HARVESTING FLAX 65 



of flax in Belgium, they so improved their condition that in 

 a short time there were scarcely any poor in the villages 

 which soon developed into large and industrious towns. 



66. Flax Pulling. From time immemorial it has been the 

 practice to pull flax up by the roots rather than cut it as in 

 the case of corn, etc. ; three reasons among others are assigned 

 for this preference 



1 . Flax tends to become sour and deteriorate about the point 

 of severance. 



2. Cutting shortens the length of the straw and the com- 

 mercial length of scutched fibre and thus a considerable 

 amount of waste is involved. 



3. The weeds in the field would be cut with the flax when 

 harvested, and these are troublesome in every subsequent 

 operation of preparing the fibre which would thereby be 

 materially reduced in value. 



The correct time to pull flax requires a considerable nicety 

 of judgment. 



The most critical period, in flax growing, is immediately 

 after sowing and until the brairds have sufficiently covered 

 the soil to keep the sun's rays from parching the young plants. 



In Ireland the plants begin to bloom about the end of June, 

 when the mass of blue flowers present a beautiful appearance ; 

 during this period the stalks shoot up rapidly, about one inch 

 being added to their length each day. When the flowers 

 begin to fall the plant ceases to grow in length ; the seed 

 bolls begin to appear and continue to develop until about 

 the middle of July (for the earliest crops). At this period the 

 seed bolls are globe-like in appearance and should each con- 

 tain ten pickles of seed. At first the seed is milky and whitish, 

 but gradually it solidifies and from a milky white colour it 

 passes through the pale green to a brownish tint. When the 

 flax seed has begun to change to a pale-green shade it is 

 advisable to examine the bolls every day. Select the ripest 

 capsules, cut them transversely, note carefully the changes 

 and decide to pull according to one of the following indications. 



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