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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
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ripen very iinevenly ; :iml a iiortinn i>.( it «ill lie very 
green, while llie remainder will sipiicai fully riiie. Un- 
dei such e.irciiiiistances it will he necessary to estimate 
what proportion of tlie lieads are fully ri|ie, ami liow 
large apropoilion are still too green to he (nilled. When 
the bolls liave assumed a brown color, and the leaves 
h.ave died for one-fourth the length of the stems at the 
butt ends, and the stems have changed from a dark 
green to a light yellowish color, then the lias is lit 
to pull or to cut. At this stage of growth, it will yield 
more and belter fibre than if cut at any other period. 
In case it is too green when pulled, there will be a great 
loss both in qumitily and quality. If the seed be put in 
as directed, almost all the bolls and stems will ripen iini- 
forndy ; and it will be very easy to decide as to the best 
time for pulling or cutting without incurring any loss. 
When a man has a number of acres of flax to be pulled, 
Fig. 5.— STOOK OF FLAX. 
lie should not wait until it is all ready before he com¬ 
mences, lest much of it become too ripe. Should the 
soil be variable in its character, the flax will ripen un¬ 
evenly, and the ripest portions may be pulled first. 
When flax is allowed to stand until it is all dead ripe, 
the seed will be of a superior quality, but the fibre will 
not be so heavy, strong, or soft, as if cut earlier. 
PuLLiNo Flax.— When flax is pulled by hand, each 
laborer takes a strip about four feet wide, and either 
spreads it in a swath behind him, or throws it down in 
gavels, or binds it himself, as fast as lie pulls it. The flax 
is grasped just below the bolls, with both hands, and pul¬ 
led up with a sudden jerk. If it be pulled slowly, a 
much larger quantity of earth will adhere. As soon as 
one handful is pulled, it is set on the ground close to the 
standing flax, and held with one hand, while the other 
gathers as much as can be held conveniently ; then both 
hands grasp the whole and pull. When enough has been 
pulled to make a gave! as large as the puller can grasp 
with both hands, which will make a bundle about five 
inches in diameter, it is “butted” once or twice on tlie 
ground, to even it. Any scattering stalks, standing or 
lying on the ground, are gathered for bands, and the 
gavels are bound at once. This mode is usually adopted 
in preference to spreading in swaths. If the weather be 
wet and lowery, it will be belter, at any rale, to bind the 
flax as fast as pulled, and to set the gavels in long stocks, 
as shown in fig. 5. These should always be set up North 
and South, so that the sun may shine on both sides of the 
siook in the course of the day. Before the gavel leaves 
the hands of the puller, he should strike it once or twice 
on the ground, or on ids foot, to knock off the dirt. In 
case the weather is pleasant, it is always better to spread 
out each gavel, as it is pulled, about one inch thick, for 
the purpose of sunning it. After it has lain in the sun 
from half a day, to a day, it ought to be turned over, to 
sun both sides. An expert puller will throw every gavel 
down in such a manner, that they may be readily taken 
up w hen cured enough to be bound. As flax will hang 
together, if in a continuous swath, it is better to leave a 
space of two or three inches between the spread gavels, 
and sometimes they are laid alternately heads and buts. 
This is important, so that they may each be turned over 
readily, or taken up and bound, without tangling. When 
It is bound as soon as pulled, and set in stocks, it will re¬ 
quire from one to two weeks to cure, before it will be fit 
to stack or mow. When it is bound as fast as it is pulled, 
the outside of the flax will all appear sufficiently cured to 
be stacked, in only a few days, while much of the middle 
of the bundles will be too green. It is quite as important 
to cure all the stalks and seed bolls thoroughly, before 
stacking, as to cure hay, or any kind of grain. The ques¬ 
tion is frequently asked, why it is not as well to cut flax 
as to pull it ? The fibres of flax diminish in size, tapering 
from a few inches above the root until they run entirely 
out at the root of the plant. It will, therefore, run much 
smoother when spun, and will form a cleaner and smooth¬ 
er thread than if the fibre is cut in two. If the stalks can 
be cut within an inch of the root, nearly tlie entire 
lengtti 0 , the fibre w ill be secured, as well as a part of 
the advantage of this tapering of the fibre. In some 
parts of our country, dealers make a difference in the 
price between “reaper-cut” and pulled fiax. 
PuLLiNO WITH Machines. —Several different machines 
have tieeii invented for pulling flax, which have done 
toleiaiily good work, when the ground was smoolh, level, 
and s« itr that but little earth adhered to the roots. 
