Flax Cultivation

FLAX CULTIVATION

Bart - See sheigh, etc. Beet - A bundle or sheaf of tied flax crop or straw. Boll, Flax in - The growing flax when the seed capsules have formed. Braird (n. or v.) - Flax in the seedling stage. To germinate in the field. Butt (v.) - To level the root ends of straw at any stage by vibrating it upright on a flat surface either by hand or mechanically. Crop, Flax - Flax at any stage before it is processed. A fair average flax crop would be 2 tons per acre of air dried crop, yielding 10 per cent of clean seed and 10 per cent of scutched flax. But it should be remembered that the actual long fibre content of the straw averages 20 per cent. D.N.O.C. - A proprietary spraying mixture used as a weedicide on flax. Drill, Flax - A sowing machine made primarily for sowing flax in narrow rows at an appropriate rate. Fiddle - A sowing box with a hand-worked distributor for sowing flax and other seeds broadcast. Frandy - See Sheigh, etc. Gait - A large handful of loose, pulled flax stood up on end in a cone form to dry. See also Retting. Grades - Under the Ministry of Supply home flax scheme, flax crop is graded 1, 1X, 2, 2X, 3, 3X, or for seed and tow only in descending order of quality. Lodge - A lodged crop is one bent or laid flat by the weather. Pulling - The operation of harvesting flax by pulling it from the ground. It may be hand pulled or machine pulled. Pulling Machine - Any type of harvesting machine which pulls flax by mechanical means and delivers it either loose or tied in beets (q.v.). Sheigh, Frandy, Bart, Windrow - Local names for forms of compound stocks where a number of beets are built up and usually roughly thatched as an intermediate stage between stooking and stacking. Shock, or Stook - To set up a number (usually six a side) of beets in inverted ??? form to dry. Stook - See Shock or Stook. Weeds - The chief weeds in flax and their local names are : Charlock, Carlick or Preshaugh (Brassica Sinapis); Wild Radish, White Charlock, or White Carlick (Raphanus Raphanistrum); Poppy or Redweed (Papaver Rhoeas); Knotweed, Knotgrass, or Crabgrass (Poly-gonum aviculare); Good King Henry or Fathen (Chenopodium sp.); Persicaria or Redshank (Polygonum Persicaria); Bine or Bindweed (Convolvulus sp. or Polygonum Convolvulus.) Windrow - See sheigh, etc.