L I N 
L I Q 
L I II 
unless the water is allowed to stand long in ! 
the canal. Water from coal or iron is very 
bad for flax. A little of the powder of galls 
thrown into a glass of water will discover if 
it comes from minerals of that kind, by turn- 
ing it into a dark colour, more or less 
tinged in proportion to the quantity of metal 
it contains. When the water is brought to 
a proper heat, small plants will be rising 
quickly in it, numbers of small insects and 
reptiles will be generating there, and bubbles 
of air rising on the surface. If no such signs 
appear, the water is scarcely warm enough, 
or is otherwise unlit for lias. Moss-holes, 
when neither too deep nor too shallow, fre- 
quently answer well for watering flax, when 
the water is proper, as before described. 
The proper season for watering flax is from 
the end of July to the end ot August. The 
doing this as soon as possible after pulling is 
very advantageous. The flax being sorted 
after rippling, as before mentioned, should 
next be put in beets, never larger than a 
man can grasp with both his hands, and tied 
very slack with a band of a few stalks. 
Dried rushes answer exceedingly well for 
binding flax, as they do not rot in the wa- 
ter, and may be dried and kept for use 
again. The beets should be put into. the 
canals slope-ways, or half-standing upon end, 
the root end uppermost. Upon the crop 
ends, when uppermost, vermin frequently 
breed, destructive of the flax, which are ef- 
fectually prevented by putting the crop end 
downmost. The whole flax in the canal 
ought to be carefully covered from the sun 
with divots ; the grassy side of which should 
be next the flax, to keep it clean, if it is not 
thus covered, the sun will discolour the 
flax, though quite covered with water. If the 
divots are not weighty enough to keep the 
flax entirely underwater, a few stones might 
be laid above them; but the flax should not 
be pressed to the bottom. 
When the flax is sufficiently watered, it 
feels soft to the gripe, and the harle parts 
easily with the boon or show, which last is 
then" become brittle, and looks whitish. 
When these signs are found, the flax should 
be taken out of the water, beet after beet ; 
each gently rinsed in the water, to cleanse 
it of the tilth which has gathered about 
it in the canal ; and as the lint is then very 
tender, and the beet slackly tied, it must be 
carefully and gently handled. Great care 
ought to be taken that no part be overdone : 
and as the coarsest waters soonest, if different 
kinds are mixed together, a part will be 
rotted, when the rest is not sufficiently wa- 
tered. When lint taken out of the canal is 
not found sufficiently watered, it may be 
laid in a heap for twelve, eighteen, or 
twenty-four hours, which will have an effect 
like more watering; but this operation is 
nice, and may prove dangerous in unskilful 
hands. After the flax is taken out of the 
canal, fresh lint should not be put a second 
time into it, until the former water is run off, 
and the canal cleaned, and supplied with a 
fresh quantity of water. 
Short heath is the best field for grassing 
flax ; as, when wet, it fastens to the heath, 
and is thereby prevented from being blown 
away by the wind. The heath also keeps it 
a little above the earth, and so exposes it 
more equally to the weather. When such 
heath h not to be got, links orcleau okl lea- 
ground is the next best. Long-grass grounds 
should be avoided, as the grass growing 
through the lint frequently spots, tenders, or 
rots it ; and grounds exposed to violent 
winds should also be avoided. The flax, 
when taken out of the water, must be spread 
very thin upon the ground; and being then 
very tender, it must be gently handled. The 
thinner it is spread the better, as it is then 
more equally exposed to the weather. But 
it ought never to be spread during a heavy 
shower, as that would wasli and waste the 
harle too much, which is then excessively 
tender, but soon after becomes firm enough 
to bear the rains, which, with tiie open air 
and sunshine, cleans, soft' ns, and purifies the 
harle to the degree wanted, and makes it 
blister from the boon. In short, alter the 
flax has got a little firmness by being a few 
hours spread in dry weather, the more rain 
and sunshine it gets the better. If there is 
little danger of high winds carrying off the 
flax, it will be much the better for being 
turned about once a week. If it is not to be 
turned, it ought to be very thin spread. The 
spreading of flax anfl hemp, which requires 
a great deal of ground, enriches it greatly. 
The flax-raiser should spread his first row of 
flax at the end of the field opposite to the 
point whence the most violent wind com- 
monly comes, placing the root ends fore- 
most. lie makes the root ends of every 
other row overlap the crop ends of the form- 
er row three or four inches, and binds down 
the last row with a rope; by which means 
the wind does not" easily get below the lint 
to blow it away ; and as the crop ends are 
seldom so fully watered as the root ends, the 
overlapping has an effect like giving the crop 
ends more watering. 
