Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1886-02-27
HISTORY OF THE FLAX-PLANT.
No. 3.
Sa.rI1N FOE TuEgEISUNE.


''rippled". This consists of taking the
handfuls OF fax and drawing them
through the teeth of an instrument
made for the purpose. This opera
ton is best performed in the field.
The ripping apparatus consists OF a
row of lron teeth screwed into a block
of wood. The best ripples are made
of half inch square iron rods placed
with the angles towards the operator,
three sixteenths of one inch apart at
the bottom, half an inch at the top,
and eighteen inches long. The points
should begin to taper about three
inches from the top. This instrument
is taken to the field and fastened
down to the centre of a nine-foot plank
resting on two stools. The ripplers
sit astride this plank. Taking hand
full of flax in one hand, they spread it
out like a fan with the other, then
draw one half of it through the comb
and by turning the wrist draw the
other half through. The seed bolls
fall on a wagon sheet or anything
placed below for the purpose.
After the fax is pulled and rippled
it should be Immediately watered, be-
fore it has q chance to harden. This
process requires great care. River
water is the best. Water containing
iron or other mineral substances
| should be never used. The best size
for a steep pool is twelve feet broad,
eighteen feet long, and from three
and a half to four feet deep. The fax
should be placed in the pool in one
layer, in regular rows, the root ends
underneath, and the tie of each sheaf
reaching to the root of the previous
one. When this is done the whole
layer should be covered with sods or
straw weighted with stone so as 10
keep tho fax just under water. A
small stream of water running through
the pond improves the color Of the
flax. The average time for stepping
is from eight to fourteen days, accord
ing to the heat of the weather and
nature Of the water. Every grower
should learn to know when the flax
has had enough water, as a few hours
too much may injure it. The best test
for telling is to take q few average
stalks and break them in two places,
about six inches apart: if the shove
or woody part will pull out for that
distance downward without breaking
OF tearing the fibre, and with none Of
the fibre adhering to it, the flax is
ready to take out. This test should
be employed every six hours after fer
mentation subsidies. When ready. the
flax should be carefully removed from
the water BY hand. a bundle at atime,
not by forks o. other instruments.
The next thing is "s~preading.' When
possible, select clean, short thick pas
ture land for this work. Lay the fax
evenly on the grass, and spread It
equally and thin. When turning the
flax on the grass. use a long rod.
Ten OF twelve days, in dry weather,
are long enough for the flax to remain
on the grass. Agood test OF fits being
ready to lift is to rub a few stalks from
top to bottom; and, when the wood
breaks easily, and separates from the
fibre. leaving it sound, it has had
enough of the grass. In lifting flax
keep the lengths straight and the ends
even, otherwise great loss may occur
in the process of s%cutching. Never
dry flax by the fire. If properly steep
ed and grassed no such drying is ne-
cessary. Heretofore, in scutching
flax there has been a considerable
quantity of tow; but there has been
recently invented a machine which
scutches fax, and produces no waste.
! Several hundred of these machines
have been introduced into France and
some other European countries, Civ
ing universal satisfaction.
In the preparation of this and a1e
preceding papers on flax 1 have re-
ceived valuable aid from the reports
on fax and hemp of Messrs. D. G.
Browne and G. S. Leavitt in the Pat
ent Office Report, Agriculture 1861.
Having briefly gone over the history
of the. afx-plant, glancing at its bot
any, chemistry, cultivation, and pre-
paration for market, we shall there
leave it. We might go into the mys.
teries of manufacture and show how
the rare and costly damasks of all de-
scriptions are made We could dis
cuss this celebrated piece of linen
fabric, and that piece, and another.
each a work of art in itself, but time
will not permit. The fibre of the flax
! plant has been. is, and can be manu-
featured into ropes, cordage, tents,
sails, nets, fine bed and table linen,
| clothes from the cheapest in cost and