FLAX 6 I 



Flax scutch mills represent a rural industry of considerable 

 extent in the North of Ireland, and during the autumn and 

 winter months are centres of great activity. Each mill con- 

 tains a set of rollers for breaking or crushing the straw, and 

 a number of stocks and beaters for cleaning the fibre. The 

 mills are of various sizes, and are classed according to the 

 number of stands and stocks they contain, each stock being 

 used by one man, and consisting of an upright board or iron 

 plate, over the upper end or in a slot in the side of which the 

 flax is held by the worker who stands on one side, whilst the 

 beaters strike the ends of the flax in rapid succession on the 

 other. The beaters or handles are five or six in number, 

 fixed in a horizontal shaft, which revolves at a high speed. 

 The flax, divided into handfuls or stricks, is handed to the 

 scutchers, who first put the one end and then the other over 

 the stock, and thus clean it for its entire length with perfect 

 ease, if properly retted and rolled or broken. The stricks or 

 streaks pass through the hands of several scutchers, called 

 buffers and finishers, after which they are tied up in bundles 

 and made ready for market. 



Flax straw loses on the average about 25 per cent, of its 

 weight in the retting process. The yield per cent, of scutched 

 flax fibre from retted flax straw is about i8| per cent., or 14 

 per cent, on the straw before retting. An acre of fairly 

 good flax is estimated to weigh on foot, or when freshly 

 pulled, about 5 tons. In drying, it loses rather more than 

 one-half its weight, say about 55 per cent. Rippling further 

 reduces its weight by about 20 per cent. Steeping reduces 

 the weight by another 25 per cent., and if the yield of fibre 

 be taken at 18 per cent, the loss in scutching would be 82 

 per cent. 



The following figures, which show the above more clearly, 

 trace the flax from the field to the market. 