A dry clay ought to be chosen for taking 
up the flak ; and if there is no appearance 
of high wind, it should be loosed from the 
heath or grass, and left loose for some hours, 
to make it thoroughly dry. 
As a great quantity of flax can scarcely be 
all equally watered and grassed, and as’ the 
different qualities will best appear at lifting 
the flax off the grass ; therefore at that time 
each different kind should lie gathered to- 
gether, and kept by itself ; that is, all of the 
same colour, length, and qualitv. 
The smaller the beets lint is made up in, 
the better for drying, and the more conveni- 
ent for stacking, housing, &c. and in making 
up these beets, as in every other operation 
upon flax, it is of great consequence that the 
lint be laid together as it grew, the root 
ends together, and the crop ends together. 
The profit on five acres of flax raised in' 
Shropshire, was 46/. 4y. bd. 
LION. See Feus. 
LIPAUIA, a genus of the diadelphia de- 
cant! ria class and order. The cal. is five- 
cleft ; cor. wings twolobed, below; stam. 
the larger, with three shorter teeth ; legume 
ovate. There are four species, shrubs of the 
Cape. 
LIPPIA, a genus of the didynamia gym- 
nospermia class and order. The cal. is tour- 
toothed ; the caps, one-celled, three-valved, 
two-seeded ; seed one, two-celled. There are 
five species, shrubs of America. 
LIQUEFACTION. See Fluidity. 
LIQUIDS, expansion of. See Expan- 
sion. 
K 2 
LIQU1DAMBAR, Sweet-gum tree, s 
genus of the polyandria order, in the mo- 
noecia class of plants ; and in the natural 
method ranking with those of which the order 
is doubtful. The male calyx is common and 
triphy lions ; there is no corolla, but numer- 
ous filaments ; the male caly ces are collect- 
ed into a spherical form, and tetraphy ilous ; 
there is no corolla; but seven styles, and 
many bivalv^d and monospermous capsules, 
collected into a sphere. There are only 
two species, both deciduous, viz. 1. '1 he sty- 
racifiua, or the Virginia or maple-leaved Ji- 
quidambar ; a native of the rich moist parts 
of Virginia and Mexico. It will shoot in a 
regular manner to thirty or forty feet high, 
having its young twigs covered with a smooth 
•light-brown bark, "while those of the older 
are of a darker colour. The flowers are of 
a kind of saffron-colour : they are protVieed 
at the ends of the branches the beginning of 
April, and sometimes sooner; and are suc- 
ceeded by large round brown fruit, which 
looks singular, but is thought by many to 
be no ornament to the tree. 2. The pere- 
grinum, Canada liquidambar, or spleenwort- 
leaved gale, is a native of Canada and Penn- 
sylvania. The young branches of this spe- 
cies are slender, tough, and hardy. T he 
flowers come out from the sides’ of the 
branches, like the former ; and they are suc- 
ceeded by small roundish fruit, which seldom 
ripens in England. These may be propa- 
gated either by seeds or layers. 
The leaves of this tree emit their odori- 
ferous particles in such plenty as to perfume , 
the circumambient air ; nay, the whole tree 
exudes such a fragrant transparent resin, as 
to have given occasion to its being taken 
tor the sweet storax. (See Styrax.) These, 
-trees, therefore, are very proper to be plant- 
ed singly in large opens, that they may 
amply display their line pyramidal growth, 
or to be set in places near seats, pavilions, 
&c. 'Flie resin was formerly of great use 
as a perfume, and is at present no stranger 
in the shops. 
LIQUORICE. See Glycirrhiza, and 
Materia Medic a. 
LIRIODENDRON, the Tulip-tree, a 
genus of the polygynia order, in the poly- 
andria class of plants ; and in the natural 
method ranking under the 52d order, coadu- 
natax The calyx is triphy llous ; there are 
nine petals ; and the seeds imbricated in 
such a manner as to form a cone. There 
are two species ; the tulipfera, is best known 
here, and is a deciduous tree, native of most 
part of America. It rises with a large up- 
right trunk, branching forty or fifty feet 
high. The trunk, which often attains to a 
circumference of thirty feet high, is covered 
with a grey bark. T he leaves grow irre- 
gularly on the branches, on long footstalks. 
They are of a particular structure, being- 
composed of three lobes, the middlemost of 
which is shortened in such a manner that it 
appears as if it had been cut off and hollow- 
ed at the middle. The two others are 
rounded off. They are about four or live 
inches long, and as many broad. The flow- 
ers are produced with us in July, at the 
ends of the branches. The number of pe- 
tals of which each is composed, like those of 
the tulip, is six ; and these are spotted with 
green, red, white, and yellow. The flower 
