182 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



to the quantity and quality of fibre alone, he may sow up to 

 eight pecks per acre according to the condition of his land ; if 

 his land is very strong this latter quantity of seed will give an 

 immense burden of fine stem. Great care should be used in 

 sowing as the seed is very slippery and is apt to glide unevenly 

 from the hand ; land may be put down to grass with this crop 

 the same as with oats or other grain ; after sowing the laud 

 should be harrowed and rolled, giving the same treatment as 

 for oats or other grains. 



The crop requires no further attention until the time of 



Pulling. — The fibre is in the best state before the seed is 

 quite ripe ; and the time for pulling when the seed bolls begin 

 to turn brown, and the leaves have turned yellow on the lower 

 half of the stalk ; the seed at this time will have passed out of 

 the milky state, and there will have been lePt in the stalk 

 sufficient vitality to carry the seed to perfection. 



In pulling, the stem should be grasped about midway its 

 length — taking as many stalks as the hand can easily grasp — 

 and pulled upward in a straight line, in order that the plant 

 may not be broken (as that would conflict with the success of 

 after operations ;) it should then be laid on the ground in such 

 quantity as will make a bundle three or four inches in diameter; 

 at niglit, or when the work shall have been completed, bind up 

 the stem (using some of the same for bands,) and stack in 

 small shocks, in such manner as will allow the air to circulate 

 freely through them ; when dry it should be taken to some 

 convenient place for taking off the seed. 



The seed may be taken off in a variety of ways, either by 

 pounding the seed ends with a stick or by threshing upon a 

 block or stone ; a very simple machine is made, composed of 

 two wooden rollers between which the- bolls are run, taking out 

 the seed very rapidly and without injufy to the stem; in taking 

 off the seed by either process the stem should not be broken. 

 Seed can be cleaned from the chaff as other grains. 



Rotting. — After the seed is taken off, the stem is ready for 

 rotting, which at the present time can be best accomplished by 

 the aid of dews and rains ; to accomplish this, select a level 

 piece of mowing land, (where the aftermath is not too heavy,) 

 and opening the bundles spread the flax thinly and evenly in 

 rows, spreading not more than one pound in two feet, running 



