110 THE COMrLETE FARMER 



cording to the temperature of the weather ; and should be 

 taken out before the fibres will separate freely, spread on 

 the grass, when the frost will very much assist the operation ; 

 and the flax exhibits a gloss and softness that it is impossible 

 to give it otherwise. The following method of preparing 

 hemp will apply with great force to the point under discus- 

 sion. During the late war, an experienced ship-master in 

 Connecticut, and who was also a good farmer, raised a crop 

 of hemp. As soon as it was dry enough to be stowed away, 

 it was put under cover, and remained till October ; was then 

 put into clear soft water, till the fibres would separate with 

 some difficulty, when it was spread on the g^ass ; the frost 

 completed the operation, and when dry it was immediately 

 secured. There was no putrid fermentation to deteriorate 

 the harl, nor was it mildewed by being exposed to the wea- 

 ther, and when dressed exhibited that fine silver green hue 

 by which the Russian hemp is distinguished ;'^ and when 

 worked up, was pronounced by the rope-makers to be equal 

 to any hemp ever imported ! Here is a lesson for our west- 

 ern brethren, that is worth more to them than mines of silver. 

 Clear, soft, stagnant water is preferred in Europe. A canal 

 forty feet long, six broad, and four deep, is said to be sufficient 

 for the produce of an acre of flax, at one time. It should be 

 formed on a clay or some holding- soil, where the water from 

 a spring or brook can be conducted in with convenience; 

 the expense would not be great, and on most farms suitable 

 sites may be had. May not boiling or steaming be found 

 the most advantageous process of preparing flax ? The very- 

 superior sample of thread exhibited at Brighton, in 1818, for 

 which Mrs. Crowninshield, of Danvers, received a premium, 

 was spun from flax prepared by boiling. It appears by the 

 " Transactions of the Swedish Academy," that a method was 

 practised in Sweden of preparing flax to resemble cotton, by 

 boiling it ten hours in salt water, spreading on the grass, 

 and frequently watering, by which it becomes soft and 

 bleached. Boiling or steaming will not appear very formida- 

 ble or expensive when we examine the subject. A box twen- 

 ty feet long, six feet wide, and four deep, well constructed 

 of stout planks, a boiler, from which a large tube extends 

 into and communicates with the w^ater in the box, will boil 

 the produce c f a quarter of an acre in a day ; that is, if we 



* The best Riga hemp supplied for the British navy is prepared by 

 steeping ; during which it is shifted three times. 



