416 On the 31odes of Culture and Preparation of Flax, 
must be avoided is water largely impregnated with lime, and if 
no other can be had, a farmer should not grow flax. There is 
an easy test (call it chemical, if you will), accessible to every 
one, any water in which soap will not curdle is sufficiently soft 
to steep flax in. As regards this important matter of water, 
observation ought to be the guide to a great extent. If new dams 
are required, they should be dug out during the winter, old 
dams should also at this season be repaired when necessary, and 
generally filled from surface-drainage and kept full till steeping 
time. If this method were [generally practised, there would be 
fewer complaints of want of water when steeping time arrived. 
The next operation calls for special attention, as it is by far 
the most important and delicate process the crop undergoes, and 
on which the success of it as to quality depends, viz., retting 
or watering. After the beets have been tied in the manner 
described, they are carted to the dam. What is pulled each day 
should be put into the dam the same evening if possible, but 
never mix one day's pulling with what has been pulled the day 
previous. Begin at one end of the dam, and place the beets in 
rows close together, side by side, with the root-end down. 
When one row is completed, commence a second, placing the 
top of the beet about the strap of the first row, and so on, row 
after row, till the dam is full. A layer may be put on the top, 
laying the beets flat. The next thing to be done is to cover the 
flax with rag-weeds, rushes, or straw. If boards can be had, it 
is very desirable to place them on the covering before putting 
on stones, or sods with the grassy side down, to sink the flax 
below the surface of the water. The above is presuming there 
is already sufficient water in the dam ; but if it could be so 
arranged as to have a stock dam situated above the steeping- 
dams, it would be more advantageous to put the flax in dry, 
and, when stoned, run the water in. 
The sooner fermentation commences, the better. If the 
weather has been and is warm, it will set in immediately, and 
will cause the flax to rise and come above the water. It must 
be well trampled down, and more stones put on. When the 
fermentation subsides, it will sink in the dam ; it will then be 
necessary to remove some of the stones to let it rise to the heat, 
but never allow it to get above the surface. After a few days 
the flax must be examined, and then is the time when judgment 
is requisite to decide when it is sufficiently watered. Take a 
beet or two out of different parts of the dam, open and examine. 
If glit appears in the middle of the beet, and it feels soft when 
grasped in the hand, it is an indication that great watchfulness 
is necessary. Take three or four reeds, which will be found 
covered with a greenish slimy substance, and if this can be 
