On the Cultivation of Flax. 



459 



the farmer obtains the benefit of a quicker return: but having 

 regard to all the circumstances connected with flax culture, it is 

 certain that for general practice the advantage lies decidedly with 

 the method just described — -that is to say, in drying or harvesting 

 the flax when pulled, and stacking it ready for after-preparation, 

 as opportunity serves. Both the flax and the seed are improved 

 by this treatment, and the steeping and subsequent operations 

 may then, as stated before, be performed at a time when little 

 farm-work is in hand, and when it becomes especially important 

 to find employment for the people. 



As, however, steeping green, and preparing the flax for market 

 immediately, may nevertheless be found convenient or necessary 

 in some cases, I. will now describe the mode of proceeding in this 

 respect. 



Let it then be assumed that the flax has just been pulled, and 

 the long and the short lengths kept separate, the root-ends of one 

 handful laid opposite the bolls of the other. The next step is 



Rippling. — This is the act of separating the seed capsules or 

 bolls from the stalk, and is done in the field immediately after 

 the flax is pulled. The ripple is a simple implement, consisting 

 of a row of iron spikes 18 inches long, screwed or fixed in a block 

 of wood about a quarter of an inch apart, and spreading out 

 at top to the width of about half an inch. This is secured on the 

 middle of a plank 9 feet long, to be placed on two stools, so that 

 two ripplers may sit astride, one at each end, with the ripple 

 between them. A large winnowing-sheet must be spread under, 

 to receive the bolls. 



All being ready, the flax is handed by women or children to the 

 ripplers, and placed conveniently at the right hand of each. The 

 rippler takes the handfuls so placed in succession, spreads the 

 top out like a fan, draws first one half of it and then the other 

 through the teeth of the ripple, and thus separates the seed bolls, 

 which fall on the sheet below. He then lays the handfuls down 

 on his left side, where they are tied up in small sheaves or beets, 

 ready for removal to the steep-pool. 



The bolls thus separated, must be carefully dried, in the field 

 if the weather be favourable, or else spread out thin in a barn or 

 loft. In either case they must be frequently turned until per- 

 fectly dry, and then the seed must be sifted and separated from 

 the chaff for future use. The chaff should likewise be preserved, 

 it being, like the chaff of corn, highly useful for feeding pur- 

 poses. 



The seed being separated by rippling, and the flax tied up 

 neat and even in small sheaves or beets, of equal size, it is next 

 to be carried to the steeping-pool. This should be done the day 



