When the plants have been grown for _seed_, they are pulled as before, and then laid together by handfuls upon the ground, with the seed ends towards the south, that they may be the better exposed to the sun. The next operation is to force off the seed vessels. For this purpose a large cloth is usually spread on some adjacent and convenient spot of ground, and an instrument, called a ripple, is placed in the middle of it. This is a sort of comb, consisting of six, eight, or ten, long, triangular, upright teeth. The seed ends of the flax are pulled repeatedly through the teeth of the comb, by which the parts containing the seed are removed from the stalks. After this the pods and seeds, which have the name of _line-seeds_, are spread upon a cloth in the sun to dry, and subsequently are threshed, sifted, winnowed, and cleansed. The best seed is generally preserved for sowing, and the second sort yields considerable profit in the oil which is obtained from it by pressure. This, which is called _linseed oil_, is equally useful in the arts and in medicine. It is occasionally employed for making the soap called green soap. If heat be applied during the pressure of the seeds, the oil attains a yellowish colour and a peculiar smell, and, in this state, it is used by painters and varnishers. An infusion of the seed, in the manner of tea, is recommended in coughs; and from the seed is also made an useful kind of poultice for external inflammations. After the oil has been expressed, the remaining farinaceous part of the seeds is squeezed together into large masses, called _oil-cake_ which is given as food to oxen. It must be remarked that the water in which flax has been macerated becomes thereby poisonous to cattle; and, on this account, the practice of steeping it in any running stream or common pond was prohibited by an act of Parliament, passed in the reign of Henry the Eighth. ---- CLASS VI.--HEXANDRIA. ---- MONOGYNIA. 98. _The PINE_ (Bromelia ananas) _is a rich and highly fragrant fruit, of large size, and yellow colour, with protuberances on its surface; and crowned by a tuft of strong and pointed leaves, edged with sharp spines._ This, the best and finest flavoured of all known fruits, was originally imported into England from South America, about the year 1690. In that country and the West Indies it has long been cultivated in the open ground; and, from free access to a congenial atmosphere, it attains there a much finer flavour than is possible in a forced state, in the hot-houses of Great Britain.