348 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 May, 1902. 
enclose a rough sketch of the top and bottom frames separately. Any handy 
man can make a break. It is about 6 feet long and is used merely to break the 
stalks before commencing at the board to finish off with. There is another kind 
of break similar to a clothes mangle, with two wooden rollers which have strips 
of iron let into them like cogs. You turn a handle and put the flax through 
to its full length, and turn back again, and so on till it is quite broken up so as 
to clean it. I don’t know the price of the machine, but it is much easier to 
work and is quicker than the one described aboye. At Yeovil, England, the 
ironmongers sold them, and I don’t think they were very expensive. 
After the stalks are broken up as described, we take a board about 4 feet 
long nailed to a stump as shown in the diagram, in the place were we are 
preparing the flax for market. The stump is let in the ground about 2 feet, 
and rammed firmly so as not to shake, and the board is nailed firmly to one 
side, which must be dressed level to receive it. The latter should be about 2 
inches thick at the stump end, and taper off to about 1 inch at the top, and 
dressed so as not to catch the fibre, because, if the nails are at all rough, it will 
only hinder you in turning the fibre over to get it clean. The above stand bein 
fixed in position; the next tool required will be what we used to calla “ swingle. 
