.6 
 
 SB 253 
 .n29 
 *Copy 1 
 
 I 
 
 )ORE'S RURAL MANUALS.— No. L 
 
 A^MANTJAL OF 
 
 FLAX CULTURE 
 
 EMBRACING FULL DIRECTIONS FOE 
 
 PEEPARING THE GROUND, SOWING, HARVESTING, &c. 
 
 i 
 
 m 
 
 v^% 
 
 FIj^2C FL.A.1>TT. 
 
 HEHVIIP FIjA-aSTT. 
 
 ALSO, AN ESSAY BY A WESTERN MAN, ON 
 
 HEMP ATO FLAX m THE WEST: 
 
 MODES OF CULTURE, PREPARATION FOR MARKET, &c. 
 
 WITH BOTANICAL DESCRIPTIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. ' 
 
 PUBLISHED BY D. 33. T. MOORE. 
 
 • EDITOR OF MOORE'S RURAI, NEW-YORKER, 
 
 XJi;ri02SX BXJILIDIlSrOS, ItOCIiESTEE,, ISr. "ST. 
 
 1863. 
 
A MANUAL OF 
 
 FLAX CULTUEE 
 
 -A^ISriD 3^^3SriJir'-A.OTXJR,E : 
 
 EMBEACING DIRECTIONS FOR 
 
 PREPARING THE GROUND, SOWING THE SEED, HARVESTING THE CROP, Ac. 
 
 ALSO, AN ESSAY BY A WESTKR^f MAN, ON 
 
 HEMP AND FLAX IN THE WEST 
 
 AMOUNT GROWN, MODES OF CULTURE. PREPARATION FOR MARKET, Etc. 
 
 .. .,-, j-r-:^^ 
 
 WITH BOTANICAL DESCRIPTIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 ROCHESTER, N. Y. 
 
 FXIBLISHTEr) BY r>. D. T. IVIOOnE, 
 
 EDITOa OF MOOEE'S RUKAI, NEW-YOKKEK, 
 1863. 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON FLAX CULTURE. 
 
 Introductory — Soil and Situation — Preparing the Land and Sowing — Amount of Seed, Fertilizers — 
 Harvesting or Pulling the Crop — Methods and Time of Rotting — Yield of Flax — Value of the Flax 
 Crop — Perpaiing Flax for Marliet — Amount and Value of Flax Tow — Caution to New Beginners — 
 Conclusion * 5 
 
 FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE IN THE UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN. 
 
 Introductory — Product of Flax per Acre — Dressing and Spinning Flax — Preparing, Spinning, &c. — 
 Governmental Aid — Soils Adapted to Flax — Quantity of Seed, &c. — Water - Rotting — Breaking — 
 Hatcheling — Bleaching 9 
 
 REPORT ON FLAX AND MACHINERY FOR MAKING FLAX COTTON. 
 
 The Flax Plant and Soils Adapted to It — The Cultivation of Flax — Causes which have Hindered the 
 Production of Flax — What is Needed to Increase the Culture of Flax — The Structure of the Flax 
 Plant — Structni-e of tlie Bast Fiber — The Lockport Processes for Cottonizing Flax — Estimate of the 
 Expense of the Lockport Prices per Tun — Opinion of the Committee — The Penn Yan Process — 
 Suggestions — Action of the Executive Committee on the Report . 19 
 
 ABOUT FLAX — Soil, Seed and Culture, 28 
 
 HEMP AND FLAX IN THE WEST. 
 
 Part First. — Hemp. Amount Grovm in the West — Growing Hemp for Seed — The Soil for Hemp 
 and its Preparation — The Best Seed, Amount used, When and How to Seed — Time of Harvesting — 
 Cutting, Binding, Shocking and Stacking — Rotting Processes — Breaking — Unrotted Hemp — Dew vs. 
 
 Water- Rotting 29 
 
 Part SECo.\n. — Flax. Profit of Culture — Soil — Seed and Seeding — Time of Seeding — Harvesting — 
 Rotting — Thrashing 34 
 
 FLAX GROWING IN SENEC.4 CO., N. Y. 
 
 Mode of Culture twenty-five years ago — The Crop Profitable — Prejudices of Farmers — Flax not ex- 
 haustive — Present Prospects — Amount of Textile Material per Acre — Past Prices — Kind of Flax- 
 Dresser used 37 
 
 THE STRUCTURE OF TEXTILE FIBERS. 
 
 Silk— M'ool — Cotton — Flax— With Illustrations 89 
 
 FLAX AS A DOMESTIC INSTITUTION, 43 
 
 THE BOTANY OF FLAX AND HEMP: 
 
 With Illustrations, and also Descriptions of Woody Fiber, ........ - - 47 
 
 Entkred according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by 
 
 D. D. T. MOORE, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 
 Southern District of New York. 
 
EXI^Li^LlS^^TORY I^HEF^OE. 
 
 This little Manual is designed to supply the wants of thousands who are 
 seeking information on the subjects discussed in its pages, — and especially those 
 about entering upon Flax or Hemp culture, from patriotic motives, yet who very 
 properly desire to render the business profitable. The demand for Flax fiber, for 
 various purposes, is constantly augmenting, and it is believed that, whether the 
 War for the Union be of short or long duration, both Flax and Hemp may profitably 
 be grown in many localities of the Loyal States and Canadas for years to come ; 
 and that it is the duty of those favorably situated for the production of either to 
 try the experiment. The unholy rebellion of the Southrons has dethroned " King 
 Cotton," for years, at least, causing a great demand for a suitable substitute, (and 
 particular need of considerable hemp,) and we believe the extensive cultivation of 
 Flax — with the discovery of a cheap, efficient and speedy process of " cottonizing" 
 the same — will render the dethronement permanent, without seriously affecting 
 the material interests of either the People or the Country. 
 
 The primary aim of this work is to furnish practical and reliable information 
 concerning Flax and Hemp Culture, and upon the best modes of securing and 
 preparing these important staples (as they are now becoming) for a remunerative 
 market. The various inquiries we have received on the subject within the past 
 few months, and the very general demand for a Guide which will enable new begin- 
 ners to enter upon Flax Culture without fear of failure, has induced this attempt to 
 supply what was considered an important desideratum in the Kural Literature of 
 the Country, — for there was no American work on the subject containing the neces- 
 sary details and information. Lacking the practical knowledge of flax growing 
 which would enable us to write what was wanted, and finding no one person willing 
 to undertake (on short notice and in a brief space of time,) the whole subject of 
 Culture, Manufacture, &c., we applied to different parties for assistance, and give 
 the result in subsequent pages, — a result far more satisfactory than was anticipated 
 in the outset; for, on perusing each Essay carefully, we can freely say that we have 
 rarely found more valuable and practical information on any one subject in an equal 
 amount of space. Most of the papers given were written during the first two weeks 
 of April, and the authors had no opportunity to compare notes and experiences, — 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 as we were obliged to publish at the earliest practicable moment, — yet we tliiuk 
 few discrepancies will be apparent, even to the critical reader or reviewer. 
 
 The first Essay is from the pen of an eminently practical Flax Grower, who has 
 had over thirty years experience in the business, and consequently knows whereof 
 he affirms. We therefore give his contribution the post of honor. The paper on 
 " Flax Culture and Manufacture in the United States and Great Britain," (written 
 in March last for the Rural New-Yorker, and now in course of publication in that 
 Journal,) is also from the pen of a gentleman of large experience, who has had 
 superior opportunities and facilities for acquiring information on the subjects so 
 ably treated. The Report of the Committee of the N. Y. State Agricultural 
 Society will be read with much interest at the present time, and, though not as 
 practical as the papers above alluded to, contains much valuable information, 
 especially relative to machinery for manufacturing Flax Cotton, and is considered 
 worthy of being placed upon record. Mr. Bragdon's paper on " Hemp and Flax 
 in the West," was furnished in some haste, yet seems to cover the whole ground, 
 and must prove of especial interest and value to those for whose benefit it was 
 mainly prepared — the Farmers of the West. Mr. Williams' article on "Flax 
 Growing in Seneca Co., N. Y.," will also prove instructive, while Maj. Brooks' 
 essay on " Flax as a Domestic Institution," will have a salutary influence, and its 
 humor promote digestion. Mr. Phin's article on the " Structure of Textile Fibers," 
 exhibits much knowledge, as well as careful research and investigation, and 
 will prove very acceptable to those seeking information on the points embraced. 
 Last, yet not least, Prof. Dewey gives the Botanical Descriptions of the Flax 
 and Hemp Plants — imparting, briefly and lucidly, just what those who cultivate 
 either ought to undorstand, if they do not already. 
 
 Though mainly devoted to Flax Cultur e^s-p^ce is appropriately occupied in treat- 
 ing upon the Manufacture of Flax, machinery for cottonizing the sarae, and the 
 structure of various fibers. We have not, however, attempted to notice or describe 
 the many machines of recent invention, and which have not yet been satisfactorily 
 tested. Perhaps we may hereafter enter upon this branch of the subject in a 
 revised and enlarged edition, after time has been given for thorough experiments 
 and the consequent accretion of definite information. 
 
 This may not be in the proper style of a Preface, but it is in such shape as 
 an overworked Editor and Publisher hurriedly pens and respectfully submits to the 
 Reader. If the Manual shall prove of service to those it is designed to aid, 
 thereby promoting the material interests and prosperity of the People and Country, 
 our object will be attained; and, moreover, if the work meets the approval of the 
 intelligent and discriminating, we shall be gratified with this efi'ort to facilitate the 
 progress of an important branch of productive industry. 
 
A PRACTICAL ESSAY ON FLAX CULTUEE. 
 
 BY WILLIAM NEWCOMB, OE KENSSELAER COUNTY, N. Y. 
 
 rNTEODTJCTOEY. 
 
 It is hardly necessary at this time to impress 
 upon the public mind the paramount importance 
 of Flax Cdltuee, as the farmers throughout 
 the country appear to realize it, not only from 
 its necessity to the prosperity of the great North, 
 but also from the large and remunerative profits 
 it may afford to those intelligently engaged in the 
 production and manufacture of an increasingly 
 valuable staple. Without further introduction, 
 therefore, I propose— after having had long 
 experience, and making many experiments — 
 to give the results attained; or, in other words, 
 a few practical remarks on the Culture of Flax, 
 especially with reference to the preparation of 
 the soil for the reception of the seed, and its 
 after management. 
 
 son, AND SITUATION. 
 
 The first requisite in Flax Growing is to have 
 a good soil, in a suitable situation. On the 
 alluvial soil on the banks of rivers or smaller 
 streams, Flax will not succeed. Mildew or rust 
 almost invariably destroys both the seed and 
 stem, or hurl. All high or elevated lands that 
 will produce good corn, if not sands, will 
 prod lice good Flax with proper cultivation. 
 Flax does not succeed well on a sward ley, but 
 ought to be sown after some hoed crop of tlie 
 previous year. It does not bear manuring with 
 barn-yard manure the season it is sown. The 
 seed must be good and free from foul seeds. 
 
 PHEPAnrtJO THE LAND AND SOWING. 
 
 The land can scarcely be too finely pulverized 
 before sowing. If plowed when wet no after 
 cultivation can remedy the evil. The earlier the 
 land can be plowed, after it is in a suitable 
 condition, the better prospect of a good crop. 
 Drag or harrow the ground thoroughly before the 
 seed is sown, and as lightly as possible, and only 
 once afler it is sown. The heaviest crop I ever 
 raised was in a sixteen acre lot, which was not 
 dragged at all after it was sown, but washed in 
 by a heavy shower and continuous rains for 
 several days until the seed had sprouted. 
 
 There are several rules as regards the time of 
 sowing Flax seed. One of them is, when the 
 forest trees begin to put forth their young leaves. 
 Another is, the first week in May. But the 
 safest rule is when your soil is in good condition 
 to work, and the danger from severe frosts has 
 passed. After the Flax is up and has two well- 
 formed leaves there is not much danger from 
 frost, as it is seldom injured by frost in this stage 
 of the plant I have known Flax injured by 
 frost when first coming out of the ground. 
 
 AMOUNT OP SEED-FERTILI2EES. 
 
 One bushel of seed to the acre is fully sugicient 
 if the object is to obtain seed and lint united — a 
 less quantity if for seed alone, and perhaps a 
 little larger quantify of seed if the lint only be 
 desired. The seed is usually sown by hand, and 
 ougtit to be scattered evenly over the ground. 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 Machine sowing I have never tried, but have no 
 doubt it could be profitably done. Any method 
 will answer in sowing the seed if it be done in 
 such a manner as to get it evenly on the ground. 
 The labor of getting in a crop of Flax is 
 about the same as getting in a crop of oats. I 
 have found great benefit resulting to the crop by 
 using the following as a fertilizer:— One bushel 
 Plaster, one bushel Ashes and one bushel Fine 
 Salt, per acre — mixed and sown on the Flax as 
 soon as it is out of the ground. This stimulates 
 the growth, adds to the strength of the stem, and 
 increases the quality and quantity of the seed. 
 It is assumed that the land is free of weeds, or 
 nearly so, as they always lessen every crop, and 
 especially the Flax crop. 
 
 HARVESTINO OK PULLTNO THE CROP. 
 
 Harvesting or Pulling the Flax is the next and 
 the most laborious part of Flax raising. The 
 time to pull the Flax is when the lower leaves ot 
 the stem begin to droop, or when two-thirds of the 
 bolls have turned brown. As it takes some time 
 to gather a large crop, it is well to begin a little 
 too early, as the Flax deteriorates in quality as 
 well as quantity, aside from the loss of seed 
 by the shelling out and dropping of the bolls. 
 
 Various experiments have 'been tried in 
 gathering this crop by machinery, but as yet all 
 that have come to my knowledge have proved 
 failures, and I fear this will be the case in future, 
 as difficulties have to be overcome that seem to 
 me to be almost insurmountable. Any machinery 
 that crushes the stem, near its center, in pulling 
 the Flax, injures it more than the expense of 
 hand-pulling. Again, if weeds grow they are 
 pulled with the Flax, which injures the after 
 management The Flax is pulled and bound 
 with the Flax in handfuls convenient to handle 
 in thrashing it, laid on the ground during the 
 day, and then stood in shocks of eight handfuls, 
 or eight of the small bundles made in pulling it. 
 This will make a convenient size for a sheaf. 
 
 Flax should not be allowed to remain longer 
 in the field than is necessary to cure it, when it 
 should be housed. Great loss has been sustained 
 by a little negligence in this respect. Machinery 
 has been made tolerably well adapted to get- 
 ting off the seed; but, from close observation, 
 and by practical experiments, I do not think 
 any saving has been reached in this direc- 
 
 tion. A good hand will whip off the seed from 
 an acre in two days, and some much sooner. 
 A large, rough-surfaced stone, or even a plow- 
 share, is used to whip the seed from the Flax. 
 
 METHODS AND TIME OF KOTTINS. 
 
 The next process is the rotting. There are 
 two methods. One is by water, called Water- 
 Rotting. This method has not been very 
 extensively practiced in this country. It does 
 not increase the quantity, nor quality, except for 
 special uses. This method of rotting is variously 
 accomplished ; but the only one adapted to the 
 Farmer is putting the Flax in some pond or pool 
 of water, and placing sufficent weight upon it to 
 completely immerse it,-— and here no rule as to 
 time can be given, as I have had Flax fully 
 rotted in five days, and I have had Flax in the 
 same pit or pond thirty-two days, and then 
 insufficiently rotted. The judgment alone can be 
 depended on. When the hurl will slip entirely 
 from the stem by drawing it between the finger, 
 is good evidence of its being sufficiently rotted. 
 It must then be taken from the pond and spread 
 on the land to dry, and when dry taken up and 
 secured. One great desideratum is to keep the 
 Flax even in all stages of its handling. 
 
 The other process of rotting is termed Dew- 
 Rotting. This process is much more simple. 
 The Flax is drawn on a meadow, and if it ia 
 low land, the better. It should be spread evenly 
 and thinly, for if care is not taken to do this no 
 after management can remedy the loss. The 
 last of September and fore part of October is the 
 best part of the year to perform dew-rotting. It 
 seldom rots well in the spring of the year. If 
 the weather be warm and wet it soon rots 
 sufficiently — from seven to twelve days; if dry 
 and cool, it takes a much longer time, and the 
 Flax may need turning over a few days before it 
 is taken up. It may easily be known when 
 sufficiently rotted by its color being changed, 
 and by taking a few spears in the hand and 
 breaking them. If the fiber readily separates 
 from the woody part of the Flax it will do to 
 take up and house. Even in this great care 
 must be taken that the Flax is dry, and when 
 dry no time should be lost in securing it. 
 
 The taking up of Flax can be greatly 
 facilitated by raking it. or by taking it up by 
 hand in suitably sized sheaves, and standing it 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 up, even though it should be damp, as it dries 
 rapidly when in this situation. 
 
 This is usually as far as the Farmer takes 
 charge of the crop, as it is now fitted for the mill, 
 or for scutching. In fact, most of the Farmers 
 dispose of Flax to the mill owners, who dress the 
 Flax as soon as it is pulled in the field. A good 
 flax-puller will average one acre of Flax in three 
 days, in pulling and setting up. An expert 
 hand will get oif the seed of an acre in two days, 
 and spread, and take up and bind, an acre in two 
 days more. 
 
 yiELD OP FIiAX. 
 
 The average yield of Flax in this county for 
 the last thirty years, would scarcely reach two 
 hundred and fifty pounds of lint and eight 
 bushels of seed to the acre. Some seasons the 
 average yield has reached four hundred pounds 
 of lint and twelve bushels of seed, but these have 
 been seldom. We hear and read of corn crops 
 yielding one hundred and twenty bushels of 
 shelled corn to the acre, but where is the Farmer 
 that expects anything like that yield when he 
 plants his corn ? If he gets one half of that 
 quantity weighed in February, he certainly has 
 an extraordinary crop. 
 
 VALUE OF THE FLAX CROP. 
 
 The average price of Flax has heretofore been 
 about ten cents per pound, and seed about one 
 dollar and fifty cents per bushel; but the past sea- 
 son the Flax has brought the average price of 
 twenty-five cents per pound, and the seed from 
 three to four dollars per bushel. Clean seed for 
 sowing is now bringing from four dollars and 
 fifty cents to five dollars per bushel. 
 
 It is characteristic of American Farmers to try 
 new things and run to extremes, and disappoint- 
 ment is frequently the result. It is not often 
 that Flax seed brings four dollars per bushel, 
 and dressed Flax twenty-six cents per pound, as 
 it does now, and it would be folly for any farmer 
 to expect to realize such prices for any length of 
 time; yet the Flax crop is destined to become 
 one of the staple productions of this State. I 
 consider it one of the least exhausting crops we 
 raise; yet Flax will not do well after Flax, 
 unless the ground be highly manured with well 
 rotted compost. I have known six good crops of 
 Flax raised on the same ground in seven years— 
 
 a corn crop being taken off the fourth year- 
 The experiment has been tried by sowing three 
 and four bushels of seed to the acre, and in every 
 instance a perfect failure ; and if it could be raised 
 successfully, we should have to seek a foreign 
 market, as we have no manufactories in this coun- 
 try that would require the crop or could pay a 
 remunerative price for it. It matters but little to 
 the manufacturer of fine laces whether he pays 
 five or ten dollars per pound for his Flax, when 
 the product from a single pound would exceed 
 four thousand dollars. Not so with our manu- 
 facturers, when the highest result does not exceed 
 a dollar and a half per pound, and only one 
 manufactory in the United States that does that 
 I trust it will be a long time before this country 
 will require the laboring classes to work for ten 
 cents per day and board themselves. It is a 
 difficult matter to correctly estimate Flax — the 
 value thereof by bulk or weight. I have known 
 a tun of rotted Flax produce only one hundred 
 pounds of lint, and I also have known one tun of 
 Flax to produce five hundred pounds of lint 
 These are probably the extremes. The largest 
 reliable crops of Flax raised have not exceeded 
 six hundred pounds of lint and sixteen bushels 
 of seed. The past season has been an unusual 
 one, both as to the large average yield of lint and 
 the extraordinary price it has brought The 
 expense to the farmer in having his Flax dressed 
 at the mills averages two and a half dollars per 
 hundred pounds. 
 
 PRBPAKCNa FLAX FOR MABKET. 
 
 We now come to the last process — Preparing 
 THE Flax for Market. There have been 
 many experiments in producing machinery for 
 this purpose. At one time it was claimed that 
 a machine, or machines, had been invented to 
 dress the Flax without making any tow, but 
 these have all proven failures. Formerly the 
 hand-brake and long wooden hand-knife were 
 used, but this process was too slow and laborious. 
 Then the wooden brake, driven by water power, 
 and iron knives on a shaft, also driven by water 
 power, were introduced; and now the cast-iron 
 brake, with some improvement in the knives, is 
 almost universally used. It is true that recently 
 brakes have been introduced that claim to do 
 away with the necessity of making any coarse 
 tow. I trust they may prove a success. As they 
 are expensive, unless there is some decided 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 advantage in them ihej will not be generally 
 introduced. 
 
 AMOTTNT AND VALUE OF FLAX TOW. 
 
 « 
 
 The amount of tow produced in the dressing 
 of Flax varies according to its quality. I may 
 say that from twenty to fifty per cent, are the 
 extremes. That is, for every hundred pounds of 
 dressed Flax there will be from twenty to fifty 
 pounds of coarse and fine tow. This article has 
 ranged exceedingly high the past season — the 
 coarse tow bringing from one dollar and a half to 
 two dollars per hundred pounds. The fine tow 
 sells for from six to eight dollars per hundred 
 pounds. 
 
 CAUTION TO NEW BEQINNEKS. 
 
