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head of the flax, for if they do, it will become stunted in its 

 growth, and get to no height. 



When the plant is arrived at its growth, and is in full 

 blossom, which in common seasons will be about the beginning 

 of July, it is fit to be pulled, if the grower has a greater regard 

 to the produce of the stalk than to the seed. However, it is 

 a common practice to injure the whole crop for the sake of the 

 seed; and to let it remain till the seed begins to ripen, so as 

 to have both flax and seed. In this case the land suffers 

 greatly, for flax seeded is a great impoverisher; but if pulled 

 whilst in blossom, is an excellent preparative for turnips, 

 which should always follow a flax crop instead of wheat. The 

 great reason why the Irish, and, indeed, most foreign flax, is 

 finer than the English, is because they pull it early, and sow 

 particular spots purposely for seed ; and, perhaps, it would 

 be politic in government to grant a bounty on all foreign flax- 

 seed sown in this kingdom, so as to reduce the price of foreign 

 seed nearly to a level with our own ; by this, the growth of 

 flax (and with it the linen trade) would be encouraged, which 

 has of late suffered considerable diminution by the restrictions 

 to its cultivation imposed by landowners, under the idea of 

 great injury done to the land by the culture of this plant. 



After the flax is pulled, there are two methods of working 

 it ; the first is called retting of it, that is, steeping it in water 

 in order to loosen the rind and separate it from the stalk ; 

 and the other is called dew-ripening, which is the spreading it 

 on grass land, and by rain and dew producing the same effect. 

 The early flax is mostly watered, which is done by laying the 

 bundles in a pond or reservoir of soft water, and keeping them 

 down by stones or any other heavy bodies. In the course of 

 seven or eight days the rind will be sufficiently loosened, and 

 they must be taken out of the water, spread abroad, and dried. 

 In this part of the operation, great skill and attention are 

 necessary, for if it be left in the water too long, the threads 

 become rotten and useless to the manufacturer ; it is, there- 

 fore, more advisable to take it out too soon than to leave it too 

 long in the pits. Those who raise flax for the seed and stalk 

 both go through an operation called rippling : this is, separat- 

 ing the seed from the stalk, by passing the flax through a 



