with the roots all even together. While making this movement 

 if any earth adheres to the roots, which will probably be the case 

 on clay land, strike the roots smartly against the ground or your 

 boot to knock off the adhering earth before laying it down. Then, 

 with the rigfht hand edgeways and the thumb turned down, with 

 a back-handed sweep, gather up another bunch of flax to the 

 left hand and repeat the motion until the left hand is full and pull 

 it as the first bunch was pulled and sweeping it over and laying 

 it over across the first in such a manner that the tops of each 

 will not become extangled. Continue thus until you have enough 

 piled together on the ground to make a bundle large enough to 

 fill your string, then continue pulling in the same manner and 

 making other heaps as the pulling progresses. You can either 

 tie the bundles at once or leave the heaps of flax on the ground 

 for others to come along and tie. It will be better to let tiers 

 tie, and pullers pull, as by so doing you make a division of labor, 

 and both become more expert in their different branches of the 

 work. When tying, the bundles should be gathered together and 

 lifted and the butts struck ("jabbed" would be the more ex- 

 pressive word) on the ground to get all the roots as even as pos- 

 sible and then tie moderately tight just below where the seed 

 ends branch off and set them up singly with their butt ends 

 spread out for the purpose of drying. At this point the farmer 

 elects what disposal is to be made of his flax, whether he will 

 ret it himself or sell the dry straw to the scutch mill. In the 

 former case, he can adopt the instructions here laid down, al- 

 though I have thus been particular in describing the details of 

 hand pulling flax the Americanized system contemplates this 

 work being done by machinery, as flax-pulling machines have 

 already been invented, and I trust will shortly be placed on the 

 market by the use of which not only the cost of pulling, but also 

 the time occupied in that process will be greatly reduced. Our 

 American harvesting machines are now so much improved that 

 they can be set up to cut flax straws within two inches of the 

 ground and with very sharp knives may be substituted with econ- 

 omy for the pulling. 



FLAX RIPPLE 



I have now come to a phase of my subject that will cause 

 European experts to hold up their hands in holy horror at the 



41 



