80 FLAX CULTURE AND PREPARATION 



methods 3 and 4 (page 64). If the saving of the seed is taken 

 into account, the three last methods are more remunerative 

 in cash return per acre of land to the grower, apart from the 

 extra amount of remunerative labour employed. 



75. Harvesting Practices. Assuming, then, that it is pro- 

 posed to harvest the flax crop for fibre and seed, the pulled 

 flax must be made into suitable beets, put up into stocks, and 

 winnowed and dried in fields on one or other of the following 

 methods 



A. The flax should be pulled in small handfuls about the 

 size of an average man's wrist ; these should be laid diagonally 

 and alternately across each other as illustrated at B, Fig. 36. 

 Beets, thus made with about six handfuls in each, are 

 relatively small, being about half the usual size,, but this 

 materially assists the process of drying and facilitates the 

 subsequent operation of rippling. Each beet must be tied 

 with an easily detachable knot or bow and placed broadside 

 to broadside. The beets are arranged in pairs with their 

 root ends about 1 ft. apart and their heads and bolls leaning 

 against each other and so tending to keep each other in an 

 erect position. Repeated and duplicate pairs of beets are 

 added until a long straight row or " stook " is formed. A 

 normal stook contains twelve beets of average size. The 

 length of the row is immaterial and is made to suit the con- 

 venience of the grower, but the direction of the rows should 

 be north and south by preference, so that one side of the 

 stook will receive the morning and the other the afternoon 

 sun. The foregoing plan of constructing the beets and 

 arranging the stocks is ideal, since the breezes can freely 

 winnow through the natural openings in the stocks, without 

 blowing them down, except in very stormy weather. Given 

 fine weather and a moderate breeze it will then only be neces- 

 sary to turn the beets of each row once, so that the inside 

 portions may be alternate with those of the outer portions, 

 and the whole stook completely winnowed and dried 

 sufficiently to permit an immediate start at the rippling or 



