Flax
/Collections/Agriculture/uafp_agriculture_working_the_land_flax1)
The fibre contained in flax is used to produce linen, so flax was an important cash crop in Ireland. It was produced as follows. After flowering and ripening in July, the flax was pulled by hand and soaked in a water-filled dam for one to two weeks to ret (break down the outer coating). It was then spread on a field to dry.
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The tough outer coating was separated from the linen fibres by scutching. One basic method involved beating the flax over a stone with a club. A more refined method was to process the flax in a water-powered scutching mill. Finally, the naked fibres were hackled (combed to clean and straighten the lint).
After the fibres were spun, some farmers sold the resulting linen thread to weavers. Others used family labour to weave linen cloth. The cash generated was used to buy essentials. Some weavers grew also flax /Collections/Agriculture/uafp_agriculture_working_the_land_flax3)
but they tried to avoid involvement in the early processing of the crop as it made their hands coarse and unsuitable for fine weaving.
Flax hackle with name ‘John Weir’ stamped on one side. ‘Strabane 1808’ is stamped on the other side. Made from wood with rows of metal spikes.
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