 And here I cannot repress the firm conviction 
 on my mind that a few words of caution ought to 
 be given to new beginners, not to enter too 
 largely at first upon the Flax Culture. There 
 is much that must be le&rned practically, and the 
 general excitement that now exists may induce 
 
 many to go beyond their ability in securing the 
 crop. I do not think, however, that there is any 
 prospect of over-stocking the market. We now 
 import very large quantities of Flax for home 
 consumption. And one other caution. The 
 European culture of Flax, as far as it has been 
 tried in this country, has proved an entire failure. 
 I have had five men work a whole day in 
 dressing an acre of Flax on which four bushels 
 of seed had been sown, with a result of only 
 thirty-six pounds of Flax, and the Flax itself not 
 worth more than the fine waste in dressing 
 other Flax. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 In conclusion, it is proper to add — what should 
 perhaps have been said when speaking of soil 
 and situation — that Flax seed, if covered deeply, 
 will not germinate and grow in our ordinary 
 soils. "Wet, tenacious soils will not produce 
 Flax, nor any other crop successfully. No 
 adhesive soils should ever be worked when wet, 
 either for this or any other crop. 
 
PLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE 
 
 IN THE XI:1VITE:D states -A^ISTD OOaEAT 33K,ITA.IN. 
 
 BY N. GOODSELL, OF OSYOIGO COUNTY, NEW YORK. 
 
 L-PREFATOEY. 
 
 Eds. Rural New-Y'orker: — I have this day 
 received the first ten numbers of your valuable 
 paper for 1863, and have been looking over them 
 to find what subjects were considered most 
 interesting to your readers at this time, judging 
 from the frequency of communications. My first 
 attention was directed to ^'Draining" but I 
 found that a set of numbers were already com- 
 menced on that subject, and as the country had 
 been pretty well drained (of men and specie) 
 for the last two years, I thought I would leave 
 that matter to be discussed by wiser heads. 
 
 It then occurred to me that there was not as 
 much flax and hemp used in this country as 
 there ought to be, and as I considered we were 
 half a century behind most other civilized 
 nations in the manufacture of these products, 
 more particularly so with regard to flax, I 
 would offer to give you a few numbers on that 
 subject, if they would be acceptable, commenc- 
 ing with the management of flax after it has 
 been pulled and the seed taken from it, and I 
 make this offer with more confidence as the 
 Committees of Congress for the years 1825 and 
 1830, — who were appointed to investigate and 
 report upon the manufacture of hemp and flax, — 
 made their reports mostly from communications 
 made by myself, from my own experiments, and 
 knowledge gained from other reliable sources. 
 
 During the years 1821, 1822 and 1823, there 
 
 was quite an excitement in this country on the 
 cultivation and manufacture of hemp and flax, 
 and the Agricultural community flattered them- 
 selves that our Government were about to do 
 something to encourage this branch of industry, 
 but they were disappointed, and after many 
 speeches were made in Congress, and in State 
 Legislatures, mostly of the "buncombe" order, 
 the thing died away and went to the tomb of the 
 Capulets, since which cotton became King, and 
 we have heard little said about hemp and flax. 
 
 At this time, owing to many existing circum- 
 stances, it does appear that the cultivation and 
 manufacture of flax may be made profitable to 
 the farmer, manufacturer, and the community 
 at large, for many years to come, and as there 
 are many erroneous opinions prevalent with us 
 on this subject, I propose to send you a few arti- 
 cles to substantiate the following propositions : 
 
 First — That the soil and climate in many 
 parts of the United States is favorable for pro- 
 ducing a good growth of flax. 
 
 /Second— That flax which has been allowed to 
 ripen its seed is capable of being wrought into 
 the finest fabrics. 
 
 Third— Thut flax is capable of being spun by 
 machinery at less expense than cotton. 
 
 Fourth— That the process of dew-rotting flax, 
 beside reducing the product more than twenty- 
 five per cent., renders it comparatively worth- 
 less for the manufacturer. 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 I shall not attempt giving directions for sow- 
 ing and harvesting the crop, taking it for granted 
 that every man claiming to be a farmer under- 
 stands that part of his business as well as 
 raising corn or potatoes. N. Goodsell. 
 
 New Haven, Oswego Co., N. Y., March, 1863. 
 
 Remarks. — Many of our readers will recognize Mr. 
 Goodsell as an Agricultural Editor twenty-five or thirty 
 years ago, and wiU be glad to find that he not only " stiU 
 lives," but can wield the pen as well as of yore. Of 
 course, we shall be glad to receive and publish the pro- 
 posed series of articles, and have no doubt they will be 
 read with interest and profit by thousands of our read- 
 ers.— Ed. RuEAL New- Yorker. 
 
 II.-PEODUCT OF FLAX PER ACRE. 
 
 Eds. Rural New-Yorker:— In my commu- 
 nication to you I proposed to substantiate certain 
 propositions there laid down, with regard to the 
 cultivation and manufacture of Flax in the 
 United States. 
 
 As I have not been a contributor to your pa- 
 per, and unknown to most of the readers of your 
 journal, and in pursuing the objects proposed 
 shall advance positions founded on my own ob- 
 servations, many may wish to know what oppor- 
 tunities I have had for making such observations, 
 or whether I have borrowed my ideas from 
 books, without the advantage of a practical edu- 
 cation. I was born in the State of Connecticut, 
 and my father waa what was called in those days 
 a substantial farmer, who kept his yorungest son, 
 myself, at home, in order to make a farmer of me. 
 In the year 1800 he purchased a farm in Western 
 New York, and the winter following moved on 
 to it. Among crops cultivated by my father on 
 his farm, he was careful to sow flax enough for 
 the use of the family and some for sale. I have 
 at this time distinct recollection of the crop of 
 three acres, raised by him in 1797, which pro- 
 duced over 600 pounds to the acre. This, I 
 think, was as fine a crop as he ever raised during 
 my minority. 
 
 As early as 1821-2 I engaged in my experi- 
 ments in rotting, dressing, and bleaching flax, 
 and during those experiments I produced some 
 as fine fiax-cotton, as it is now called, as I have 
 ever seen. This was accidental, as I was trying 
 different methods to bleach the raw material be- 
 
 fore it was spun. I had soaked some flax for 
 several days in a strong solution of fiuper-carbon- 
 ate of potash, then passed it into a bath of diluted 
 sulphuric acid, and you may judge of my disap- 
 pointment when I found my fine, straight fiber 
 converted into a mass of tow. I considered this 
 a perfect failure ; and the cause, the fibers, 
 which are minute tubes, having become filled 
 with the solution of super-carbonate of potash, 
 which, coming in contact with the solution of 
 sulphuric acid, was decomposed, and carbonic 
 acid set at liberty in such quantities as to burst 
 the fibers all to pieces, and, as I then supposed, 
 rendering it perfectly worthless. 
 
 After pursuing experiments for a couple of 
 years, and not satisfied with what information I 
 could get in this country, I concluded to visit 
 Ireland, which I then supposed was fifty years 
 in advance of us in the manufacture of flax. 
 Having learned that the British Government had 
 established a Linen and Hempen Board in Ire- 
 land for the encouragement of the Cultivation and 
 Manufacture of Flax, through which Board they 
 distributed annually about $1005000 as premiums 
 for any improvements made in the cultivation or 
 manufacture of Flax or Hemp, I thought that 
 was the place to get information. In 1823, having 
 procured letters of introduction to the OfiBcers of 
 this Board, I proceeded to Dublin, and to the 
 Linen Hall, where they held their meetings. I 
 was politely received by the OflScers of the Board, 
 who offered to give me any information they pos- 
 sessed on this subject, and kindly tendered me 
 the free use of their Library and papers, to make 
 such extracts from as I might wish. 
 
 On my arrival in Ireland I found the cultiva- 
 tion of flax in what may be called a transition 
 state. It appeared that the officers of this Board 
 had become convinced of the superiority of the 
 Dutch method of preparing flax over their own, 
 and in 1822 they sent Peter Bernard, Esq., 
 Inspector General for Leinster, Munster, and 
 Connaught, into the Netherlands, in order to as- 
 certain the reasons for the superiority of Dutch 
 flax. Previous to this time the same prejudice 
 had prevailed in Ireland that had in this country, 
 viz., that flax, which had produced seed, could 
 not be manufactured into fine linen. 
 
 In Mr. Bernard's report he says:— "Why so 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 general an opinion as has prevailed in Ireland 
 for a series of years, that flax which gives seed is 
 not adapted for her fine linens, should have taken 
 place, I cannot conjecture." 
 
 Again, speaking of an establishment at Ant- 
 werp, he says:— "I called at the manufactory 
 and purchased a small quantity of yarn for the 
 inspection of the Honorable Board, and which is 
 sold at the rate of £47,786, 13s. id. per tun. I 
 was presented with two skeins of yarn, which I 
 brought home with me, the finest of which I was 
 told was worth $108 per pound in the market at 
 Antwerp." All these yams, Mr. Bernard as- 
 sured me, were from flax which had produced 
 seed. 
 
 After the Linen and Hempen Board had re- 
 ceived Mr. Bernard's Report, they issued cir- 
 culars offering liberal premiums for every acre of 
 flax that should be allowed to ripen its seed. 
 This put an end to our market for flax seed for 
 Ireland, which, under the erroneous prejudice 
 that flax producing seed was not capable of being 
 manufactured into fine fabrics, had grown into 
 an extensive trade. 
 
 Now, as regards my first proposition, viz., "that 
 the soil and climate in many parts of the United 
 States are favorable for producing a good growth 
 of flax." From my own observations I can say 
 that I have seen as fine flax grown in the States 
 as I saw in Ireland. As regards the quantity of 
 flax produced, per acre, in Ireland, Marshall, 
 in his Report to the Linen and Hempen Board 
 in 1817, gives the average quantity per acre, in 
 Ireland, at 500 pounds. If your readers will ex- 
 amine the Reports of our Agricultural Societies, 
 for the last thirty years, and add to these reports 
 twenty-five per cent, for the difference between 
 dew-rotted and water-rotted flax, it would give 
 at least fifty per cent, in our favor in the growth 
 of flax. So much for my first proposition. My 
 second in your next N. Goodsell. 
 
 III.-DEESSING AND SPINNING FLAX. 
 
 Eds. Rural New-Yorker: — In my pro- 
 gramme, laid down with regard to the manufac- 
 ture of flax, my second proposition was to show 
 that flax that had ripened its seed was capable 
 of being wrought into the finest fabric. 
 
 In number 11 of your present volume, on page 
 
 86, 1 find a communication over the signature of 
 S. W., in which I find that he still adheres to our 
 former prejudice, for he says:— "To grow flax 
 for lint, it should be sown much thicker, and 
 pulled before the seed has well ripened, as they 
 do in Ireland. The Irish farmers sow imported 
 seed. Water-rotting is the true process for pre- 
 paring flax for lint, but the very little grown in 
 this country for domestic use is generally dew- 
 rotted." 
 
 Now, I agree with S. W. in many of his posi- 
 tions, viz., that in raising flax for lint, it should 
 be sown thicker than when cultivated for seed, 
 for several reasons. First, it is found that when 
 sown thick the size of the fiber is smaller than 
 when sown thin for seed, and the length and 
 quantity, as well as quality, increased, and that 
 water-rotting is the true process for preparing 
 flax for lint In his position, that the Irish at 
 this time pull their flax before the seed is rip^, or 
 depend upon foreign seed for sowing, I may be 
 allowed to differ, but admit that this was formerly 
 the case. Since the return of Mr. Bernard from 
 the Netherlands, and the offer of premiums by 
 the Linen and Hempen Board of Ireland for 
 every acre of fiax that should be allowed to 
 ripen its seed, I think very little foreign seed has 
 been used in that country. 
 
 With regard to sowing thicker for lint, allow 
 me to give a communication which was made to 
 me in 1831, by a practical farmer of Pembroke, 
 Genesee county, N. Y. He says: 
 
 "I have, for a few years past, made some 
 some experiments in the growing and prepara- 
 tion of flax, and believe, from my own expe- 
 rience, that the Irish mode is decidedly the most 
 advantageous for this country. Water-rotted 
 flax is vastly superior, when the process is per- 
 formed in water of proper quality; but I think 
 the water of Old Genesee generally too hard to 
 produce a first-rate article." (The water of 
 Genesee county is mostly strongly impregnated 
 with lime. ) " Last year I exposed my crop to 
 the equinoctial rain, and in five days the rotting 
 process was finished, and a better article of the 
 kind I have never seen in this country. Our 
 farmers, generally, have imbibed very erroneous 
 notions with regard to the proper quantity of 
 seed to be sown on an acre. From one to two 
 
FLAX CULTURK AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 bushels is the common quantity sown. This 
 renders .the crop coai-se and harsh like hemp. 
 I sowed last year eight bushels per acre, and 
 received at the rate of twelve hundred pounds 
 per acre, of first-rate flax. The ground was in 
 fine order, and the crop pulled when about two- 
 thirds the capsules were formed." 
 
 Now, if we add to the above reported crop 
 twenty-five per cent, for the increase by water- 
 rotting, this would show an enormous crop, as 
 compared with Marshall's Report to the Linen 
 and Hempen Board as the average crop of Ire- 
 land, — and if to this we add twenty-five per 
 cent, more for the difference in preparing flax for 
 mai'ket, in the two countries, (which I shall 
 allude to hereafter,) it will go far toward con- 
 vincing farmers that our soil and climate are 
 favorable for the cultivation of flax. 
 
 My third proposition was to show that flax was 
 capable of being spun by machinery at less 
 expense than cotton. 
 
 I have already remarked that when I arrived 
 in Ireland, in 1823, they were in a transition state 
 with regard to the cultivation and manufacture 
 of flax. Mr. Bernard's report of the process 
 pursued in the Netherlands, with regard to the 
 cultivation and preparation of flax, was taking 
 the place of their former process, and a Mr. 
 Crossthwait, an eminent banker of Dublin, 
 had established at Lucan, about seven miles 
 from Dublin, a factory for spinning linen by 
 machinery. This gentleman might, with pro- 
 priety, be called the pioneer for putting in 
 use machinery for spinning flax, and had he 
 done it during the palmy days of Bona- 
 parte, would, undoubtedly, have been entitled 
 to the one million of francs offered by him to any 
 person who would invent a competent machine 
 for spinning flax; but as it is, his name should 
 be a.ssociated with those of Whitney and Ark- 
 WRiGHT, as a benefactor of mankind. 
 
 On the 12th of July, 1823, in company with 
 Mr. Crossthwait, I visited his manufactory at 
 Lucan. He was so polite as to take me through 
 every part of it, and explain to me the different 
 operations. At this establishment they dressed, 
 spun, wove, bleached, and finished the cloth 
 from five tuns of flax per week. The machinery 
 for spinning was less costly than for spinning 
 
 cotton. The spindles upon which the flax was 
 spun turned about three thousand times per 
 minute, or rather the flyer which surrounded it, 
 and one girl tended about eighty of them, which 
 spun from one hundred to one hundred and 
 twenty runs per day. Mr. Crossthwait showed 
 me about two hundred tuns of flax, a part of 
 which was Russian, and a part Irish. The Riga 
 flax, he informed me, cost him from fifty to sixty 
 pounds sterling per tun, the Tandarage flax cost 
 him eighty pounds per tun, equal to about 
 eighteen cents per pound, while American dew- 
 rotted flax, in New York, was only worth from 
 eight to ten cents per pound. There was such a 
 difference in the appearance of the flax here 
 seen and any of our dew-rotted flax which I had 
 ever seen in market, that I will attempt to 
 describe it. First, the flax was all water- rotted ; 
 next broken by passing between small fluted 
 rollers which only bent in one place at the same 
 time, leaving both ends of the fiber free, conse- 
 quently the fibers were not broken as when ope- 
 rated upon by our brakes, which are generally 
 formed having two slats on the upper part, 
 which press down between three in the lower 
 part, by which a tension is produced which 
 breaks a great proportion of the fibers, which 
 draw out in the coarse hatcheling, and what we 
 call dressing, by which twenty-five per cent, 
 of waste occurs more than in preparing such 
 flax as I saw at Mr. Crossthwait's factory. 
 This flax was simply broken as I describe, the 
 shives or woody part shaken out as clean as may 
 be when it is done up for market, no knife or 
 hatchel used, as with us, to make the flax fine, 
 and the more fiat and plated the fiber lies the 
 better they like it. 
 
 After the flax is taken from the bale,- as im- 
 ported, the dressing commences.. What was 
 termed dressing at this establishment, was what 
 we Yankees would call hatcheling. When the 
 handful is taken from the bale, it has the recep- 
 tacles of the capsules on the upper end, the same 
 as ours when it comes from the brake, and also 
 some coarse pieces, not entirely free from shives, 
 at the lower end. The ends only are passed 
 through a hatchel to separate these coarse parti- 
 cles, which are reserved for the manufacture of 
 crash, and -oik's of that description. 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 I may as well state that the hatchels used at 
 Mr. Crossthwait's establishment weredifierent 
 from those used by our farming families. The 
 coarsest I saw somewhat resembled those seen 
 in families where they formerly manufactured 
 flax, with this difference, the teeth appeared to 
 be twice as long, according to their size, and of 
 st«el, spring-tempered. A board is placed on the 
 back side of the hatchel, coming up to about the 
 middle of the teeth, so that the work is done on 
 the upper half of the teeth, the points of which 
 are made very sharp, and graded down to the 
 size of darning needles; and although I did not 
 see any finer than that, Mr. Bernard assured 
 me that in the Netherlands they were made as 
 fine as cambric needles, and as delicately sharp. 
 This delicacy of point is necessary for the divis- 
 ion of the fiber, which, when separate, is not as 
 large as a human hair, — and yet it is a flexi- 
 ble tube. After the coarse ends spoken of 
 are separated, and the flax passed to a finer 
 hatchel, the operator holds his flax in his right 
 hand, and as he draws it tki'ough the teeth, 
 brings his If ft hand up in front, gathering any 
 broken fibers which may be left projecting in 
 front, drawing them out and laying them down 
 straight at his left side, and so in all after hatch- 
 eling. This they call short flax, and is used for 
 filling, as the longer flax is used for warp; hence 
 there is very little waste in what we call toio. 
 After the flax has been dressed as fine as they 
 wish, it is then fit for the spinning process. 
 
 IV. - PREPAEING, SPINNING, &c. 
 Eds. Rural New-Yorker:— To prepare flax 
 for spinning it is divided, by weight, into small 
 parcels, according to the size of yarn they wish 
 to produce. The operator stands by the side 
 of a long table, the leaf of which is hung upon 
 hinges and turns upward. To the back side is 
 attached a trough, made with an angle of 45 
 degrees. The end of this trough is near the 
 spinning machinery. The operator takes one 
 of the small, weighed parcels in his right hand, 
 near one end, places the other end upon the 
 table, putting his left hand edgewise upon the 
 point of it, then extends his right hand to the 
 right, when the left is again placed upon the 
 point of the flax, at each time leaving a due 
 
 proportion of flax upon the table. Practice 
 enables the operator thus to extend his given 
 weight of flax the length of his table very 
 equally. The front leaf of the table is then 
 raised, and the flax slips into the trough, from 
 which it is drawn by the rollers of the spinning 
 apparatus, and extended in a manner not unlike 
 cotton. The machinery is more simple, and less 
 expensive than for cotton. 
 
 Before machinery for spinning flax was intro- 
 duced into Ireland, the yam was spun by hand 
 in families, and the yarn thus produced was 
 taken to the Linen Halls, where it was exam- 
 ined, weighed, numbered, and left for sale. The 
 weavers went to the Halls, selected and pur- 
 chased their yarns for weaving, wove their cloth 
 and carried it back to the Halls, where it was 
 inspected, measured, numbered, and left for 
 sale. The bleachers went to the Halls, pur- 
 chased their unbleached cloths, bleached and 
 finished them, when they were again carried to 
 the Halls, inspected, numbered, stamped, and 
 left for sale. 
 
 In the finishing their goods, the manufacturers 
 had reference to the market for which they were 
 designed. Those for the American market, 
 after being bleached, were starched and passed 
 through a machine called a calender, consis'ting 
 of polished iron rollers pressed together by 
 screws, similar to our plating mills, by which 
 the threads were flattened down so as entirely 
 to fill the interstices between the threads, and 
 in some instances the rollers are pressed so close 
 as nearly to cut the threads in two where they 
 cross, much to the injury of the goods. Those 
 linens designed for a home market receive a 
 very difi'erent finish. After being bleached they 
 are folded up and. undergo what is termed the 
 butting process, by which the linen, after being 
 folded many thicknesses, is placed upon a 
 smooth platform, where perpendicular shafts, 
 having their lower ends made of lignum vitse, 
 and made smooth, and raised by cogs, are 
 allowed to fall upon the linen, which the ope- 
 rator keeps moving between the blows, until 
 every part of the cloth is made smooth. By 
 this process the linen does not receive a polished 
 surface, as when finished by the calender; and 
 the threads appear as distinct as when it comes 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 from the bleach-field, and they are not injured 
 by too close pressing at their crossing. 
 
 The amount of linen cloth manufactured in 
 Ireland, in the year 1820, was 43,613,218 yards; 
 in 1825, 55,113,265 yards; in 1835, 60,916,592 
 yards. This was not all made of flax grown in 
 the kingdom, for it appears, by statistics, that 
 England imported from foreign countries in the 
 year 1845, to the amount of 79,424 tuns, valued 
 at twenty millions of dollars. Previous to 1825, 
 linen was mostly made from home-spun yarn. 
 In 1839 there were in operation in England 
 forty flax spinning mills, using steam to about 
 2,000 horse-power. In 1845 there were 414 linen 
 factories, of 12,000 horse-power, giving employ- 
 ment to 48,000 persons. Three of these mills 
 consumed 110,000 tuns of flax annually, and all 
 employed a capital of sixty millions of dollars. 
 
