SCUTCHING. 69 



left, or front side of the French scutch, is as smooth, 

 and as much in one plane, as the thinness of the wood, 

 and its liability to warp, will admit. 



We have thus minutely described the scutching imple- 

 ments, because the operation itself is a most important 

 one, and requires a well-trained workman to perform it 

 as it ought to be. On it mainly depends the value of 

 the article produced. It will, therefore, be believed, that 

 its execution can be but imperfectly learned from the 

 fullest directions that can be given in print. The only 

 way is, either to have foreign workmen over in England 

 to instruct the native population, or, what is better, to 

 send a few clever young men to France, to serve a sort of 

 apprenticeship to the preparation of flax. The little 

 practical details of the process are innumerable. Thus, 

 the workman ought to hold the handful tightly in his 

 hand, to prevent the fibres from being knocked out by 

 the blow of the scutch ; he ought to strike the fibre 

 rather in the way of scraping and rubbing, than of knock- 

 ing it; and the scutch ought not to descend perpen- 

 dicularly on the flax, as it protrudes through the slit in 

 the scutch-board, otherwise many of the fibres are broken, 

 come away with the tow, and so occasion loss. "When 

 one-half of the handful is scutched, the ends change 

 places in the workman's hand, and the other half is 

 operated upon. It is shaken, and combed with the 

 fingers several times ; and often, when much tow comes 

 away, two handfuls are put together. 



In the act of scutching, tow is produced of two kinds, 

 one more useful than the other. Both are laid aside 

 separately. The finest tow is spun for making aprons, 

 coarse cloths, work-day shirts, and pantaloons, for labourers, 

 &c. The coarser is used to make packing-cloths, ropes, 

 &c., &c. This tow is used up and spun at home, entirely 

 for home purposes. The tow produced in combing is of a 

 finer quality. In the flax-mills, it is carded by the great 

 carding-machine, and afterwards spun. The time, and 

 the amount of manipulation, required to scutch a given 

 bundle of flax, varies considerably, according to circum- 



