Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1889-03-08
FLAX CULTURE. !
AN INrpoRTANrP PLANT
IN IRELAND.
siowins and scedins-Grcat Labor
anu Care Required in Wedding
The Steep Pond and
the scutch Mill.

n lo,,c.', ~ WV III INC iaii, light or
.oamy soils being preferred. aud is
4 WORKED IN the spring to mold with
harrows. usually crosswise and dian.
q onally; but the soil Is only pulyerized
4 on top, us, curious'y, the flax. which
= grows as far from the surface into the
ground us it does out of it, with a
moderate soil resistance to downward
4 glowtn' seems TO possess tendency of
increase IN length of stock. The seed
1 ,s s0wn IN April broadcast, from n pouch
,naoe by tying together two corners of n
linen sheet. This is slung over the
rlght shoulder, the left arm holding the
seeo pouch open-precisely rs our own
good fathers used to sow wheat. oats
ana barley from the striped. brown, two
bushcl, bng. The entire skill required
IN haX;&owing is in securing Il uniform
uistriOdtion OF The seed and a sufficiently
loeral amount; for those two essentials
give even length OF stalk and least
pran' hing at the top, largely increasing
me value to both the spinner and the
farmer
10 this point the tenant has re uired
no no more nelp than perhaps his own fam
~ coiid give him; but now that
wedding time" has arrived. additional
ianor must hc hired. 1t comes troopinr
gown IRON the mountain districts in the
FORM OF buAom, shaprly Irish lasses.
Amazons In frame and strength, they
are beings of q brave and sunny mood
who can exist on less food, work harder
In the field for twelve hours Of every day.
ana dance longer and with more viror-
Gus evolutions ut night, than any other
women or men tina: live. Noralc these
picturesque folk all. Women and
girls from near villages also hire to the
Irish farmer in summc'. The mountain
GERS engage from two to three months
tue village girls, by the dsy OF. week.
both do mems labor, or more, and re-
ceive about one shilling per day. Their
i0oo is OF the nleagcicst and plaincst
character Oatcn bread, made from
coarse oatmeal, with only salt and water
added, occasionally n portion of the
Commonest vegetables, with little of
the West purchasable tea, and, for a
great luxury, a drop of milk, arc all.
lYey scarcely know the taste OF butter.
meat or fowl. And yet these girls have
eyes liquid with light, teeth white and
cleaning MS new frost. compilations that
rival tinls of tile rose, and forms of
lovely symmetry.
The wedding of fax in Ireland neccs-
States great labor and care. The foreign
seed used seems to cngcnder multipli-
city OF weeds. A .aacre field would
require about eos days OF one hand for
thorough work, or ten days per single
acre. When the flax is about six inches
nlgh,. wedding is begun, damp DAYS be-
ing chosen, SO hat the weeds may be
more easily eXlrac; and the tender
shoots OF lax bruised as little rs pOssi.
bic. In belgium the weedcrs, with
coarse cloths around their knees. Green
along on all-fours and among the thou
sands that may be seen in days Journey,
not one is out of this grovclng position.
But the IRISH wecdcrs do their work
barcfootcd and crouchcd in half ;ttinp
posture. A singular fact about this
work is that it is all done toward the
wind. This is in order that the brcczes
may assist in lifting the bent or bruised
shoots again, aud curious belief prc-
walls hat this unavoidable treadng and
breaking OF the flax in It's carly period of
growth, has stimulating effect upon the
fESp ,
1.-THE Irish steep pond is the same rude
affair that 1t was centuries ago. Or
dinarily Il hole or excavation of from
to ieet III depth, to 10 yards wide,
and 10 to 10 yards long, it will be found
in some meadow swuil or hillside hoi-
low, where it is allowed to fill with the
surface water, or where the wafer from
some tiny stream may he admitted for
The water sed in housekeeping must be
soft, or Mt least free from lime and iron.
Flax sheave' are lad in the Irish stcen-
pond butt to band, weighed down
with sod and stone, and allowed
to re!rain from eight ten days Millions
of dollars have been wasted in efforts to
steep fax at:ticialIy III watts; but nature
alone can properly attend TO that. The
stecp-watcr, in, aluablc for enrichinr
soils, hut wholly wasted here, can be
used but once. From it the sheavcs are
carted to tie 'spread ground" of graz
ing or mown meadow land. Here the
rush bands me removed and dried, and
the now sticky, dirty flax, held on The
left arm, and spread from lett TO right.
the loaded carts following lust outside
the rows. When The stepped flax is thus
drying, whole fax regions arc given the
appearance OF being laid with mammoth
carpcting in gray brown rows woven
upon ground of emerald green. Wet
weather endanger> ruinous secondary
fermentation; but drying wind"
Asives superb fiber. The fax is now
"lifted,' with the same rush bands tied
again into cheats or sheaves; and is
then "stooked" and Capped precisely
as grain is shocked" in American
fields. 1t is allowed to stand In the
"stook" few days for further touring"
and is finally stored in the cabin loft:
stacked with wonderful precision and
symmetry or cartcd direct to the roar
ing "scutch mill"
1t is an interesting place around n
scutch mill. One will find from a0O to
400 diminutive faX-stacks with prcttily
matched roofs. The clattcr and rush.
with the flying shives, remind one of
the pleasant oldfashoned American
''threshng time " while here and there.
crowdng the road. randpd between the
stacks, or over owing into near pad
docks. arc great numbers of carts,
dragged here by ragged donkcys or RAJ.
gcred humans, awaiting their turn" at
the mill, or room for storing and stack.
ing their loads. The mill removes from
the flax tho roots, the branches and
withered bols-as tho valuable seed is