On flax, and the practicability of extending its cultivation in Ireland : together with directions for the proper management of that crop / by Edmund W. Davy.

  • Davy, Edmund William, 1826-
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On flax, and the practicability of extending its cultivation in Ireland : together with directions for the proper management of that crop / by Edmund W. Davy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    THE SPREADING OF THE FLAX AFTER STEEPING. The Flax, having been sufficiently drained, is removed to where it can he spread out, exposed to the air and light, the object being to cleanse and improve the colour of the Flax, as well as to dry it. For this purpose a clean, short, and thick piece of pasture ground should be selected; and, having mowed down or removed any weeds that may rise above the surface of the sward, lay the Flax evenly on the grass, spread- ing it out thin and very equally, which will be easily effected if the directions given under the head of rippling have been attended to; for the handfuls will then readily come asunder without being entangled. While on the grass, some recommend that it should be turned two or three times (which is done with a long wooden pole), with a view to prevent more completely its being of different shades of colour, from unequal exposure to the light and air, which is frequently the case from inattention to this circumstance. If it is to be turned, and should there be a prospect of rain, that ought to be done before it comes on, that the Flax may by the rain be beaten down, and made to lie close upon the grass, thus preventing its being blown about and disordered. THE LIFTING AND DRYING OF THE FLAX BEFORE STACKING. When the Flax has lain on the grass about six or eight days, if the weather be showery, or ten or twelve if it be dry, it ought to be ready in lifting. A good test of its being sufficiently thus exposed, or as it is termed “ grassed,” is to rub a few of the stalks from top to bottom, and if the wood or shove breaks easily and separates from the fibre, leaving it sound, the Flax has lain long enough on the grass ; this is also indi- cated when a large proportion of the stalks or stems are observed to form a sort of bow and string, caused by the fibre contracting and separating from the central woody portion. But the most certain and most satis- factory test is to try how a small portion of the Flax behaves when submitted to the hand break or to the Flax mill. In lifting the Flax, care should be taken to keep the lengths straight and the ends even, as otherwise much loss will occur in the subsequent breaking and scutchiug. Let it then be set up to dry for a few hours, and afterwards be neatly tied up in small sheaves or bundles; and if it is not to be soon scutched, it should be stacked, or packed under cover; but in either case it ought to be put up loosely, that the air may get through it, and that there should be no danger of its heating. If it is stacked out of doors, the stacks should be built on stones, brambles, or, better still, on pillars, in order to keep them dry at the bottom, and allow a free circulation of air about them; and, finally, they should be very care*- fully thatched, to prevent the Flax being injured by wet. In this way the Flax will not only keep for years, but it is thought that the quality of the fibre is improved by keeping at least up to the third or fourth year after steeping. Flax, however, is sometimes dried by artificial heat, which is effected by placing it on kilns; this practice is very generally and properly condemned, as being highly pernicious to the fibre, im-