Was flax grown generally?
State the process of its cultivation and manufacture. Flax was raised by nearly every farmer when I was a boy. The sheets, table cloths, towels and shirts were all made of homemade linen and in many cases pants, and a frock which took the place of a coat. The flax was always sown on a piece of good land and when it came to maturity, the whole family – men, women and children – would turn out to pull it. This was done by taking hold of the top and pulling it up by the roots. It was then spread to dry, and when dry, taken to the barn and the seed thrashed out. It was then spread out very thin and left to rot till the stalk would become brittle. The next process was the breaking – They generally, or I may say, always, used a bench about as high as would be convenient. In this, they placed 4 wooden knives with edges up; they then made a frame containing 3 wooden knives of exactly the same dimensions as the others. These they hung by a sort of hinge at the back with the edges down, and so a
