In Flanders, where the cultivation is so all important, the _rotation_ of all other crops, is regulated with ultimate reference to the flax, which comes into the circle only once in seven years, and in some instances, once in nine, whilst, as it approaches the period for saving it, each antecedent crop is put in with a double portion of manure. For itself, the preparation is most studiously and scrupulously minute, the ground is prepared rather like a flower-bed than a field, and _spade labour_ always preferred to the coarser and less minute operation of the plough, every film of a weed is carefully uprooted, and the earth abundantly supplied, generally with liquid manure, fermented with rape cake. The seed is then sown remarkably _thick_, so that the plants may not only support one another, but struggling upwards to the light, may throw out few branches, and rise into a taller and more delicate stem. The _weeding_ is done, whilst the plant is still so tender and elastic as that it may rise again readily after the operation, and it is a remarkable illustration of the studied tenderness with which the cultivation is watched, that the women and children who are employed to weed it, are generally instructed to do so against the wind, in order that the breeze may lift the stems as soon as they have left them, instead of allowing them to grow crooked, by lying too long upon the ground. Again, in order to give it a healthy support during its growth, _stakes_ are driven into the ground at equal distances, from the top of which, cords, or thin rods are extended, dividing the field into minute squares, and thus preventing the plants from being laid down by any but a very severe wind. The time of _pulling_ depends upon whether the farmer places most value upon the seed or the fibre of the particular field. If the former, he must wait till the plant is thoroughly ripe, its capsules hard, its leaves fallen, and its stem yellow; but in this case, the stalk is woody and the fibre coarse and hard; whereas, if the fineness of the fibre be the first object, it is pulled whilst the stalk is still green and tender, and before the fruit has come to maturity. At Courtrai and its vicinity, the flax when severed from the ground, after being carefully sunned and dried, is stored for twelvemonths before it is submitted to the process of watering. In the Pays de Waes, however, this practice does not obtain, the steeping taking place immediately on its being pulled, and I find the inclination of opinion to be in favour of the latter mode, as the former is said to render the flax harsh and discolored, whilst that immersed at once is soft and silky, and of a delicate and uniform tint.