60 FLAX. 



the water's edge, two men, holding at each side of the 

 handle, slip the drawer under it, and it is propped up 

 behind, not pierced as with a fork, by the stout wooden 

 teeth, T T, whose length from the wooden gum or shaft 

 is ten and a half inches. The sheaf once lifted out of the 

 water and landed, is dragged by the drawer along the 

 grass, as if it were upon a sledge, to its proper place on 

 the meadow, and then gently deposited there by simply 

 raising the drawer upright, and letting the sheaf roll off. 

 The shafts of the drawer open a little as they approach 

 the teeth. The breadth between them at the bottom is 

 thirteen inches ; at the top, eleven and a half. 



When each bunch or sheaf of flax is drawn out of the 

 water, it is set on end to drain for one day. On the 

 morrow it is taken into a field (whether pasture or 

 ploughed land is of no consequence), and each bundle is 

 divided into four handfuls. Each handful is then set on 

 end, and kept standing there by spreading out the foot 

 and pinching the head, until it is a little dry. Then, 

 each bunch is turned inside out ; that is, it still remains 

 standing as before, but the inside stems are brought out- 

 side to the air, and vice versa. It is changed and turned 

 in this way three or four times, till it is perfectly dry. 

 When dry, it is tied up in bottes, or bundles, as before, 

 with the head of one half of the flax pointing in one 

 direction, and the head of the other half pointing in the 

 other ; only it is now tied with but one rye-straw band 

 in the middle, instead of with two, as before steeping. 

 Half the bunch of flax is turned one way and half the 

 other, for the simple reason that, otherwise, the straw- 

 band would slip off at one end, in consequence of the dif- 

 ference of size. The flax is now T in a state for the first 

 stage of it real manufacture to be begun, and it may be 

 kept in this condition an indefinite time, according to the 

 proprietor's convenience. 



THE SCUTCHING. 



When the flax is steeped and dried (we remind the 

 reader that it is all the better for keeping afterwards), 



