AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 109 



hands can firmly grasp, is drawn through, and the bolls rip- 

 pled off; attention to sorting at the same time should be con- 

 tinued. The bolls are to be riddled and winnowed immedi- 

 ately ; spread thin on a clean floor, or on sheets, in the sun, 

 and when sufficiently dry, and beginning to open, threshed. 

 By this method the foul seeds are completely separated with 

 little trouble, and good clean seed is ready for an early 

 market, often the best, without the use of expensive ma- 

 chinery to make it so. Here the operations of the farmer 

 ought to end ; the process of preparation being foreign to 

 and unconnected with his other pursuits ; and which has been 

 the greatest objection to extensive flax culture. Can there 

 be a reason why the farmer is to prepare his flax more than 

 the hides of his cattle, which he sends to the tanner? They 

 are both chemical processes ; and to dissolve the glutinous 

 or resinous substances by which the fibres are attached to 

 the stem, without impairing their strength, is perhaps as 

 critic xl, and requires as much care and judgment, as to ex- 

 tract the animal juices from the hides, and fill the pores 

 with tannin. In short, the flax grower and flax preparer 

 and dresser should be distinct professions. They are said 

 to be so in Flanders and Holland, and were extensively so in 

 Scotland, where the farmer sold his flax on the ground, or 

 in sheaves at his barn or rick. 



' The preparation of flax by steeping is very general in the 

 great flax growing countries in Europe, but it is not quite 

 finished in the water. It remains spread some days on the 

 grass, which is necessary to render it soft, and give that sil- 

 very appearance so desirable. The destructive process of 

 dew rotting is most commonly practised in this country, and 

 when water is resorted to it is at an improper season, and 

 the process imperfect ; which is the cause of its being so 

 harsh and brittle. Perhaps no part of the system requires 

 such an allowance for difference of climate. In the humid 

 atmosphere of Ireland it is not very material when it is 

 spread ; but in this climate, when exposed to a July or 

 August sun, every drop after a shower becomes a burning- 

 glass, and literally scorches the fibres : besides, such a highly 

 putrid fermentation as will then take place in the water, 

 though it separates the harl more speedily, not only injures 

 it, but communicates a stain, that renders the process of 

 bleaching much more tedious and expensive. 



' The flax should not be put into the water till about the 

 first of October, and remain from ten to fourteen days, ac- 

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