FLAX MANUFACTURE. Flax is an annual plant, cultivated from time immemorial for its textile fibres, which are spun into thread and woven into linen cloth. It has a green stem from a foot and a half to two feet high, and a blue flower, which is succeeded by a capsule containing ten fiat oblong seeds of a brown colour, from which an oil is expressed, which is extensively used in manufactures and in painting. There are several varieties of flax cultivated. The best seed comes from Riga and from Holland. There is a very fine long variety which is cultivated in the neigh bourhood of Courtrai, in Flanders. The most common variety of flax is of a moderate length with a stronger stem. There is a small variety which does not rise above a foot, grows fast, and ripens its seed sooner. Ano ther variety has a perennial root, and shoots out stems to a considerable height.
The coil best adapted to the growth of flax is a deep rich loam in which there is much humus or vegetable mould. It thrives well in the rich alluvial land of Zeeland and the polders. It is also raised with great success in the light sands of Flanders, but much more careful tillage and manuring are required. The land on which flax is sown must be very free from weeds, the weeding of this crop being a very important part of the expense of cultivation. In southern climates flax is sown before winter, because too great heat would destroy it. It is then pulled before the heat of summer. In northern climates the frost, and especially the alternation of frost and thaw in the early part of spring, would cause the flax to perish ; it is consequently sown as early in spring as may be, so as to avoid the effect of bard frost. In Flanders the ground is prepared for flax more carefully than in any other country. The seed which is used is generally obtained from Riga, it being found that the flax raised from borne-grown seed. is inferior after the first year.
When the flax is full grown (and this de pends on whether coarse or fine fibres or seeds for oil are the chief commercial object), the pulling begins, which is done carefully by small handfuls at a time. These are laid upon the ground to dry, two and two obliquely across each other. Soon after this, they are
collected in larger bundles and placed with the root end on the ground, the bundles being slightly tied near the seed end; the other end is spread out that the air may have access, and the rain may not damage the flax. When sufficiently dry, they are tied more firmly in the middle, and stacked in long narrow stacks on the ground. This is the method adopted by those who defer the steeping till another season. Some carry the flax as soon as it is dry under a shed, and take off the capsules with the seed by rippling, which is drawing the flax through an iron comb fixed in a block of wood. The flax is then immediately steeped : but the most experienced flax-steepers defer this operation till the next season. In this case it is put in barns, and the seed is beat out at leisure in winter.
Steeping the flax is a very important pro cess. The object is to separate the bark from the woody part of the stem, by dissolving a glutinous matter which causes it to adhere. The usual mode of steeping is to place tho bundles of flax horizontally in shallow pools or ditches of stagnant water, keeping them under water by means of poles or boards with stones or weights laid upon them. Tho method adopted by the steepers of Courtrai, where steeping flax is a distinct trade, is different. The bundles of flax are placed alternately with the seed end of the one to the root end of the other, the latter projecting a few inches: as many of these are tied toge ther near both ends as form a thick bundle about a foot in diameter, and these are placed in an oblong wooden frame. The frame is sunk in the river Lys, low enough to keep all the flax under water, and is kept there till the steeping is effected. The bundles are now untied, and the flax is spread evenly in rows slightly overlapping each other on a piece of clean smooth grass which has been mown or fed off close. It is occasionally turned over, and is allowed to remain spread out upon the grass till the woody part becomes brittle. It is then taken up, and as soon as it is quite dry it is tied up again in bundles, and carried into the barn.