.Most of them injured the fibre more or less, and some 
mold not be adjusted to pull short and long flax equally 
well, neither would they alw ays deliver it evenly ; and 
when much earth adhered to the roots, it would either 
obstruct the machinery, or too much hand labor was re¬ 
quired to remove the dirt before it came dry. In some 
instances where the soil was prepared with much care 
and the seed put in as previously directed, the writer 
has seen flax puiled in a neat manner at the rate of three 
to four acres per day, with two hands and two horses. 
But, flax-pulling machines have not been introduced ex¬ 
cept to a very limited extent. 
CiiADLiNG AND MowiNo Flax. —When the soil has 
been prepared, as previously directed, and the surface 
made very smooth, if the flax stands up well, an expert 
cradler will cut it very close to the ground, and lay it 
evenly in a swath. But I have always found that 1 could 
cut it closer with a scythe than with a cradle, do it with 
less fatigue, and at the same time lay it in a swath quite 
as evenly as it could be done with a cradle. The scythe 
must be placed flat on the ground, and both heel and point 
kept well dow n, not only when it is set in, but in pointing 
out. 1 was always accustomed to cut a swath about 
or 8 feet wide, and to jerk the point of the scythe towards 
me. when pointing out, as soon as the last stalks were cut 
off. This motion of the scythe tended to straighten the 
uniler side of the swath, and by bringing the heel around 
just so far every time, and giving the scythe just a certain 
motion, 1 could always lay the flax as straight as if it had 
been imlled, and, if the ground was smooth, could shave 
it within an inch of the surface. The small amount of 
fibre that remained in the stubble would not be an equiv¬ 
alent for the greater expense incurred by pulling. When 
any of the flax has grown so large that it falls down, it 
can be cut with a scythe much better than with a cradle. 
If it is very long and heavy, when it is down it will be 
better to pull such plots, than to mow them. Let the 
sw aths be turned over after they have been sunned suffici¬ 
ently. In turning use a pole, let it be tlirust under the 
swath, and every time turn only enough to make one 
bundle, keeping the divisions distinct. Wliether the fiax 
is pulled, cradled, or mowed, it is important to keep the 
buts as even as practicable before binding the gavels. 
Assorting Flax. —When flax of various lengths is 
bound together, a large portion of the fibre of the short 
stalks will be separated from the long fibre, in the dress¬ 
ing, ami be wasted in the tow. Furthermore, when the 
seed is threshed off, if the short stalks be bound up with 
long ones, many bolls will not be threshed, and all their 
seed will be lost. For these reasons, it ie important tiiat 
the long flax should not be bound In the same bundle 
with short flax. If it be pulled by hand, it will be very 
ea.'iy to assort it, when pulling it, by pulling a handful of 
the long, and then of the short, putting each in separate 
gavels. When it is mowed, or cradled, by taking a little 
pains, the short stalks may be laid, for the most part, in a 
swath by themselves, and the long ones in another swath. 
Long bunilles and short ones need not be kept separate. 
It is only necessary to keep the long stalks and the short 
ones in separate gavels, in order to dress those of the 
same length together. 
Fig. 6.—STACK OF FLAX. 
Manner of Stacking.— It is not always convenient 
to put flax in a barn, and it is important to keep it 
where hay seed, chaff, and straw will not be mingled w ith 
it, and where mice and rats will not work. The best 
way of stacking it is, to make a long stack-bottom, by 
placing three poles, sticks of timber, or plank, side by 
side, from two to three feet apart, according to the length 
of the haulm, and one foot above the ground ; and then 
lay two courses of sheaves, with the tops together, and 
with one course above another, as represented in fig. 6. 
As flax haulm will hang together so well, the ends of the 
stack may be carried up square, without any posts or 
stakes. In order to give the sheaves a good pitch, the 
heads of a few of the top courses may be l.aid on each 
other. Then cover it with canvas, or with, boards, as re¬ 
presented in flg. 6. If barn room can be had, iet all chafl 
and hay seed be swept away before the flax is hauled in. 
Tangled Flx. —When flax is mowed by hanu. or with 
a mower, and the stalks are not kept straight, it is called 
tangled flax. My own practice, which coincides with 
the practice of other farmers who aie accustomed to 
raise flax, was, to cut it as close to the ground is possible, 
and cure it, r.ake it, cock it, and stack it, or put it in a 
mow, just as if it were hay. When it was mowed with 
scythes, I let it remain about one day in the swath, and 
then turned it over. As soon as it appeared sufficiently 
cured, I raked it into bunches with hand or horse rakes. 
