LINT. 



403 



they are either laid regularly across the field in 

 handfuls, raised a little aslant, or are tied loosely 

 in sheaves, and set upright upon their roots. 

 The general practice is to leave the plants in the 

 field twelve or fourteen days after they have been 

 gathered in order to dry them. This method 

 does not meet the approbation of intelligent cul- 

 tivators, who consider it most judicious to dis- 

 pense with the drying altogether. In some parts 

 of France it is the custom to lay the flax on the 

 ground for only a day or two. In Yorkshire the 

 sheaves are immediately taken to the watering 

 place. Flax intended for cambric is never so 

 much dried, previously to watering, as that which 

 is employed in the making of lawn, lace, or 

 thread. 



An experienced flax raiser is careful to sort his 

 plants after pulling them, putting together those 

 only which are of the same size and quality, as 

 each kind requires a diff^erent treatment in the 

 subsequent preparation. 



The first operation which flax undergoes is 

 called rippling, and this can be performed equally 

 well whether the plants be green or dry. This 

 is done to free the stalk part from the leaves and 

 seed-pods called holh. 



The ripple is a kind of comb, consisting of six, 

 eight, or ten long triangular teeth, set in a nar- 

 row piece of wood, so that their bases nearly 

 touch each other. This being firmly fixed on a 

 beam of wood, two persons sit, one at each end, 

 and taking up the handfuls of flax, draw them 

 repeatedly through the ripple; in a very short 

 time each handful is by this means entirely di- 

 vested of all its leaves and pods. 



If the seed of the plants under operation is to 

 be preserved, a large cloth is spread on the ground 

 to receive the pods as they fall ; these are then 

 spread out in the sun, and when dry and hard 

 the seeds are carefuUy sifted and winnowed from 

 the husk. Those which separate spontaneously 

 are reserved for sowing. The second and inte- 

 rior sort is extensively used in the arts, and is 

 known under the name of lintseed or linseed, 

 from which linseed oil is obtained. 



The delicate fibres of flax intended for cambric 

 would be injured by the use of the ripple, and 

 therefore the stalks are in that case divested of 

 their seed, pods, and leaves, either by beating 

 them with a wooden mallet, or by cutting them 

 oiF with a wooden knife. 



The flax, after being rippled, is placed in wa- 

 ter to dissolve the gummy sap, by which the 

 bark adheres to the ligneous stalk; to cause ma- 

 ceration, by promoting a slight fermentation of 

 those parts which are not fibrous, and conse- 

 quently to promote the more easy disengagement 

 of the useful from the useless portion. This is 

 called water-retting. A difference of opinion 

 exists as to the superior efiicacy of a running 

 stream or a standing pool for the purpose. It is 



said that a running stream wastes the flax, while 

 on the other hand it gives to it a greater degree 

 of whiteness. 



Hemp and flax impart somewhat of a poison- 

 ous quality to the water in which they are im- 

 mersed. It was for a long time asserted, that if 

 there were any fish in the water they quickly 

 died; and if cattle were allowed to drink of it, 

 the draught proved fatal. This may be the case 

 where a very great quantity is soaked in a small 

 pool ; but where the volume of water employed 

 is at all considerable, no such eff'ects are produced. 

 The exhalations proceeding from hemp and flax, 

 when under maceration, are indeed very noisome. 

 The great quantity of hemp soaked every sum- 

 mer in the lake of Agnano, in the south of Italy, 

 is even said to increase the malaria of the imme- 

 diate neighbourhood; but it has never been 

 known to poison the fish or the frogs, or any 

 other animal drinking of that water. An act 

 was passed in the reign of Henry VIII. forbid- 

 ding the watering of flax and hemp in any river 

 or common pond, and this act still continues in 

 force. Canals are therefore generally dug for 

 the purpose. A canal of four feet in depth, forty 

 feet long, and six broad, is found of sufficient 

 extent to water the plants produced in one acre. 



The bundles of flax are placed in regular layers 

 in the pond, and loaded with large pieces of 

 wood until the whole is immersed in water. Ten 

 days is about the usual period of their remaining 

 in this situation, but sometimes a fortnight is 

 required. The proper time depends on various 

 circumstances. The state in which the flax was 

 pulled, whether green or approaching to matu- 

 rity; the quality and temperature of the water, 

 all have an effect on the length of time required 

 for watering. It can only be known by trial 

 when this operation is completed. If the flax 

 feels soft to the touch, and if the rind separates 

 easily from the stem, it having become brittle, 

 then all that was required from the action of the 

 water has been accomplished; the plants are con- 

 sequently removed, spread thinly on heath or a 

 stubble field, and turned about once a week until 

 completely dry. In this manner of steeping, the 

 flax soon gives to the water an inky tinge, and 

 imbibes it again so strongly that much labour is 

 required in its bleaching, and therefore many 

 plans have from time to time been proposed to 

 obviate this objection. It has been recommended, 

 as a much better method, to subject the flax to 

 the action of boiling water, or even to boil it for 

 an hour or more, by which every advantage 

 would be obtained of macerating the reed or 

 hoon, and separating the juices, while the bad ef- 

 fects attending long immersion in stagnant pools 

 would be avoided. 



The water-retting for very fine flax is more 

 carefully performed; and in this process the ad"- 

 vantagss of running and still water are endea^ 



