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MANUAL OF

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UNrVERSITY OF B.C. LIBRARY

3 9424 00126 1137

ilture.

COMPRISING FULL INFORMATION

CULTIVATION,
MANAGEMENT,

MARKETING-

OF THE

CROP.

k

TOGETHEH WITH A COMPLETE GLOSSARY AND INDEX.

By Practical Flax Growers in the United States, Ireland, and Germany.

NEW YORK:

ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
315-321 FOURTH AVENUE.

Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1883, by the Obange Jxtdv C mpant. in the Office of the Librarian ^,yt
V of Congress, at Washington. -J'/^D'Iv

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SIOi^AGt; Lit. Si
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U.B.C. LIBRARY

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FLAX CULTURE

FLAX AND FLAX MACHINEEY.

No country can be regarded as really inde-
pendent of other countries unless it produces
not only all the food, but aU the clothing ma-
terial it consumes. So far as cotton and wool
are concerned, we produce an abundance, but
for flax and the fabrics made from it we are
largely dependent upon others. Three agri-
cultural products seem to make veiy slow pro-
gress in this country: sugar from beets, oils,
such as raps, colza, etc., and flax and similar
fibres. One reason why these have not become
important products of our agriculture is, be-
cause the farmer cannot convert the raw mate-
rial into a salable product, as this either re-
quii'es expensive machinery and skilled labor

to use it, or the
processes by hand
are slow, and, of
course, costly. If
the farmer is to
be expected to
produce the raw
material only, he
must be assured
of a market be-
fore he will un-
dertake its cul-
ture. Capitalists
are not ready to
establish factories
until sure of a
supply of raw
material, and it takes a long time to estab-
lish the proper relations between the two — the
fanner and the manufacturer. In the case of
sugar, good progress has been made within a
few years, and it looks as though we might,
within a short time, cease to import sugar. In
the matter of oils, our wonderful stores of
petroleum, and the improvements in utilizing
the heretofore almost wasted cotton-seeds, make
it Uttle necessary fur us to' seek any other
sources of oils for burning, soap-making, etc.
HThe native country of flax is unknown,

(1)

Fi?. 1. — FLOWER OP FLAX.

though there are good reasons for supposing it
to be in the Caucasus. The ancient use of the
fibres is shown by the facts that the Egyptian
mummies are enveloped in linen fabrics, and
that paintings of tlie plant are found in Egyp-
tian catacombsi" The botanical name is Linum

Fig. 2.^FL0WER CUT OPEN.

iisitatissimum. The generic name, Linum, is
the Latin name of the plant, which in Greek is
Linon, in Gei^man Leiti, in French Lin, and in
Celtic, Llin. From these are derived our word
linen, as well as lint, linseed and line. The
specific name, usitatissimum, means most use-
ful, and was given to it in
reference co the service the
fibre has rendered in furnish-
ing clothing to the human
family in all ages. Flax is
idluded to in Genesis, XLI,
43, where it is stated that:
"Pharoah took off his ring
from his hand and put it upon
Joseph's hand and arrayed
him in vestures of fine linen,"
and frequent reference is made
to both flax and linen in other ^'^;i^~;isTtt^^^
portions of the Scriptures.

Flax is an annual, growing, when wild,
eighteen inches high, though in good soil it be-
comes much taller. The stem branches more
or less, according to the degree to which it is
crowded by the other plants, as is illustrated in
the first essay. Tlie leaves are alternate.

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

linear-lanceolate, and with the stem, smooth. ; pression they yield 18 to 20 per cent., and by
The flowers, arranged in a loose panicle, are the aid of heat, 23 to 27 per cent of oil is ob-
about an inch in diameter. The parts of the 1 tained. The seeds are usually roasted before
flower are very regular and are all in fives, they are pressed, as the yield of oil is greater
Fig. 1, shows a flower of the natural size and and it is much freer from mucilage than that
the same flower cut lengthwise through the obtained by pressing the seeds without heat,
centre is represented in fig. 2. The calyx con- The most powerful hydraulic presses are used in
Bists of five green sepals; the petals are large, expressing the oil from flax seed; and the pro-
of a fine purplish duct, hnseed oil, is largely employed in paint-
blue color, and ing. When exposed to the air it gradually
fall very soon thickens and finally dries into hard transparent
after the flower varnish. This drying property, which adapts

opens. Within the
petais are five
stamens which
surround the pis-
til, which consists
of an ovary and
five separate
styles. Figure 3
shows the pistU
surrounded bv the
stamens, and fig.
4 gives the pistil
by itseK with a
Fig. 4. — PISTIL WITH STAJiEN. stameu by its side,
the figures being
in both cases much enlarged. The ovary, or
lower part of the pistil in ripening becomes the
seed vessel, or boll. As it matures, the styles
fall away, leaving then- remains as a little point
at the top of the boll, as in the left-hand engra-
ving of fig. 5, where a seed vessel is shown
with the remains of the calyx attached. When
the young ovary is cut through at flowering
time it only shows five cells or divisions, with
two ovules in each; as the ovules mature to
become seeds, a paitition is formed through
each of these cells or divisions, so that the ripe
boll when cut open appears ten-celled, with a
seed in each cell, as seen in the right-hand of
fig. 5. The seed is too Tvell known to re-
quire a df scription. Its skin is smooth and
polished, being covered with a kind of muci-
lage which is readily soluble in hot water.
This mucilage, dissolved in hot water, is popu-
larly used under the name of "flax seed tea"
as a bland and soothing drink in various in-
flammatory diseases. Tlie seeds contain a
large amount of oil. and the plant is often cul-

