On the Cultivation of Flax. 



381 



this test shows to be advisable, much of the fibre is knocked away 

 in the scutching^, and the general quality is dry and coarse. The 

 test should be tried at intervals of three or four hours after the 

 fermentation ceases, for, if the weather be warm, the change for 

 the worse is rapid. When several trials have shown that the flax 

 is sufficiently watered, it should be very carefully removed from 

 the pool. The weights and covering of straw should first be lifted 

 off, and the latter taken to the dung pit, as, being saturated with 

 the water, it makes valuable manure. Flax in no state suffers 

 more injury from careless handling than when newly taken from 

 the pool. A person should stand in the water, lifting out the 

 bundles to the bank, and in no case should he use a pitchfork or 

 hook ; others on the bank receive the bundles and set them up 

 on their butt ends, by which means the water is permitted to gra- 

 dually soak away, and the root ends have the longest maceration, 

 which makes up for their position at the bottom of the pool, where 

 the temperature of the water is not so high as at the top, and they 

 are consequently left a little hard. The fibre becomes firmer 

 than if the flax were immediately spread. Care must be taken 

 that it be not too closely packed, or it may heat and spoil. If 

 much rain should fall while the flax is being taken from the pool, 

 it must not be spread for 36 hours, but in fair weather it may be 

 spread 24 hours after taking out. If very dry, a light covering is 

 useful, to prevent the sun from hardening the tops. 



For spread-ground the closest and shortest pasture is preferable, 

 with all inequalities of surface, caused by weeds, removed by 

 cutting them. A grass field, newly mown, will also suit, and 

 the matters washed av/ay from the flax by rain or dew give the 

 grass a good top-dressing. The object of grassing flax is tho- 

 roughly to cleanse the fibre, and to improve its colour by exposure. 

 It must be thinly and evenly spread, a tape line being useful to 

 guide the roots of the first row, and a small space may be left 

 between each of the following rows. To insure a uniformity of 

 colour, turning the flax is necessary ; this is done with wooden 

 poles, about 2 inches in diameter at the butt, tapering to the 

 size of a walking-stick at the top, and 8 or 9 feet long. Two 

 turnings will be sufficient, and they should be done just before 

 showers, the rain settling the stalks on the ground and preventing 

 them being blown about by the wind. Three to five days will be 

 sufficient for grassing, if the weather be fair and the flax fully 

 steeped ; if the flax is a little hard, a day or two longer will im- 

 prove it. The best test of its readiness for lifting is^ to try a few 

 handfuls with the scutching implements. When the fibre is 

 thoroughly dried, it will be seen to separate from the woody 

 matter, and to contract, causing an appearance familiarly termed 

 the bow and string." When this is observed to be general the 



