284 THE FLAX CROP. 



the field : where it has been stacked any time, and the 

 straw got dry and rigid, it would be broken and greatly 

 injured by the operation. In this case a "bat," or beater, 

 in the shape of a flat piece of hard wood, 8x12 inches in 

 size, with a short wooden handle set at a certain angle, 

 is used for the same purpose. The " bundles " are held 

 by the left hand of the operator on a table, and the heads 

 are struck with this " beater/' the seed falling from the 

 broken capsules or bolls on to a cloth placed beneath. 

 This beater is often used to break up any bolls that may 

 remain entire in the rippled seed. The sooner the rippled 

 straw goes to the steep the better, as the fermentative pro- 

 cess is more readily set up now than when it has become 

 perfectly dry and hard. 



Before describing either the ordinary or the improved 

 processes of preparation, let us briefly consider their object, 

 and the nature or composition of the substance they have 

 to treat. The object may be given in a few words the 

 separation of the fibre from the other portions of the 

 stem. If we take a portion of the stem, break it, and 

 carefully examine it, its composition will be found to con- 

 sist mainly of three distinct parts. The centre is occupied 

 by a substance composed of cellular tissue, in appearance 

 like wood, which is usually called the "shove" or "boon." 

 Round this centre is a tubular sheath, composed of long 

 tough fibres cohering firmly together, the whole structure 

 being cemented together by a nitrogenized, mucilaginous 

 compound, and enveloped by a thin and delicate skin or 

 bark. The structural arrangement of the stem of the flax 

 plant is admirably described by Schacht, 1 from whose excel- 

 lent treatise on "Plant Cells'" the accompanying wood- 

 cut is taken. If a piece of the dried stem be rubbed be- 

 tween the fingers, the bark is immediately removed, and 

 the fibrous portions are more or less readily detached 



1 Physiologische Botanik, "Die Pflanzenzelle," von Dr. Schacbt, Berlin, 1852. 



