134 FLAX CULTURE AND PREPARATION 



takes a handful or strick of straw and presents the root ends 

 first to the rotating blades the iron plate, or stock, protects 

 his hand. When this end of the flax is judged to have been 

 sufficiently struck with the blades, the head end of the flax 

 is presented and held, or twisted over, until the blades have 

 acted sufficiently and equally on all parts of the " strick." 



115. Buffing and Cleaning. It is usual to divide the labour 

 of scutching each strick of flax between two persons a buffer 

 and a cleaner. The chief difference between buffing and 

 cleaning is the necessity for a slight difference in the severity 

 of the treatment involving a difference (1) of setting the blades 

 nearer or more remote from the stock, and (2) striking the 

 strick square, soon or late. Upon these small technical 

 details there are endless differences of opinion and practice. 



It is usual and necessary to set the blades to strike the strick 

 of flax from Jin. to Ijin. distance, clear of the stock for the 

 cleaner and J in. to f in. for the buffer. 



The buffer takes up a strick of flax and presents it to the 

 blades until both ends have received a sufficient number of 

 strokes. He then lays it on the table 7 (Fig. 81) and repeats 

 the operation with each successive strick of broken flax 

 straw. 



The cleaner or finisher takes up the lots prepared by the 

 buffer, and after repeating the same process as the buffer 

 root end first he lays his first lot down before finishing the 

 top end and cleans the root end of a second strick, after which 

 he puts the first and second lot together for the top end and 

 cleans them as one strick. 



The finished scutched flax is made up into handfuls of 

 about 1 Ib. each, and these are made into bundles of 1 or 2 

 stones each and tied in three or four places. 



A mill with eight stands and one breaker should scutch 

 about 60 stones of flax per day, and give employment to 

 ten persons, including the two breakers. 



116. Details of Scutching Wheels. Two types of scutching 

 wheels are in general use, viz., Irish and Belgium. These are 



