FLAX

[This article is continued from a previous page before the beginning of this volume.]

As soon as the process of rippling has been gone through, that of watering should be immediately attended to. This requires the greatest attention. The steeping-pond should be from 12 to 18 feet broad, and 81 to 4 feet deep. River water is the best. Spring should never be used if it can be avoided; but if used, it should be allowed to remain in the pond for some months, in order that it may be softened. Rain water, if collected, as it might easily be done, as being the softest and purest to be obtained, would, we think, be highly valuable for flax-steeping. Water containing minerals should not be used. The flax should be placed loosely in the pool, in one layer, somewhat sloping, the root ends underneath, in regular rows. The tie of each sheaf should reach the roots of the previous ones. The plants thus laid are to be covered with moss sods, or tough old lea sods, the ends to be fitted to each other. If the ponds are new, a layer of rushes or ragweed is recommended to be placed on the flax before the sods. Where sods cannot be obtained, a covering of straw may be used, the flax being kept under water by stones laid on the straw, and the weight of these increased as the fermentation progresses; as soon as this ceases, the stones to be removed, in order to prevent the flax being sunk too deep. The color has been found improved where a small stream of water has been allowed to pass through the pond. If this is done where the pools are in a line, the stream should be conducted along one side, and run into each pool separately, the water being run off on the other side in the same manner. Flax is generally much more under than over watered. As a few hours too much may injure the quality of the fibre, care should be taken to ascertain when the flax has had sufficient watering. From eight to fourteen days will suffice, but much depends on the state of the weather and the quality of the water. The following is the best test: “Try some stalks of average thickness, by breaking the shove or woody part in two places, about 6 or 8 inches apart, at the middle of the stalk; catch the broken bit of wood, and if it will pull freely out, downwards, for that length without breaking or tearing the fibre adhering to it, it is ready to take out." This trial should be made every six hours, as the change is sometimes very rapid. The flax, in being removed from the pond, should be carefully lifted out by men standing in the pool, forks or graips never used. It is advantageous to place the flax in small heaps (large ones should be avoided, as heating may be induced on their root ends) and allow them to drain for twelve or twenty-four hours.

In spreading the wetted flax, clean, thick, short pasture-grass should be selected for the process. All weeds that render the surface uneven should be mowed down. The flax should be spread evenly and thin. While on the grass, turn the layers (with a rod about 8 feet long and 1 1/2-inch diameter) two or three times, so as to allow the sun to act equally on all parts. This prevents unequal shades. When rain is in prospect, turn the flax, that it may be beaten down and prevented from blowing away.

In six or eight days in showery, and ten or twelve in dry weather, the flax will be ready for lifting. If ready, by rubbing a few stalks from top to bottom the wood breaks easily, separating from the fibre, leaving it sound. Another evidence is the formation of a "bow and string" from the fibre contracting and separating from the wood. The most certain test, however, is by laying a small quantity in the hand-break or the flax-mill. In lifting, the lengths should kept straight and the ends even. If this is not attended to, great loss will be incurred in the breaking and scutching. After the flax ha been set up to dry for a few hours, it should be tied up in small bundles, and if not immediately scutched, put up in small stacks, these resting on stones or brambles, to admit of a free circulation of air. This improves the quality much. Stacks built on pillars are recommended as the best. "Drying by fire," says the Society's Report, "is most pernicious. If properly steeped and ground, no such drying is necessary; but to make it ready for breaking and scutching, exposure to the sun is sufficient. In some districts it is put to dry in kilns, in a damp state, and it is absolutely burned before it is dry, and the rich oily appearance of the flax greatly impaired. On this point the Society cannot speak too strongly, as the flax is either destroyed or rendered not worth one-half of what it would be if properly dried."

In breaking and scutching by hand, the Belgian system should be employed. When the flax is sent to mills, those should be selected in which improved machinery is used. The Society recommends farmers to send the flax to mills in which the men are paid by the day, in place of by the stone, even if it should cost them higher in proportion. The system of time-wages is found to cause the men to be anxious to produce a large amount of flax fibre rather than a good yield from the straw.

