AGRICULTURE. 147 
before the grain is up th®field is rolled and harrowed, which leaves it in 
the state seen in fig. 2. Upon the appearance of the grain (jig. 3), the cul- 
tivator or some other instrument is made use of between the rows. At the 
moment the first crop begins to show its ears, the second crop, which may 
be potatoes, turnips, or beets, is planted between the rows (jig. 4). 2g. 5 
shows the grain ready for the hagvest, and in jigs. 6 and 7 the second crop 
has possession of the ground. 
G. Flax. 
This useful plant is harvested when ripe by pulling up the roots, tied in 
bundles, and dried in the field. It is then freed from seed by passing the 
heads through an iron comb, bound in small bundles and rotted, that the 
woody portion of the plant may be separated from the hal or fibrous por- 
tion. After the rotting is completed, it is dried and broken upon a simple 
machine called a flax brake (pl. 30, fig. 44). In the lower or stationary 
part of the frame there are three slats on edge, between which work two 
similar slats upon the movable frame which vibrates upon a pivot in the 
frame of the machine. The flax is laid upon the lower slats, and is broken 
by the motion of the upper frame, which is worked by the hand of the 
operator. . 
A great variety of machines have been invented for braking flax, which 
have ina measure replaced the hand machines. After the flax is broken, it 
is submitted to an operation called swingling, to remove the woody portions 
which have been broken up by the brake; it is laid upon a bench and beaten 
by the swingle (pl. 30, jig. 45¢), then it is heckled upon the coarse heckle 
( jig. 45), and lastly upon the fine heckle. 
Pl. 29, fig. 42, is a machine for cleaning flax after it comes from the 
brake, which makes better work than the above manual operations. It acts 
in the following manner: two reels, a and 0, revolve rapidly, nearly in con- 
tact with each other; the flax is attached to rods and hung at the frame at ¢, 
and is gradually lowered and raised between the revolving reels until entirely 
freed from the Aurds, when it is fit to be spun. 
H. Cider. 
An important branch in the economy of the farm is the making of cider, 
which may be prepared from apples, pears, or plums. The ripe fruit is 
ground or mashed in a mill (pl. 30, jig. 47) driven by horse power, or upon 
a small scale in an apparatus represented in jig. 48, in which the fruit is 
crushed by a conical roller, pivoted in the centre of the table. Upon a 
larger scale, the fruit, after being ground in the mill (pl. 30, jig. 47), is car- 
ried to the press (jig. 49), the screw of which is worked by the rope ¢, or 
otherwise. The cider is received from the press in barrels, which are kept 
entirely full until the fermentation is ended. Its flavor is improved by the 
addition of strawberries, raspberries, or other small fruits, before the fer- 
mentation ; lime or chalk is sometimes added, to check the too rapid fer- 
mentation. By the evaporation of sweet cider a syrup or molasses is obtained, 
by many preferred to that made from sugar-cane. 
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