30 



DICKSON ON THE 



which Flax has been steeped is equal for many purposes to the 

 best liquid manure, I shall hereafter specially notice it. I 

 recommend a second pond being made, sufficiently deep to 

 drain off all the water by a sluice from the first pond, and 

 when the Flax is sufficiently steeped, as it will be in from ten 

 to fifteen days, according to the nature of the water and 

 temperature of the weather, drain off the water : but, before 

 the water be let off, the grower should see that the Flax has 

 had sufficient time in the water, and as it is to this I refer, 

 where I say, <c the grower's labour may be half lost," etc., it is 

 necessary to call particular attention to it. The object 

 in placing the plant under water until the mass becomes so 

 putrid that fermentation sets in, is to rot or decompose the 

 woody part on which the Flax has been produced ; as the old 

 system appears, to some parties, the best way to free the fibre 

 from the firm grasp it has of the wood, without being altogether 

 injurious ; and as, by the process of fermentation, the water is 

 so heated as to abstract all the putrid matter from the fibre, 

 until the water itself becomes so rotten and acid, as to rot the 

 wood or stalk on which the fibre has grown. Care must be 

 observed, at this stage, that the Flax be not too long in the pit, 

 for a few hours too much, after the fermentation has got to its 

 height, and commences to subside, may do the fibre great 

 injury, as frequently the change is very rapid, and in that case 

 the fibre is much tenderer and weaker ; therefore, after it has 

 been eight days in the water, if the weather be warm, it should 

 be looked after two or three times a day, and a few stalks, 

 taken from several places in the pit, examined, and if, by 

 breaking the stalks in two or three pieces five or six inches apart, 

 it is found that the broken pieces will leave the fibre freely from 

 end to end, without tearing any of the fibre with them, the whole 

 of the Flax may be removed from the pits when the water is 

 drained off. This should be done by men going down into 

 the pit, and without the use of fork or any implement, the 



