On the Cultivation of Flax. 



453 



been in stook a few clays the stooks must be turned, in order that 

 all parts may be equally dried^ which is rapidly done by a person 

 accustomed to the work. 



When the flax has become sufficiently dry to prevent its heating, 

 which it generally will be in a week or ten days, according as the 

 weather is favourable or otherwise, it must be tied up in small 

 sheaves or beets, and may then be carted home, and be either 

 housed or put into stack, at the farmer's option. When the 

 crop has thus been secured, the farmer can choose his own time 

 for beetling and steeping, and also for the subsequent operations 

 of scutching and preparing the flax for market. This is a great 

 advantage attendant on flax culture, affording the means of em- 

 ployment at periods when other farm employments have ceased, 

 and when the labourers' families, if not the labourers themselves, 

 would else be out of work. 



Beetling. — Before the flax thus secured is steeped, it is necessary 

 to separate the seed by beetling ; and this is usually done by a 

 beetle or block of wood, about 9 inches long and 4 inches square, 

 into which a handle of convenient length is fixed, and with which 

 the seed is readily beaten out. 



Where flax is steeped green, the seed is separated by rippling 

 as soon as the flax is pulled — that is, by drawing the stalks through 

 a row of iron spikes set upright in a wooden frame, and so close to 

 each other as to catch and separate the bolls as the stalks are 

 drawn through. In this latter case of rippling, the bolls which 

 contain the seed must be dried before the seed can be separated, 

 and it must then be carefully sifted and cleansed before it is laid 

 by. In the former case of beetling, the seed is already dry, and 

 has merely to be winnowed, like grain, to free it from the chaff. 



Steeping. — This is sometimes called watering, and is usually- 

 performed in spring, but it may be continued throughout the 

 summer and autumn. Steeping is the process by which the vege- 

 table matter connecting the stem and fibre is decomposed by im- 

 mersion in water, and after which these portions of the plant are 

 readily separated. The value of the flax depends very much 

 upon the manner in which this process is performed, and the 

 Belgians and Dutch pay great attention to this part of the ma- 

 nagement. In Flanders the water of the River Lys is considered 

 particularly good for steeping, and vast cjuantities of flax are sent 

 thither from great distances for the purpose. Steeping is there 

 carried on as a regular trade, by men constantly employed in it. 

 The flax is put into frames or crates prepared and kept for the 

 occasion. These are floated into deep water, and sunk by weights 

 below the surface, but not so as to touch the bottom ; and the 



VOL. VIII. 2 H 



