FLAX 47 



The fibre produced is of better quality when the seed is 

 thickly sown, since the stems then grow up straight, and do 

 not branch until quite high up. Branching spoils the quality 

 of the flax for spinning purposes, and is to be avoided. Two 

 and a half bushels per acre is a suitable quantity of seed to 

 give good results. When a " braird " appears, and is a few 

 inches long, the field should be carefully weeded, as the value 

 of the fibre will be much reduced if. it be afterwards found 

 that weeds are mixed with it. Towards the middle or end of 

 August the plant should be ready for pulling. The best fibre 

 is obtained if the flax is pulled before it has quite reached 

 maturity, or at the moment when the stems begin to get yellow 



FIG. 5. 



at the base, and the seed bolls become firm. When hands are 

 obtainable the stems should be pulled up by the roots, as the 

 fibre which they contain is then more suitable for spinning 

 than if the stems be cut down, as they sometimes are in 

 America, where labour is scarce and dear. In pulling it is of 

 the utmost importance that the long and short stems be kept 

 separate as much as possible, and also that the root ends be 

 kept perfectly even, as the yield of fibre will be thereby 

 improved, both in the subsequent scutching and hackling pro- 

 cesses. As the cultivation, harvesting and retting of flax 

 straw is a regular industry in Belgium, and particularly along 

 the banks of the River Lys, on both sides of Courtrai, we will 

 give a description of the methods there employed as repre- 

 senting the best practice. 



