ON THE CULTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF FLAX CROPS. 2()9 
ascertaining whether this be effected or not is, by raising the bark near 
the root, and also about six inches therefrom, so as to break the wood 
at each place; and if the w r ood can be easily drawn out at the bottom, 
the steeping process may be considered as completed, and the removal 
of the flax from the pit should take place without delay. 
“ This operation should be carefully performed with a fork : each 
bundle should be taken separately, and gently immersed in water, to 
cleanse it from mud, &c., and then placed on the cross bank or side of 
the pit to drain. After this, the flax should be carried to a meadow 
recently mown, or to some other convenient place for spreading. The 
bundles should be carefully untied, and the flax evenly spread in rows, 
observing that the inside of the bundle should be now most exposed. 
The time the flax should remain on the grass depends in a great 
measure on the weather, and may be estimated at from one week to a 
fortnight. It is of great importance that the spreading be equally per¬ 
formed, because, if the flax be put up in proper order, it will not be 
necessary to apply any artificial heat to it previous to scutching, which 
is not only ^ saving of expense, but a great advantage to the flax, as 
it thereby retains more of its oily properties. Previous to the 
removal of the flax from the field to the barn, store, or stack, it 
should be again made up into bundles of a convenient size. In this as 
in other operations, particular care should be taken to keep the ends of 
the flax even. 
“ The last process which flax undergoes previous to its becoming a 
marketable commodity, is scutching, which is in Ireland performed by 
the hand, or at a scutching-mill. It is generally supposed here that 
scutching can be best performed at the mill; but this is a mistaken 
notion. In reply to frequent inquiries as to whether there were any 
scutcli-mills in the Netherlands, the answer has been that there are 
none; and yet such is the admirable skill and attention of the indus* 
trious inhabitants, that they break, scutch, and prepare by manual 
labour flax, some of which, in its undressed state, they sell for upwards 
of two hundred pounds per ton.” 
After giving an account of the culture and profits derivable from 
flax as an agricultural crop, the writer continues :— u But there can be 
little doubt the increased stimulus which would be given by the advan¬ 
tageous results of improved management in the cultivation of flax, 
would greatly extend its growth over the south and west of Ireland, 
where the soil is admirably adapted for it ,* and as it has been clearly 
ascertained that flax is not an impoverishing crop, and, moreover, is 
peculiarly suited for laying down clover, it does not appear unreason¬ 
able to suppose that the extent of land under it in this country may be 
