CULTURE OF FLAX. 
351 
should be taken in-doors, and spread out thinly and 
evenly on a barn floor, or in a loft, leaving windows 
and doors open, to allow a thorough current of air; 
and turned twice a day. When nearly dry, they 
may be taken to a corn-kiln (taking care not to raise 
it above summer heat), and carefully turned, until no 
moisture remains. By the above plan of slow dry¬ 
ing, the seed has time to imbibe all the juices that re¬ 
main in the husk, and become perfectly ripe. If it 
be taken at once from the field, and dried hurriedly 
on the kiln, these juices will be burned up, and the 
seed will become shrivelled and parched, little nutri¬ 
tious matter remaining. In fine seasons, the bolls 
should always be dried in the open air, the seed 
threshed out, and the heaviest and plumpest used for 
sowing or crushing. The light seeds and chaff form 
most wholesome and nutritious feeding for cattle. 
Flax ought not to be allowed to stand in the field if 
possible even the second day; it should be rippled as 
soon as pulled, and carried to the water as soon as 
possible, that it may not harden. 
Watering. —This process requires the greatest care 
and attention. River water is the best. If spring 
water has to be used, let the pond be filled some 
weeks, or months, if possible, before the flax is put 
in, that the sun and air may soften the water. That 
containing iron, or other mineral substances, should 
never be used. If river water can be had, it need 
not be let into the pond sooner than the day before 
the flax is to be steeped. Place the flax in the pool, 
in one layer, somewhat sloped, and in regular rows, 
with the root end uppermost. Cover with moss sods, 
or tough old lea sods, laid perfectly close, the sheer 
of each fitted to the other. Before putting on the 
sods, a layer of rushes or rag-weeds is recommended 
to be placed on the flax, especially in new ponds. 
Thus covered, it never sinks to the bottom, nor is it 
affected by air or light. A small stream of water 
allowed to run through a pool has been found to im¬ 
prove its color. It will be sufficiently steeped, in an 
average time, from eight to fourteen days, according 
to the heat of the weather and the nature of the wa¬ 
ter. Every grower should learn to know when the 
flax has had enough of the water, as a few hours too 
much may injure it. It is, however, much more fre¬ 
quently under- watered than over- watered. The best 
test is the following:—Try some stalks of average 
thickness, by breaking the shove, or woody part, in 
two places, about six or eight inches apart, at the 
middle of the stalk; catch the broken bit of wood, 
and if it will pull freely out, downward, for that 
length, without breaking or tearing the fibre, with 
none of the fibre adhering to it, it is ready to take 
out. Make this trial every six hours, after fermenta¬ 
tion subsides, for sometimes the change is rapid. 
Never lift the flax roughly from the pool, with forks 
or grapes, but have it carefully handed out on the 
bank, by men standing in the water. Spread on the 
same day it is taken out, unless it be raining heavily ; 
light rain does little harm. If it cannot be spread, let 
it be set on end, or separated into small parcels, to 
prevent it heating in the heap. It is advantageous to 
let the flax drain for a few hours after being taken 
from the pool, by placing the bundles on their ends, 
close together, or on the flat, with a slope. 
Spreading. —Select, when possible, clean, short, 
thick pasture ground for this operation; and mow 
dowtt and remove any weeds that rise above the sur¬ 
face of the sward. Lay the flax evenly on the grass, 
and spread thin and very equally. If the directions, 
under the head of rippling, have been attended to, the 
handfuls will come readily asunder, without entan¬ 
gling. Turn it two or three times while on the grass 
(with a rod about eight feet in length, and an inch and 
a half in diameter), that it may not become of differ¬ 
ent shades, by the unequal action of the sun, which is 
often the case through inattention to this point. Turn 
it when there is a prospect of rain, that the flax may 
be beaten down a little, and thus prevented from being 
bltfwn away. 
Lifting. —A good test of its being ready to lift, is 
to rub a few stalks from the top to the bottom ; and-, 
when the wood breaks easily, and separates from the 
fibre, leaving it sound, it has had enough of the 
grass. Also, when one stalk in fifty is perceived to 
form a bow and string, from the fibre contracting and 
separating from the woody stalk. But the most cer¬ 
tain way is to prove a small quantity with the hand- 
break, or in a flax mill. In lifting, keep the lengths 
straight and the ends even, otherwise great loss will 
occur in the rolling and scutching. Tie it up in small 
bundles; and if not taken soon to be scutched, it will 
be much improved by being put up in small stacks, 
loosely built, with stones or brambles in the bottom, 
to keep it dry, and allow a free circulation of air. 
Stacks built on pillars would be the best. 
Drying —By fire, is always pernicious. If pro¬ 
perly steeped and grassed, no such drying is neces¬ 
sary ; but to make it ready for breaking and scutching, 
exposure to the sun is sufficient. In some districts, 
it is put to dry on kilns, in a damp state, and is abso¬ 
lutely burnt before it is dry, and the rich oily pro 
perty of the flax is always greatly impaired. Or 
this point, the Society can scarcely speak too strong 
ly, as the flax is either destroyed or rendered no> 
worth one-half of what it would be, if properl} 
dried. 
Breaking or Scutching —If done by hand, should 
be done on the Belgian system, which is less waste 
ful than that practised in Ireland. If by milling, the 
farmer will do well to select those mills in which the 
improved machinery has been introduced. The So¬ 
ciety would also recommend that the farmer should 
endeavor to have his flax scutched by a mill ownei 
who pays his men by the day, and not by the stone, 
even if it should cost him higher in proportion—the 
system of paying the scutchers by the stone, render¬ 
ing them more anxious to do a large quantity in the 
day, than to produce a good yield from the straw. 
The Courtrai System. —This is the universal mode 
in the district from which the finest flax we receive L 
brought. As soon as pulled, the flax is stooked with¬ 
out binding it. The handfuls are set up, resting 
against each other, the root ends spread out, and the 
top ends joining like the letter A, forming stooking 
about eight feet long, and a short strap keeping the 
ends firm. In this way, it will resist wind and rain 
well, and dry fast. In six or eight days it may be 
stacked in the field; the seed to be taken off’ at lei¬ 
sure, in winter; the flax to be steeped the following 
May—a system which possesses the advantages of 
affording the farmer the best season of the year for 
steeping and grassing, and a time of comparative lei¬ 
sure, when his attention is not called to the harvest¬ 
ing of other important crops. It has, in many cases, 
when tried in this country, proved highly successful 
