382 



On the Cultivation of Flax. 



flax is quite ready to lift ; when lifted, it should be neatly tied up 

 in sheaves and packed under cover, or neatly stacked and thatched 

 in the rick -yard. In this way it will keep well for years, and it 

 is understood that the quality of the fibre improves up to the 

 third or fourth year after steeping. 



The flax is now ready to undergo the final operations which fit 

 it for the market. The object now is to separate entirely the 

 fibre from the wood with the least possible injury and loss; this 

 may either be done by manual labour or by machinery, and the 

 preference is to be given to one or other according to circum- 

 stances. It is by manual labour that nearly all the flax in 

 Russia, Holland, and Belgium is dressed, and it employs a vast 

 number of persons ; in Ireland a considerable quantity is also 

 prepared in this way, but the greater proportion is scutched by 

 machinery. In the case of a small farmer, or cottier, or where it 

 is an object to employ the labourer or the weaker hands, scutch- 

 ing by manual labour is preferable ; but to the large farmer, 

 with a considerable crop and few labourers, it is tedious and 

 expensive^ and machinery is much to be preferred. 



Fig. 3. 



The flax prepared by hand is first bruised in a machine (f^, 

 3) where two small rows of iron grooves (a a) meet on the flax 

 which is placed between them : so that each convex part of the 

 upper row falls into the concave part of the under one, and 

 bruises the wood without injuring or cutting the fibre. This is 

 worked by the foot pressing upon a flat moveable piece of wood 

 (b), which is attached by a cham or string to an iron spring (c) 



