204 AGRICULTURAL SURVEY OF cbap. F1L 



ject, the flax is dried in stocks, like oats or bar- 

 ley, with the bolls upon it, stacked up through 

 winter, threshed in the spring, and watered as 

 soon thereafter as the season shall prove favour- 

 able. 



Flax is frequently watered, without being rip- 

 pled. But this is surely an improper practice. 

 The bolls, which are an excellent food for cows 

 or horses, being put into the water, are render- 

 ed unfit for this purpose, and, at the sametime, 

 are apt to breed vermin in the water, and there- 

 by endanger the flax. In the operation of wa- 

 tering, care is taken to have soft water, if possi- 

 ble. Sometimes it is put into moss holes, and 

 sometimes into canals or ponds, into which soft 

 water can be introduced. If the canal be long, 

 and its situation render a constant supply of wa- 

 ter necessary, the flax, where the fresh water en- 

 ters, is always sooner watered, than that which 

 lies at the other end. This circumstance should 

 be attended to. Flax ought never, if it can po- 

 .sibly be avoided, be put into water, that has 

 been used for the same purpose immediately be- 

 fore. If the season be warm, the water soft, 

 and collected for some time, it will require from 

 eight to ten days. But in this county, flax is 

 seldom allowed to continue in the water till it 

 be completely ready. Allowance is made for its 

 lying a week, perhaps two or three weeks, on 

 the grass. 



In putting the flax into the canal, attention is 

 not always paid to the proper method of placing 

 the sheaves. They are frequently thrown in 

 without order, and laid in a horizontal position : 

 whereas they ought to be disposed in rows across 