 At the weekly meeting of the Council of the 
 Royal Agricultural Society of England, Feb- 
 ruary 12th, 1851, a paper was read, from which 
 we make the fbllovring extracts: 
 
 "The total value of the flax fiber imported 
 for manufacturing into linen, sail cloths, tar- 
 paulins, rick covers, sacking, and other mate- 
 rials, exceeds £5,000,000 annually; and there is 
 no doubt, judging from the rapid progress of 
 our manufactures, that if the supply of the raw 
 material could be more readily obtained at 
 home, the consumption would be increased to a 
 still greater extent The progress of the linen 
 trade, in consequence of the great improve- 
 ments which have been made in machinery, 
 hag, within the last twenty years, been almost 
 unparalleled. The exports of linen have in- 
 creased since that time from 50,000,000 to 105,- 
 000,000 of yards, and its declared value, from 
 £1,700,000 to upward of £3,000,000. No attempt, 
 whatever, has been made on the part of our 
 agriculturists to meet the enormous and rapid 
 increase in the demand for the raw material; 
 and, as a consequence, the foreign producer 
 has been reaping a golden harvest from the 
 monopoly which he has possessed. The imports 
 of foreign flax have increased from 936,000 cwt, 
 in 1831, to 1,800,000, in 1842 — the value of the 
 increased imports being not less than two mil- 
 lions and a half, nearly the whole of which is 
 paid for in money sent out of the country. 
 
 " Hemp.— We also import large quantities of 
 hemp, which might, like flax, be easily and 
 profitably grown at home. The value of hemp 
 annually imported is about £1,500,000. We 
 have thus a demand existing for flax and hemp, 
 and for the supply of which we are dependent 
 upon foreign countries, shown in round num- 
 bers by the following figures : — Flax fiber 
 £5,000,000; seed for crushing £1,800,000; seed 
 for sowing £200,000; oil cake £600,000; hemp 
 £1,500,000 ; total £9,100,000 ; equal to about 
 forty-five millions of dollars." 
 
 The same communication takes a view of the 
 existing demand for flax, as connected with the 
 manufacture of cotton in England, and the 
 sources from which they receive their supply, 
 and also of the prospective market, consequent 
 upon mixing linen with cotton. In this com- 
 munication the writer says, "hitherto we have 
 spoken only of the existing markets j I am now 
 anxious to call your attention to that great 
 demand which will be opened by my discovery 
 of the mode of adapting flax to cotton and 
 woolen machinery. The substitution of flax for 
 cotton is now no longer a matter of doubt. 
 Recent experiments at Rochdale have com- 
 pletely set that question at rest Important as 
 may be the considerations connected at present 
 with linen manufactures, and cogent as may be 
 the arguments deduced from them, in order to 
 induce you to obtain possession of the ground 
 now occupied by the foreign producer, infi- 
 nitely more important, and far more forcible, 
 are those which may be drawn from the pros- 
 pective demand now springing up in our cotton 
 manufactures. The consumption of the raw 
 material must, of necessity, be governed by the 
 machinery which exists for its manufacture, and 
 the spindles of Belfast, Dundee, and Leeds, are 
 already supplied with the produce of foreign 
 countries. Not so, however, with respect to 
 flax, and ita adaptation to the cotton manu- 
 factures. Millions of cotton spindles are ready 
 at once to take the raw material and spin 
 it for you, without the slightest alteration being 
 required in their arrangement A thousand 
 tuns of cotton daily, or 770,000,000 of pounds 
 annually, are consumed in our cotton manufac- 
 tures, and the results of my recent experiments 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 have been such aa to show that flax may be 
 substituted for at least one-half of this amount. 
 In order, therefore, to supply this new demand 
 for a new material thus created, the produce of 
 2,000 acres will be required for each day, and 
 the whole of the flax grown in the United 
 Kingdom does not amount to more than one- 
 seventh of the supply required for Manchester 
 alone. It is a duty imperative upon the agri- 
 culturists of the country to endeavor to meet 
 this enormous demand, and not allow it to pass 
 into the hands of foreign countries, which will 
 inevitably be the case if they do not imme- 
 diately exert themselves in this respect." 
 
 v.- GOVERNMENTAL AID -SOILS ADAPTED 
 TO FLAX -QUANTITY OF SEED, &c. 
 
 Having given my views with regard to the 
 cultivation and manufacture of flax in other 
 countries, founded on my own observations, and 
 information derived from respectable sources, 
 and also as to the benefits already received, and 
 those anticipated, let us now turn our attention 
 to our own country, as to what has already been 
 done in this branch of business, and what might 
 be done provided our Government looked as 
 well to the interests of the laboring classes as 
 does the Government of England. But, I would 
 ask, when has our Government manifested the 
 protecting care over our manufactures that 
 England does toward hers ? Not only has that 
 protecting care been witheld, but the vacillating 
 course of legislation which has characterized our 
 National Legislature has been such as to pre- 
 vent free investment in manufactures by our 
 own capitalists. And, in addition, it entirely 
 prevented foreign capitalists investing in this 
 country when they were so flooded with money 
 in England that Consols, which is ever their 
 standard, gave but three aad one-third per cent., 
 while in this country they were sought after at 
 from six to seven per cent. I was often told by 
 capitalists, while in England, that were it not for 
 this vacillating course of legislation, growing out 
 of party strife, we could be furnished with all 
 the capital we could employ in manufacturing, 
 at a smaller interest than was current in this 
 country. So much for the rancorous party 
 feeling in this country, which has now brought 
 
 us to the verge of ruin. It has served to keep 
 us in the rear of other nations, when, had it been 
 otherwise, we might, in many branches of manu- 
 facturing, with our boundless resources, be far 
 in advance of them. It has had a tendency to 
 keep us a consuming people, depending upon 
 foreign manufactures for many articles which 
 could, under a difiFerent policy, be produced at 
 home at a cheaper rate. It has made us buyers 
 and consumers of many important articles, of 
 which we should have been the manufacturers 
 and exporters. As a case in point, I recollect to 
 have heard Governor Seward, — who, I believe, 
 is looked upon as one of the few remaining 
 statesmen living at this day, — at a public speech 
 which he made in New York, say that " he had 
 known of instances where iron for our railroads 
 was purchased in England, the cost of transporta- 
 tion of which, from the place where it was made 
 to the place where it was to be used, was greater 
 than would have been the cost of manufacturing 
 it upon the line of road where it was to be laid." 
 
 It is not exactly so with linen, because that is 
 of easy transport; but when we consider the vast 
 extent of country we have calculated to produce 
 as fine flax as any in the world, with water-power 
 enough to drive all the machinery in the universe, 
 is it not mortifying to think we depend upon 
 England for most of the linen cloth we make use 
 of, when the same money which we have paid to 
 them, had it been properly employed at home, 
 would have produced more cloth than we im- 
 ported? Let us look at some of our imports. 
 
 In 1842 we imported linen to the amount of 
 $3,659,184; in 1844, $4,492,726; in 1848, $6,644,- 
 648; total, $14,796,558,— equal to $4,932,186 per 
 year. Who will pretend that had this amount 
 of money been judiciously expended in this 
 country in machinery, material and labor, it 
 would not have produced as much linen as we 
 imported? Then Cotton was King. Reexported 
 cotton and imported linen. 
 
 I believe that it is now generally admitted by 
 those most conversant with the cultivation of 
 cotton at the South, and flax at the North, that, all 
 things being equal, an acre of flax at the North) 
 properly managed, will give as great a per 
 centage net profit, as an acre of cotton at the 
 South. If this is so, what prevents our farmers 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 at the North from going into the cultivation of 
 flax, as we see there is already an unlimited 
 market abroad for the raw material, and there 
 will, undoubtedly, be a home market as soon as 
 it is seen that the quantity produced will justify 
 erecting machinery for its manufacture. 
 
 As the season is approaching when farmers 
 are preparing for their crops for the coming 
 summer, we would recommend that every farmer 
 should prepare for sowing at least one acre of 
 flax. Many may think that flax seed is too high 
 to begin this year. The very circumstance of 
 flax seed being so high is encouraging for 
 producing it. Both seed and oil produced from 
 it are high in this country and in Europe, which 
 is proof that the produce is not equal to the 
 demand, and as there are no indications of a 
 decrease in the demand, either in this country or 
 Europe, we think the increase of one year's crop 
 will not alter the price materially. Farmers 
 should not wait for any encouragement from 
 Grovernment before they begin in this culture,— 
 it never has done anything, as yet, to encourage 
 the growth and manufacture of flax, and, in all 
 probability, it never will. I was in Washington 
 in 1830, at the time the last report of the Com- 
 mittee on the Manufacture of Linen and Hemp 
 was made, which I have heretofore referred to, 
 of which Committee Judge Spencer, of Wayne 
 county, N. Y., was Chairman, who told me that 
 he did not think Government intended to do 
 anything more than publish their report for the 
 gratification of the farming community. I think 
 Gen. Tallmadge, of the American Institute, did 
 more to encourage the manufacture of cloth from 
 flax, by oflTerlng his gold medal, than ever our 
 Government has done; and foreign croakers have 
 so long declared that '' this Government was 
 better calculated to raise up swindling politicians 
 than patriotic statesmen," that I think many 
 begin to believe it Yet I hope for better things- 
 Although our Government has done some things, 
 apparently for the benefit of the farmers, yet 
 their execution, being entrusted to men either 
 incompetent to carry out the wishes of the 
 public, or too dishonest to expend the money for 
 what it was appropriated, has proved most 
 decided failures. For instance, the $75,000 a 
 
 distribution in this country, proved a decided 
 imposilwn, for never since the celebrated Wm. 
 CoBBET came to this country, more than forty 
 years ago, with the refuse and condemned seeds 
 from the house of Turner & Co., Regent street, 
 London, has there been such an assortment of 
 worthless seeds distributed, as of late, and I think 
 Charlwood, of London, could tell a similar 
 story, if he pleased, to that told by Turner & 
 Co., respecting the outfit of William Cobbet. 
 I will admit that I received a large number of 
 packages of seeds from the Patent Office, free of 
 postage, all marked, ^^ Selected by our Special 
 Agent in Europe" or labels to that effect; among 
 which the only package I received that was of 
 any value was half a pint of " Red-Eyed China 
 Beans" which were worth seventy-five cents per 
 bushel in this market, and I had good reason to 
 suppose that they were not imported^ from the 
 slovenly manner in which they were put up. 
 
 I have thus digressed from the subject of the 
 cultivation and manufacture of flax, in order to 
 show farmers the fallacy of their looking to 
 Government for any aid in the cultivation or 
 manufacture of flax, and that they must depend 
 upon their own individual exertions for success; 
 but from present appearances there can be little 
 doubt that those who sow upon good ground, 
 well prepared, and properly managed in all the 
 after manipulations, will make flax a profitable 
 crop. Land that produced a good crop of corn 
 last yeai", and the ground kept clear of weeds is, 
 very suitable for flax; so also are grounds that 
 were cropped with potatoes, and well tilled. 
 
 Particular reference should be had at the time 
 of sowing as to the use for which the crop is 
 designed. If for seed only, from one bushel to 
 one bushel and a half will be found sufficient; if 
 for lint, from two to four bushels per acre should 
 be sown, according to the nature of the soil. 
 
 Flax should be pulled as soon as the stalks 
 turn yellow and the leaves fall freely from the 
 stem and two-thirds of the bolls have turned 
 brown, tied in small handfuls, and set upon the 
 buts to dry. The next process is the rippling, 
 or separating the seed from the stalk. This 
 is done in several ways in this country, by pass- 
 ing through strong hatchels, whipping upon 
 
 year for the purchase of choice seeds for free stones, or by the flail. 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 VI.- WATER-ROTTING, BREAKING, HATCH- 
 ELING AND BLEACHING. 
 
 Eds. Rural New-Yorker: — The next, and 
 most important part in the preparation, is the 
 water-rotting. This is done in the Netherlands 
 by placing it in ditches. A bank is formed in 
 one part of the ditch, the side being at about an 
 angle of forty-five degrees. A tier of the small 
 bundles of flax are then placed reclining upon 
 the bank. Mud is then scraped from the bottom 
 of the ditch with a long-handled wooden scraper 
 up to the top of the flax, which is placed with 
 the roots downwards, as they claim that the tops 
 require more rotting than the bottoms. In this 
 manner they proceed until they have deposited 
 their crop, when another bank is formed of 
 sufficient height to allow the water, when the 
 ditch is filled, to cover the top of the flax. The 
 ditch being filled the flax is allowed to remain 
 from five to ten days, according to the tempera- 
 ture of the weather and water. After about five 
 days the flax is examined, by taking hold of the 
 top of a few stalks and pulling them out, when, 
 if the fiber separates freely from the stalk, it is 
 considered watered enough; if the fiber still 
 adheres to the stalk it is allowed to remain 
 longer, always being careful not to have it over 
 watered, for if it is rather short it can be finished 
 upon the grass, when if over watered it is 
 materially injured. 
 
 When the flax is properly watered, the operator 
 commences at the end of the ditch where he left 
 oflF, takes hold of each small bundle, and pulling 
 them over, rinses off the mud, and sets them upon 
 the bank of the ditch but-end downwards, to 
 drain, after which the bundles are unbound and 
 the flax spread upon short grass to dry, and 
 bleach, preparatory to the separation of the fiber 
 from the stalk, or shive. In this process the 
 gum and mucilage, in which the fiber is imbedded, 
 is dissolved, and separated from the fiber; 
 whereas, if spread directly upon the grass, before 
 watering, the gum and mucilage becomes oxi- 
 dated, and so hardened as to become insoluble 
 in water, rendering the fibers less flexible, and 
 more difficult to separate one from the other, and 
 more difficult to bleach 
 
 Next comes the breaking process. In this 
 operation, by whatever machinery it is performed. 
 
 care should be taken that the fiber is not submit- 
 ted to such tension as to break it. The common 
 brake in use among farmers is a bad instrument, 
 having two slats on the upper part, passing its 
 opening between three slats in the lower part. 
 It will at once be seen that by this formation 
 a greater tension of the fiber is caused than 
 would be if the upper part of the brake had only 
 one slat passing between two in the lower part, 
 and the process would be nearer like that 
 performed by passing between fluted rollers 
 which is the more common method in most of the 
 flax-growing districts in Europe. Purchasers in 
 manufacturing districts consider that sample 
 most perfect which approaches nearest to that 
 stripped from the stalk by the fingers without 
 disturbing the flattened fibers as they come from 
 the stalk. Where the rotting process is well 
 performed, and the breaking skillfully done, and 
 the shives well shaken out, nothing further is 
 required, only that the fiber is to be laid straight 
 and bound up in suitable bales for market. It 
 should not be twisted and doubled up, as has 
 been the custom with our dew-rotted flax, with 
 which every process seemed to be an exertion to 
 see how worthless we could make it. 
 
 Where machinery is used other than fluted 
 rollers, the best that I have seen is a cylinder 
 about the size of a barrel, about a yard long^ 
 with slats in the periphery of the cylinder, with * 
 kniveb projecting at right angles from the axis 
 of the cylinder. Parallel with the cylinder 
 should be a board of hard wood, over which to 
 pass the flax endwise against the revolving 
 slats. Another board should be placed parallel 
 with the knives, over which the handful of flax, 
 when first taken up, should have the tips passed, 
 to Separate the receptacles of the bolls, which 
 may thus be scutched off without a material 
 loss of lint. Taking hold of the tip thus freed 
 from shives, the operator should next pass the 
 points of the roots under the knives, to scutch 
 off the hard points, when the handful is ready to 
 be pushed against the revolving cylinder, the 
 slats of which, as it breaks the stalks across the 
 edge of the front board, separate the wood 
 from the fibers without breaking them. The 
 coarse lint thus thrown off is suitable for manu- 
 facturing crash. By scutching the ends, as 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 here recommended, there will be a small loss 
 more than by the Russian mode of preparing it, 
 as they leave the ends as they come from the 
 brake, but I think this loss will be more than 
 compensated by the quality of the flax. By 
 whatever method the flax may be cleaned, the 
 operator should always bear in mind that it is 
 desirable to have the fiber lie in flat strips, as if 
 pulled from the woody part by single stalks by 
 hand, as it is then better fitted for the next pro- 
 cess, which the manufacturers call dressing, but 
 we Yankees would call it hatcheling. 
 
 The hatcheling process is one of the greatest 
 importance. ^ The first hatchel that flax is drawn 
 through bears some resemblance to those used 
 in families in this country, only the teeth are 
 twice as long, according to their size, and the 
 flax is not allowed to pass down lower than the 
 middle of them. The teeth of this hatchel are 
 not made very sharp, as the object is to get the 
 fibers straight as possible, without breaking 
 them. The next hatchel has finer teeth, with 
 points as sharp as possible. Here the object is 
 to divide the fibers one from another, and this 
 gradation of the fineness of the teeth goes down, 
 according to fineness of the flax required for a 
 particular kind of manufacture, — as when in- 
 tended for Brussels lace, it is finished on teeth 
 as fine as cambric needles, with points as deli- 
 cately fine, and through these teeth the flax is 
 continually drawn, until it is divided finer than 
 a human hair. In all stages of hatcheling, the 
 broken fibers which are left in the teeth, with 
 their ends drawn out in front, are taken in the 
 left hand, and drawn out and laid down care- 
 fully, and are called "short flax;" and when the 
 flax is for cloth, this short flax is used for filling, 
 and the long fiber for warp. 
 
 After the fiber is made into cloth, the next 
 process is the bleaching. I visited, in 1823, one 
 of the largest bleach-fields in England, and 
 said at that time to be the largest in the world. 
 It contained 200 acres of land, with a very 
 smooth surface. The whole of this field, Mr. 
 Reynolds, the proprietor, told me he often 
 
 had covered at the same time. Attached to this 
 field were all the necessary buildings for storing 
 the cloth, and machinery for carrying it through 
 every operation of bleaching and doing up for 
 market. The first part of the process was what 
 was termed " bucking." For this purpose the 
 cloths were packed in large vats, and caustic 
 potash lye was pumped upon them, and allowed 
 to filter down through them, and was drawn off 
 at the bottom of the vat. By the process of 
 bucking, all the coloring matter was removed 
 from the cloth, with the exception of a faint 
 tinge of iron from the potash. This, Mr. Rey- 
 nolds told me, could be readily removed by 
 using diluted muriatic acid, but that it was 
 found to injure the cloth, and it did not sell as 
 well as grass-bleached. He informed me that 
 his cloths commonly remained from six to eight 
 weeks upon the grass, whereas, he said, the 
 same efiect might be produced in America in as 
 many days, owing to the difference in the sun's 
 rays. He told me that at one time he had it in 
 contemplation to remove his bleach-field to 
 America, as he thought he could bleach his 
 cloth and return it to the London market in a 
 shorter time, and less expense than to bleach it 
 there, owing to the difference in the intensity of 
 the rays of the sun in the two localities, and that 
 he could bleach as much upon a twenty-five acre 
 field in America as he could upon his two hun- 
 dred acre field there. Again, as his potash was 
 all brought from America, the freight on that 
 would in part offset the freight on his cloths, 
 and that the difference in the cost of power for 
 driving machinery, in favor of America, would 
 be equal to the remaining freight. The cloths 
 at this establishment were mostly finished by 
 the butting process, as very few of them were 
 designed for the American market 
 
 I have thus run slightly over some of the 
 leading features of the Cultivation and Manu- 
 facture of Flax. I leave it to the farmers to draw 
 their own conclusions, whether they will engage 
 in the business, with or without the patronage 
 of Government. n. g. 
 
HEI^OUT o]sr 
 
 FLAX MD MACHmERY FOR MAKING FLAX COTTON. 
 
 BY A COMMITTEE OF THE N. T. STATE AGEICULTURAI SOCIETY. 
 
 [At the Annual Meeting of the New York State Agri- 
 cultural Society, held in Albany, February 11, 1863, the 
 following Report on the subject of Machikkky to Test 
 
 THE EXPERJJIGNT OP MaNUPACTURINQ FlAX COTTON, 
 
 was submitted, and the Resolutions which follow it were 
 subsequently adopted by the Executive Committee. 
 Though not strictly on the subject of Flax Culture, 
 the Report discusses several matters pertinent to the 
 objects of this Manual, and is considered of sufficient 
 importance to occupy a prominent position therein:] 
 
 L— History of the Effort 
 
 The Legislature of the State of New York, in 
 the Supply Bill for 1862, made an appropriation 
 of tvfo thousand dollars, to be expended under 
 the direction of the State Agricultural Society, 
 for the encouragement of those who were seek- 
 ing by machinery to test the experiment of 
 manufacturing Flax Cotton. 
 
 In order to promote the objects of the Legis- 
 lature, the Society issued a circular inviting all 
 who had been successful in " The Preparation of 
 Flax as an Economical Substitute for Cotton, so 
 as to be used on Cotton Machinery," to present 
 their claims to a Committee of the Society there- 
 after to be appointed. 
 
 The only competitors for the State bounty 
 were the Lockport Flax Cotton Company, Mr. 
 
 Chas. Keep agent, and Mr. C. Beach, of Penn 
 Yan; whereupon the Executive Committee ap- 
 pointed the undersigned to make an examina- 
 tion of their respective methods of accomplish- 
 ing the object, and report the result to them. 
 
 The Committee met at Lockport on the 6th 
 day of January, where they had the pleasure of 
 meeting Gov. E. Dyer and Mr. Albert 
 Bkiggs, a committee from the Rhode Island 
 Society for the encouragement of Domestic 
 Industry, which has offered a large reward for 
 the discovery of a method for cottonizing flax, 
 and has in other ways stimulated the inquiry, 
 and roused public attention to its importance. 
 We were greatly aided in our inquiries by the 
 intelligent experience of these gentlemen. 
 
 II.— The Flax Plant— Soils Adapted to It 
 The flax of commerce is known to botanists 
 as the Linum usitalissimum, which is the typical 
 plant of a small family known as the Linacece. 
 There are several varieties of it, but that most 
 commonly used in this country, as well as in 
 Europe, is the blue-flowered variety. 
 
