320 



BRITISH HUSBANDRY. 



[Ch. XXVII. 



Dew-retting is sometimes resorted to instead of water-retting, and is car- 

 ried on immediately after the flax is pulled. It consists in merely spreading 

 the plants upon a grass-sward for perhaps four or five weeks, and occasion- 

 ally turning them until they are rendered sufficiently brittle for the separation 

 of the fibre from the bark, and the purposes of further manufacture. The suc- 

 cess of the operation depends however so much upon the weather, that it 

 cannot be relied upon, and it is therefore but seldom employed, unless when 

 the crop has been left to stand for seed ; but either plan may be adopted 

 according to the judgment of the grower. Indeed, on the Continent, it is 

 customary to dry the flax upon the ground in the same manner as corn, 

 previous to steeping it, and the watering is not performed until the following 

 spring, after the seed has been taken from it. 



The preparation of Ihejlax consists in " breaking" or bruising the stem, 

 in order to separate the fibre from the bark, and then " skutching" or 

 cleansing it from refuse ; after which it is " heckled," as the final prepara- 

 tion for market. These operations are now so very generally performed 

 by machinery that a detailed description is almost unnecessary ; but as some 

 cottagers employ themselves during the winter in efl'ecting the two first, it 

 may not be entirely useless to mention that they are in that case done by 

 hand. The bruising apparatus, or " brake," is simply formed of three or 

 four triangular planks about 15 inches long by 3 inches broad, fixed hori- 

 zontally to a frame, with their edges uppermost, at about '2\ feet from the 

 ground ; to one end of the frame two or three similar boards, of the same 

 dimensions, and connected together, are fastened to a moveable hinge, so as 

 to raise or sink them at pleasure, and being placed at intermediate distances 

 between the fixed planks, they dovetail into each other as here repre- 

 sented : — 



When at work, a handful of the dried stems is laid across the under planks, 

 and the upper ones being forced down upon them, the flax is crushed by 

 repeated strokes of the machine, until it is readv for scutching. This is 

 done by handfuls of the bruised flax being either beaten upon a board placed 

 edgewise ; or rather a niche is cut in the board to the size of a man's wrist, 

 into which the scutclier alternately throws each end of the flax, wliich he 

 beats with a light mallet, repeatedly turning and drawing it through the 

 niche until by these means it is entirely cleaned and prepared for heckling. 

 The heckler uses numerous iron teeth fixed upon a board, through which the 

 flax is drawn repeatedly; and by employing different sets of teeth, he is 

 enabled to sort the flax into various lengths ; the refuse being tow. This 

 latter operation can, however, only be properly performed by regular 

 workmen. 



JVhen intended for the production of seed, the plants should not be pulled 



