THE GOLDEN FLAX. 



93 



tained first and second prizes, and a certificate or honorary premium 

 for the third ; and the damasks were awarded first prizes for double 

 and single damask cloths and damask napkins. One design, " The 

 Portland Vase," met with universal admiration. The cambrics were 

 not exhibited at all this year, being exclusively intended for ex- 

 portation. 



For Cambric and Fine Lawn. 



The ground should be a rich, light, and dry soil, sufficiently 

 pulverized by repeated ploughings when in a dry state, or 

 after potatoes; and if near a wood, it will save trouble. The 

 seed should be sown before the middle of April, about double 

 the quantity usually sown for flax or lint. The ground should 

 be rolled, if dry, and weeded when it is three inches long ; 

 after which forked sticks (about 1 \ inch thick) should be set 

 at four or five feet distance, poles laid along these forks, 

 about six or seven inches above the lint, and distant from each 

 other two, three, or four feet, according to the length of the 

 brushwood that is to be laid over them. This brushwood 

 ought to be laid close and even, rising all about eighteen or 

 twenty inches. 



The lint should be pulled as soon as the seed is formed, or 

 a few days after it is out of the bloom, before the lint turns 

 yellow. If any be coarser than the rest, it should be kept 

 separate. It must be pulled above the brushwood, and every 

 handful laid upon it four or five hours to dry, if it is fine 

 weather. Spread it out four or five days, putting it into a 

 barn at night, and taking care that it gets no rain, which would 

 make it turn black. If it should get wet, it is better to leave it 

 on the grass till dry, than to put it in wet. The bundles must 

 be opened in the barn, or made very loose, to keep them from 

 heating. 



It may be proper to observe here, that the introduction of 

 the two-handed wheel, hardly known as yet in any part of this 

 county, would contribute perhaps more than anything to the 

 speedy increase of our flax crops. This simple machine, now 

 common in other parts of Scotland, would enable the same 



