294 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The weeding should be done before the flax exceeds six inches 

 in height. 



Pulling. — The time when flax should be pulled is a point of 

 much nicetj to determine. The fibre is in the best state before 

 the seed is quite ripe. If pulled too soon, although the fibre is 

 fine, the great waste in scutching and hackling renders it unprof- 

 itable ; and if pulled too late, the additional weight does not 

 compensate for the coarseness of the fibre. It may be stated 

 that the best time for pulling is when the seeds are beginning 

 to change from a green to a pale brown color, and the stalk to 

 become yellow for about two-thirds of its height from the ground. 

 When any of the crop is lying and suffering from wet, it should 

 be pulled as soon as possible and kept by itself. So long as the 

 ground is undrained, and imperfectly levelled before sowing, 

 the flax will be found of different lengths. In such cases, pull 

 each length separately, and, if possible, keep it separate in the 

 pool. Where there is much second growth, the flax should be 

 caught by the puller just underneath the bolls, which will leave 

 the short stalks behind. If the latter be few, it is best not to 

 pull them at all, as the loss from mixture and discoloration by 

 weeds would counterbalance the profit. If the ground has been 

 thorough-drained, and laid out evenly, the flax will likely be all 

 of the same length. It is most essential to take time and care 

 to keep the flax even, like a brush, at the root ends. This 

 increases the value to the spinner, and, of course to the grower, 

 who will be amply repaid by an additional price for his extra 

 trouble. Let the handfuls of pulled flax be laid across each 

 other diagonally, to be ready for the rippling, or the removal 

 of the seed. 



The subsequent processes of watering, spreading, lifting, dry- 

 ing, breaking, &c,, have been so far superseded by our improved 

 machinery, that I need not give them here. Indeed, mowing 

 with a common scythe may now be adopted by us instead' of the 

 slower process of pulling. 



THE EXPERIMENTS AT ROTHAMSTED. 



Rothamsted is some thirty or forty miles from London, on 

 the great Northern Railway, Here have been conducted, for 

 several years, an elaborate series of agricultural experiments, 



