Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-12-15

tue uooier. Wherever a nddler Is In Ireland,
there music actually RACES; and wherever
music has come the Irish leg is an irrepressi-
Bile member. So in the pleasant nights OF May
there are still to be found near the fax fields
the old Irish princkums, or merry-makings;
and there are then such frolic and dancing as
you OF higher degree may never know.
THE RIPENINa AND PULLING
Of Irish fax take place between the middle and
end of July, in favorable seasons. Almost in
stantly after the loose terminal blue-bell bios
SONS have opened the petals drop to the ground
and the seed-bolls form with wonderful rapid
ity. Scarcely have these assumed their globu-
lar form before the fax begins to ripen and
turn with the bolls golden-brown color. 1t is
just at this turning stage that it must be
gathered to insure the largest and most valu-
able yield OF fiber. The same help is used as
in wedding, save that all available men are
also engaged, and daily wages of one shilling
to eighteenpence are paid. The greatest ex-
petition Is necessary, for it must be got in
the steep-pond at the earliest moment, and
every stalk must be pulled from the roots
But these fax-pullers are born and bred with
the proper twist for the work, the girls and
women frequently excelling the men in dex-
terousness, speed and perfect pulling. The
right hand, with the lower edge appraised
grasps firmly a small handful of fax Just be-
meath the bolls. the motion at the same time
given Strengthening the stalks and laying them
all parallel with each other; for if in grasping
the fax it is twisted or punched irregularly It
Will retain its ''contrariness' through all the
succe eding processes. As the clutched bunch
is held taut the left hand firmly clasps the
roots, and, with what the worker describes as
an ''aisy jerk" the bunch is freed from the
ground. gentle shake removing the loose soil
About 20 OF these are laid together with great
precision. the roots being kept even by gentle
'butting," and then tied or knotted. the same
as the American sheaf Of wheat. This is called
beat OF flax. The greatest endeavors are
made to get the flax out OF the ground and into
the steep-pond for ''retting" or rottipg, usually
called sleeping" in Ireland; for undue expos
ure to the air after pulling has tendency to
harden the glutinous substance which dement's
together the hbers of the fax.
THE IRISH sTEEP-PoND
is the same rude affair that it was centuries ago.
Ordinarily hole or excavation of from l to
feet in depth, 8 to 10 yards wide, and 10 to Is
yards long, it will be found in some meadow
swail or hillside hollow, where it is allowed to
fill with the surface water. or where the water
from some tiny stream may be admitted; for
the water used in housekeeping must be soft or
at least free from lime and iron. Flax-sheaves
are laid in the Irish steep-pond butt to band
weighed down with sod and stone, and allowed
to remain from eight to ten days. Millions of
dollars have been wasted in efforts to steep fax
artlfclally in watts; but nature alone can pro-
perly attend to that. The steep-water, invalu-
able for enriching soils. but wholly wasted
here. can be usedbut once. From it the sheaves
are carted to the .'spread-ground" Of grazing
or mown-meadow land. Here the rush bands
are removed and dried, and the now sticky
dirty fax. held on the left arm. and spread
from left to right, the loaded carts following
Just outside the rows. When the stepped flax
is thus drying whole fax regions are given the
appearance OF being laid with mammoth car
peting in gray-brown rows woven upon q
ground OF emerald green. Wet weather en-
dangers ruinous secondary fermentation; but
drying wind" gives superb fiber. The fax
IS now lifted" with the same rush bands tied
again into beats or sheaves; and is then
stocked and capped" precisely as grain is
shocked in American fields. 1t is allowed to
stand in the ''stoOk' few DAYS for further
curing and is finally stored in the cabin loft;
stacked with wonderful precision and symme-
mill"
THE sCUTCH MILL.
1t is an interesting place around a scutch
mill. One will find from 300 to 400 diminutive
fax-stacks with prettily matched roofs. The
clatter and rush, with the flying shives, re-
mind one of the pleasant old-fashioned Ameri-
can '.threshing- time;" while here and there,
crowding the road. ranged between the stacks
or oyerfowlng into near paddocks, are great
numbers of carts. dragged here by ragged dom
Keys or raggered humans. awaiting their turn
az INC MN, VI IOoH sUOrlDG or Stacking
their loads; the motley crew of attendants find
ing rare occasion for the application of most
unique blarneying, appeal and invective. But
the mill itself is a veritable devil-fish to the
farmer. 1t is usually owned by a canny we'll
TODD, North of Ireland Scotch-English Irish
man, long of finger and hard of heart: and he
lets none go without ''scutching" the owner as
well as his flax. The mill removes from the
flax the roots, the branches and wthered bol!s-
as the valuable seed is all lost in Ireland-the
woody heart. and the finty outer sheath.
Twenty-four cents per stone fourteen pounds)
OF marketable fiber is paid for the milling,
which is equally divided between mill-owner
and laborers. But the real robbing is in the
waste" The scutcher deity manages to
transform half of the farmers crop into
waste" For this he is paid but "a cents per
l12 pounds. During the rest of the season the
scutcher works over the waste" into what is
commercially called 'rescutched tow" selling
the same for about 500 per ton. The fiber
comes from the 'breakers' of the scutch mill
in strikes" Of ~ pounds weight and these
are tied with a twist of fax into stone"
bundles; and the Irish fax-farmer with his
little crop and big family all piled upon one
grooming cart. trundle off to the market where
after great bullying by the fax-factor. or
buyer, he may receive six shillings per stone
for his trif1ing product; and when the seed,
farm labor, and scutching are paid for, fate
has been most kind to him if he has enough
remaining to pay his rent and keep the emer-
gency-men, the battering-ram, and the horri-
BILE actuality of eviction from his ever-com-
fortress door. EDGAR L. WAKEMAN.