it to its use in painting, is due to the absorp-
tion of oxygen from the air, and its tendency
to do this is much increased by boiling it with
litharge and other substances. The oil, just as
it comes from the press, is known in commerce
as " raw ofl," while the other is called '• boiled
on." The cake left in the press after the oil
has been extracted is known as oil cake, and is
much used as a food for cattle.

It is however the fibre which gives the flax
plant its greatest value. A stem of the plant
being cut across, we flnd the centre occupied
by pith, outside of this is a layer of ordinary-
woody fibres, then the liber or inner bark,

tivated for this product alone. By cold ex- , is proverbially cooL

Fig. 5.— BOLLS OF FT. AT.

which consists of very long and remarkably
tough fibres, and outside of all an outer bark
covered by a skin or epidermis. The object of
all the processes of rotting, breaking, scutch-
ing, etc., is to separate the fibres of the liber,
or inner bark, from all the other portions. The
fibre of the flax is very tough, and has suffi-
cient inequality of surface to adapt it to spin-
ning. Being a good conductor of heat, com-
pared with cotton, wool and silk, linen clothing

IMPROVEMENTS IN FLAX BREAKING.

IMPROVEMENTS IN FLAX BREAKING.

"With flax and other fibres, one great obstacle
to their profitable culture has been the slow
processes of bringing them into marketable
condition, which, at our prices of labor, made
the raw material too costly. Every invention
that tends to diminish this labor is of the
greatest importance to the agriculture of the
countiy. The engraving shows the general ap-
pearance of an improved flax machine, which
is very compact, taking up no more room than
an ordinary grain fanning mill. The bunch of
flax being spread upon the table in front of the
machine, the stalks are caught in a set of
grooved rollers; these by their peculiar motion
cause the breaking, when the flax passes on
to the scutchers, placed in the elevated part of
the machine; after being subjected to their ac-
tion for a short time, depending upon its
condition, the flax comes back, is tui'ned, and

FLAX MACHINE.

the other end is submitted to the same oper-
ation. AU of this takes but a very little time,
and at the last motion the workman has the
flax in hand, beautifully clean and shining,
with not a fibre tangled or displaced. The op-
eration is as thorough as it is rapid, a careful
examination failing to discover any appreciable
amount of boon remaining to be removed by
the hackle. One of these machines in each
flax-growing township would make a vast dif-
ference to the profits of the farmers. To those
who now raise flax for the seed, the machine
wUl be of the greatest value, as by proper care
in handling they may get a crop of fibre as
well as one of seed. If seed is to be saved, the
flax is harvested when the stem has lost its
green color for two-thirds of its length; it is
made into small bundles, and the few inches of

the seed-bearing portion of the tops cut oflf
with a hay or straw cutter having a single
lever-knife; the stalks are then ready for rot-
ting in the usual manner. We so thoi'oughly
beUeve in a diversified agriculture that we
gladly welcome any improvement that wiU
allow our farmers to add another to the crops
which they may grow with profit, and think
it wiU be well for those who have land suited
to flax, to consider whether they might not
find it to their interest to undertake its culture.
The reaping machine was not complete untU
it was supplemented by an automatic binder,
and this in turn increased the consumption of
wire for binding the sheaves. But farmers
have discovered that while wire answers to
bind the grain, its use is undesirable for various
reasons, mainly because it is dangerous. The
unavoidable scattering of bits of wu-e about
the farm, and the almost inevitable
mingling of fragments of wire with the
straw from the thrashing-machine, have
already caused so many deaths of ani-
mals even while comparatively few bind-
ers are in use, that the fear of this
threatens to stand in the way of the
rapid introduction of these important
adjuncts to the reaper. The general de-
mand is now for an automatic binder
that uses twine. The farmer has look-
ed to the inventors for such a binder,
and the demand has been met. They
have suppUed the binder, but who wUl
supply the material for binding ? Here
the inventor tm-ns again to the farmer,
^ and says in effect — ' ' We have given you

what you have asked for — we cannot
make vegetable fibi'es, those are in your
line — you must grow the flax or hemp." Other
materials wUl make a serviceable binding cord.
Cotton cord may be used, but it is too expen-
sive ; Manilla or Sisal Hemp wiU answer, but
they are mainly imported; they might be grown
in the extreme Southern States, but, being new
cultures, almost, it would take a long time to
establish them. Hemp is a good material for
cordage, but its production is very Umited. So,
upon a full survey of aU the som-ces of fibre
suitable for making binding-cord, the makers
of the machines look to flax, not only as the
best material, but one the cultui-e of which
presents no special difficulties, or requirements
of chmate, but which almost any farm in good
tillage can supply. For this purpose the land
and method of culture need not be such as are
demanded to produce the finest fibre, such as

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

Is required for thread and linen, as a coarse
material will answer for binding-twine. It
would appear that this new demand for flax,
by the binding machines, is likely to influence
and give a new impetus to its cultivation.

