CULTIVATION OP PLANTS. 165 



which are conveniently tied by a v few stems of the plant or 

 rushes. 



The separation of the seed-vessels from the stems is per- 

 formed by a process termed rippling. The rippling machine 

 is an implement somewhat like a comb, with iron teeth fixed 

 upon a plank. Through these teeth the 

 stems are repeatedly drawn by hand, and 

 thus the capsules or seed-vessels are se- 

 parated. The ripple is placed in the 

 middle of a large sheet of canvass spread 

 upon the ground. There may be two sets of teeth, as shown 

 in the figure fixed on one plank, so that two persons may work 

 at the same time; and the plank may be conveniently fixed in 

 the ground by a pin passed through it. The capsules are pre- 

 served, the seeds being either used for sowing or bruised for 

 oil. It is at this point that Mr. POMEROY very justly observes, 

 that the labour of the farmer should cease. 



The next process is to separate the fibres from the stem. 

 The common method of doing this is by steeping the whole 

 plant in water. By this means the softer parts of the stem 

 partially undergo the putrefactive fermentation, while the 

 tougher fibres of the bark are not affected. At a certain period 

 then, as ten or twelve days before the fibrous part of the bark 

 has become affected, the plants are removed from the water 

 and dried. After being dried the stems become brittle, and 

 are easily separated by rubbing or beating from the fibrous 

 part of the bark, which is the only part employed in the manu- 

 facture of linen. It will appear that, if the putrefactive pro- 

 cess shall proceed too far, the fibrous, as well as the mucilagi- 

 nous, part of the bark may be affected. 



It is, therefore, a point of practice, to allow the putrefactive 

 process to proceed just the length of affecting the softer part 

 of the stem, without acting upon the fibrous part of the bark. 

 And the usual manner of performing the process of steeping is 

 the following: The little sheaves made up after the process 

 of rippling, are carried away to a pool or tank containing 

 water, or into which water may be conveyed and in all cases 

 the water ought to be clear and soft. The sheaves should be 

 placed in the pool in a nearly upright position, the heads of 

 them being uppermost. They are then kept under water by 

 stones or other heavy substances, in such manner as to prevent 

 their rising to the surface. They must not, however, be com- 

 pressed to the bottom, but merely so loaded as that they shall 

 be kept below water. 



The period that flax ought to remain in the water depends 

 on a great variety of circumstances; as, the state of ripeness in 



