28 DICKSON ON 



WATERING, COMMONLY CALLED 

 RETTING, IN IRELAND. 



This is the most important part of the whole process and 

 labour requisite in the preparation of Flax, previous to its 

 being brought to market, for without the greatest of care and 

 attention, the grower's labour may be (even after producing 

 an abundant crop) half lost, and he may remain in total igno- 

 rance of the cause of it. I think proper to notice this fact 

 early, in order to prepare him for what he may expect if he 

 depend on servants, or others, attending to what he will find 

 to be, if directed by himself, a source of profitable amusement ; 

 for, as in directing the work requisite in the process of watering 

 Flax, a person of educated and scientific knowledge, will have 

 an advantage over the uneducated there is in this part of the 

 science, to be learned, a wide field for improvement and study, 

 and particularly for those who have an idea of the cause and 

 effect of fermentation. In the first place, the stalk on which 

 the Flax has been produced is, when pulled, as tough as 

 wood of the rattan sort, and that, from the fibre being bound 

 round it, as tight as if it was actually glued to it, the question 

 is, How is the fibre to be got separated, and clean off the wood 

 or stalk ? Many plans have been resorted to by men of ex- 

 perience in chemistry, and especially by linen and cotton 

 bleachers, who have practical experience in the use of alkalies 

 and bleaching liquids, and with those I have known steam 

 pressure used of a high degree, and without success, for in 

 every instance where chemical substances have been used, in 

 trying to separate the fibre of Flax from the wood or stalk on 

 which it is produced, the spinning qualities of the fibre have 

 been destroyed, for the gluten, or adhesive matter, so necessary 

 in causing the fibres to adhere to each other, as they pass 

 through the hot water in the trough of the spinning frame, 



