This was on a somewhat smaller scale but has carried on successfully up to the present time. At this stage, in Ireland. where no attempt is made to save the seed, the flax is immediately steeped in the retting ponds. In countries where the custom is to save the seed, it is dried in the field and subsequently put up in stacks at some place convenient for de-seeding and the subsequent retting operations. There are now satisfactory mechanical pulling machines but these are only applicable where the fields are large and in districts where the harvest is early and not subject to the August rains. In Northern Ireland a pulling machine would be useless, as the fields are small, and the harvest is in the latter part of August.
Hand pulling is therefore essential for by far.