Flax grown for linen thread and fabric was different from flax for culinary use. In the 18th century, farmers dedicated approximately two acres of land to cultivating flax, a slender, grass-like annual plant with narrow leaves that blooms with small light blue flowers and grows from 18 to 30 inches high. When seed pods replaced the flowers, the flax was harvested by pulling the plant from the ground rather than cutting it, then bundled and left to dry so every inch of fiber could be used. Linen’s durability came from the length of the flax fibers. Processing flax required numerous steps and tools and took about 18 months before cloth was ready to be cut and hand-stitched into garments. Rippling used a flax flail, a wide-toothed comb, to remove the seed pods. Retting, or rotting, dampened the stalks by dew or by soaking them in a stream to separate stalk from fiber, after which the stalks were laid in the sun to dry again. A flax break crushed the outside stalk, and a wooden scutching knife further separated the broken stalk. In heckling, also called hackling, fibers were drawn through a wooden board with iron spikes to smooth them. Spinning and dyeing were winter chores performed by females of the household. The spun, naturally dyed thread was then sent to a weaver with a loom, most often a man, who kept a portion of the cloth as payment. Few 18th-century households owned the very large and expensive looms, but tabletop tape looms were common, and tape was used for apron strings and for tying clothing together, etc.