 It can be raised with more or less success on 
 a wide range of soils and climates, but it is 
 most profitably grown on light, dry loams, with 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 a subsoil so constituted as not to permit the 
 water to stagnate round the roots, while it is 
 MifDciently tenacious to prevent too rapid drain- 
 age. We subjoin the following analysis of two 
 soils in the district where the best flax of Bel- 
 gium is grown: 
 
 By washing, 100 parts were found to consist of 
 
 No. 1. No. 2. 
 
 Clay 9.00 8.00 
 
 Fine sand 91.00 92.00 
 
 100.00 100.00 
 By analysis: 
 
 No. 1. No. 2. 
 
 Water 3.80 1.85 
 
 Organic matters 4.48 3.25 
 
 Silicious matters 87.04 91.80 
 
 Pero.xide of Iron 1.96 1.16 
 
 Alumina 1.52 1.22 
 
 Carbonate of Lime 0.96 0.55 
 
 Carbonate of Magnesia 0.27 trace 
 
 Alkaline salts 0.20 0.14 
 
 The excellence of this Belgian soil must, how- 
 ever, result mainly from its mechanical proper- 
 ties, aa it is deficient in some of the most 
 important elements which enter into the com- 
 position of the flax plant. The Belgian farmer, 
 however, is well known to be liberal in the 
 application of manures, and skillful in their 
 adaptation to the specific wants of soils and 
 plants. The soil is thus supplied with any miss- 
 ing element by the art of the farmer. 
 
 The composition of the soils upon which the 
 best Irish flax is raised, is thus stated by Sir 
 Robert Kane. They were light clay loams: 
 
 No. 1. No. 2. No. 3. 
 
 Silica and Silicious sand 73.72 69.41 64.93 
 
 Oxideoflron 5.61 5.29 5.64 
 
 Alumina 6.65 5.70 8.97 
 
 Phosphate of Iron 06 .25 .31 
 
 Civrbonate of Lime 1.09 .53 1.67 
 
 Manesia and Alkalies, with traces of 
 
 muri.ific and sulphuric acids 32 .25 .45 
 
 Organic matters 4.86 6.67 9.41 
 
 Water.. 7.57 11.48 8.73 
 
 These soils, though containing a larger pro- 
 portion of the elements of flax than the Belgian, 
 are deficient in the phosphates. 
 
 We are not aware that any fertile flax soils 
 have ever been analyzed in America, but the 
 following analysis of flax by Mr. Salisbury, 
 showing the amount of the matters derived from 
 the soil which are contained in one tun of flax, 
 will show clearly what soils are best adapted to 
 
 its growth, and the manures necessary to correct 
 any deficiencies which may exist: 
 
 Proportions. 
 
 1. Sun-dried flax 100.00 grs. 
 
 Dry 91.42 " 
 
 Water 8.58 " 
 
 Ash 1.80 " 
 
 2. Flaxseed 100.00 grs. 
 
 Dry 92.72 " 
 
 Water 7.28 " 
 
 Ash 3.70 " 
 
 Isi. — Analysis of Straw and Fiber. 
 
 Silica removed in a tun of straw 2.272 lbs. 
 
 Earthy phosphates removed in a tun of straw. 7.037 " 
 
 Carbonate of Lime 7.696 " 
 
 Magnesia 0.812 " 
 
 Potash 7.838 " 
 
 Soda 2.374 " 
 
 Sulphuric Acid 1.042 " 
 
 Chlorine 0.133 " 
 
 29.204 lbs. 
 2d. — Analysis of Flax Seed. 
 
 Silica removed in every 100 lbs. of seed 0.666 lbs. 
 
 Earthy phosphates removed in every 100 lbs. 
 
 of seed 1.757 " 
 
 Carbonate of Lime removed in every 100 lbs. 
 
 of seed 0.007 " 
 
 Magnesia removed in every 100 lbs. of seed.. 003 " 
 Potash " " " " .. 0.669 " 
 
 Chloride of Sodium removed in every 100 lbs. 
 
 of seed 0.743 " 
 
 Sulphuric Acid removed in every 100 lbs. of 
 
 seed 0.279 " 
 
 4.124 lbs. 
 
 The manurial substance most likely to be 
 required by the soils of this State to fit them for 
 profitably raising flax, will be the earthy phos- 
 phates, since if each tun of straw bears ten 
 bushels of seed, we see from the above table 
 that seventeen pounds of the earthy phosphates 
 will be withdrawn from the soil by each crop. 
 
 After all, the great majority of farmers will 
 most easily understand the kind of soil best 
 adapted for flax raising, when they are told that 
 soils best adapted for barley are the best also for 
 flax, and where maximum crops of the former 
 are found to grow, maximum crops of the latter 
 may be certainly calculated on. 
 
 III.— The Cultivation of Flax, 
 The most essential condition for the profitable 
 growth of flax is good drainage, either natural 
 or artificial. It is a waste of labor and money 
 to sow flax seed on land where water stagnates 
 round the roots. The next is, to plow the land 
 deeply, and to pulverize it thoroughly. The 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 roots of flax will, unless prevented by a hard 
 subsoil, penetrate full lialf the length of the 
 straw into the ground, and the length and size 
 of the straw, other things being equal, will 
 depend upon the length of the root Hence, if 
 the farmer fails to fulfill these conditions, he will 
 incur a heavy penalty. 
 
 The seed should be of the growth of the pre- 
 ceding year, plump, heavy, glossy, of uniform 
 size and color, of a clear brown hue; if there 
 are many seeds of a light-drab chocolate color, 
 the lot should be rejected. The seed to be sown 
 varies in amount, according to the quality of 
 the soil and the portion of the crop which is 
 deemed most valuable. Rich soils require less 
 seed than poor ones, and where the production 
 of seed is the principal object of the farmer, a 
 smaller quantity is sown than where the lint is 
 the chief object. When the culm begins to 
 branch, its value as flax ceases; hence, that flax 
 straw is most valuable which has the greatest 
 length between the root and the branches. Thin 
 sowing increases the tending to branch — thick 
 sowing diminishes it. Where seed is the prin- 
 cipal object, one bushel is sufficient to sow on 
 very rich lands, or one and a half bushels on 
 poor soils. When lint is the chief object, three 
 bushels of seed should be sown. 
 
 Weeds, which are well known to be injurious 
 to all growing crops, are peculiarly so to flax. 
 No pains, therefore, should be spared to purify 
 the flax seed from all foreign admixtures; and 
 with a view of burying the seeds which have 
 lodged on the surface of the soil, beyond the 
 reach of germination, ihe plowing should be 
 done with a Michigan plow, which more com- 
 pletely inverts the surface than any other; it is 
 also desirable that the sowing should be sus- 
 pended long enough after the plowing to give 
 the seeds of any weeds which may be in the soil 
 time to germinate. They are then to be killed 
 by the cultivator, when the seed should be 
 evenly sown and harrowed, once in the line of 
 the furrows, and once angling with them, so as 
 to diffuse the seed equally; the field is then to 
 be rolled smooth. 
 
 Many good farmers think it is for their inter- 
 est to weed the field by hand after the plants 
 are from four to five inches high. This is done 
 
 almost universally in Ireland and Belgium. 
 Where weeding is resorted to, care should be 
 taken by the workmen to avoid any rotation of 
 their feet They should be set down and taken 
 up perpendicularly, and the weeding should be 
 done facing the wind, which will then assist in 
 raising the trodden-down plants. It is neces- 
 sary that the land should be level, for if 
 thrown into the ridges the straw matures 
 unequally; it should be smooth, so that the 
 crop can be gathered with a reaping machine. 
 
 Soon after the' bolls are formed, the lower 
 leaves begin to fall off, and the straw becomes 
 yellow from the bottom, about half its length 
 upward, when it should be pulled or cut with 
 a reaping machine very close to the ground; if 
 it is suffered to stand much longer than this, the 
 straw is materially injured. The seed is then 
 to be separated from the straw by means of a 
 rippling machine. It is very desirable that the 
 seeds should be completely separated from the 
 straw, because if any of them are left on, they 
 are crushed in the breaking machine, and where 
 the oil comes in contact with the fiber it is 
 almost impossible to separate it from the 
 shive. 
 
 It is very desirable that the connection be- 
 tween the farmer and the flax should terminate 
 at this point, as the remaining process can be 
 much more beneficially conducted by others. 
 
 IV.— Causes which have hindered the Produc- 
 tion of Flax, 
 
 It is certain that in many of the great barley 
 districts of Central New York, which are also 
 the great flax districts, no flax whatever is now 
 grown. It is also the opinion of the most intel- 
 ligent farmers, that its culture has been greatly 
 diminished within the last twenty years. 
 
 Owing to the great and obvious mistakes and 
 deficiencies in the census returns, it is difficult 
 to verify this opinion, or to ascertain the amount 
 of the diminution. 
 
 We think the most reliable statement con- 
 tained in the census is that respecting the num- 
 ber of acres sown with flax, which gives 46,089 
 acres for 1845, and 11,764 for the year 1855. If 
 we may rely upon this statement, there was a 
 diminution, during the decade between these 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 years, of seyenty-fiTe per cent We think the 
 causes of this are as follows: 
 
 1. The want of a regular and remuneratiTe 
 market 
 
 2. It has formerly been thought necessary to 
 puU the flax by hand, which requires more 
 labor than mast farmers are able to spare at 
 that season of the year. This has been a rery 
 great hindrance to the growth of it, but it need 
 not be so for the future; it is now found, that 
 when the ground is smooth and well rolled, it 
 may as well be cut with the reaping machine, 
 except for the very finest fabrics; in this case, a 
 machine for puUing it has been invented, which 
 executes the work with great rapidity and at a 
 very small expense. 
 
 3. The rotting process is very unhealthy. 
 
 4 Few fanners understand the rationale of 
 this process, and their practice is empirical, the 
 result is therefore uncertain; sometimes it is 
 not carried far enough, when the fibers are not 
 separated; at others, it is carried too far, when 
 the fiber is useless, because its tenacity is 
 destroyed- 
 
 5. The operations of breaking, scutching and 
 hatcheling are dirty and disagreeable, and are 
 therefore repulsive to farmers and their sons. 
 
 6. Scutching and hatcheling can only be per- 
 formed by sldllful workmen, who are in all 
 places difficult to be obtained in sufficient num- 
 bers to do any considerable amount of work, 
 and In some places they cannot be obtained 
 at all. 
 
 7. There has been a growing preference for 
 cotton instead of linen fabrics for under-clothing 
 and for bedding. 
 
 It win be observed that we have not enume- 
 rated the unprofitableness of the flax crop 
 among the causes of its diminished production. 
 Where a farmer has lands adapted to its cultiva- 
 tion, where he understands thoroughly aU the 
 processes, from the preparation of the land to 
 the production of the dressed fiber, and where 
 he has an adequate supply of skilled labor, and 
 the requisite tools and fixtures, flax-growing 
 even now is, we believe, one of the most profita- 
 ble occupations of the farmer. It is because 
 these conditions are so seldom united, that its 
 cultivation has so greatly diminished. 
 
 v.— What is Needed to Increase the Culture 
 of Flax. 
 
 The one thing most needed to extend the 
 cultivation of this most important staple, is to 
 create a market which will insure to the farmer 
 a steady and remunerative price for his seed, 
 and for his straw, just as it comes from the rip- 
 pling m^hine, thus relieving him from all the 
 processes for converting crude straw into dressed 
 flax or flax cotton. 
 
 Since 1.500 lbs. out of every tun of straw is 
 absolutely useless, it is obvious that the straw 
 will not bear the expense of transportation to 
 very great distances: if there is to be a market 
 for the straw, there must be a hcrnie market 
 The producer and consumer must be brought 
 side by side. Factories must be erected in the 
 flax regions, which will strip it of its useless 
 matters, and fit it for the purposes of the manu- 
 facturer, if they do not manufacture it them- 
 selves. We learned, during our visit, what we 
 did not know before, that there were already 
 several of these factories in operation, and that 
 their number would be considerably incfeased 
 next year, for the purpose of supplying a crude 
 flax to the upholsterers and paper-makers, the 
 demand for these purposes being considerably 
 in advance of the supply. But should the pro- 
 cess for completely cottonizing flax be perfected, 
 the number of these factories will be vastly 
 increased, especially in Central New York. 
 
 Such factories wiU surely be established when- 
 ever they are proved to be profitable. They 
 will certainly be profitable whenever some sol- 
 vent is discovered which will completely dis- 
 solve the cement, and reduce the bast tissue to its 
 ultimate fabric, at a cost which will enable the 
 product to be sold at the average price of cotton. 
 The great problem, then, is to discover this 
 cheap solvent; it is to aid in the discovery of it 
 that the Legislature has made its appropriation, 
 and we hope it wiU continue to do so, until the 
 goal is fully reached. When it is really solved, 
 millions of dollars will be added to the wealth 
 of the State, of which addition the farmers will 
 receive the lion's share. We compute, from the 
 data before us, that the value of the flax region 
 of Central New York would be increased by at 
 least ten dollars per acre. 
 
MA>-CFACTraz 
 
 VL-: : ? 
 
 Oaesi 
 of the eai plant w»r 
 
 aronad this is wrapp«i'j. :» .t .^-i ^, ^-j-j^; i^u^c. 
 
 this, in its tarn, is enwrapped bj a i jUmIi i (tf 
 bast tiasoe, and ttSa agva is iBdoaed m tm 
 exterior ejliader of bark, or epidenaia. Tke 
 appearance of sack a aeetioii, akta aagaiied 
 400 times, is well shown ia tibe annexed Bgme. 
 copied from Pro£ Hodge's reptM in the - Prac- 
 tical Mechanics' Joomal: " 
 
 
 tion can be better 
 ouebaBieai lii.3.1 
 
 AeefiMtoia ii 
 Oai Oe mpfii: . 
 ■ a ni B to exKi^. 
 thai can be desL 
 
 TEL— Str:::: 
 
 AftsOebas 
 bomtanSfft n- 
 befxeMisnd 
 redneCiaa k bv 
 
 raj neaiij e: 
 kastlkejaeol 
 Thefigncaci 
 arffe^'byDtE 
 adearidesof : 
 
 nun iaiputiar: 
 Thefbeasf i 
 oBifivmiilag- 
 Ampe, Oeeadi 
 eaaatial Aat : 
 sored. IB ecder 
 fiinj €■ mttci 
 
 tiaewas in sc: 
 because h= "- 
 the lene-l 
 
 sepi: 
 
 
 •1 liber fibos: c - 
 
 It 13 only the c-^- : :.^ ^^ , :^^^ 
 that Is of auT value fiv namfik: ' 
 
 ril pith, the woody Ufs".^. i: 
 - i!T? not oeW' ngpVgiJk bn? ver*" 
 
 oast otaeoe. 
 
 be. 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 We have been thus particular in our state- 
 ments, because we have had reason to believe 
 that much misconception exists in the minds of 
 many of those who are expeiimentiug with a 
 view of producing flax cotton. They have not 
 clearly discerned that this involves two distinct 
 
 and dissimilar operations, viz: the mechanical 
 separation of the cortical and woody tissues from 
 the bast>, and the chemical solution of the cement 
 in the latter tissue, with a view to the separation 
 of its ultimate Gbers. Some of them are spend- 
 ing much money and time in vain efforts to 
 
 Fibers of flax, hemp, jute, cotton wool, and alpaca magnified. Fig. 1, flax ; 2, jute; 3, liemp; 4, cotton; 5, 
 coarse long wool. Figs. 6, 7, fine Saxony wool; 8, 9, fine English wool; 10, alpaca. 
 
 effect both of these objects by machinery; 
 others are wasting considerable time and money 
 in equally vain endeavors to effect both objects 
 by the discovery and use of chemical processes. 
 We think that our chances for a successful 
 
 solution of the problem will be greatly in- 
 creased when all parties are brought to clearly 
 recognize the fact that these two objects 
 cannot be attained by the same, but by viidely 
 different methods. 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 25 
 
 VIII.— The Lockport Processes for Cottonizing 
 Flax. 
 
 The Lockport Flax Cotton Company was 
 incorporated in 1862, with a capital of $10,000, 
 divided into two hundred shares of $50 each ; it 
 was subsequently increased to $15,000, which, 
 with $10,000 more, has been expended in 
 machinery and fixtures. Their mode of opera- 
 ting is as follows : 
 
 First— The Breaking Process. — The dried 
 straw, as it comes from the farmer, is laid in thin 
 sheets upon an endless apron, which conveys it 
 forward to the machine, which consists of seven 
 pair of top and bottom fluted rollers, following 
 each other successively, the first pair being eight 
 inches in diameter,. with- a pitch of two inches; the 
 last, five inches in diameter, with a pitch of three- 
 eighths of an inch. They are so geared that the 
 la.st pair move with twelve times the velocity of 
 the first pair. Each pair of rollers is held in 
 contact by the action of screws and powerful 
 India rubber springs. The bottom rolls are 
 driven by gears and the top are driven by 
 friction from those below. 
 
 The passage of the straw between these rollers 
 produces the following results : ^ 
 
 1. The round culm is flattened by their 
 pressure. 
 
 2. By this flattening, the woody and cortical 
 portions are split lengthwise into narrow 
 portions-. 
 
 3. By the fluting of the rollers, these portions 
 are broken crosswise. 
 
 4. By the draft of the rollers, the bast tissue 
 is to some extent torn asunder, and a portion of 
 broken shive, or boon, as the woody and cortical 
 portions is termed, are detached and falls down 
 beneath the machine. By this process about 30 
 per cent, of weight is lost. 
 
 Second — The Dusting Process. — This is 
 effected by passing the lint, as it comes from 
 the breaking machine, through two rapidly 
 revolving cylinders armed with spike teeth, 
 similar to an ordinary thrashing machine, or 
 " willow " of the cotton manufacturers. By this 
 operation : 
 
 1. Another portion of shive is detached from 
 the bast tissue. 
 
 2. This tissue is still more split up. Thirty 
 
 per cent of weight is lost by the dusting 
 operation. 
 
 Third — The Scutching Process.— This ma- 
 chine had not arrived when we were at 
 Lockport, having been detained on the railroad. 
 It is intended by this machine to separate a still 
 further portion of the shive; it is expected to 
 take out six per cent of the lint which is passed 
 through it 
 
 Fourth — The Second Dusting.— Vihkh takes 
 out about one per cent more. 
 
 Fifth — The Combing Process. — This operation 
 is too complicated to be described without 
 reference to a diagram. Those who are familiar 
 with old worsted combing machines, will have 
 no difficulty in understanding it, as it is exactly 
 similar in principle. This effects three objects: 
 
 1. It detaches about one per cent of shive. 
 
 2. It lays the fibers paralle] to each other, and 
 gives them a slight twist 
 
 3. It separates the longer fi-om the shorter 
 staples, to some extent 
 
 Sixth — The Steep. — The combed flax is 
 steeped in tepid water for 24 hours. 
 
 Seventh — Boiling. — It is now boiled in soap- 
 suds and soda lye for 12 hours. 
 
 Eighth — Washing. — Water is poured upon the 
 fiber and thrown off centrifugally, by means of a 
 hydro extractor. 
 
 Ninth — Bleaching. — Ist, steeped in a solution 
 of chloride of lime; 2d. washing; 3d. squeezing; 
 4th. steeped in dilute sulphuric acid ; 5th. 
 washing. 
 
 Tenth— Solvent Process. — Dipped in a solution 
 of alum, borax and salt 
 
 Eleventh — Washing —In water holding a little 
 sal soda in solution. 
 
 Twelfth — Drying — By exposure to a current 
 of warm air which has been warmed by passing 
 over steam pipes. 
 
 Thirteenth.- Scutching as in ttiird process. 
 
 Fourteenth — Lapping — On an ordinary lap- 
 ping machine. 
 
 Fifteenth — Carding.— There are eight carding 
 engines, each of which turns off about 100 lbs. 
 per day; from the cards a railway head conducts 
 it to the drawing frames, which are like the 
 ordinary ones, except that the top rolls are of 
 iron or steel, and fluted like the bottom rolls. 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 IX.— Estimate of the Expense of the Lockport 
 Prices per tun. 
 
 straw $10.00 
 
 Breaking 1-00 
 
 Dusting 60 
 
 Carding • 75 
 
 Scutching . ---. 75 
 
 Second Dusting 50 
 
 Combing 1-00 
 
 Washing 50 
 
 Chlorine 6.00 
 
 Washing 50 
 
 Acid 45 
 
 Washing 50 
 
 Drjii.g 1-00 
 
 Lapping 75 
 
 SalUng 1.00 
 
 Wasliing 60 
 
 Carding 1.00 
 
 Drawing 60 
 
 $27.20 
 
 We have not verified these statements, which 
 are excliLsive of rent, interest, fuel, insurance, 
 ta-xes, repairs, and cost of' superintendence. 
 They are just as we received them from the 
 company. 
 
 The product of one tun of straw is about 300 
 pounds of flax-cotton, and 300 pounds of lint, 
 suitalde for mixing with wool. 
 
 You will be furnished with specimens of the 
 product after each operation, and can therefore 
 judge for yourselves of the result. 
 
 X.— The Penn Yan Process. 
 
 The crude straw is thrown upon an iron 
 disk, four feet in diameter, which is made to 
 revolve forty-five times in a minute. Two 
 wooden cylinders, eighteen inches in diameter 
 and twelve inches long, roll upon each end of 
 one of the diameters of the disk; they arc 
 powerfully pressed upon it by means of screws 
 and India Rubber springs. The fiber is carried 
 under these rollers by strongly curved hooks 
 placed on the face of the rotary disk, grooves 
 being cut in the rollers to permit their passage. 
 On Ihe diameter, at right angles to the 
 crushing rollers, are two beating cylinders, 
 eight inches in diameter, armed with teeth 
 three inches long, which revolve 1,200 times in 
 a minute. The straw is first cut into lengths 
 meant to correspond to the length of staple 
 desired, and is dropped into the machine from 
 above. This cutting process we think objection- 
 able, as it leaves stubbed ends to the fiber. 
 This, Mr. Beach hopes to overcome by the use 
 of saws in a cutting-box, which was not in 
 
 operation when we saw it, nor do we think the 
 results will prove satisfactory. The result of 
 this operation is, that each particle of lint is 
 alternately crushed and beaten ninety times in 
 a minute. Each charge is acted upon fifteen 
 minutes, and the portions of shive detached are 
 thrown out through a wire screen at the side 
 of the machine. 
 