Flax grown for seed does not need the high
culture required by that for choice fibre ; any
good grain land, or a turned sod, will give a
fair crop. There are no special difficulties at-
tending the culture. If the fibre is to be saved
as well as the seed, the flax is harvested when
the stem has lost its gi'een color for two-thirds
of its length, and made into small bundles.
The top, or seed-bearing portion, is cut off with
a hay-cutter having a single lever knife, to re-
move that portion at a clip, and the stalks
rotted in the usual manner — either by steeping
or by dew-rotting. Up to this point all is done
by the farmer without any unusual machinery
or appliances. The next step is the separation
of the fibre for sale, and in this day of dear
labor, hand-breaking and scutching wUl not be
thought of.

Just here is where the farmer who would
taise flax, meets with his first obstacle. He
must have a machine, and it is beyond his
means. What can. he do with his flax ? If sev-

eral farmers, especially if one has water-power,
or steam-power, can club together and purchase
a brake, or if they can induce some manufac-
turer in the vicinity to establish one, and break
at a fair price, the difficulty can be removed.

The cordage makers will not buy the flax un-
broken, nor would it pay to transport sucli a
bulky article to a great distance. The case is
one that calls for a co-operation of producer
and manufacturer. Those farmers who are
able to become manufacturers so far as to pre-
pare their own and their neighbors' flax for
market, wUl be likely to find it profitable.

The makers of reaping machiaes, with bind-
ers, feel, very properly, that the success of
their machines depends upon the abiUty of
those who use them to readily procure a suffi-
cient quantity of suitable cord at fair prices.
One company has the matter so much at heart
that it has sent out a circular to show just what
kind of cord is needed, and how it should be
balled and packed. The cord should be
3-ply or 4-ply ; should not run less than 600
nor more than 700 feet to the pound, and be
able to withstand a strain of 80 pounds ; one
meeting this description will answer for use in
any of the successfvil binders now made.

FIRST PRIZE ESSAY.*-BY S. EDWARDS TODD,

OF AUBURN, N. T. — (NOW OF NBVV-TORK CITY.)

The subject of flax culture may be properly |
considered under three parts : 1st, The prepara-
tion of the soil; 2ud, The seed, the growth and
culture of the plant and harvesting; 3d, The
rotting and dressing for market. The first two
belong particularly to the tiller of the soil ; while
the third is more properly a process of manufac-
ture. Though very distinct from each other, the
three processes are frequently performed by the
farmer. Flax is grown sometimes for the seed
only, and sometimes for both seed and lint. The
seed yields a drying oil of the best quality for
painters' purposes — the residue being oil cake,
used for feeding stock; and the straw^ yields lint
of two qualities, called flax and tow. Flax is
the long, straight fibre, and tow consists of the
short and tangled fibre, which separates in dress-
ing the long lint. Sometimes, however, the entire
fibre is prepared as tow. The lint that is sepa-
rated from the long fibre, when the flax is dressed,
is called in market, "fine tow"; it is manu-
factured into tow-cloth, or into small ropes and
cords. The flax is made into linen thread, and

linen cloth. " Coarse tow" consists of the entire
fibre of flax, the shives having been simply re-
moved. This is pressed into bales, weighing 300
to 400 pounds each, and is sold in most of our
lai'ge cities, at 2 to 6 or more cents per pound, ac-
cording to the locality and the demand, for stuff-
ing the cushions and backs of carriages, and
household furniture, for making ropes, coarse
cloth, etc. There is always a good demand for
flax fibre, whether it is in the long-line commonly
called "flax," or fine tow, or coarse tow. Conse-
quently, a farmer can always dispose of his crop
of lint with a little labor, at low prices; or be
can bestow much labor in preparing it for market,
and receive a proportionately larger compensa-
tion. This is one of the excellences of the flas
crop, and for this reason there is no other crop
that may be raised in our grain-growing regions —
where a three, four, or five-years rotation of crops
has been adopted — with more profit to the far-
mer, and more advantage to the soil. If a fanner
desires to raise it for seed only and get quick re-
turns, it can be done with a limited amount ol

* Written in response to Prizes oflered by the Amei-ican AgiicuUiirist.

PRIZE ESSAYS.

labor; but if be desires to bave work for bis
laborers at tbose seasons of tbe year wben notb-
ing can be done iu tbe field, be will always find
it profitable, if be is a good manager, to grow
a crop, and prepare tbe fibre for market.

