FLAX. 13 



fish in the water they quickly died, and if cattle 

 were allowed to drink of it the draught proved fatal. 

 This may be the case where a very great quantity 

 is soaked in a small pool, but where the volume 

 of water employed is at all considerable no such 

 effects are produced. The exhalations proceeding 

 from hemp and flax when under maceration are 

 indeed very noisome. The great quantity of hemp 

 soaked every summer in the lake of Agnano, in the 

 south of Italy, is even said to increase the malaria 

 of the immediate neighbourhood ; but it has never 

 been known to poison the fish or the frogs, or any 

 other animal drinking of that water. An act was 

 passed in the reign of Henry VIII. forbidding the 

 watering of flax and hemp in any river or common 

 pond, and this act still continues in force. Canals 

 are therefore generally dug for the purpose. A canal 

 of four feet in depth, forty feet long, and six broad, is 

 found of sufficient extent to water the plants produced 

 in one acre. 



The bundles of flax are placed in regular layers in 

 the pond, and loaded with large pieces of wood unti 

 the whole is immersed in water. Ten days is about 

 the usual period of tjheir remaining in this situation, 

 but sometimes a fortnight is required. The proper 

 time depends on various circumstances ; the state in 

 which the flax was pulled, whether green or ap- 

 proaching to maturity, the quality and temperature 

 of the water, all have an effect on the length of time 

 required for watering. It can only be known by trial 

 when this operation is completed : if the flax feels 

 soft to the touch, and if the rind separates easily 

 from the stem, it having become brittle, then all 

 that was required from the action of the water has 

 been accomplished ; the plants are consequently re- 

 moved, spread thinly on heath or a stubble field, and 

 turned about once a week until completely dry. In 



c 