 The lint is now removed to another machine, 
 where it is placed on an endless apron, which 
 it forwards to a pair of fluted rollers. It is 
 seized by these and brought into contact with 
 a cylinder, the lags on which are three inches 
 wide, and are covered with leather, through 
 which tacks have been driven. The openings 
 between the lags are two inches wide, through 
 which a powerful current of air from a fan is 
 directed on the fibers, which have been caught 
 on the tacks from the feeding rollers, and 
 which detaches a portion of the shive. The 
 fiber is then thrown from the tacks on the 
 opposite side of the cylinder, by the current, 
 on an endless wire apron, which carries it to 
 the front of the machine, where it is detached 
 by a brush cylinder. This completes the pro- 
 cess so far as we saw it, though Mr. Beach is 
 devising additional means not yet completed. 
 A specimen of the product will be forwarded 
 for your inspection. 
 
 XI. — Opinion of the Committee. 
 
 The Executive Committee of the Society having 
 reserved to itself the distribution of the bounty of 
 the State among the various claimants, our duty 
 would would seem to end when we have 
 faithfully observed the facts," and truthfully 
 reported them; yet as we have been informed 
 that our opinions would be acceptable, we state 
 frankly that we do not think that either of the 
 parties have produced flax cotton in such a 
 form as to be spun upon cotton machinery. In 
 the best specimens of the Lockport flax cotton 
 you will find particles of shive adhering; the 
 fibers are irregular in length and in diameter, 
 and by careful manipulation you will find that 
 almost every fiber can be further divided, which 
 shows that the cement is imperfectly dissolved. 
 
 The lint made by Mr. Beach, at Penn Yan, 
 contains more of the shive, and the fibers are 
 less minutely divided than in that made by the 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 Lockport company. As it was produced in our 
 presence, we should hardly suppose that it could 
 have been operated on by cotton machinery; but 
 Mr. Beach showed us samples of roving and 
 yam made from the mixture, as he assures us, 
 on cotton machinery. 
 
 We are fully convinced that the reduction of 
 flax-fiber to flax-cotton is practicable. Already 
 great strides toward the accomplishment of 
 this have been made, as we think, in the right 
 direction. We feel confident that nothing is 
 needed but intelligent and persevering efi'orts 
 to achieve a triumphant success. 
 
 We deem it desirable in the highest degree 
 that the Legislature should continue to offer a 
 reward with a view of stimulating and encour- 
 aging the activity and ingenuity of inventors. 
 In case such appropriations are continued, we 
 would respectfully suggest that the object 
 should be made more specific, as 1st. dol- 
 lars to any person who within the year 1863, 
 shall bring into operation the greatest mechan- 
 ical improvement for separating the "s/iiue" 
 or '■■boon" from the bast tissue of flax. 2d. 
 
 dollars to any person who within the year 
 
 1S63, shall discover the most perfect solvent for 
 the separation of the bast tissue into its ulti- 
 mate fiber 5 to be awarded by the State Agri- 
 cultural Society. 
 
 XII.— Suggestions. 
 
 It is very obvious that the woody and cortical 
 tissues can be broken and detached much more 
 easily when in a dry than in a damp state. It 
 therefore seems to us that sufficient care is not 
 taken to insure the perfect dryness of the 
 straw before breaking. 
 
 We are of opinion that more care should be 
 taken to separate all the shive from the fiber 
 before resorting to chemical agencies. We think 
 the bleaching of the fiber is quite an unnecessary 
 expense if it does not aid in the separation of 
 the fibers, i. e., we do not think bleaching neces- 
 sary with a view to the whitening of it 
 
 It seems to us that our experimentalists have 
 too much neglected Mr. Schenck's method of 
 steeping the flax in warm water at ninety 
 degrees, with Mr. Pownall's improvements in 
 exposing the steeped straw to the pressure of a 
 
 pair of smooth iron cylinders, while at the same 
 time a stream of water is made to flow upon the 
 rollers, so as to wash away the softened organic 
 matters which adhere to it. 
 
 These suggestions may be of little vajne, but 
 as we all concur in them it may do no hurt to 
 offer them to the consideration of those who are 
 seeking to solve the mystery of flax cotton. 
 
 If the Executive Committee should adopt the 
 principle of giving any portion of the bounty 
 of the State to meritorious, though unsuccessful 
 competitors, we think such portion would be 
 worthily bestowed on Mr. Beach. He has been 
 for many years engaged in the enterprise upon 
 which he has expended much labor, time, and 
 money, without any returns whatever. 
 
 The Lockport company have already suc- 
 ceeded so far as to make a fiber practically 
 useful to an extent which we think will prove 
 highly remunerative to them. They have cheer- 
 fully afibrded at all times such information as 
 they have acquired, to all comers. They have 
 contracted with as many farmers of Niagara 
 county as desired to do so, for their crops of 
 flax-straw at ten dollars per tun, and by their 
 enterprise have made a home market for farmers 
 which will prove of great value to them. Such 
 enterprise, and such results, are, in our opinion, 
 well worthy of public encouragement and 
 reward. 
 
 It may be interesting to many farmers to learn 
 that the average crop in Niagara county last 
 year was one tun of straw and fourteen bushels 
 of seed to the acre. 
 
 All of which is respectfully submitted, 
 
 Samuel Campbell, "i 
 John Stanton Gould, > Committee. 
 Alfred Wild. ) 
 
 Ftbruary 10, 1863. 
 
 ACTION OF THE EXECTTTIVE COMMITTEE. 
 
 The Executive Committee, on the 10th and 
 11th of February, considered the Report which 
 had been presented by the Committee. Mr. 
 Beach was present, and was heard before the 
 Committee, and Messrs. Campbell and Gould, 
 of the Committee, were also heard, in answer to 
 inquiries made of them. After mature delib- 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 eration oa the subject, the Executive Committee 
 unanimously adopted the following resolutions: 
 
 Resolved, That in the judgment of this Society 
 no such advance in the perfection of machinery 
 to tesf the experiment of Manufacturing Flax 
 Cotton has been made as to warrant the Society 
 in awarding any portion of the sum appropriated 
 by the Legislature, at the present time. 
 
 Resolved, That the Society will keep the 
 execution of the trust reposed in them by the 
 Legislature in abeyance for the present, under 
 the hope that such valuable improvements may 
 be effected in the coming year, as may justify the 
 Society in awarding the whole or some portion 
 of this amount to any such successful inventions. 
 
 Resolved, That the Committee be requested to 
 continue their investigations during the year, at 
 such time and manner as may, on consultation 
 with the President and Secretary of the Society, 
 be deemed advisable. 
 
 Resolved, That the entire sum of two thousand 
 dollars, appropriated by the State as aforesaid, 
 now in the hands of the Treasurer of the Society, 
 be deposited by him in one of the trust compa- 
 nies of the city of New York, where it may 
 draw interest until required for the purpose 
 designated by the Legislature. 
 
 Resolved, That the proceedings of the Society 
 be presented to the Honorable Legislature. 
 
 B. P. Johnson, Secretary. 
 
 ABOUT FLAX -SOIL, SEED AND CULTURE. 
 
 [From the Rural New-Yorker of April 4th.] 
 
 I UNDERSTAND the Editor of the Rural to ask 
 flax-growers to give the best mode of culture. 
 Now, I cannot say mine is the best, but such as 
 it is I will try to give in my imperfect style. I 
 have had experience for more than forty years, 
 and for the last twenty have raised from two to 
 five acres, (generally about three, that being 
 enough for my use,) and in good seasons have 
 pretty good crops — last summer full as good as 
 any. The weather was wet just in the right time 
 for it to grow. It gets its growth in the shortest 
 time of any crop that I know of. It might be 
 called a ninety-day's crop, for from the time it is 
 sown it will do to harvest in that time. But we 
 will 1^ that go, we won't harvest yet 
 
 Now for soil and seed, and the way to fit the 
 soil. I think any land that will grow a good crop 
 of any kind of grain will grow a good crop of flax. 
 If too rich the flax will be apt to fall down and 
 spoil, if not pulled soon ; and if too poor it will be 
 short and not fit to pull; but it can be cut with 
 scythe, cradle or machine. I sow one bushel of 
 seed to the acre. If the ground is plowed in the 
 fall as soon as it is dry enough, I in spring har- 
 row until it is mellow and fine, then sow on the 
 seed as even as possible; then harrow very light- 
 
 ly, or if very mellow take a light bush so as not 
 to bury deep. 
 
 I get from eight to sixteen bushels of seed, and 
 from 200 to 450 pounds of dressed flax, dressed 
 by hand. The acre that will produce the most 
 flax does not always produce the most seed. 
 Sometimes, if it grows very large, it will fall 
 down on account of wind and rain, which will 
 lessen the yield of seed more than it will the 
 fibre. 
 
 If the ground is plowed in the spring, harrow, 
 roll and harrow until it is in fine condition ; then 
 sow as before. Any farmer will know when the 
 work is well done. Some tell of plowing very 
 deep and sub-soiling, so that roots can grow half 
 as deep in the ground as the length of the straw, 
 (or stalk, as I call it) "Well, you may mellow 
 the ground as deep as you please, the flax roots 
 won't grow any deeper than they please, which 
 will be about three inches, and the flax grows 
 three feet, which was about the length of mine 
 last year. I think I will say no more upon the 
 matter now, but before time to harvest I will give 
 you my experience in that, which has been some- 
 thing, and the way I think the best 
 
 D.arien, Gen. Co., N. Y., 1863. S. Edson. 
 
HEMP AND FLAX IN THE WEST: 
 
 AMOUNT GROWN, MODES OF CULTURE, PREPARATION FOR MARKET. 
 
 BY CHARLES D. BRAGDOX, OP ILLmOIS. 
 
 With the time at my disposal, and the space 
 accorded me in this work, I cannot hope to 
 render this paper an exhaustive one on either of 
 the subjects of Hemp or Flax Culture. My aim 
 shall be rather to furnish some hints of practical 
 value and interest, especially to "Western cultiva- 
 tors; for the conditions of soil and climate which 
 prevail here are in many respects distinct from 
 those of the East, and the relations of the pro- 
 ducer to the manufacturer and the market are 
 certainly unlike, and equally important in the 
 discussion of these staples. 
 
 PART FIR3T-HEMP. 
 According to the United States Census, the 
 following is a statement of the number of tuns 
 of hemp produced in the Western States in the 
 years 1850 and 1860, respectively: 
 
 STATES. 
 
 Dew- 
 rotted. 
 
 Water- 
 rotted. 
 
 Oth'wise 
 prepar'd. 
 
 1 1850 1 1860 1 1850 | 1860 1 1850 1 1800 
 
 1 tuns 1 tuns | tuns | tuns | tuns | tuns 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 44 
 33544 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 I6i3-2 
 
 1355 
 
 2026 
 
 .... 
 
 4344 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 15968 
 100 
 
 15789 
 "97 
 
 60 
 50 
 
 1507 
 "15 
 
 :::: 
 
 1<>7'' 
 
 Ohio, 
 
 3 
 
 Wisoonsin, 
 
 244 
 
 
 In the earlier years of the last decade, consid- 
 erable Hemp was grown in Illinois ; but its 
 culture was abandoned, and other products 
 substituted which were found to pay better. 
 More attention was paid to stock growing and 
 
 feeding. But with the present prices of Hemp it 
 is believed it will pay to produce it — especially 
 among small farmers who find a diversity of 
 products essential. A great deal of Hemp is 
 now imported for cordage and other uses, and in 
 the shape of linen. We have soils and climates 
 in the West quite as well adapted to its produc- 
 tion as any that can be found in Europe; and 
 the machinery that now exists adapted to the 
 wants of the Hemp grower, removes one great 
 objection to its culture which has heretofore 
 obtained in the West. It is deemed important that 
 some attention should be paid to it in this work 
 on Flax Culture; and that it should occupy this 
 place in its relation to flax, because it is an 
 excellent preparatory crop for flax. Again, the 
 machinery in use for the preparation of flax 
 fiber for the manufacturer is, or may be, adapted 
 to the preparation of hemp. 
 
 . GROWING HEMP FOR SEED. 
 
 At this writing, hemp seed in our market 
 (Chicago,) is selling at three or four dollars per 
 bushel. There is quite a demand for it, and the 
 prospect is that the demand will largely increase. 
 It is important, then, and it will be found profit- 
 able, that farmers plant it for the seed. The soil 
 should be well prepared, as for corn — the ground 
 marked off in rows three and a half or four feet 
 apart each way, and the seed planted in hills 
 like corn, as early in the season as corn is 
 planted. 
 
 Six to eight seeds should be put in a hill, — 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 two quarts of seed will plant an acre. Cultivate 
 afl for corn. When the plants are eight inches 
 high, thin out to three or four plants to the 
 hill As soon as the sex of the plants can be 
 distinguished, the male plants should be pulled, 
 except here and there one, which is necessary to 
 impregnate the female with its pollen. The male 
 pi an I bears pollen, and is called "blossom- 
 hemp;" the female bears seed, and is called 
 " seed hemp." When the seed is mature, the 
 plants should be cut, dried and thrashed. The 
 thra-shiog is done by a flail or a stout stick, 
 the seed winnowed, and put in bags or barrels 
 for maiket It should be kept dry. By this 
 means iwenty-fire bushels per acre is easily 
 grown. With the prospective supply and de- 
 mand, it «vill be a vei^good business the present 
 season (1863,) for the farmer who can get the 
 seed fo grow it for next year's market. 
 
 THE SOIL FOB HEMP. 
 
 It may b« safely asserted that any good com 
 soil is a good hemp soil — will produce good 
 hemp. A soil which bakes is not so well adapt- 
 ed to its cultiive. It needs to be deep, warm and 
 dry. There t.re few of our upland prairie soils 
 that will not produce good hemp. The low, 
 alluvial soils, full of humus, cannot be recom- 
 mended, because the quality of the fiber is not 
 so uniformly good as is grown on upland soils. 
 The hemp grows tallest on the bottom lands, but 
 the fiber is coarsf, weak and harsh; while on the 
 upland prairie the lint is fine, soft and strong. 
 
 P«EP..inATI0N OF SOIL. 
 
 The soil should be well drained, deeply 
 plowed in the fall - if subsoiled all the better 
 — and again in Uie spring, and thoroughly 
 pulverized by haji owing; and if cloddy, by 
 rolling. The deeper it is plowed, and the better 
 it is drained, the better will the plants stand the 
 drouth, and the greater and more uniform the 
 growth. 
 
 VHE BtST SEED 
 
 Is that grown on plants cultivated as described 
 above. If that grown on the crop sown for the 
 fiber, is used, and is sown successively, it will 
 deteriorate as above intimated. The fact is, 
 however, if the lint ia cut when it should be, the 
 
 seed will not be worth saving— will not be 
 mature. There are parties who sow a small 
 quantity of seed per acre, broadcast, let the 
 seed ripen, and save both the seed and lint 
 resulting. But the experience of the oldest 
 cultivators condemns this practice. 
 
 THE AMOUNT OF SEED 
 
 That should be sown per acre, depends alone 
 upon the character and condition of the soil. 
 The lint being the crop sought for, the quantity 
 of seed should be such as to insure the greatest 
 growth, and best quality of fiber. The quantity 
 usually sown ranges from one bushel to one 
 bushel and a half to the acre, depending upon 
 the strength of the soil. If not enough seed ie 
 put in the ground the plant grows strong and 
 coarse, and the fiber is inferior; if the seeding is 
 too thick for the strength of soil, the length of 
 the fiber is diminished. The plants do not grow 
 of uniform length, and, while they do not con- 
 tribute to the value of the crop, certainly absorb 
 the food which should have aided in the 
 development of the balance of the plants. To 
 get the amount of seed on the ground which will 
 insure the most uniform length of fiber, the 
 finest quality of lint, and the greatest aggregate 
 quantity, requires a good deal of experience, 
 and a thorough knowledge of the character and 
 condition of the soil. 
 
 WHEN TO SEED. 
 
 It should be put in at the earliest moment 
 possible, and have the ground in good condition 
 to receive it And it should be put in after 
 danger from heavy frosts has passed. For the 
 young plant is lender — is sensitive to frost, 
 heavy rains and winds. Its growth is rapid at 
 first; but after it is once established no ordinary 
 frost will injure it The range of time In the 
 different latitudes where hemp is grown, may be 
 set down as extending from the fifteenth of 
 April to the loth of June. In latitude 42 degs. 
 it might be placed at from the 1st to the 15th 
 of May, depending upon the forwardness of the 
 season. There have been seasons when it would 
 have been safe to sow it the 25th of April in 
 this latitude. 
 
 One important reason why early seeding is 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 desirable, is that the lower the temperature in 
 which it can be grown, the better the quality, 
 and the greater the value of the fiber. The 
 longer the time, early in the season, in which 
 it may grow, the more valuable the product. 
 A forced, rapid growth, weakens the fiber, and 
 renders it coarse. A stimulating sun has the 
 same effect as a stimulating soil. It is a fact 
 worthy of the attention of cultivators, that the 
 further North hemp is grown, the greater the 
 value of the lint The fiber of the Russian and 
 French hemp is much better than that of Ken- 
 tucky and Missouri, for the reason above given ; 
 while hemp grown as far north as Sangamon 
 Co., Illinois, and water-rotted, submitted to 
 government tests, compared favorably with the 
 Russian hemp — exceeding, in strength, the 
 standard fixed by government^ in some instances 
 as high as twenty per cent Hence, it is believed 
 that Central and North Illinois, South Wisconsin, 
 Iowa, and a portion of Minnesota, may produce 
 hemp of superior quality. Indiana and Southern 
 Michigan may certainly do so. 
 
 HOW TO SEED. 
 
 It is a matter of not a little importance that 
 the seed be evenly distributed. This is sell- 
 evident, when it is known how much the value 
 of the crop depends upon uniformity in the 
 growth of the plants. Too much care cannot be 
 taken in the distributing and covering of the seed 
 to insure this uniformity in germination and of 
 growth. If the ground is moist, the seed should 
 be lightly covered. Indeed, a light harrow and 
 a roller are the best implements with which to 
 cover it 
 
 The seed in the ground, nothing more can be 
 be done by the farmer until the 
 
 TIME OP HARVESTING. 
 
 He may have his crop injured by frost or 
 storms; but if he has been careful in the prepa- 
 ration of the soil, and in selecting the time for 
 seeding, there is little danger that he will be 
 disappointed in witnessing a magical growth of 
 vegetation. And in about three and a half or 
 four months, more or less, from the time of seed- 
 ing, the male or blossom-hemp will begin to 
 turn yellow; the pollen pods will burst, clouds 
 of pollen fill the air, and then the harvest should 
 
 commence. These male plants ripen several 
 days — a week or ten days — before the female 
 plants, and it is the practice, in the hemp-growing 
 districts, to divide the time; cutting the crop a 
 few days after the male plants, and a few days 
 before the female plants mature. Unless it is 
 cut soon after the male portion of the crop 
 matures, that portion of it, which constitutes 
 about one-third of it, would turn black, decay, 
 and be lost The cutting should be finished 
 before the seed is ripe, and the male hemp 
 begins to die. If large areas are grown, it will 
 be seen that it is important that it should be 
 sown so as to ripen successively. 
 
 CUTTING 
 
 Is done with a hemp-hook or knife, — a tool 
 something like a corn-cutter or scythe; a cradle 
 made for the purpose, or with a reaper. The 
 work of cutting with a hook is something like 
 that of cutting corn. The left arm is thrown 
 around the plants with a backward stroke, and 
 cut at a blow with the hook, as one would cut a 
 hill of corn. A " through," as wide as the hemp 
 is long, is cut, the operator spreading the hemp, 
 as he cuts it, behind him evenly. This is import- 
 ant, that it may cure, and the foliage dry and 
 drop easily; for if it is bound with the foliage on, 
 and damp, it will affect its value materially. 
 
 If the hemp is not too high, a cradle is used as 
 in cradling grain. It is pretty heavy work, and 
 to cut a half acre per day, with a cradle, is 
 considered a good day's work. In the North- 
 West neither the hook or cradle will be used. 
 The reapers must be made to do this work. In 
 Sangamon county, Illinois, Husset's reaper has 
 been used. The hemp, as cut with it, is made 
 (by the use of a cane held in the left hand of 
 the manager,) to fall back regularly upon a 
 wooden apron, which, adjusted to pivots, can, by 
 a " holt " with his right hand, be turned up and 
 down similarly to the operation of a cart-bed, 
 thus sliding the hemp oft", and leaving the buts 
 evenly together for binding. At this work, a 
 driver and "manager," with a change of two 
 teams of four horses or mules each is needed. 
 The change is found necessary because of the 
 heat at that season. In this way, with this 
 machine, six to ten acres per day are cut. 
 
 In Kentucky and Missouri, a McCokmick 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 reaper h used, with aa attachment invented for 
 the purpose of adapting it to this work. It is 
 said to operate successfully. I learn, also, that 
 a Chicago gentleman has invented an attachment 
 which is to be put on one of the Manny 
 machines at Rockford, in this State, and used 
 during the coming harvest to secure hemp crops 
 which are to be put in in the north part of the 
 State. 
 
 BINDING AND SHOCKINO. 
 
