BELGIAN MODE OF STACKING. 281 



ness, they are carted away, and are either stacked for 

 future use, or are at once taken to the place where the 

 subsequent operations for the conversion of the crop into 

 fibre are to be carried on. In this country, the form and 

 mode of stacking is the same as with the straw crops, the 

 only difference is in their smaller size. On the Continent, 

 however, they adopt a different method, and arrange the 

 sheaves in long, narrow stacks, having only a width of two 

 sheaves, placed head to head together (about 4 to 5 feet), 

 their butts forming the two outsides. These stacks fre- 

 quently extend 20 to 30 feet in length, and are held 

 together by two stout poles firmly driven into the ground 

 at each end; their height rarely exceeds 8 to 10 feet. A 

 row or two of sheaves laid lengthwise along the centre, at 

 the top, gives a slight inclination to the thatch with 

 which they are covered, the eaves being carried out so as 

 to drip clear of the sides. By this method the crop may 

 be carried earlier from the field, and requires less time in 

 the stack, both matters of importance to the Belgian 

 farmer, who never allows his lands nor his hands to re- 

 main unoccupied if he can help it. 



In some cases, especially if the demand be pressing, 

 and the weather suitable, the sheaves are not stacked 

 at all, or at all events only a portion of them, but the 

 seed is separated, and the straw carried to the steeping 

 place at once. Indeed, this is the plan usually followed 

 in districts where the old methods of preparation are 

 still followed, as the process can only be carried on suc- 

 cessfully while the natural temperature of the water is 

 sufficiently warm to induce a regular fermentation, and 

 is arrested as soon as the temperature falls with the 

 advancing autumn. The portions of the crop then un- 

 steeped have to wait for the succeeding summer's work. 

 Where, however, the improved processes, to which we 

 shall presently refer, are adopted, time and temperature 



VOL. II. 51 



