454 



On the Cultivation of Flax. 



whole operation is conducted in an orderly and business-like 

 manner. 



The softest water is unquestionably the best for steeping, and 

 hence river water is preferable to spring. A slow-running stream 

 is likewise better than stagnant water, inasmuch as it carries off 

 impurities, and gives the flax a better colour, which is an important 

 consideration, as respects its market value. 



But it is not always that access to rivers, nor even to lakes or 

 large ponds, which are held next in estimation, can be obtained 

 for steeping ; and where this is the case, recourse must be had to 

 other means. Steeping-pools must then be constructed, and these 

 may be most conveniently formed by the side of rivulets or small 

 streams ; or if there are none such sufficiently near, the water may 

 be conducted into the pools from distant brooks or springs. With 

 every care, however, steeping-pools may not always give the best 

 colour to the flax^ and whenever practicable, it should therefore 

 be sent to the most approved steep, even although it may be distant 

 and expensive ; for it will well repay the cost, by the enhanced 

 price the flax will command in the market. 



The steeping-pool miay be made from 4 to 6 yards long, and 2 

 yards wide, a little more or less according to circumstances, and 

 4 feet deep. It should be well puddled, and be protected from 

 the influx of surface water. If a small stream can be carried 

 through the pool, so much the better ; but if filled from a spring, 

 the water should be let in some time before it is used, in 

 order that the sun and air may soften it, and it should be per- 

 fectly clean, and free from mineral and vegetable taint of any 

 kind. 



When crates or frames are not used, as they rarely will be 

 except in rivers or large waters, the bundles or beets of flax must 

 be placed in steep wdth their root-ends downwards, and be laid 

 close, a little slanting, and in regular rows. They must then be 

 covered lightly with straw or rushes, over which hurdles should 

 be placed, weighted with flat stones, logs of wood, small tubs 

 filled with water or any weighty substance. The flax must be 

 kept 4 or 6 inches under the surface of the water, but it must not 

 touch the bottom, and weights must be added or lessened to keep 

 it suspended in this position. 



In from 7 to 10 or 14 days, or sometimes even longer, according 

 to the nature of the water and heat of the weather, the flax will be 

 sufficiently steeped ; and it is important to know when this is the 

 case, for it would be injured if kept too long in the water. The 

 Dutch test in this respect is to try a few stalks by breaking them 

 at two places, about 3 inches apart, near the middle of the stem ; 

 and if the 3 inches of the wood so broken separates easily on being- 

 drawn downw^ards, without tearing the fibre, the flax is sufficiently 



