170 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Mar., 1902. 
there would be a difficulty in getting good seed in this country. TI think that 
flax would grow well here in the Mackay district-—that is, if properly put in. If 
I can get good seed I intend to have another try, and will let you know the 
result. The latter end of March will be a good time to sow the seed here, as 
most of the heavy rains are over by then, and the seed should be ripe before the 
frost could do it anydamage. If sown later than March, the dry weather would 
prevent the seed from filling out. 
Flax straw is very useful for thatching buildings, as it lasts much longer 
than straw. A farmer I knew in the old country could not get men who 
understood the retting, so he put in 20 acres for seed, and mowed it afterwards 
to thatch his buildings with. When I left, it had been on for five years, and 
looked as well as when first put on. It is possible that the oily nature of the 
fibre keeps the wet off as the oil on a duck’s feathers keep the water off its 
back. This farmer heard of the fibre and the price it was fetching, so he made 
inquiries, but could not get any men who understood the manufacture. This 
was near Pewsey, in Wiltshire, an out-of-the-way place where the farmers 
always grew the same crops—barley, oats, and wheat—year after year; 
but this farmer had heard of the profit to be made by flax culture, so 
he determined to try some, and a friend of his recommended him to write 
to my father in Somersetshire. This he did, and we engaged to do all the 
cultivation and manufacture of the crop by contract. The seed was sown 
broadcast with a machine for the purpose. I am not aware whether there are 
any of these machines in Australia. It has a long narrow box about 9 or 
10 feet long, with a long iron rod running through the centre, to which are 
attached little brushes at intervals of 6 or 8 inches to brush the seed through 
the small holes made for the purpose. It has handles like those of a wheel- 
barrow and the same kind of wheel. The spindle is driven by cogwheels. 
When the seed was ripe my father and I took the pulling by contract at 
15s. an acre. It was then carted to the barn till the wheat harvest was over, 
and then we commenced to get the seed out, an operation which, in those days, 
was all done by hand, as no machine was yet invented for the purpose. We 
had a block of tough wood about 9 inches by 12, and about 8 inches thick, 
with a handle 4 or 5 inches distant from one end, as shown in the rough 
sketch I have made. It will be observed that the handle must be so fixed 
that a man can stand and lift up the block of wood and strike down again so 
that the wood will fall flat on the floor without jarring the hands. This we 
call a stamper. It breaks the balls and the seed falls out, the flax, of course, 
being laid on the floor where the seed could not get away. In fine weather 
we preferred to do the work out of doors, as the sun opens the balls containing 
the seed, and it was easier to break them. At night we covered it up with a 
sheet or tarpaulin. As fast as we got the seed out the stalks were carted out 