Characteristics op the Plant, — Flax has
one very important cbaracteristic, an understand-
ing of wbicb is of great practical advantage.
"Wben a flax stem is growing alone, it will tbrow
out numerous brandies, many of wbicb will be
as large as tbe main stem ; as sbown by tbe ac-
companying engraving, (fig. 6;) and eacb of these
will produce other branches, all of which will
yield seed. On the contrary, when sown thick-
ly, each plant will produce only a straight
stem, Avithout any branches, and mature but
little seed. Tbe practical point is, to decide
before tbe seed is sowed, whether tbe purpose be
to raise flax for the seed chiefly, with coarse tow
in connection, or principally for the fibre. See
paragraph upon thick and thin seeding.
-^ Soils. — Flax will flourish well on any soil that
will yield good crops of cereal grain, and some
soils that do not produce abundant crops of cer-
tain kinds of grain, will produce an excellent
crop of flax. Flax likes a deep, fertile, and mel-
low loam, and on such a soil a heavy crop of both
seed and lint may be produced, provided there
be not an excess of water iu tbe soil. Tbose
river' bottoms, and uplands, where the predomi-
nating characteristic of tbe soil is black muck, if
fertile enough to produce heavy grass, will yield
a good crop of flax fibre, and a small crop of
seed.' But, if the soil is in a good state of fer-
tility for yielding potatoes, oats, Indian corn, or
rye, the yield of both seed and fibre will be large.
Flax will not flourish on wet soils of any kind,
and the crop will be light on heavy, slippery clay
soils, unless thoroughly underdrained, well pul-
verized, and enriched with fertilizing materials.
A good crop of flax can not be produced on a
poor, wet, and half-pulverized soil, any more than
can a good crop of wheat. > —

Preparing the Soil.— There is no kind of
grain — wheat not excepted — for which the soil
needs as much preparation as is required for a
good crop of flax, and there is no crop that far-
mers are accustomed to raise, that will pay better
for fertilizing and pulverizing the soil. Not only
\riil the seed be better, but the fibre also, when
the flax is' grown on soil that is very fertile, and
has been kept clean by thorough cultivation.
Weeds and grass are not only a nuisance when
the fibre comes to be rotted and dressed, but will
seriously injure its growth, and if the dressed
lint, the tow, or the flax, have grass, straw, or
weeds in it, tbe value will be greatly reduced.
My own practice In getting the soil ready for a
crop of flax has been, to commence its prepara-

tion at least three years before, with especial
reference to flax. I have alwa3'S raised it in
rotation, with Indian corn, barley, oats, winter oi
spring wheat, and red clover. A clover sod.

Fig. 6. — FLAX plant GROWnJQ ALONK

well manured, is first plowed for Indian corn. If
tbe soil is a heavy, slippery clay, or a gravelly,
calcareous clay, it is plowed in the fall. If there

6

FLAX CULTURE. ETC.

are any wet places in the field, they at least
should always be underdrained. The corn is
kept clean, and no weeds allowed to go to seed.
The next year a crop of barley is raised, and as
Boon as the barley is harvested, the soil is well
harrowed with a heavy harrow, or cultivated
with a wheel cultivator, for the purpose of cover-
ing the seeds of all noxious weeds, so that they
may vegetate and die before winter. In October,
or November, the soil is well plowed ; and if
deep, we use a double team, and a Michigan
double plow. The dead furrows are cleaned out,
so as to carry off the surface water. If the soil
were light and porous, and not disposed to bake
in the summer, we would never plow it in
autumn. Where black muck predominates in
the soil, or where it is a very porous, sandy, or
gravelly loam, or a light alluvial deposit, it should
not be plowed in late autumn, but rather in
August or September. Then, if any weeds come
up before winter, use the harrow, or the cultiva-
tor to destroy them. In the following spring, as
soon as tho ground has settled and become sufl?-
cieutly dry, plow it, cutting narrow furrow slices,
as deep as it has previously been plowed ; and
always take especial pains not to have any balks
or holes between the furrows. After the ground
is plowed, we harrow it twice, and then roll
previous to sowing the seed. The great object in
harrowing and rolling before sowing the seed, is
to have the surface of the ground as smooth and
uniform as it can be made, so that the flax may
get an even start, and grow more uniformly, and
the surface of the ground be better to work on
when the flax is pulled. If the seed is sown on
an uneven surface, where there are lumps, sods,
and little furrows and holes, much of it will be
buried too deep, and consequently, the growth of
the straw (and fibre) will not be uniform, and the
seed will not mature alike. If there are no
lumps, the roller should not be used, but the soil
should be gone over with a harrow having nu-
merous small teeth. Where the soil has been
cultivated as it should be, while a crop of Indian
corn, or barley, or potatoes was growing, the
surface of it will be as free from lumps as a neatly
prepared carrot bed. On such soils, flax will
often grow from three to four feet long; the seed
will be of a superior quality, and the lint will be
heavy and of great length. Where the soil is
■well adapted to raising potatoes and other roots,
if it is well manured about two years beforehand,
and the weeds thoroughly eradicated, the pro-
prietor may be sure of a heavy crop of both lint
and seed. Thoroughly rotted manure is quite as
essential for flax, as it is for wheat ; but, coarse
unfermented manure produces a rank growth of
straw, not much seed, and the flax is very liable
to rust When there are many stones in the soil.

the larger ones should be removed, and the
smaller ones pressed down with a heavy roller
before the seed is sowed, for the purpose of mak-
ing a smooth surface to work upon at harvest
time. In some portions of the country, a black
muck soil rests directly on a stratum of rich,
clayey loam. Now, by using a doul)le team and
a Michigan sod plow, or any other plow turning
a deep furrow well, and by turning up two or
three inches in depth of this fertile subsoil in late
autumn or Avinter, so that the rains and frosts
will thoroughly pulverize it before the next
spring, then plowing and harrowing as just di-
rected, a very heavy crop of lint, and a fair crop
of seed may be raised. But it must be kept in
mind, that a large crop of seed can not be raised
on an inferior soil, without good manure of some
kind. Clean culture, a deep soil thoroughly pul-
verized, and in a good state of fertility, will
alwaj^s produce a good crop of both lint and seed,
if the season is at all favorable for other crops.
Flax will do as well as oats, barley, or wheat,
when sowed on sod ground.

