100 



not <i^atheied until the seeds are at full maturity. But if the 

 stalks grow straight and long, then all care of the seed becomes 

 a secondary consideration, and the flax is pulled at the most 

 favourable period for obtaining good fibres. Experience has 

 shown that when the bloom has just fallen, when the stalks 

 begin to turn yellow, and before the leaves fall, the fibres arc 

 softer and stronger than if left standing until the seed is quite 

 matured. 



It has been found, from experience, that most seeds, though 

 not quite mature when gathered, ripen suflficicntly after being 

 })lucked, provided they be not detached until dry from the 

 parent plant; all the sap which this contains contributing 

 towards further nourishing and perfecting the seed. 



The Dutch avail themselves of this fact with rejjard to their 

 flax crop. — After pulling the plants they stack them. The 

 seed by this means becomes ripe, while the fibres are collected 

 at the most favourable period of their growth. They thus 

 obtain both of their valuable products from their plants, and 

 su])])ly their less careful neighbours with the seeds. 



The water-retting for very fine flax is more carefully per- 

 formed, and in this process the advantages of running and still 

 water are endeavoured to be combined. The pit into which 

 the water is introduced for this purpose is made three or four 

 months before it is wanted. A pure stx'eam from a soft spring 

 or a small rivulet is always gently running through ; the pit 

 having only two small apertures at opposite sides for the ingress 

 and egress of the water. This receptacle should be about five 

 feet deep, narrow, and of a length proportionate to the 

 •quantity of flax under process. Poles with hooks attached to 

 them are driven in along the sides, the hooks being rather 

 below the surface of the water; a long pole, the whole length 

 of the pit, is fixed into these hooks. The flax is then made 

 into narrow bundles of about two and a half feet long: and 

 four feet high, and these being wrapped in straw, are immersed 

 in the water, where they are kept securely by means of 

 horizontal cross poles, which are then introduced between the 

 long pole and the hooks. 



The produce from the flax plant is extremely uncertain in 

 quantity. It is affected by difference of soil and season, as 



