Aug. 1, 1865.] THE TECHNOLOGIST. 
FLAX IN CANADA. 19 
woody part becomes sufficiently retted, and leaves the fibre freely it is 
ready to take out. Great care is required here, and no little judgment, 
as so much depends on the state it is in when removed from the water, 
to secure a flue quality of fibre. It is preferable to take it out rather before 
it is quite ready, than allow it to be too much retted, as you can remedy 
the first evil by allowing it a little longer time on the grass, while if 
you allow it too long in the water, a heavy loss will be occasioned in 
waste. I have known parties of long experience visit the cesspools 
three or four times in one day, when it arrives at that stage at which a 
few hours may make a vast difference. Some may say, " Well, this is a 
great trouble." But it is a well-known fact, that with care and skill, 
more particularly while the flax is undergoing this particular process, 
one man will produce an article of fibre worth a hundred pounds per 
ton, while another with flax equally good when taken out of the field, 
will not get over fifty ; hence the necessity for being particular in this 
stage of the proceedings. In Belgium, flax is often steeped twice ; first 
it goes through the regular process already described, and after it has 
been dried, put into a stack, and allowed to remain for months, it is 
taken down and watered again. Of course it is allowed to remain a 
much shorter time than during the first watering. The consequence is 
an article is produced worth from 150 to 200 guineas per ton in the 
scutched state, and large quantities are exported to Ireland, where it is 
used for the finest cambrics ; while in France, it is worked into almost 
every description of silk goods. Let us, therefore, in Canada, endea- 
vour to give it sufficient attention to make it pay. On the cheapest and 
simplest plan we can follow, this will only require a small outlay of 
■time at the hands of the farmer, and he will become familiar with the 
process in a season or two. The grassing will require to be attended to 
in the same manner as in the case of dew retting ; but in few instances 
it requires to be turned, unless the flax may have been removed from 
the water before it was ready. In such case, it will be all the better for 
being once turned over. When ready for lifting, which is generally 
about the seventh or eighth day, the stalks are examined in the way 
already mentioned — viz., by rubbing the boon out. A little experience 
will enable the cultivator to ascertain the proper time for lifting off the 
grass. This is easily done by gathering it up into bundles and placing 
it in piles in the field, where it may be allowed to remain a day or two, 
in order that all dampness may be removed before putting it into the 
barn or stacks, as the case may be. Here a word of advice will be 
most opportune. Some may have grown flax where a mill is not in 
reach to have it scutched, and not knowing what to do with the straw, 
have perhaps thrown it out into the barn yard, or make use of it for 
bedding their cattle. This should not be done, as the party will find by 
putting it away and keeping it dry, he will in the course of a short 
time have a ready market for it. He has this consolation in the mean- 
time, that the longer it remains in this state the more valuable it 