ERADicAxmG Small Weeds Before Sow-
ing.— After the soil has been well prepared for
the seed, let it remain about ten days, when
nearly all the seeds of noxious weeds will have
vegetated. Now, on the day that the seed is to
be sowed, give it a thorough harrowing, for the
purpose of destroying the little weeds that have
appeared in the "seed-leaf." If many lumps of
earth, or small stones are laarrowed up, the sur-
face must be rolled. And while the surface is
fresh, let the seed be put in as speedily as possi-
ble, because flax seed, or any other seed, will
germinate mucli sooner thus, than if put into soil
that has not been disturbed for a number of days.
Proper Selection op Seed. — Most farmers
appear to think that flax seed is all of one
quality, so far as its productiveness is concerned.
There is just as much difference in the productive
quality of flax seed as there is in Indian corn ;
and a large proportion of that which is sold in
market is no more fit for seed, and no more pro-
ductive than Indian corn would be, were all the
half-ripe ears shelled with the good ones for seed.
No good farmer would ever think of planting
such corn, because, although it might vegetate,
it would not and could not produce a good yield
of grain. So half-matured flax seed can not
produce a good crop of either lint or seed. But
unless farmers raise their own seed they will be
obliged to take up with such as they are able to
find in the market, whether good or poor. My
own practice has been to obtain the plumpest
and brightest seed to be found. Then run it
1 through the fanning mill twice; and blow out all
I the light seed, by a heavy blast. Then, at harvest
I time, select those stooks of flax that grew on the

piazE essavs.

best ground and that ripened first, and keep them
separate from the rest. Thresh oflF only about
half of the seed, and save it for sowing the next
season. Continue this practice for a few j'ears,
and even on the same soil, with the same cultiva-
tion, both the quality and quantity of the seed
will be greatly improved, and the length and ex-
cellence of the fibre very much increased. The
seed first matured — which will be the plumpest,
fairest and most productive — will be shelled out
first. Every intelligent farmer will readily per-
ceive the importance of growing his own flax
seed when it can be done with so little trouble
and expense.

Thick and Thin Seeding.— Flax may be
sowed too thick as well as too thin. The correct
quantity depends upon the object for which the
flax is raised. If we desire to obtain the largest
yield of lint, we must sow the seed very evenly,
and as thinly on the ground as it will grow and
not throw out branches, as shown in fig. 6, but
have the branchless habit exhibited in fig. 7.
If the object is simply to raise seed and coarse
tow, it may be sowed very thin — say from half
a bushel to one bushel per acre. The old rule is,
half a bushel per acre, but in my experience
half a bushel is not enough, because, when
it stands so thin on the ground new branches and
new bolls will continue to grow, and when much
of the seed is ripe, many bolls will be only half
ripe. And besides this, the fibre of such large
branched flax will not make as good lint as the
.onger less branched stalks. It may be worked
into coarse tow; but it is not so good for dressed
lint as the straight stalks. There is also a difler-
ence in the lint of the single stalks. If the flax
seed be sowed at the rate of three or four bushels
per acre, the stalks will be very small, and the
fibre fine and thin, and very soft. But if only
one bushel and-a-half be sowed per acre — if it be
sowed as evenly as it should be — all the stems
will be of a very uniform quality; the bolls will
grow for the most part near the very top of
the stalks ; and consequently the seed will ripen
more evenly, and the crop will be better in every
respect than if thicker or thinner. The habit of
flax is such that it will accommodate itself to the
fertility of the soil better than most other plants,
when the quantity of seed per acre is too small.
If the soil is in a very good state of fertility, and
one bushel of seed be sowed evenly on an acre,
almost every stem of flax will throw out only
two or three branches close to the ground. When
flax forms branches we have the assurance that
the seed ought to have been sowed a little thicker
in those places. But when no branches are
formed near the roots, it is a sign that there was
as much seed sowed per acre as could grow pro-
fitably ; and if the stalks appear small and slen-

' der, we need no betntr evidence that the seed was
sowed too thickly. My own practice has been t«
sow about 1^ bushels of seed per acre, whether
the chief object was
seed or lint. I have
always found that
this amount of seed
would give a- bet-
ter yield of seed and
lint than any oth-
er quantity per acre.
Testing the Seed.
— Many dealers in
flax seed will con-
tend that, as flax
seed contains so
much oil, it will not
loose its vitality in
many years. But my
long experience jus-
tifies me in stating
that it will some-
times loose its vital-
ity in only a few
years. Several years
ago, I procured a
two bushel sack of
Russian flax seed, at
a large price, and
not a single seed ger-
minated, although
the soil was well
prepared before it
was sowed, and the
seed was put in
when the surface
was fresh and mel-
low, and the seed
possessed all the ex-
ternal appearances
of the best. It was
of a lively, brownish
color, very plump,
and lieavy, but its
vitality was gone.
To test seed, select
a few grains and
sprinkle them be-
tween 2 thin pieces
of sod laid earth
sides together, and
put them on a shelf
in the kitchen where
they must be kept
warm and not allowed to dry. In a few days
every seed that has not lost its vitality, will ger-
minate. Then by counting them, we readily as-
certain about what proportion of them is good.
When to Sow — Almost all writers reconi-

Fig. 7.— THICK SEEDINO.