 There is a difference in practice among difiTer- 
 ent cultivators aa to the length of time the hemp 
 should remain spread before binding and putting 
 in shocks. This difference depends upon the 
 rotting process adopted. If it is to be dew- 
 rotted, as is the practice in Missouri, it is of less 
 
 importance to cure it in the sheaf and shock; 
 but if to be water-rotted, the sooner it is bound, 
 after it begins to cure, the better. In either case 
 it should not be left spread on the ground at all 
 after the stalk is cured, but should be put in 
 bundles and shocked. It is the practice to use a 
 hook, (see figure,) which may be cut from the 
 branch of almost any t^ee, with which to draw 
 the hemp into bundles for binding. The operator 
 reaches forward with the hook, inserts it in the 
 hemp, and quickly draws it toward him, form- 
 ing a bunch of suitable size for a bundle. The 
 bunch of straw is raised from the ground, and 
 the hook used to strike off the dried foliage of the 
 plant. A few strokes do this business, and the 
 sheaf is then bound. Another hand should 
 follow and shock it in close, round shocks, tying 
 the tops of the bundles together. The quicker 
 this work is done after cutting, the cleaner and 
 brighter the straw will be. 
 
 Cultivators who water-rot their hemp, bind 
 it in bundles eight inches in diameter as soon as 
 it commences to cure or dry, and set it up in 
 shocks of about a dozen bundles. In shocking, 
 the buts of the bundles should be set to the 
 ground, inclining outward. In binding, great 
 care should Ije taken to have the buts even. 
 Hemp cured in the shock, in this manner, will 
 
 be kept bright; and on our prairies, where there 
 is a free circulation of air, it will cure readily. 
 
 STACKING. 
 
 As soon as possible after the crop is cured, it 
 should be stored in ricks, barns, or securely 
 stacked. This work should not be indifferently 
 done; for the better the fiber is secured from 
 exposure, the greater its value, especially if 
 water-rotting is adopted. As good a shape as 
 any for a hemp stack is to commence it small 
 at the bottom, of triangular shape, increasing the 
 size gradually up to the center, at which point 
 lay out a projecting cornice, which will protect 
 all below it, and top off the stack in the form of a 
 cone. Then thatch the top with opened bundles 
 of hemp. The stack bottom should be raised 
 from the earth by rails, or brush, or boards, so as 
 to secure it from the ground and dampness there. 
 In this way the crop may be wintered securely 
 if it is not thought best to put it in market. 
 Any man, however, who knows how to secure 
 grain well in stacks, or ricks, will know how to 
 secure the hemp; and in the "West, where grain 
 is so generally stacked, detailed directions would 
 be superfluous. 
 
 DEW -ROTTING. 
 
 The hemp ia left in stack until the weather 
 becomes cool — until the nights have become 
 frosty. Hot weather must have passed before 
 the hemp should be spread for rotting. The first 
 of October is early enough, and some seasons it 
 is too early in this latitude. When the time has 
 arrived the hemp is taken from the stacks and 
 ricks and spread on the ground where it was 
 grown — spread thin, and left there to rot. It is 
 not turned. "When sufBciently rotted the stalks 
 lose their hardness and sticky feeling. The lint 
 begins to separate from the stalk; the fiber is sure 
 to separate from the stalk in the middle, and 
 cling to it at each end. It requires experience 
 to determine when the fiber is sufBciently rotted; 
 but the close observer will quickly acquire this 
 knowledge. 
 
 "When the hemp is sufficiently rotted it is 
 gathered into bundles, as above described, and 
 again set up in shocks. The tops are not bound. 
 Care is to be taken to keep the fiber straight and 
 even. The shocks should be carefully put up 
 that the wind may not blow them down. If 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 carefully shocked it will receive little injury 
 until warm weather again. 
 
 WATER- ROTTINQ. 
 
 Edward S. Cox, of Sangamon county, thus 
 describes his process : — " For the purpose of 
 water-rotting hemp, I have excavations made 
 in the ground into which are built half a 
 dozen framed vats ninety feet long, nine feet 
 wide, and six feet deep, the tops being on 
 a level with the ground. These vats are con- 
 structed by thirty six-by-eight-inch sills laid 
 crosswise, at each end of which, six-by-eight- 
 inch upright posts are morticed and keyed, and 
 stayed at the top by an occasional cross timber. 
 The bottoms, ends and sides, are planked with 
 two-inch oak timber and ship-caulked. The 
 bundles of hemp are laid crosswise the vats, 
 which are filled to the top. Four strings of 
 plank or rails are placed lengthwise the vats, 
 across the hemp, over which, again, cross timbers 
 are placed and confined at each end under cap 
 pieces projecting from the top of the vat. Thus 
 is the hemp firmly confined under the water. 
 The vats are tJien filled with water from a 
 cistern arranged for the purpose, and the hemp 
 is completely submerged, the water rising six 
 inches above it» The water for rotting the hemp 
 is drawn from a creek near by, by means of 
 three very powerful suction and force pumps, 
 through cast-iron pipes, into a framed, planked 
 and caulked cistern, fifty-six feet long, fifteen 
 feet wide, and six feet deep, constructed above 
 and at the end of the vats. This cistern, by the 
 aid of the pump, can be kept filled with water, 
 which can settle and become clear, and be let 
 into the vats at pleasure. 
 
 The pumps and machinery for dressing the 
 hemp are propelled by a steam engine, the 
 escape steam of which is admitted into cast-iron 
 pipes laid at the base of the vats, and the heat 
 thus communicated raises the temperature of the 
 water in the vat to ninety degrees Fahrenheit. 
 With this temperature the hemp is rotted in from 
 five to seven days, the glutinous, or cementing 
 matter, which fastens the lint to the stalk, being 
 dissolved by the process of fermentation, and the 
 filaments of the wood becoming concrete and 
 brittle, are easily broken and separated from the 
 
 lint. At this time all fermentation has ceased 
 and the water is unpleasantly stagnant. The 
 water is now let off through plug holes at the 
 end near the bottom of the vat, and passes off 
 through a ditch into the creek. The hemp in 
 a few hours is drained ready for throwing out 
 The confining timbers being first removed, the 
 bundles of hemp are easily thrown out, two men 
 emptying a vat in a half day — each vat holding 
 stalk to make one tun of lint. 
 
 By this method of water-rotting the business 
 can be carried on every month in the year, in 
 winter as well as in summer, as the water can 
 be kept of a uniform temperature by means of 
 steam. The workmen are protected from wet 
 by oil clothes. The business is not unpleasant 
 or unhealthy. 
 
 From the vats the hemp is hauled to the 
 drying grounds, when it is set up in shocks of 
 three or four hundred each — a band being tied 
 around the blossom ends to keep them from 
 falling down. Then the old bands are cut and 
 the stalks well spread, the buts to the ground, 
 inclining outward. As soon as thoroughly dry 
 it is bound in large bundles and secured in store 
 sheds ready for breaking." 
 
 Where streams or lakes of soft water are 
 numerous it may be rotted in them by confining 
 it. The length of time required will depend 
 upon the temperature of the weather and of the 
 water. In September it will rot sufiSciently in 
 ten days. In cooler weather, it requires a longer 
 time. With the specifications above given, gen- 
 tlemen engaged in growing hemp may be 
 enabled to erect vats, modifying the construction 
 and arrangement so as to adapt them to locality 
 and circumstances. Pure, soft water is almost 
 essential to the greatest success in this process 
 of rotting. 
 
 BREAKING. 
 
 In some localities the farmer markets the 
 hemp without breaking it; if in the vicinity of 
 a manufactory, where steam or water-power is 
 used to do this work, it will be found better to 
 avoid this labor. But if the staple is to be 
 hauled a considerable distance it will pay to 
 break it. This is best done in cold weather if 
 done by hand. The hand hemp-brake is very 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 similar to a flax-brake, though larger. The 
 under slats on the hinder end are sixteen to 
 eighteen inches apart; at the fore end they 
 approach within three inches of each other. 
 The slats on the upper jaw are so placed as 
 to break joints into the lower, as it is brought 
 down on the hemp. In the hemp-growing 
 districts experience has perfected these brakes 
 so that they are adapted to the work. Manu- 
 facturers of implements would quickly supply 
 a demand that might be made for them. Any 
 carpenter can make one. 
 
 Hemp is broken as little as possible — only 
 just enough to remove the shives. The brake 
 is struck down upon it a few times, the hemp 
 whipped across the brake to knock out the 
 loosened, woody portion. Care is taken not to 
 tangle the shives and the fiber of the hemp 
 by too much breaking. It is not swingled 
 like flax. 
 
 Mr. Cox, above quoted, describes his process of 
 breaking to be as follows :—" Small bunches, 
 having been first separated from the bundles, 
 and the buts uniformly shaken together, are 
 thinly spread upon a revolving endless apron, 
 which passes the hemp between one set of 
 plain and two sets of scolloped rollers of eight 
 inches in diameter, which gear into each other. 
 By these the wood is crushed, broken and 
 loosened from the lint From this machine the 
 hank of hemp, with the but always kept per- 
 fectly square, is passed under a brake consisting 
 of three stationary and two interplaying, 
 smooth-edged iron knives, connected by two 
 pitmans, rists and flanges, to a shaft driven by 
 pulleys, by whose rapid motion the shives are 
 effectually detached and stricken out from the 
 lint Finally the hank of hemp is held and 
 spread over a rest, and receives the action of 
 a square cylinder or scutcher, having four pro- 
 jecting knives or beaters, the rapid revolution 
 of which thoroughly clears it of shives and 
 tow. Thus prepared, the hemp is placed in an 
 extended state, with the root-ends evenly 
 together, into wooden boxes holding twenty-five 
 or thirty pounds. The bundles are then tied 
 firmly, pressed into bales of about five hundred 
 and fifty pounds, well covered with bagging, 
 and secured by cordage, ready for market" 
 
 TJNROTTED HEMP. 
 
 With the present diflSculty of obtaining labor 
 in the West, it is desirable that a market be 
 created for unrotted hemp. There have been 
 manufactories in operation for manufacturing 
 the unrotted article into cordage. It is claimed 
 that a much better cordage is thus produced than 
 can be made from the dew-rotted fiber. Until 
 manufactories of hemp are established in the 
 West, near the points of production, the ordi- 
 nary farmer must dew or water-rot his hemp. A 
 supply of the material will cause investment in 
 its manufacture; and the imports of this article 
 of consumption will cease. If, as it is claimed, 
 the raw material can be profitably worked into 
 cordage, making a better article than the dew- 
 rotted lint, it will be a great gain to agricul- 
 turists to have such processes introduced — for 
 it will diminish the cost of production without 
 proportionally depreciating its market value. 
 
 DEW VERSUS WATER- KOTTING. 
 
 Where water is convenient and suitable, the 
 steeping or water-rotting process should always 
 be adopted in preference to the dew-rotting, 
 because water-rotted hemp is worth nearly or 
 fully double the dew-rotted. If communities of 
 hemp-growers were to combine and erect vats 
 and cisterns for this work, where the natural 
 facilities do not exist, it would be found to pay — 
 especially where large areas of it are produced. 
 
 PAET SECOND -ILAX. 
 
 My duty, here, is not to give detailed direc- 
 tions for the cultivation of this plant, but to add 
 to the instructions of an experienced grower 
 such hints as may be of especial and practical 
 value to the Western cultivator. I do this 
 without knowing what Mr. Newcomb may have 
 written; and if it prove that I have repeated 
 him, this fact will account for it 
 
 PROFIT OF CULTURE HERE. 
 
 Farmer's have found it profitable to cultivate 
 Flax for seed alone, when one dollar per bushel 
 was pledged them for the product by the 
 manufacturer. The amount of seed produced 
 per acre ranges from twelve to twenty bushels, 
 sometimes more. Even this has been more 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 profitable than wheai-growing, on the average. 
 In the past, however, little or no use has been 
 made of the straw. It has, strange to say, 
 scarcely been regarded of as much value as 
 wheat straw, when really, for fodder, it is 
 excellent for hogs and cattle — one-fourth of the 
 weight of the dry straw being of a highly 
 nutritious character. Now, the seed has appre- 
 ciated in vahie, being quoted in this market at 
 $3 to $4 per bushel. The increased demand 
 for oil, the check on imports in consequence of 
 ■ our tariff, has caused the appreciation, and no 
 cause is apparent why there should be any 
 change that will materially affect the American 
 farmer's investments in the prosecution of this 
 branch of husbandry. 
 
 Added to the increased value of the seed, is 
 the appreciated value of the lint for manufactur- 
 ing purposes. Thousands of acres of flax have 
 been grown in the West, annually, for the seed, 
 and this valuable fiber has returned, unused, and 
 unprofitable, to the earth again. It has been 
 burned or used for litter, when, if proper atten- 
 tion had been paid to its manufacture by 
 capitalists, it would have possessed double the 
 value to the country, and afforded the farmer 
 double the profit Its culture cannot be too 
 strongly recommended to "Western farmers. 
 There ia a market for it now. The harvest- 
 rotted straw, loose and tangled though it be, 
 will bring five or six dollars per tun at the 
 railroad stations. A like article, dew-rotted, 
 will bring two or three dollars per tun more; 
 and if straight, and bound, still more. And it 
 is not unlikely that these prices will increase. 
 But these are war times, and it is not safe to 
 build upon such hopes. 
 
 SOIL. 
 
 There is no doubt that our dry, upland, 
 prairie soils, if deeply plowed and thoroughly 
 prepared, are equal to any in the world for the 
 production of flax fiber. The soil should be 
 rich, but not freshly manured. The best pre- 
 paratory crop for flax is hemp, as before 
 intimated. It cleans the soil, and fits it for the 
 production of a fine quality of fibef. It is 
 probably the cheapest way to clean the ground. 
 But flax may follow any of the hoed crops. 
 
 SEED AND SEEDING. 
 
 The amount of seed is a matter of consider- 
 able importance in the production of lint 
 When flax is grown for the seed alone, the lint 
 is of little value comparatively. Much of the 
 flax grown is from seed loaned the farmer by 
 manufacturers, whose interests are to have it 
 cover as large an area as possible. It is rarely 
 the case that more than a half bushel per acre 
 is allotted to the farmer — three quarters of a 
 bushel is a large allowance. It is far better for 
 the farmer to buy his seed than to take it in this 
 way. And it is a fact worthy of his attention 
 that quite as much seed will be grown on an 
 acre if a bushel and a half or two bushels is used 
 in the seeding, and the value of the lint will be 
 nearly or quite doubled. The amount of lint 
 will be largely increased, also. In some of the 
 flax growing regions of the Eastern States a 
 bushel and a half is found to be the maximum 
 quantity of seed that may profitably be sown. 
 In the flax growing countries of Europe two 
 bushels, and sometimes more, are put on the 
 acre ; and experiments in the West, with the 
 heavy seeding, seem to indicate that more and 
 better lint, and quite as much seed, will be 
 obtained where two bushels are sown to the acre 
 than if a less quantity is sown. But these 
 experiments have not been sufiiciently extended 
 to warrant the assertion that such will uniformly 
 be the case. I call attention to it that future 
 experiments may be made, and the profit of 
 heavy seeding determined. In North Illinois, 
 with this heavy seeding, twenty bushels of seed 
 and three tuns of flax straw have been gathered 
 from an acre. 
 
 Another fact of much importance to farmers 
 who may cultivate this plant for lint as well as 
 seed, is this:— The seed grown in the West is 
 not the kind of seed which should be sown 
 where lint is the object It has been grown for 
 seed, and so little has been sown to the acre that 
 it produces a spreading, bushy plant And the 
 continued light seeding with seed so produced 
 has greatly depreciated the value of the fiber it 
 produces, even when thick seeding is resorted 
 to. The plant grows dwarfed and the fiber is 
 comparatively coarse and not uniform. Seed 
 should be secured, if possible, from localities 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 where flax is grown for the lint — where it haa 
 long been grown with this object A fine quality 
 of fiber will be obtained, and seed of quite as 
 much value for all purposes will be secured. 
 It has been suggested to me by a gentleman who 
 has paid a good deal of attention to flax culture 
 and manufacture, that our Agricultural Bureau 
 at Washington, might do the country a service 
 by importing seed, for general distribution, from 
 some of the best flax growing regions of Europe. 
 In Hungary there are estates noted for the fine 
 flax which they produce. It haa long been 
 produced in these localities, and seed obtained 
 from them would be of great value at the start. 
 I hesitate to recommend the Department at 
 "Washington taking any steps in the matter; for 
 its agents as often buy on their own account, 
 Government paying expenses, more seed than 
 they buy for the Government. But if this hint 
 is acted upon by responsible parties, on their 
 own account, it will be safe to insure them a 
 full reward for their enterprise. 
 
 TIME OF SEEDING. 
 
 What has already been said under this 
 head concerning hemp, will apply here. The 
 earlier the sded is put in, with the soil in good 
 condition, the better, that the plants may get 
 the start of the weeds, and that its growth may 
 be far advanced before the summer heats com- 
 mence. In the West, on our open prairies, 
 where the sun is so intense in its influence, the 
 growth of the fiber is too rapid, and it is weak 
 and inferior. Hence, early seeding and the 
 more extended cultivation of this plant in the 
 higher latitudes is urged. The seed should be 
 uniformly distributed, and on our light prairie 
 soils no harrowing will be found necessary to 
 cover it; the roller alone should be used for 
 this purpose. 
 
 HARVESTING 
 
 May be performed with the scythe, mower, or 
 reaper, depending upon the convenience of the 
 planter, and the condition of the soil and crop 
 at the time of harvest 
 
 It pays to do this work well — to do it in the 
 best manner, and save both seed and lint in the 
 best possible condition. If the weather is good 
 at the time of cutting, it may be taken up, bound. 
 
 shocked and cured in that shape. The less it is 
 tangled and the more evenly it is kept, and the 
 brighter it is preserved, the greater its value. 
 As soon as cured it should be put under cover, 
 or stacked. 
 
 It is the practice in the West to let the crop, as 
 it is cut, lie upon the land and harvest-rot, and 
 then thrash the seed with a machine. This prac- 
 tice renders the lint comparatively worthless; 
 indeed, as before written, it has been regarded of 
 but little value. But even this has a market 
 value now; and if not too much rotted it will 
 bring eight or nine dollars per tun in this market 
 If the straw is too much rotted the strength of 
 the fiber is injured — sometimes destroyed ; and 
 there is great danger that it will be over-rotted 
 where it is harvest-rotted in hot weather. If 
 under-rotted it does not clean well, and hence its 
 value for spinning is less than if well rotted. 
 The difference made by buyers in favor of dew- 
 rotted, reaper-cut flax straw, will pay well for 
 the work necessary to do it, provided the labor is 
 at hand. But the difference made by buyers, or 
 manufacturers, is not so great as is the difference 
 in its value to them. The cultivator who takes 
 prime care of his crop, and puts it in goqd 
 condition for the market should remember this, 
 and demand the full difference in the cost of care 
 and labor expended. It is important that the 
 crop should be cut as close to the ground as 
 possible in order that the full length of the fiber 
 may be secured. It is one objection to cutting 
 flax at all, that the fiber is abruptly cut, and does 
 not spin well because it does not run as when in 
 the natural condition. If cut very low this 
 objection is removed, for the fiber runs out as it 
 approaches the root. 
 
 The processes of rotting, and the best time for 
 rotting, are similar to that of hemp. Cool 
 weather and clean grass sod, on which to spread 
 the straw, are essentials in the dew-rotting. The 
 flax, when half rotted, is usually turned over. 
 A pole or rake handle is run under the seed end 
 of the flax, and the swath tipped over, the root 
 end resting on the ground. This is quickly 
 done. When fully rotted, bind, set up, let it get 
 dry, and then store it or press it in bales for the 
 manufacturer. Remember that it is important it 
 should be dry before it is sent to market, not 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 only because dampness defrauds the purchaser, 
 but because it is difficult to work it in the 
 machinery. It winds about and sticks to the 
 cylinders, and makes an almost endless amount 
 of trouble. 
 
 Where there is water, and it can be done, 
 water-rotting should be adopted. It will greatly 
 increase the value of the crop. There is less 
 waste about this process, and the product is 
 worth more. The remarks under this head with 
 reference to hemp will apply here with equal 
 force and pertinency. In the absence of streams 
 or ponds, or other natural facilities, the small 
 cultivator will have to resort to dew-rotting; but 
 where large areas are cultivated in this crop, it 
 will pay to prepare for water-rotting. 
 
 THBASHINU. 
 
 The flail is an excellent tool with which to get 
 out the seed, and a good, clean, tight barn-floor 
 an excellent place on which to do it It should 
 never be thrashed on the ground. The seed is 
 also removed by rippling through a hatchel — a 
 wooden one, or one with iron or steel teeth. But 
 in the West the farmers have not the patience of 
 Job, and something rapid will be required. 
 Other modes of thrashing are practiced. The 
 seed is sometimes taken off by the use of two 
 rollers, with their ends set in sliding bearings. 
 
 backed by springs to keep the rollers together. 
 The flax is taken in both hands and passed down 
 through the rollers until the bolls are broken, the 
 seed dropping below. 
 
 Another mode is to remove the concave of a 
 thrashing machine, fasten a bar in front of the 
 cylinder to support the seed end of the flax 
 bundle as it is held by the but end, and subject 
 the tops to the action of the cylinder. With 
 care, this last mode is expeditious and safe, and 
 the value of the flax is increased because the 
 branching seed ends of the stalks are removed 
 along with the seed bolls. 
 
 The above hints are all that will probably be 
 needed in addition to directions given in other 
 pages, especially as all intelligent farmers take 
 and read agricultural papers, in which the experi- 
 ence, practice and discoveries of practical men 
 are recorded. 
 
 There is no doubt that the supply of flax fiber 
 is going to stimulate the inventive genius of our 
 people in creating machinery adapted to its prep- 
 aration and manufacture. It is one of the great 
 undeveloped sources of wealth in this country ; 
 and while this great rebellion costs tke North 
 bljjod and treasure, it is at the sametime creating 
 a revolution of our industry, and awakening and 
 developing sympathies and powers which have 
 too long been dormant. 
 
 PLAX GROWING IN SENECA COUNTY, N. T. 
 
 BY SAMJEL WILLIAMS, OP WATERLOO. 
 
