190 



Flax^ its Treatment, 



steeping appear to have been carried on much the same as in 

 later times ; the scutching was performed by beating the steeped 

 straw upon a stone with a peculiar mallet, and then drawing it 

 through iron heckles. The tow was of little use except as wicks 

 for candles. The " boon," or " shove," was used as fuel, and 

 the cleaned fibre was bleached by being watered and exposed in 

 the ordinary manner. He describes Spanish flax as being of 

 very fine quality ; and mentions another sort, which was cul- 

 tivated in Campania, vvhose fibres were so fine and so tough 

 that nets were made of them to entangle wild boars, and so hard 

 as to resist even the stroke of a sword : — " I have seen," he says, 

 " these snares of such fineness as to pass with the ropes at the 

 upper and under side through the ring of a man's finger ; one man 

 being able to carry as many of them as would encircle the hunt- 

 ing ground. Nor is this the most extraordinary part, for each 

 strand of them consisted of 150 threads." He relates also that, 

 in the temple of Minerva in Rhodes, the breastplate of Amasis, 

 a King of Egypt, was found made of this net, each strand con- 

 sisting of 365 threads. This was taken by the Consul Mutianus 

 to Rome, where it was exhibited at the time Pliny wrote, as a 

 specimen both of fineness and strength of fibre, and also of skill 

 in spinning and twisting yarn. Certainly modern times have 

 nothing to compare with it. 



The absence of all aOTicultural records after the fall of the 

 Roman Empire leaves a blank in our history until towards the 

 end of the 12th century, when we gather, from papers of that 

 period, that flax was in considerable cultivation in this country. 

 As the country became more settled, and civilization advanced, 

 the use of linen became more general, and we find that, in 1532 

 (Hen. VIII.), an Act of Parliament was passed requiring that 

 every person occupying land fit for tillage should, for each 

 quantity of 60 acres, sow at least 1 rood of it in flax each year. 

 This quantity was increased to an acre in 1562 (Elizabeth) 

 under pain of a penalty. In 1691 (William and Mary), with a 

 view to encourage its cultivation as much as possible, an Act 

 was passed fixing the tithe on flax at only 4^. per acre. In 1713 

 (Anne 12, cap. 16) a bounty of Id. per ell was allowed on the 

 exportation of home-made sailcloth ; and in 1806 (George III. 

 46, cap. 46) a bounty was offered for the importation of flax and 

 hemp from the American Colonies. 



These references tend to show that flax has always occupied 

 the attention of different countries, and in our own they would 

 lead us to infer that, although probably the proportion grown 

 formerly was superior to that of late years, still the demand was 

 always greater than the supply. It has been said by the advo- 

 cates of flax growing, that whereas nine-tenths of the inhabitants 