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

mend putting in the seed as early in the season
as practicable. But my experience and extensive
observation warrant me in saying that flax seed
is almost always sowed too early. A certain sea-
son of the year that would be considered early in
one locality, might be very late, one or two hun-
dred miles distant in either direction. Therefore,
to fix a definite peiiod for every localit}% I would
say: Sow when the soil has settled, and is
warmed by the influence of the sun, and weeds
and grass have begun to spring up, and the leaves
of trees begin to unfold. If sowed too early in
the season, much of it is liable to be stunted ; late
frosts are very apt to injure it, more or less; and
noxious weeds are sure to get the start of it,
unless extra pains have been taken to destroy
them. The soil should not be at all adhesive or
sticky when the seed is sown. The very best time,
with reference to the condition of the soil, is, soon
after a shower, when the small lumps will crum-
ble at a very slight touch, and the entire surface
is friable and "lively." Then it will germinate
in a few days, get the start of weeds, and keep the
ascendency through the season. By this means
much weeding will be saved, the fibre be more
abundant, the seed better, and the yield greater.
How TO Sow Flax. — Every practical man
knows that flax seed is very slippery grain to sow
by hand. Consequentlj'-, unless a man take great
care, the seed will be sowed very unevenly. As
it is so very slippery, it is not practicable to sow
it with a grain drill, nor with any kind of broad-
cast seed sower, that we have ever met with.
The details of my own practice, which I have
never before put on paper, are as follows: After
the soil has been harrowed as directed above,
mark out the ground two ways, in lands about 18
feet wide. This breadth is wide enough to sow
at one round, or two casts. Let the seed be
soaked in warm water, about two or three hours,
and then rolled in plaster or gypsum. Then
make calculation to sow the required quantity of
«eed on each land, each way. Take as much seed
as you can hold conveniently with one thumb and
three fingers. If you are liable to take too much
seed, hold a small round stone in the hand while
sowing. The object of rolling the seed in gypsum
is, to render it less slippery. I can alwaj's scatter
the seed much more evenly by sowing a few rods
wide all one way, instead of going directly back
and forth. This I do, by going around a land
about five or six rods in width, as in plowing.
The best way to mark out flax ground is, to drag
a log chain behind you across the field, from one
stake to another. It will pay well to carry out
all these practical details in full. As flax seed is
much more diflicult to sow than most other kinds
of seed, it is very important that none but an ex-
perienced sower — one able to move with a very

steady and uniform gait, and to cast every hand
ful with the accuracy of machinerj' — should be
employed to sow flax seed. If the ground be
marked out, the sower can always see where his
seed falls. But, when he sows by means of
stakes, a deviation of only a few inches, to the
right or left, will drop the seed too thin in some
places, and too thick in others. The sower
should always set a small stake where he com-
mences to sow, at both ends of the plot, so that
he will be sure that no strip will anywhere be
sowed too thick or too thin.

How TO Cover the Seed. — I never would
allow a team of any kind to pass over the field,
after the seed has been sowed, for the following
reasons: If the soil is at all light and porous, a
team will, with their feet, bury much of the seed
so deeply that it will be several days behind, and
never be able to attain an equal growth with the
rest of the field. Another reason is, when the
seed is buried so deep, the flax will pull much
harder. Flax seed requires but little earth to
cover it deep enough to vegetate in a short time,
and by depositing it all on a smooth surface,
where several seeds will not be gathered into de-
pressions in the soil, it will all vegetate alike, will
stand evenly on the ground, and pull easily, may
be cut with scythes, cradles, or horse moweis, close
to the ground, and the straw and lint will be of a
uniform length, and quality. My practice has
been to ''bush iu" the seed by drawing a brush-

Fig. 8. — BRUSH-HARKOW ,

barrow by hand. With a suitable brush, one man
can bush in four or five acres per daj', and do the
work well. Such a harrow covers a strip about
five feet wide, and an active man or a strong boy
can cover the seed nearly as fast as he coul 1 do
it with a team, and much better.

To Make a Hand Brush-Harrow.— (Fig. 8.)
Procure a piece of hard-wood scantling, or •

PRIZE ESSAYS.