Our readers are probably aware that the process of rotting and steeping in ponds is now likely to be superseded by more certain and rapid processes. There seems to be a considerable lack of that forethought and businesslike method so observable in other branches of agriculture, in connection with the preparation of flax. In other departments, means are adopted by which the produce is rapidly and with certainty prepared for market; not so with flax, as generally prepared; the grower has to see certain processes performed, which, critical in their nature, and uncertain in their effects, and involving changes requiring a chemical knowlegde [sic], entail upon him an amount of labor and responsibility with which it were better if he was not burdened. Indeed, it seems to be pretty generally agreed upon, that if some method could be introduced, which certainly and economically could supersede the present tedious processes, a very considerable impetus would be given to the cultivation of flax. Hence has arisen the movement by which patent steeping manufactories are being established throughout Ireland. The patent process of Schenk, by which the flax is treated in water maintained at a high temperature, has been much introduced into Ireland, principally through the exertions of the Royal Flax Society. There are now eighteen establishments in Ireland, capable of preparing the produce of 7000 acres of flax annually—in England five, in Scotland two, in Germany three, and in France one. The impurities arising from the decomposed gum being much objected to by spinners, in flax treated by this process, a plan of passing the wet straw through rollers has been tried with marked success; this plan was borrowed from Watt's patent process, a short description of which we here give. This process is the most recently introduced, and promises to be exceedingly successful. "The flax straw," says the Report of the Committee of the Royal Flax Society appointed to examine into the process, “is delivered at the works by the grower in a dry state, with the seed on. The seed is separated by metal rollers, and afterwards cleaned by fanners. The straw is then placed in close chambers, with the exception of two doors, which serve the purpose of putting in and discharging to straw; the top, which is of cast-iron, serves double purpose of a top and condenser." The case is provided with a perforated false iron bottom, on which the flax is laid, and the steam is admitted between the bottom and the inside of casing. The action of the steam is to drive out, in the first instance, certain volatile oils contained in the flax; the steam being condensed by the cold top—in the space of which is a quantity of cold water to produce this effect—a continuous shower of water falls down on the flax, and a decoction of the extracted matter of the flax is thus obtained. In ten or twelve hours the flax is taken out of the chamber, and passed between rollers, which press out the water, splitting and flattening the straw in the direction of its length. The extracted matter is of value for feeding animals, for which purpose it is used in the patentee's concerns. Dr. Hodges has analysed it, and pronounces it as possessing considerable feeding qualities. From the experiments instituted by the committee, it appears that, in a well-organized establishment, thirty-six hours may be taken as the time required to convert flax straw into fibre suitable for the spinner. If this plan is successful—which, from practical experience in various works, appears likely to be the case—by its adoption all the objections against flax cultivation may be said to be overcome; as what with the saving of the seed, the chaff, and the value of the steepwater as a feeding material, the whole, or at least by far the greatest portion of constituents which the flax plant absorbs from the soil, will be returned to the soil in the shape of manure. The absence of noisome smell, and of a poisonous liquid, which we find to do damage to fish when let off into rivers, renders the general adoption of this new plan a matter to be desired.

In saving flax straw, to be steeped either by Schenk's or Watt's process, the farmer will have to adopt the Courtrai system. It should be carefully performed. The flax stems are to be put together in bunches, about one-half larger than can be grasped in one hand, spread a little, and laid in rows after each puller, the roots and tops alternately, which will prevent the seedballs from adhering in being lifted. Except in settled weather, the stroking should never be allowed to remain undone overnight, but gone into at once. The flax should be handed to the stroker with the tops, the handfuls as pulled being set up against each other, the tops joining like the letter A. The stooks are made 8 to 10 feet long, a strap keeping the ends firm; they should be thinly put up, narrow at the top, so that they may get the full benefit of the exposure. In six or eight days after pulling, the flax should be ready to be put up in sheaves similiar in size to those of corn. It is then put up into ricks, and allowed to stand until the reed is ready for stacking. The sheaves should not be made too large, as in this case the outside straw is discolored by the sun before the interior is dry. In making the rick, lay two poles parallel on the ground about one foot asunder; they should be laid north and south, so that the sun may beat on both sides of the rick during the day. A strong, upright pole is put at each end of the horizontal ones. The flax is then put up between them, the length of a sheaf in breath. The sheaves are to be placed top and root alternately, from 7 to 8 feet high; the top finished by laying a single row lengthwise, or across the others; another row as before, but with the tops all one way; by this arrangement, a slope is formed for drawing off the rain; the rick is finished by placing stones on the top, and securing with a rope. Thus built, the rick will stand for months it can be stacked at leisure, and put into a barn-it may be kept stacked for years without any injury.