Encyclopaedia Britannica > Volume 7, ETM-GOA

rhs.
FLA [ 292 ] FLA
Of the watering of Flax by a new method, fo as to Jhorten
labour, to add probably to the Jlrength of the flax, and to
give it a much finer colour, which would render the ope¬
ration of bleaching fdfer and lefs tedious.
“ Though the following reflections have for their
objeft an improvement in the very eflential article of
watering of flax, yet I muft advertife the reader, that
they are only theory, and muft. depend entirely for
their truth and juftification upon future experiments,
Ikilfully and judicioufly made. Should repeated trials
prove the advantage of the new method propofed, we_
may venture to affirm, that it would be an improve¬
ment that would increafe the national income in the
agricultural branch many thoufand pounds annually,
would add greatly to the perfeftion of the linen manu-
fadture, and over and above would fupprefs a very dif-
agreeable nuifance, which the prefent method of wa¬
tering flax occafions during fome part of the fummer
in every flax-growing country.
“ The intention of watering flax is, in my opinion,
to make the boon more brittle or friable, and, by foak-
ing, to diffolve that gluey kind of fap that makes
the bark of plants and trees adhere in a fmall degree
to the woody part. The bark of flax is called the
hark; and when feparated from the ufelefs woody part,
the boon, this harle itfelf is called flax. To effedt this
feparation eafily, the pradtice has long prevailed, of
foaking the flax in water to a certain degree of fer¬
mentation, and afterwards drying it. For this foak¬
ing fome prefer rivulets that have a fmall current, and
others ftagnant water in ponds and lakes. In both
methods the water adts as in all other cafes of infufion
and maceration ; after two or three weeks it extradts
a great many juices of a very ftrong quality, which in
ponds give the water an inky tinge and offenfive fmell;
and in rivulets mix in the ftream and kill the fifti.
Nay, if this maceration be too long continued, the
extradted and fermented fap will completely kill the
flax itfelf. For if, inftead of two or three weeks, the
new flax were to lie foaking in the water four or five
months, I prefume it would be good for nothing but
to be thrown upon the dunghill; both harle and boon
would in time be completely rotted ; yet the harle or
flax, when entirely freed from this fap, and manufac¬
tured into linen, or into ropes, might lie many months
under water without being much damaged ; as linen,
k may be wafhed and fteeped in fcalding water twenty
times without lofing much of its ftrength ; and as pa¬
per, it acquires a kind of incorruptibility.
“ It appears then effential to the right management
qf new flax, to get rid of this pernicious vegetative
fap* and to macerate the boon; but from the com¬
plaints made againft both the methods of watering now
in ufe, there is reafon to think that there is ftill great
room for improvement in that article. In rivulets, the
vegetative fap,,as it is diffolved, is carried off by the
current, to the deftru&ion of the fifh. This prevents
the flax from being ftained ; but the operation is te¬
dious, and not complete, from the uncertainty of
knowing when it is juft enough, and not too much, or
perhaps from negledl. In ponds, the inky tinge of
the water often lerves as a kind of dye to the flax,
which imbibes it fo ftrongly, that double the labour
in bleaching will hardly bring the linen made of fuch
flax to an equality in whkenefs with linen made of
flax untihged. This feems to be equally unwife as
though we were to dye cotton black firft, in order to
whiten it afterwards. Thefe ponds, befides, become
a great nuifance to the neighbourhood ; the impreg¬
nated water is often of fuch a pernicious quality, that
cattle, however thirfty, will not drink of it ; and the
effluvia of it may perhaps be nearly as infeftious as it
is offenfive. If this effluvia is really attended with any
contagious effects in our cojd climate, a thing worth
the enquiring into, how rpuch more pernicious muft
its effefts have been in the hot climate of Egypt, a
country early noted for its great cultivation of flax?
“ I have often thought that the procefs of watering
might be greatly improved find fhortened by plunging
the new flax, after it is rippled, into fcalding water ;
which, in regard to extrafting the vegetative fap, would
do in five minutes more than cold water would do in
a fortnight, or perhaps more than cold water could do
at all, in refpett to the clearing the plant of fap.
Rough almonds, when thrown into fcalding water, are
blanched in an inftant; but perhaps a fortnight’s ma¬
cerating thofe almonds in cold water would not make
them part fo eafily with their {kins, which are the fame
to them as the harle is to the flax. Were tea leaves
to be infufed in cold water a fortnight, perhaps the
tea produced by that infufion would not be fo good to-
the tafte, nor fo ftrongly tinged to the eye, as what is
effedted by fcalding water in five minutes, By the:
fame analogy, I think, flax or any fmall twig would
be made to part with its bark much eafier and quicker
by being dipped in boiling water than by being fteep¬
ed in cold water.
“ This reflettion opens a door for a great variety
of new experiments in regard to flax. I would there¬
fore recommend to gentlemen cultivators and farmers,
to make repeated trials upon this new fyftem, which
would foon afeertain whether it ought to be adopted
in pradfice or S-ejedted. One thing, I think, we may
be certain of, that if the Egyptians watered their flax
in our common manner, they undoubtedly watered it
in very warm water, from the great heat of their cli¬
mate, which would probably make them negledt to
think of water heated by any other means than that
of the fun. A good general pradtice can only be efta-
bliftied upon repeated trials. Though one experiment
may fail, another with a little variation may fucceed ;
and the importance of the objedt defined to be obtain¬
ed will juftify a good degree of perfeverance in the
profecution of the means. In this view, as the Chi-
nefe thread is faid to be very ftrong, it would be worth
while to be acquainted with the pradtice of that diftant
nation, in regard to the rearing and manufadturing of
flax, as well as with the methods ufed by the Flemings
and the Dutch.
“ Boiling water perhaps might at once clear the
new flax from many impurities, which when not re¬
moved till it be fpun into yarn, are then removed with
difficulty, and with lofs of fubftance to the yarn. Why
ftiould not the longitudinal fibres of the flax, before
they be fpun into yarn, be made not only as fine but
as clean as poffible ? Upon the new fyftem propofed,
the adt of bleaching would begin immediately after the
rippling of the flax; and a little done then, might per¬
haps fave much of what is generally done after the
fpinning and weaving. To fpin dirty flax with a view