9

round stick, about five feet long, and three by
four inches square, for the brush head; put two
thills into it, and bore two sets of three-quarter
inch holes through it, for receiving the but-ends
of brush whicli are fastened in the holes with
nails. Brush about two feet long should be se-
lected, and after the holes are filled with them,
another course may be nailed on each side of the
brush-head, if necessary. This will be found a
most complete implement for covering flax seed.
The eflectiveness of such a brush-harrow may be
increased at pleasure, by lashing billets of wood
to the upper side of it. The length of the head
may be greater or less, according to the evenness,
or the unevenness, of the surface of the soil. If
it should be somewhat uneven, it would be better
to make two such harrows, four feet long, for two
men to use, than one harrow, eight feet long, to
be drawn by two men, because a short one would
adapt itself to the inequalities of the surface,
and cover the seed much better than a long one.

The accompanying illustration (fig. 9) repre-
sents five young plants of flax, three of which
are about three or four inches high, the seed of
which was covered about half an inch deep. Tlie
seed of the one at the left hand was buried nearly
two inches deep : and the one just in the seed-
leaf was buried still deeper. The illustration is
designed to show the importance of covering all
the seed of a uniform depth, in order to have all
the stalks as nearly of a uniform length as prac-
ticable. When some of the seed is buried too
deeply, those plants that spring from such seed as
nay be covered only half an inch deep, will get
'*ie start of the other by several days' growth,
vhich will produce stalks of various lengths.
This ought to be carefully guarded against in put-
ting in the seed. Moreover, when a flax seed
germinates, the kernel is carried on the end of
the stem to the surf\ace of the ground, where it
forms two leaves, as shown by the smallest plant.
When seed vegetates in this manner, it is Ion-
iser coming up than when only a spear is sent up,
.HKe Indian corn, wheat or oats. The diflJculty is
greater on heavy than on a light soil. And if flax
seed be covered deep on a heavy soil, and the
weatticr be somewhat drj% it will be impossible
for it to come up, while oats or wheat would
come up with no difficulty.

Weeding Flax. — If the soil has been pre-
pared, and the seed put in at the time and in the
manner directed in foregoing paragraphs, very
little weeding will be required; but if Canada
thistles, dock, wild mustard or other noxious
weeds should show their heads, let a careful man,
shod with two or three pairs of old woolen socks,
remove them when the flax is eight or ten inches
high. A lot of boys, or heedless men should
lever be allowed to go among flax, unless when

it is very young; because if it is trodden down
after it has grown a foot or more in height, raoel
of it will never recover its erect position. Tin

Fig 9. — EFFECT OF DEEP AND SHALLOW SOWrSO.

object of covering the feet with something soft is.
that the plants may be injured as little as possible.
Hard boots and shoes will crush the stems so
badly that even if they should straighten up
again, there would be a bad spot in the fibre.
The weeds should be cut off close to the surface
of the ground, gathered in the arms, and carried
to a pile — not thrown down. If pulled up, much
of the flax will be rooted up with them. In some
parts of the Old World, men, women, girls and
boys do the weeding, when the flax is onlj^ a few
inches high ; they sit flat on the young flax, hitch
along, and weed on each side of them as far as
thej' can reach. It is better to destroy the weeds
before the seed is sowed, and keep eveiy thing ofi
the young flax.

When to Pull (or Cut). — As the time of
ripening approaches, the observing farmer will
appreciate more than at any previous period, the
importance of the details heretofore given. When
the seed has been harrowed in and buried deep
by the feet of teams, the flax will ripen very un-

10

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

evenly; and a portion of it will be very green,
while the remainder will appear fully ripe. Un-
der such circumstances it will be necessary to es-
timate what proportion of the heads are fully
ripe, and how large a proportion are still too
green to be pulled. When the bolls have assumed
a brown color, and the leaves have died for one-
fourth the length of the stems at the lower ends,
and the stems themselves have changed from a
dark green to a light yellowish color, then the
flax is fit to pull or to cut. At this stage of
growth, it will yield more and better fibre than
if cut at any other period. If it is too green
when pulled, there will be a great loss both in

Fig. 10.— STOOK OF FLAX-

quantity and quality. If the seed be put in as di-
rected, almost all the bolls and stems will ripen
uniformly ; and it will be very easy to decide ae
to the best time for pulling or cutting without in-
curring anj'' loss. When a man has a number of
acres of flax to be pulled, he should not wait
until it is all ready before he commences, lest
much of it become too ripe. Should the soil be
variable in its character, the flax will ripen un-
evenly, and the ripest portions may be pulled
first. When flax is allowed to stand until it is
dead ripe, the seed will be of superior quality, but
the fibre will not be so heavy, strong, or soft.

PtTLLiNG Flax. — When flax is pulled by hand,
each laborer takes a strip about four feet wide,
and either spreads it in a swath behind him, or
throws it down in gavels, or binds it himself, as
fast as he pulls it. The flax is grasped just below
the bolls, with both hands, and pulled up with a
sudden jerk. If it be pulled slowly, a much
larger quantity of earth will adhere. As soon as
one handful is pulled, it is set on the ground close
to the standing flax, and held with one hand,
while the other gathers as much as can be held
conveniently : then both hands grasp the whole
and pull. When enough has been pulled to make
a gavel as large as the puller can grasp with both
hands, which will make a bundle about five
inches in diameter, it is " butted" once or twice
on the ground, to even it. Any scattering stalks
standing or lying on the ground, are gathered for
bands, and the gavels are bound at once. This
mode is usually adopted in preference to spread-
ing in swaths. If the weather be wet and