 Twenty - five or more years ago, flax 
 growing for the seed was a favorite crop with 
 many farmers, to be followed by a wheat crop. 
 The flax seed was sown early on a dry, well 
 pulverized soil, and cut, like clover, with a 
 scythe, early in August. As it left the land 
 clear of weeds, it was immediately plowed, and 
 prepared with little labor to be sown with wheat 
 in September. The three oil mills at Waterloo, 
 and another at Seneca Falls, then made a ready 
 cash market fof the seed, and the rough flax 
 after being thrashed of its seed was readily sold 
 
 to the flax-dressing machine here, for six dollars 
 the tun, in its rough and tumbled state. In order 
 to induce farmers to continue to grow flax seed, 
 our oil makers supplied them with extra clean 
 seed, and generally contracted for the crop of 
 seed when grown. 
 
 The flax crop was even then profitable, not- 
 withstanding the comparatively low price of the 
 seed and rough flax. Still many farmers had a 
 strong prejudice against flax growing, letting in 
 a conceit that to grow such oily seed must 
 necessarily take the strength out of the soil; 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 whereas agricultural chemistry tells us that oil 
 is mere carbon, so common a substance as to be 
 of little manurial value. According to Liebig, 
 the carbonic acid of the atmosphere is capable 
 of supplying all the carbon necessary for a 
 maximum crop. It is hardly probable that the 
 flax crop draws any harder on the nitrogen and 
 phosphates of the soil, than the narrow-leaved 
 oat crop. In fact, I have always noticed that it 
 was oftener insisted on that flax was a very 
 exhausting crop by those farmers who did not 
 grow it, than by those who did. But the greatest 
 discouragement to flax growing was the advent 
 of the wheat midge, C. tritici. After the ravages 
 of tills insect had nearly put an end to wheat 
 growing, farmers prepared to grow oats instead 
 of flax. The soil did not require such nice 
 preparation for this crop as for flax; the yield 
 was large, the price always high, and in default 
 of wheat straw, oat straw was a necessity to aid 
 the farmer to carry his stock through the winter. 
 Wm. Knox, the principal oil maker here, says 
 that "after wheat growing began to be aban- 
 doned as a general crop, oats took the place of 
 the flax crop." ' 
 
 But now, in the blessing of Providence, the 
 midge has left us, and the wheat crop is again 
 the great paying cereal crop of Western New 
 York. Now, then, is the accepted time to begin 
 again to grow flax, to be followed by the wheat 
 crop. It is, also, still more encouraging to go 
 into flax growing at this time, as flax seed has 
 advanced several hundred per cent. It is now 
 sold for seed at four dollars a bushel; and the 
 rough flax has also been advanced in price by 
 the improvements in flax-dressing machinery, 
 and by the great dearth of cotton, to a very high 
 price, which cannot fail to be realized for several 
 years to come. 
 
 The scarcity of flax seed, and consequent high 
 price, will alone prevent many farmers from flax 
 growing this season. But one of our largest 
 grain and stock growers, Joseph "Wright, will 
 
 sow about twenty bushels of seed as soon as he 
 can have the fields finely prepared to receive it. 
 As it is his design to pull the flax, and make 
 the most of both seed and lint, he will so,w a 
 bushel or more seed to the acre. When flax was 
 grown mainly for the seed, twenty-two quarts 
 only was sown to the acre. The flax was not 
 pulled, but cut with the scythe, and gathered 
 and thrashed like a seed crop of clover. 
 
 I was a little in arrear of the improvements o' 
 the age in an article in a late Rural, when I 
 said that the Irish pulled their flax green before 
 the seed had ripened, depending on imported 
 seed to sow for the next crop. Fifty years ago I 
 well remember the continued export of flax seed 
 to Ireland, when it was shipped in seven bushel 
 casks; but the Irish have made such progress, 
 both in agricultural and manufacturing science, 
 since that day, that they now make the best of 
 Irish linen from flax that has ripened its seed. 
 
 Since writing the above I have seen the fore- 
 man of the old flax-dresser here, and he says 
 that the yield of rough mown flax in this region, 
 was over two tuns to the acre; and that every 
 tun yielded three bundles of broken flax, of three 
 hundred pounds each, pretty well cleaned of the 
 shives. This would give 1,800 pounds of textile 
 material to the acre. The woody fiber left in it, 
 he thinks, does not amount to 5 per cent It is 
 true that a large part of it is tow; still it is textile 
 and capable of being spun into rope-yarn, if not 
 for weaving. He says that there was a great 
 demand for this rough flax in New York at $40 
 the tun. It was used both by rope-makers and 
 upholsterers. At this time it would probably be 
 worth twice or thrice as much as then. 
 
 Mr. Cooper informs me that the flax-dresser 
 here is simply a cast-iron breaker of eighteen 
 rollers, nine above and nine below. With the 
 aid of two boys he has broken and packed into 
 bundles three tuns of this rough flax as the daily 
 average, but it was only a short time in the season 
 that they could get the flax straw to work. 
 
THE STRUCTURE OF TEXTILE FIBERS. 
 
 BY JOHN PHIN, AUTHOR OP "OPEN-AIE GRAPE CULTURE." 
 
 The Animal, the Vegetable, and the Mineral 
 Kingdoms have all been laid under contribution 
 by man in his search for a fiber which may be 
 easily worked into substitutes for Eve's fig leaf. 
 But, although the variety of fibers which may be 
 used is very great, the practical efforts of man- 
 kind have been confined chiefly to Silk, Wool, 
 Cotton and Flax. Fur, which is extensively 
 used in felting processes, is not usually regarded 
 as a textile fiber, and neither is paper-making a 
 textile process. 
 
 Each of these fibers is most easily converted 
 into proper fabrics by means of processes pecu- 
 liar to itself, and which depend, in a great 
 measure, upon the ultimate structure of the fiber 
 operated upon. Hence the great value of an 
 accurate knowledge of this structure in each 
 case. If, for example, we were to apply to cotton 
 the processes usually applied to wool^ and which 
 depend upon the felting properties of the latter, 
 we would signally fail,— solely because the 
 felting process requires, in the fiber subjected to 
 it, elements which cotton does not possess, and 
 the absence of which are easily ascertained by 
 microscopical examination. A description, with 
 illustrative figures of the various fibers, may 
 therefore prove interesting to those who are 
 devoting their attention to the production of 
 substitutes for cotton. 
 
 Fig. 1, 
 SILK, as produced by the silk-worm, is a 
 Blender filament, remarkably regular in its size, 
 though generally it tapers gradually from the 
 outer to the inner end, as unwound from the 
 cocoon. It possesses a smooth and lustrous 
 surface, and consists of two cylindrical filaments, 
 
 glued or cemented together, this structure being 
 derived from the fact that the silk-worm or cater- 
 pillar possesses two spinnarets, from each of 
 which one of these cylindrical filaments pro- 
 ceeds, and the two being brought together before 
 they harden, they become united into a compound 
 filament as shown in Fig. 1. 
 
 The filaments of silk are from 750 to 1,150 feet 
 in length, and may be regarded as ready 
 prepared threads, which require but to be united 
 in proper numbers to produce an article suitable 
 for weaving or for the ordinary purposes of the 
 seamstress. 
 
 WOOL consists of a single cylinder, generally 
 somewhat irregular in thickness, (though this 
 feature, if excessive, is 
 a serious defect,) and 
 covered with numerous 
 scales or imbrications 
 which give it a snake- 
 like appearance under 
 the microscope. These 
 scales or imbrications, 
 in connection with its 
 elasticity and tendency 
 to curl, confer upon 
 wool the peculiar prop- 
 erty of felting — a prop- 
 erty which it possesses 
 in common with many 
 kinds of fur. On ex- 
 amining the engraving, 
 Fig. 2, it will be seen 
 that these imbrications 
 Fio. 2. all point one way, like 
 
 ratchet teeth. If, therefore, two of these hairs 
 or fibers were placed parallel and close together, 
 but with the roots and points lying in opposite 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 directions, the projections on one fiber would 
 catch on the projections of the other, and while 
 the hairs would easily slip past each other, in 
 one direction, they would resist all such motion 
 in the opposite one. 
 
 So well developed is this property in some 
 furs that fabrics are made without the aid of 
 spinning or weaving, and simply by mixing 
 the fibers thoroughly in reverse directions, (as 
 regards the points and roots,) so as to form a 
 layer of loose flocks which the workman covers 
 with a piece of blanket stuff, slightly moistened, 
 and presses with his hands, moving the hairs 
 backward and forward in all directions. Thus 
 the different fibers get interlaced, by their ends 
 pursuing ever tortuous paths ; their vermicular 
 motion being always, however, root foremost. 
 As the matting gets denser, the hand pressure 
 should be increased in order to overcome the 
 increasing resistance to the decussation. A first 
 thin sheet of soft, spongy felt being now formed, 
 a second is condensed upon it in like manner, 
 and then a third, till the requisite strength and 
 thickness be attained, after which the fiber is 
 subjested to the fulling process. 
 
 So, too, by fulling woolen cloth — that is, 
 by the combined action of heat, moisture and 
 mechanical blows, the fibers of wool get more 
 and more thoroughly interlaced and the fabric 
 shrinks in length and breadth, and increases in 
 thickness. Hence, too, in washing woolen goods 
 which it is desired should not shrink, they 
 should be rubbed and worked as little as 
 possible, since, if the fibers once get interlaced, 
 it is very difiBcult to retract them. 
 
 In the ordinary processes of carding, spinning 
 and weaving it does not appear that this peculiar 
 feature in the structure of wool plays any 
 important part The success of these operations 
 depends upon the elasticity of the fibers and upon 
 the equality of their length and thickness. Ure 
 says that "the best length of staple for the 
 clothing, or fulling species of wool, is from two 
 to three inches. But Saxony wool, though four 
 or five inches long, admits, from its tenderness, of 
 being easily broken down by carding to the 
 proper shortness, and is preferable, on account 
 of its variable lengths, for making kerseymeres, 
 pelisse cloths, shawls, and such fabrics as require 
 fine yam." 
 
 COTTON consists of the hairs which surround 
 the seeds of various species of gossypium. In 
 
 a growing state they are slender, round tubes, 
 but when dried become flattened so as to appear 
 of a twisted, ribbon-like shape, with rounded 
 
 edges. Fig. 3, which shows a portion of cotton 
 fiber, exhibits this peculiar structure very 
 plainly. These fibers are perfectly smooth, so 
 that they do not felt in the slightest degree; but, 
 owing to their elasticity, fineness, regularity and 
 flexibility, they are more perfectly adapted to 
 the various processes of carding, spinning, &c., 
 than any other fiber. 
 
 Dr. Uke gives the following beautiful illustra- 
 tion of these properties of cotton :— " If we take 
 a tuft of cotton wool in the left hand, and seizing 
 the projecting fibers with the right, slowly draw 
 them out, we shall percieve with what remark- 
 able facility they glide past each other, and yet 
 retain their mutual connection, while they are 
 extended and arranged in parallel lines, so as to 
 form a little ribbon, susceptible of considerable 
 elongation. This demonstration of the ductility, 
 so to speak, of cotton wool, succeeds still better 
 upon the carded fleece in which the filaments 
 have acquired a certain parallelism ; for in this 
 case the tiny ribbon, in being drawn out by the 
 fingers to a moderate length, may at the same 
 time receive a gentle twist to preserve its cohe- 
 sion till it'becomes a fine thread." 
 
 FLAX.— The fibers of lint, as derived from the 
 Flax Plant, {Linum usitatissimum,) consist of 
 nearly solid, cylindrical filaments, jointed some- 
 what like a bamboo cane. That this is the real 
 structure of flax we have no doubt. The annexed 
 engraving. Fig. 4, representing a flax fiber, was 
 drawn by means of the camera lucida, from the 
 object under an excellent microscope, constructed 
 
 by Grunow, of New York, the power used being 
 an objective equal to one-fourth inch focus, 
 and magnifying about 190 diameters. The same 
 appearances were found in lint from all sources; 
 in that form mummy cloth, supposed to be 5,000 
 
 \ 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 years old, and ia " flax cotton" prepared by the 
 most recent processes. Neither did we fail to 
 find the same appearances under the most vary- 
 ing circumstances as to illumination and medium 
 of immersion. Whether viewed by transmitted 
 or by reflected light the fibers presented the same 
 cane-like structure; and their being mounted 
 dry, in balsam, in dilute alcohol, in glycerine, in 
 water, or in any other mode, seemed to make no 
 difiereuce. 
 
 We have examined this subject thus thor- 
 oughly, because of the discrepant statements 
 made by popular authors in regard to it, and 
 because of its im ortant be.uing upon the 
 characteristics of flax as a textile fiber. Thus 
 Dr. GoADBT, in his "Veget;ible and Animal 
 Physiology," has figured flax as consisting of a 
 cylinder with a series of simple conBtrictions. as 
 shown in a figure on another page, and which is 
 copied from his work. 
 
 Dr. Ure describes the joints alluded to, as 
 parenchymatous rings, tying together the bundles 
 of fibrillae, and says, moreover, that in his micro- 
 scope, with a power of 300 diameters, the fibrils 
 never show cane-like, furrowed joints, although 
 they sometimes show cross lines at variable 
 angles to the axis. He gives the diameter of the 
 fibrils thus described by him as the l-2000th of 
 an inch. The diameter of the fibrils, shown in 
 in Fig. 4, varies from l-2S80th to l-1500th of an 
 inch. It is therefore probable that our lint is as 
 finely divided as his. But flax fibers vary in 
 diameter much more than this. We have meas- 
 ured fibrils which we were satisfied were 
 ultimate, and which measured the l-650th of 
 an inch, — and we have found fibrils as small as 
 the l-5000th of an inch, which showed the 
 structure we have described as distinctly as a 
 cane fishing-pole. Dr. Ure further states that 
 the parenchymatous rings which bind these 
 fibrils in bundles, are soluble in weak potash 
 lye. Such is not the case with regard to these 
 joints. They show quite as distinctly after being 
 boiled in liquor potassae as they did before. 
 
 On carefully examining the structure of flax 
 fiber, as shown in Fig. 5, it will be seen that the 
 various joints are not accurately in line, as they 
 would necessarily be if the joints were mere 
 rings slipped on to a continuous cylinder. More- 
 over, on breaking a bundle of fibers the fibrillae 
 split ofi", as is very clearly shown in Fig. 5, which 
 
 was drawn by the camera, from a mounted 
 specimen under the microscope, and is not a 
 mere fancy sketch. On attempting lo break up 
 a fibril (which is easily done,) it does not split 
 
 F:g. 6. 
 into lesser fibrillae, but breaks across with an 
 irregular fracture. The fibers are also easily 
 crushed or flattened, and when so flattened, 
 fVequently present, under the microscope, a 
 bulged appearance, which has apparently given 
 rise to numerous errors among popular authors. 
 In all the prepared flax which we have 
 examined no fibers have occurred which 
 appeared to be divided longitudinally for any 
 considerable distance. In a few cases we have 
 seen fibers crushed, and apparently split, and 
 these splits have in some cases extended, con- 
 tinuously, beyond the joints. This, perhaps, 
 suggests the possibility of still further dividing 
 the fibrils, though by what means this could be 
 accomplished it might be diflBcult to suggest It 
 is obvious, however, that if the lines of direction 
 of the dividing or splitting force extended con- 
 tinuously beyond the joints, the same effect 
 would be produced as by continuous lines of 
 arrangement of woody fiber. But an examina- 
 tion of very many broken fibers, leads us to 
 believe that the fibrils which we have described, 
 do not possess any structure more minute than 
 that shown in Fig. 4. This statement would be 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTUKE. 
 
 most satisfactorily verified by a series of good 
 drawings of the specimens from which our 
 conclusions are derived, and at some future time 
 we hope to present the subject in a more detailed 
 manner. 
 
 ScHLEiDEN figures the cells of the flax plant 
 as shown in the engraving, Fig. 6. Abundance 
 of such fibers are found ia the woody portion of 
 
 the plant, but we have failed to discover them 
 In lint. On the whole, therefore, we believe 
 that the ultimate fibers of flax possess the 
 structure which we have described, and that but 
 little hope need be entertained of the possibility 
 of further divisioa. 
 
 The peculiar characteristics of flax as a textile 
 fiber are its hardness, strength, rigidity and want 
 of elasticity. It is the latter feature, particularly, 
 which renders it so difficult to work in all stages 
 of its manufacture. Thus, speaking of the weav- 
 ing of linen fabrics, Dr. Ure remarks: — "The 
 greatest obstacle of a practical nature to the 
 introduction of the automatic weaving of linens, 
 was the stubbornness or want of elasticity in the 
 yarn, which caused frequent breakages and much 
 confusion. In woolen or cotton goods if a thread 
 or yarn should chance to be a little tighter than 
 the others in the warp, its elasticity will allow it 
 to come up to the general bearing of the others 
 when the weft is struck up by the reed ; but in 
 linen, from the want of that elasticity, a thread 
 so situated would break, and by crossing some 
 others cause them, if not to be broken direct by 
 that circumstance, at all events cause an obstruc- 
 tion to the shuttle that would lead to further 
 mischief." This difSculty is felt with even 
 greater force in the earlier stages. The mere 
 length of fiber is by no means an insurmountable 
 difficulty. Flax could easily be reduced to 
 conditions similar, as regards length and tapering 
 termination, to wool and cotton. But in the first 
 
 of these fibers we have a slender filament, cov- 
 ered with elastic scales which readily yield, but 
 at the same time confer a wonderful elasticity 
 throughout a long range of flexure. And in the 
 case of cotton we have a flattened tube, the 
 matter in whose walls has been greatly extended 
 when compared with the nearly solid, wooden 
 cylinders composing lint. 
 
 To obviate these difficulties, in a measure, the 
 Chevalier Claussen, after dividing the fibers of 
 flax as minutely as possible, by means of his 
 chemical process, mixed the fiber thus obtained 
 with cotton to produce what he called "flax 
 cotton ;" with wool to produce " flax wool ;" and 
 with waste silk to produce "flax silk." That a 
 judicious mixture of these various fibers would 
 produce articles superior in some respects to 
 any one alone there can be little doubt, and 
 thus might be opened an available market for 
 large quantities of flax. All the specimens of 
 flax cotton that we have seen, however, have 
 been pure lint — no finer than that frequently 
 used in the manufacture of fine linen goods. 
 The application of the term "flax cotton" to 
 such materials seems to us a misnomer. 
 
 In the possibility of so preparing flax that it 
 may possess the properties of wool or cotton we 
 must confess that we have but little faith. It 
 may not be for us to ofier suggestions, and 
 neither would we wish to damp the inventive 
 ardor of the multitudes who are entering upon 
 these investigations. It seems to us, however, 
 that after having reduced flax to its ultimate 
 fibers, (the processes for eff'ecting which are no 
 doubt subject to vast improvement,) our most 
 feasible hope lies in the adoption of improved 
 machinery for converting this fiber into the 
 desired fabrics. That American genius is abun- 
 dantly competent to effect this we have no doubt 
 As to its ability to convert a jointed, wooden 
 cylinder, the l-2000th of an inch in diameter, into 
 either a flat ribbon, with rounded edges, or into 
 a scaly fiber, permit us to retain some doubt. 
 
FLAX AS A DOMESTIC INSTITUTION. 
 
 BY HUGH T. BEOOKS, OF WYOMINQ CO., N. T. 
 
 About the time the piano -forte came in, 
 another instrument, worth two of it, went out. 
 It was a bad exchange, judged by any standard of 
 value known among men. The piano, polished 
 and pretentious, claims your best room, disdains 
 all menial duties and all plebeian associations, 
 replies repulsively to strangers ; but, as if to 
 make its exceptional features more repugnant, 
 responds to a favored few with utterances melo- 
 dious as an angel's voice. Certainly, under such 
 circumstances, the piano does not occupy a very 
 " wide sphere of usefulness." 
 
 The wheel, known and distinguished as " the 
 spinning-wheel," and further eruditely classified 
 and subdivided into the "big wheel" and the 
 " little wheel," was gotten up on a very different 
 plan, modest, laborious and practical. Forced 
 into retirement, like the Grecian sage by those 
 it had served too well, it may still be found 
 among fossilized remains in the garrets of our 
 ancient farm-houses. Eemoved to a fashionable 
 boarding school, it would at once be recognized 
 by the pupils as having some mysterious connec- 
 tion with one of the "lost arts," and would be 
 removed to a suitable receptacle for relics that 
 have outlived their usefulness. 
 
 What precious memories cluster around this 
 memento of former years! Soiled and sooty, 
 lacking a spoke, limping in one leg, like your 
 grandfather's chair, it shows the workmanship 
 and proportions of other days. Everything 
 about it betokens service. The legs are shortened 
 
 by wear; the band's groove is well worn — 
 gudgeons small, sockets large, and "treadle" 
 scolloped by the constant foot of one, who, true 
 to the manifold duties of wife and mother, spun 
 the thread of her mortal life, and helped to 
 weave the web of empire. Oh, "little wheel !" — 
 you revive our remembrance of a noble race 
 who grappled with the mighty problems of a 
 new existence, solving at once the vexed ques- 
 tions of human liberty, social and industrial 
 advancement. Animated by a strong religious 
 faith, inheriting the spirit of adventurous sires, 
 quickened to unparalleled effort by the incentives 
 and opportunities of an undeveloped continent, 
 they inaugurated an era of peaceful prosperity 
 with no parallel in the world's history. Their 
 enterprise laid broad and deep the foundations 
 of a mighty empire, full of hope for the human 
 race. 
 
 I am reminded that, being unable to repay our 
 obligations, we ought at least to confess them, 
 and to transmit unimpaired the fair heritage of 
 freedom received at their hands. In this "second 
 stniggle for liberty," deadlier than the first, it is 
 well that we review these memories — that we 
 cultivate the virtues, and the industries that made 
 our fathers invincible. 
 
 Now, aa aforetime, necessity is upon the 
 people to practice economy, develop the latent 
 resources of the country, and by any and every 
 means increase the supplies demanded by the 
 armies in the field, and the people at home. 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 Siace foreign goods are paid for, to a considerable 
 extent, with the " precious metals," now doubly 
 precious, and every purchase from abroad tends 
 to increase the rates of foreign exchange, it 
 becomes our men and our women to put forth 
 every effort to augment our supplies by domes- 
 tic MANUFACTURES. 
 
