44 FLAX. 



tional work has to be done at weeding-time, or immedi- 

 ately after, and that is tlie sticking. Sticking is not a 

 general practice, and is not needed for ordinary crops of 

 flax, still less for such as is thin-sown and is left to stand 

 mainly for the seed. But when flax is sown for cambric 

 and fine lawn, the land receives about double the usual 

 quantity of seed. The extreme thickness of the crop, 

 and the richness of the soil on which it is usually grown, 

 cause it to spindle and run up, in an unnatural state of 

 feebleness, to the height of from three to four feet ; and 

 the first heavy shower would inevitably cause it to be 

 laid, were it not helped to stand upright by the aid of 

 sticks, which are stuck in the ground with the same 

 object as pea-sticks in a kitchen-garden, except that the 

 flax has no tendrils wherewith to lay hold of the support 

 that is offered to it. Immediately after the flax is 

 weeded, forked sticks about an inch and a half thick, are 

 stuck in the ground with the fork uppermost at four or 

 five feet distance ; poles are laid across these forks, about 

 six or seven inches above the top of the flax, and distant 

 from each other two, three, or four feet, according to the 

 length of the brushwood that is to be laid across them. 

 This brushwood ought to be laid close and even, rising 

 in all about eighteen or twenty inches. The operation 

 requires great care and attention, to avoid treading and 

 crushing the flax too much in placing the sticks. The 

 expense of sticking is so inconsiderable, and the loss is 

 so great when a fine crop of flax is laid, that it is always 

 prudent to adopt the plan when a thick and extra- 

 luxuriant growth is anticipated. Even the simple plan of 

 sticking branches, like single pea-sticks, at short irre- 

 gular distances over a flax-field, will save the crop from 

 being laid by high winds and sudden tempests, and from 

 thereby receiving serious damage. 



The French farmer now has nothing further to do, 

 except to watch, the crop with anxious assiduity. It is 

 to him a matter of immense importance whether the flax 

 look healthy and green, or sickly and yellow ; whether 

 the surface of the field is uniformly hidden by a thick 



