TREATMENT OF GREEN FLAX. 305 



purposes. In establishments where the improved pro- 

 cesses of steeping the straw are in operation, the subse- 

 quent processes of preparation are conducted in a more 

 expeditious and efficient manner. Instead of the long 

 and tedious operation of drying by exposure to the air, 

 the steeped flax is at once submitted to pressure, by being 

 passed between smooth steel rollers, which not only 

 effectually crush and break the woody centre, but at the 

 same time squeeze out nearly the whole of the moisture, 

 a few hours' exposure to a current of a dry air in a suitable 

 shed or chamber being all that is necessary to render it 

 perfectly dry. It is then passed through a train of 

 toothed rollers, which break up the woody centre into 

 short lengths, and at once submitted to the action of the 

 scutching frame, by which the separation of the fibre is 

 effected in a very satisfactory manner as regards time, 

 cost, and produce. 



In speaking of the treatment of flax by these different 

 methods, we have only referred to it in a dried state, 

 harvested and treated in the usual way. It is not, how- 

 ever, necessary that it should always be so ; it is usually 

 more convenient, it is true, where large quantities are to 

 be operated upon, but where the quantity is small and 

 can be worked up at once, it would appear, from the 

 following comparative experiments, that steeping it in a 

 green state is the most advantageous. M. Dufermont, 

 cultivateur a Hem (departement du Nord), found that, 

 when the flax was used green the steeping only required 

 from six to seven days, and that six days' " grassing " 

 gave the flax a finer colour than could be obtained by 

 any other means. It was dried and ready for scutching 

 in three weeks, whereas the ordinary time in the district 

 averaged from one to one and a half years. 1 He found 



1 It is generally considered desirable that the steeped flax should be kept 

 some time one, two, and even three years before being scutched. 