 It seems, therefore, an auspicious time to 
 return to the cultivation and manufacture of 
 Flax, especially as its great rival, Cotton, hard 
 pressed by contending armies, has so far with- 
 drawn from every-day life as to leave our wants, 
 in a large measure, unsupplied. It is a matter 
 of record, that for many centuries flax was 
 mainly relied upon by leading nations for 
 domestic clothing. Royalty was arrayed in fine 
 linen; prince and peasant were clothed in 
 vestments derived from the same source. — 
 Egyptian, Grecian, Roman, Frank and Briton 
 knew and approved it well. 
 
 It is only lately, that machinery suited to short 
 staples, like wool and cotton, brought the latter 
 article into general use, to the partial exclusion 
 of flaxen fabrics. We have reason to hope that 
 the diflSculties hitherto attending the working of 
 flax by machinery will be overcome; but if we 
 shall be disappointed in this, we have the same 
 means and methods that our fathers had. — 
 Fortunately we have preserved wheels and 
 looms enough to furnish models, and our mothers 
 and aunts can show us how to use them. Let 
 spinning and weaving be henceforth reckoned 
 among modern "accomplishments;" let school- 
 girls rival each other, not in the purity of their 
 French and Italian, the correctness of their 
 coloring and perspective, the elegance of their 
 embroidery, but in the quantity and quality of 
 the tovD doth they can spin and weave in a week. 
 To this end let wealth lend its means and influ- 
 ence, social eminence contribute willingly, and 
 all sober-minded people labor assiduously. 
 
 To what extent our national resources will yet 
 be taxed, no one knows, but a people occupying 
 a country like ours, in such a state of agricultu- 
 ral advancement — with orchards and vineyards, 
 fields in a high state of cultivation, stocked with 
 improved flocks and herds, with houses and out- 
 buildings, and all the appliances of an improved 
 agriculture— should deem themselves equal to 
 
 any emergency. The same industry, the same 
 high resolve that animated the men and matrons 
 of '76 will perfect the work they began. 
 
 A GREAT SOCIAL PROBLEM. 
 
 The Culture of Flax rises to the dignity of a 
 great social reform. As a branch of Domestic 
 Manufactures it bears upon the great industrial 
 problem which the increasing population of our 
 country and the world renders every day more 
 important and more difficult to solve. Hitherto, 
 labor in this country has been in demand at 
 prices deemed good by those who employ — 
 deemed not so good by those who have tried the 
 experiment of making one hundred and fifty dol- 
 lars, or, in exceptional cases, two or three hundred 
 dollars cover the various demands of landlord, 
 butcher, miller, grocer, merchant, shoe-maker, 
 woodman and doctor, for a numerous family. 
 But grant that labor has been in demand at good 
 prices, you will perceive that the labor demanded 
 is that efiicient kind that can go anywhere for a 
 job, and do any kind of a job when it is found. 
 There are, ever have been, and will be in 
 increasing numbers, persons more or less infirm, 
 not capable of doing a full day's work, and 
 others who from family cares cannot leave home, 
 and who need the avails of whatever labor they 
 are able to perform. For such as these, and they 
 are a great multitude, work that can be taken to 
 their own houses, and executed as their health 
 and strength, and demands upon their time will 
 permit, is in the highest degree desirable. I 
 have long been convinced that the great defect 
 of our industrial system is this kind of work. 
 For the want of it, multitudes, willing and 
 anxious to do something, spend much of their 
 time in idleness. Nobody need deny this. The 
 population about here is comparatively comfort- 
 able or independent ; but I positively know that 
 there are multitudes of women, and some men, 
 who would rejoice to be furnished with the kind 
 of work I have described. How many women 
 would gladly knit for small pay, if somebody 
 would furnish the yarn! How many would 
 gladly spin and weave for a part of the cloth, if 
 somebody would furnish the wool, or flax, or 
 tow ? My experience as a farmer and wool- 
 grower enables me to say positively, very many. 
 
FLAX CULTUKE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 I know well that the spinning wheels did not 
 stop, the looms did not stop, till we, the farmers 
 —I blush while I record it— cut off the supplies. 
 I agree with Calvin, I think it was, that man is 
 " totally depraved," but woman's sympathies are 
 stronger than her inertness; she will not suffer 
 her little ones to go in winter half clad, or 
 supperless to bed, while she has a finger on her 
 hands, and material to fabricate a garment or a 
 meal. 
 
 Flax, in other countries, to a very large extent, 
 and considerably in our own, has supplied the 
 very want I have described. It is, pre-eminently, 
 a Domestic Institution .'— suited to the needs of a 
 home population. Multitudes will welcome its 
 return as the means of clothing their families, 
 and feeding them, too. Many not now utterly 
 destitute, who have the remains of what was 
 once deemed a competence, see their supplies 
 growing every day less; prospective want stares 
 them in the face, and soon, with pride subdued, 
 self-respect lost, and the incentives to honorable 
 effort gone forever, will become chargeable upon 
 the men of property, who often are reminded by 
 the poor-rates— determined to learn it no other 
 way— thsit they are related to the great family of 
 man. Will they, for the love of God, or their 
 kind, do what they can to see that all about 
 them, young and old, strong and weak, have the 
 kind of work that fits them best. 
 
 I know very well that we all claim the right 
 to do what we will with our own — that farmers 
 suspended flax, and sold their wool to specula- 
 tors and factory men because they thought they 
 " made by it." I fear that we are still too far off 
 from the Millennium to ignore commercial con- 
 siderations—that the pleadings of needy women 
 will not turn the scale when a couple of pennies 
 are at the other end ; but I ask that we do not 
 deceive ourselves by false and faulty calculations. 
 
 "When a rise in the price of wool, and a fall 
 in the price of cloth, sent "home-made" out of 
 market, and made the good old-fashioned tow 
 breeches strangers in the land of their birth, we 
 went headlong with the current, not doubting 
 that things were as they seemed. "Well do I 
 recollect the spread of this great heresy through 
 the country. The truth of history demands that 
 I should say that clergymen were among the first 
 to put on broadcloth. They may have been pre- 
 ceded a little by Presidents, and Governors, and 
 
 Congressmen. Lawyers were scarcely behind- 
 Students of law certified their apostasy from 
 their fathers' trades, by apostatizing from their 
 fathers' garb. Merchants— a fair business trans- 
 action—advertised their goods by putting them 
 on. Our Member of Assembly followed suit, 
 and now and then a Justice of the Peace, and a 
 aandidate for Coroner. Finally, we all had to get 
 married, bachelors excepted, in broadcloth. I 
 knew a well-to-do farmer who borrowed a coat 
 for the occasion, and after the ceremony, like a 
 repentant sinner, returned to his integrity. "Very 
 soon, however, the rawest kind of a boy could 
 not go a courting in " home-made," and then it 
 was all over with us. This final catastrophe 
 happened some thirty odd years ago, since 
 which time the factories have had every thing 
 their own way. 
 
 Calamities never come singly; elliptic springs, 
 cigars, stove-pipe hats, thin boots, plaited bosoms, 
 mustaches, found their way into the country — I 
 do not speak for the cities —about the same time. 
 Had we taken the "strategic line" of domestic 
 manufactures, and held it, these other raids 
 would never, in my opinion, have been ventured 
 upon. 
 
 I very much hate to put an additional weapon 
 into the hands of the other sex, they are so 
 expert in using them ; but I have a secret opinion 
 that if we had kept the wheels and looms in 
 good repair, furnished plenty of wool and flax to 
 work them, and boldly worn their fabrics on 
 Fourth of July's and Sunday's, to weddings and 
 town meetings, our bills for ribbons, gaiters, lace, 
 silks, French lessons, sulphur water, crinoline 
 and cologne would have been materially les- 
 sened. Was it not to be expected that persons 
 in sympathy with us would adopt our habits, 
 with needed variations? I am half inclined to 
 think that, as the lawyers would say, we are 
 forever estopped from complaining of any fem- 
 inine absurdity whatever ! 
 
 Now this is of the nature of retributive justice. 
 We would not feed the looms; we despised home- 
 made fabrics; we disregarded the interests of 
 the poor who wished to spin and weave, and 
 raise flax, and we pettifogged the case by saying 
 that factory goods were cheaper— was that 
 certainly so ? The other day I bought a factory- 
 made pair of socks for three York shillings. For 
 a whole week I indulged in the pleasing illusion 
 
46 
 
 FLAX CUXTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 that I had made a good bargain. At the end of 
 that time I put them on, and in three days I had 
 to lay up for repairs. Ah, me ! As I reviewed 
 them carefully eaeh successive morning, and 
 saw them shedding their hairs, like a colt in the 
 spring, and giving unmistakable indications of 
 rapid decomposition, how fondly did my memory 
 go back to the socks of other days, that you 
 might hold up to the light, and pull, and push 
 your fingers against, and view from whatever 
 stand-point, and find them firm and thick and 
 soft and warm. Dear, blessed, home-made socks! 
 No wonder we don't live out half our days, 
 wanting such socks as these. And yet I do not 
 blame the wives, and sisters, and mothers, and 
 aunts of this generation, for the lack of good 
 socks. The fault is with the masculine fra- 
 ternity, who have withheld the rolls and broke 
 up the wheels. What is true of socks, is essen- 
 tially true of other garments, from the " shoddy" 
 overcoat, to the wrapper that dissolves with the 
 
 first washing. A little cheaper, forsooth — a little 
 dearer, most likely, in the end. So, then, the 
 argument founded on humanity, merely backs 
 up the argument founded on real economy. 
 Much time goes to waste in families that might 
 be saved by domestic manufactures. 
 
 If people are above want, if they dare to think 
 that they have no need to acquire a knowledge 
 of what might, under a change of circumstances, 
 be their salvation, I will still honor our common 
 nature by believing that many will look to the 
 interests of the poor and dependent, and will 
 devise work for needy hands; work that can be 
 done at the fireside — work that will keep families 
 together, children under the eyes of their parents, 
 brothers in the society of their sisters, and sisters 
 under the protection of their brothers; work that 
 does not sever family ties, but binds in a holy 
 union whom God has joined together; — such 
 work is worthy of a Patriot's care and a 
 Christians' effort to provide. 
 
 THE USES OE THE ELAX CROP. 
 
 There is hardly a crop grown that has greater 
 utility, or that can be turned to so many uses 
 as the flax crop. Every part of it can be made 
 use of, not as ordinary crops, used for common 
 purposes for which other crops may furnish a 
 substitute, but used in the manufacture of those 
 indispensable articles in general consumption 
 for which but few substitutes are as yet known. 
 It furnishes a fiber for the manufacture of 
 fabrics, which, though not equal to cotton for 
 many purposes, is nevertheless superior to it for 
 most kinds of summer clothing, duck, table 
 linen, bagging, drillings, &c. For the making 
 of clothes where wool forms a part, flax is more 
 desirable than cotton, as the fibers mix more 
 completely, and the flax takes and retains 
 the dying material more uniformly and per- 
 manently. 
 
 Although grown chiefly for its fiber, yet the 
 seed will of itself pay the cost of raising the 
 crop, and it can be consumed upon the farm or 
 sold. In the former case it may be fed to stock 
 to advantage, but in order to be rendered pal- 
 atable, it must be mixed with other grain and 
 
 ground, or boiled and mixed with meal, and 
 given with cut feed. In the latter case, the oil 
 is first expressed, and the refuse seed is then 
 made into linseed or oil-cake, a most valuable 
 provender for fattening stock. The refuse part 
 of the stalk, after the fiber has been separated, 
 can be used in the manufacture of coarse wrap- 
 ping papers, also in making paper for roofing 
 buildings, to which cement is applied, and 
 sheathing paper for covering the walls of build- 
 ings before the clapboards are put on. The 
 nicer qualities of paper could be proQtably man- 
 ufactured from that part of the stalk used in 
 making cloths, if the material could be produced 
 in sufficient amount. 
 
 Again, flax would form a good material for 
 small twine, such as fish-lines and packing 
 twine, as well as larger cordage, such as horse 
 halters, clothes-lines, bed-cords, &c., &c. With 
 suitable machinery for its manufacture, flax can 
 also be made use of for other purposes, and the 
 present indications are that it will again assume 
 its former honorable position in our staple 
 products. — Selected. 
 
BOTAiTICAL DESCRIPTIONS OF PLAX AND HEMP. 
 
 BY PfiOP. C. Bmn, OP THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER. 
 
 FLAX is the Saxon name of the well known 
 and long cultivated plant, of the Order Linaceae 
 in Botany. Linum in Latin, Unon in Greek, 
 and llin (a thread) in Celtic, from which come 
 the English words, linen, line, lint, are designa- 
 tions of the same plant Its botanical name is 
 Linum usitatisaimum of Linnaeus, as being the 
 most common and useful in cultivation, from 
 its excellent fiber for the manufacture of liuen 
 and thread. It is a native of Asia and prob- 
 ably of Egypt, and has followed the human 
 family in their migrations. It was long ago 
 cultivated, for Pharaoh arrayed Joseph in 
 "vestures of fine linen," and "Samuel ministered 
 before the Lord, a child, girded with a liuen 
 ephod," as was also David. Solomon's mer- 
 chants brought linen yarn from Egypt "at a 
 price." The vail of the tabernacle was made of 
 "blue, and 'purple, and scarlet, and of fine 
 twined linen of cunning work." Something 
 regal and splendid seems to have long been 
 attached to it, and the recent dressing of it into 
 Fibrilia, a new formed word from the Latin, 
 fiber, highly promotes its exaltation. This one 
 species is cultivated, says a British botanist, in 
 " North and South America, Europe, Asia, and 
 Africa." There are several other species of flax, 
 but only this is greatly cultivated. 
 
 The botanical characters of Flax are the 
 following: — Sepals, petals, stamens, and styles, 
 in fives regular and alternating; capsules five- 
 celled and two seeded, or partially ten-celled, 
 with seeds suspended and mucilaginous : stem 
 branching above, with linear-lanceolate and 
 alternate (sometimes opposite) sessile leaves; 
 bark composed of strong, tough, long and 
 jointed fibers. Flowers somewhat panicled, 
 blue and beautiful. 
 
 HEMP is another Saxon name for a valuable 
 plant, which the Greeks and Latins called Can- 
 
 nabis. It belongs to the Order, Urticacece, the 
 Nettle family, and to the Sub-Order, Cannabinece. 
 This plant is dioecious, with its staminate flowers 
 on one slender stem, never producing seeds, and 
 its fertile flowers upon a larger; the latter yields 
 the desired fiber, as the former dies soon after 
 fecundation is effected while the latter continues 
 to grow with great vigor. Indeed, the seed- 
 bearing stem, in rich soils, grows to the height of 
 twelve feet or more, and becomes at the base two 
 or three inches in diameter. From the seeds 
 grown on one stem are raised plants having 
 either " fertile or barren flowers," but which of 
 them can be ascertained only by their growth. 
 The inner bark of the fertile stem is formed of 
 very tough fibers. These are a few particulars 
 of this important exotic, now partially natural- 
 ized in our country. It belongs to a very 
 different class of plants from Flax, though so 
 much alike in the constitution of the bark. 
 Botanists describe it in the following terms, as 
 Cannabis saliva, sown or cultivated Hemp. 
 
 Flowers dioecious: staminate or barren flowers, 
 with five stamens and five-divided calyx small, 
 solitary and axillary, cymous-panicled ; fertile 
 flowers in spikes, with entire calyx opening 
 lengthwise on the side, styles two, caryopsis 
 (seed) two-valved and inclosed in the calyx; 
 stem erect and strong, with opposite, petiolate 
 and digitate leaves, the leaflets five to seven 
 and lanceolate, serrate, and three or more 
 inches long. 
 
 As appropriate in this connection we give the 
 following description of Woody Fiber from Dr. 
 Henry Goadbt'3 valuable "Text -Book of 
 Animal and Vegetable Physiology," published 
 by D. Appleton & Co., of New York: 
 
 " Of all the forms of cells, the wood and bass- 
 cells are most important in the domestic economy 
 of mankind. The ' bass-cells ' are the longest of 
 
FLAX CULTURE AND MANUFACTURE. 
 
 all; their walls are generally very thick, and 
 mostly much bent, but rarely marked with 
 pores or spiral fibers; only in the silk plant 
 {Asclepias Syriaca,) the Oleander, and allied 
 plants, is a spiral striation of the walls observed. 
 The materials used for ropes, cordage, linen, 
 certain Indian muslins, mummy cloth, and mats, 
 consist of the woody fiber of plants, from which 
 the more delicate tissues have been removed by 
 long-continued maceration in water. 
 Fig. 1. 
 
 Linum usitatissimum, or Flax plant 
 
 Flax (or lint) is thus produced from the bark 
 of Linum usitatissimum (Fig. 1,) hemp, from 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 Cannabis Bativa, or Hemp plant 
 
 Cannabis sativa (Fig. 2,) Zealand flax, from 
 
 Phormium tenax (Fig. 3,) and bass (or bast) 
 from the common Lime, or Linden tree. Fibers 
 
 are also procured for manufacturing purposes 
 from the Pine-apple plant (Ananassa sativa,) 
 Fig. 3. from Yucca gloriosa, from 
 
 Boehmeria nivea, which 
 fields the Chinese grass- 
 liber, from most of the 
 plants belonging to the 
 nallow and nettle tribes, 
 md from some of the 
 leguminous plants. 
 
 Fhormium tenax. New 
 
 Zealand flax. The tenacity of differ- 
 
 ent kinds of woody fiber, as contrasted with silk, 
 is given by De Candolle, thus: 
 
 Silk supported a weight of 34 lbs. 
 
 New Zealand Flax, 22 4-5 
 
 Common Hemp, 16 1-3 
 
 Common Flax, 11 3-4 
 
 If the maceration of the fiber be carried on to 
 much extent, a pulp is formed from which paper 
 is manufactured. In ordinary paper the vegeta- 
 ble structure is entirely destroyed, but in the 
 Chinese rice-paper, which is not prepared by 
 maceration, and in the paper of Japan, made 
 from the mulberry, it is preserved. 
 
 The structure of flax, so largely employed in 
 the manufacture of linen, is peculiar; and to 
 guard ourselves against those manufacturers 
 who employ (frequently) a large per centage of 
 cotton, to be used in manufactures hereafter to 
 be warranted ' all linen,' it is worth the while 
 to examine it. If a linen thread be scraped with 
 the thumb-nail to separate it into its primitive 
 elements, or ultimate fibers, and placed under 
 the microscope, an appearance will be presented 
 like Fig. 4. 
 It will now be seen that we have a series of 
 Fig. 4. (apparently) solid, cylindrical, 
 
 many -jointed fibers — the joints 
 not very dissimilar to those of 
 a bamboo cane; really, how- 
 ever, they are tubes, so nearly 
 filled with solid contents that 
 it is by no means easy to satisfy 
 oneself of the fact. The outer 
 membrane of the tube is struc- 
 Fibers of Flax, tureless, although, occasion- 
 ally, delicate transverse markings may be seen. 
 These tubes are of great length, and usually 
 pointed at both ends; they are also remarkable 
 for their toughness. Cotton is not woody fiber, 
 but simply the hair of the plant producing it" 
 
 Ma3^,si«es 
 
LIBRHRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 SHEEP HUSBA 
 
 000 927 431 5 
 
 c^ 
 
 I preparation, and to be published in a few weeks, a New and Com- 
 c on Sheep Husbandry, by Hon. Henry S. Randall, LL. D., author 
 Husbandry in the South, "Life of Jefferson," etc.; also Editor of the 
 Edition of "Youatt on the Horse," of which over thirty thousand 
 5 been sold. Entitled 
 
 THE PRACTICAL SHEPHERD, 
 
 ising the History and Descriptions of the various popular breeds of 
 h ample directions for Breeding, Management, &c., — also treating 
 all Diseases and Remedies — it will at once supply a want long felt 
 icpherds of x\merica. The work will prove indispensable to every 
 [lock-master, as it discusses all the late improvements in Sheep Hus- 
 d treats upon diseases of recent origin. The author is well known 
 lest and most reliable Avriter on Sheep Husbandry in this country, 
 niliarity with the whole subject, and long practical experience, enable 
 iiish the best Sheep Book yet produced. 
 
 RACTicAL Shepherd will be a duodecimo voluihe of between 300 
 •ages, published in superior style, with many fine illustrations. The 
 make it in all respects superior to any work on Sheep Husbanchy 
 blished in this country, 
 ade will be supplied on the usual terms by 
 
 J. B. LIPPINCOTT & Co., 
 
 PuiLADisLrau, Pa. 
 Canvassing Agents, &c., by 
 
 D. D. T. MOOEE, 
 
 :iL^iM3. Rochester, N. Y. 
 
 ig and'^argest Circulated Agricultural, Literary and Family 
 I in America, now in its Fourteenth Year and Volume, is the mott 
 nd Popular Weekly of its class on the Continent. In all the essentials 
 ass Rural and Family Newspaper it has long been unrivaled, and the 
 I'culation it continues to maintain throughout the loyal States, Canadas, 
 that the War has not diminished its Value, Standing or Popularity. Its 
 5 comprise various Departments, such as Agriculture, Horticulture, Rural 
 e. Domestic Economy, Education, Ladies' Reading, Choice Miscellany, 
 Sciences, Reading for the Young, General News, Market Reports, &c., 
 amerous Illustrations, Tales, Sketches, Music, Poetry, Enigma?, etc., 
 rRAL New-Yorker is published in Quarto Form, each No. comprising 
 ble Quarto Pages, [forty columns,] printed in Superior Style. An 
 page, &c., given at the close of each Volume. Terms, in Advance : 
 ; Three Copies |5 ; Six for |10; Ten for |15. Specimen Numbers 
 ee. Address 
 3. D. D. T. MOORE, Rochester, N. Y.