If the weather were favorable, we were always accus¬ 
tomed to let it remain in bunches about as large as a 
man could pitch at one forkful. When flax was man¬ 
aged in this way, we were always accustomed to put 
it in the bam, in preference to stacking it. When it is 
stacked, however, tlie top of the stack should be built 
sloping, instead of pointed, like a roof, and covered 
with sound boards, or with canvas, as a slack of 
tangled flax will not turn rain so well as hay. When 
the flax was to be cut with a reaper, and it was 
desirable to keep the stalks straight, we put on the plat 
form as for reaping grain, forked off the flax in gavels, 
and let fliem be set on the but-ends, as soon as cut, as 
illustrated by fig. 7, which represents a gavel of flax 
placed on the end. Sometimes 
the flax is so long and heavy 
that it will not be practicable 
to rake, or fork it off, w hile the 
reaper is in motion. In such 
a case, as soon as enough for 
a gavel has been cut, stop the 
machine, remove it with the 
hand, and set it on the buts, 
and let another hand straighten 
it up. A little longer time 
will be requiied, if the reaper 
is stopped for every gavel, 
but the work will be done 
enough better to compensate for the extra" pains to 
keep the stalks straight, and time will be gained in the end. 
Threshing Flax. —When flax is bound in small 
sheaves, we used sometimes to take a bundle in both 
hands and strike the heads on a large stone, or plow 
turned upside down on the barn floor. Sometiines the 
seed was threshed off with flails. If the sheaves are 
not too large, the best way is to whip it out on a large 
boulder. Strips of canvas, or blankets, should be hung 
up on three sides, to keep the seed from flying beyond 
the floor. When the seed is whipped out on a stone, 
all the loose seed will of necessity be separated from 
the haulm ; but when it is threshed with flails, the sheaves 
lequire much shaking to separate the shelled seed. 
Moreover, flails will break the stalks, more or less, which 
w orks an injury to the fibre during .the rotting process. 
When the seed is whipped out on a stone, the stalks 
will not be broken, and a man can thus whip out more 
seed than he can thresh with a flail. Another way is, 
to thresh with a common threshing machine. If the 
cylinder is what is called an “ over-shot ” cylinder, raise 
the concave so that the ends of the spikes in the concave 
and in the cylinder will just meet, but not p.ass between 
each other. If the concave is beneath the cylinder, ami 
can not be lowered, adjust the feeding table so that a 
bundle of flax may be thrust directly against the iniiidle 
of tlie cylinder. This done, thrust the top of eaidi bundle 
against the cylinder when it is in motion, and be careful 
not to let it be snatched out of your hands. The bundles 
should not be held to the cylinder, after the bolls are re¬ 
moved, as the spikes would lacerate the fibre. Thrust 
the bundle against the cylinder, and withdraw it, turning 
it partly over, and give it another thrust, until all the 
bolls are removed. We never unbind our bundles of flax 
to thresh them with a machine. 
Tangled flax is sometimes threshed with horses by 
treading it out, and sometimes it is run through a thresh 
ing machine, as oats and wheat are threshed. But lha 
concave must be raised, or lowered, as the case may be, 
from the cylinder, so as to make as much space as pos 
sible between them, and still thresh clean. When the 
concave is not adjustible, some threshers take out half or 
two-thirds of the spikes in the cylinder. As flax seed 
will thresh very easily, it is not necessary to set the con¬ 
cave as close to the cylinder as to thresh cereal grain, 
and, furtliermore, wlien it is set close to the cylinder the 
machine will not thresh one half as fast. In case the 
flax is long and damp, the machine must be fed with 
care, or it will wind up on the cylinder, and clioke the 
machine, or damage tlie fibre. 
Rippling. —Rippling and threshing are frequently used 
in America, as synonymous terms. In the Old World, the 
bolls are usually separated by rippling, which is done as 
soon as practicable after the flax is pulled, and before it 
has been allowed to cure. The flax is pulled while a 
portion of the seed is yet in the dough stale, and the tons 
are drawn through a rippler, a coarse hatchel, o'- comb 
witti long, sharp-pointed iron teeth, w hiidi teai ofl all 
tlie bolls and chaff, whether green or matured and.the flax 
Fig. 7.— GAVEL. 
