleaching in the manufactured article is not 

 well founded ; in practice no cloth being found to bleach with fo much expedition, 

 or in fo uniform a manner, as that made from fuch flax as has been water-retted 

 in a complete and equal manner.* 



Before the bufinefs of breaking or Jcutcbing the flax can be performed, which 

 is the next operation that it undergoes, it becomes neceffary either to expofe 

 it to the heat of the fun, by placing it againfl a wall or paling in a flaming 

 pofirion; or the effects of fire, by putting it over hurdles, or, what is much 

 better, placing it in an oven heated by means of the refufe of the flax. In 

 either cafe the fire fliould be applied in fuch a manner as that the heat may be very 

 moderate. The flax fliould only be permitted to remain fuch a length of time 

 as may bejuft fufficient to remove any damp it may have acquired. In thelc 

 ways the dampnefs is difpelled in a more equal and fafe manner than by any 

 other method except that of the fun, which is always to be preferred when 

 poffible. 



In regard to produce, there is fcarcely any crop that varies more confiderably 

 than that of flax, either in the quantity or quality of the article. From twenty 

 to fixty or feventy flones of fourteen pounds each have been obtained from an 

 acre of land, according to circumftances; but from forty to fifty (tones maybe 

 reckoned a medium crop. The expence incurred in the cultivation and after- 

 management of this fort of crop is very confiderable, arifing from eight to ten 

 or twelve pounds an acre on the average, where the object of the grower 



* Corrected Agricultural Report of Perth* 