lowery, it will be better, at any rate^ to bind the
flax as fast as pulled, and to set the gavels in long
stooks, as shown in fig. 10. These should always
be set up north and south, so that the sun may
shine on both sides of the stook in the course of
the day. Before the gavel leaves the hands of the
puller, he should strike it once or twice on the
ground, or on his foot, to knock off the dirt. If
the weather is pleasant, it is always better to
spread out each gavel, as it is pulled, about one
inch thick, for the purpose of sunning it. After
it has lain in the sun from half a day to a day, it
ought to be turned over, to sun both sides. An
expert puller will throw every gavel down ii:
such a manner, that they may be readily gathered
when cured enough to be bound up. As flax
will hang together, if in a continuous swath, it is
better to leave a space of two or three inches be-
tween the spread gavels, and sometimes they are
laid alternately heads and huts. This is important,
so that they may each be turned over readil}^ or
taken up and bound, without tangling. When it
is bound as soon as pulled, and set in stooks, it will
require from one to two weeks to cure, before it
will be fit to stack or mow. When it is bound
as fast as it is pulled, the outside of the flax will,
in a very few days, all appear sufficiently c:ured
to be stacked, while much of the middle of the
bundles will be too green. It is quite as important
to cure all the stalks and seed bolls thorough
ly, before stacking, as to cure hay, or any kind o
grain. The question is frequently asked, why
it is not as well to cut flax as to pull it? TJie
fibres of flax diminish in size, tapering from a few
inches above the root until they run entirely
out at the root of the plant. It will therefore
run much smoother when spun, and will form a
cleaner and smoother thread if pulled than if the
fibre is cut in two. If the stalks can be cut within
an inch of the root, nearly the entire length of
the fibre will be secured, as well as a part of the
advantage of this tapering of tlie fibre. In some
parts of our country, dealers make a difference
in the price between " reaper-cut" and pulled flax.
Pulling with Machines. — Several different
machines have been invented for pulling flax,
which have done tolerably good work, when the
ground was smooth, level, and so dry that but
little earth adhered to the roots. Most of them
injured the fibre more or less, and some could not
be adjusted to pull short and long flax equally
well, nor would they always deliver it evenly;
and when much earth adhered to the roots, it
would either obstruct the machinery, or too
much hand labor is required to remove the dirt
before it became dry. In some instances where
the soil was prepared with much care and the
seed put in as previously directed, the writer has
seen flax pulled in a neat manner at the rate ot

PRIZE ESSAYS.

11

three to four acres per day, with two hands and
two horses. But flax-pulling machines have only
been introduced to a very limited extent as yet.

Ckadling and Mowing Flax.— When the soil
has been prepared, as previously directed, and
the surface made very smooth, if the flax stands
up well, an expert cradler will cut it very close
to the ground, and lay it evenly in a swath. But
I have always found that I could cut it closer
with a scythe than with a cradle, do it with less
fatigue, and at the same time lay it in a swath
quite as evenly as it could be done with a cradle.
The scythe must be placed flat on the ground,
and both heel and point kept well down, not only
when it is set in, but in pointing out. I was
always accustomed to cut a swath about 7i or 8
feet wide, and when pointing out to jerk the
point of the scythe towards me, as soon as the
last stalks were cut ofi; This motion of the
scythe tended to straighten the under side of the
swath, and by bringing the heel around just so
far every time, and giving the scythe just a cer-
tain motion, I could always lay the flax as straight
tis if it had been pulled, and, if the ground was
smooth, could shave it within an inch of the sur-
face. The small amount of fibre that remained
in the stubble would not be an equivalent for the
greater expense incurred by pulling. When any
of the flax has grown so large that it falls down,
it can be cut with a scythe much better than with
a cradle. If it is very long and heavy, when it
is down it will be better to pull such plots, than
to mow them. Let the swaths be turned over
after they have been sunned sufficiently. In
turning thrust a pole under the swath, and turn
only enough at a time to make one bundle, keep-
ing the divisions distinct. Whether the flax is
pulled, cradled, or mowed, it is important to ktcp
the buts as even as practicable before binding
the gavels.

Assorting Flax. — When flax of various
lengths is bound together, a large portion of the
fibre of the short stalks will be separated from
the long fibre, in the dressing, and be wasted in
the tow. Furthermore, when the seed is threshed
03", if the short stalks be bound up with long
ones, many bolls will not be threshed, and all
their seed will be lost. For these reasons, it is
important that the long flax should not be bound
in the same bundle with short flax. If pulled by
hand, it will be veiy easily assorted, by pulling a
handful of the long, and then one of the short,
putting each in separate gavels. When it is
mowed, or cradled, by taking a little pains, the
short stalks may be laid, for the most part, in a
Bwath by themselves, and the long ones in
another swath. Long bundles and short ones
need not be kept separate. It is only necessary
to keep the long stalks and the short ones in

separate gavels, in order to dress those of the
same length together.

Manner op Stacking. — It is not always con-
venient to put flax in a barn, and it is important
to keep it where hay seed, chaff", and straw will not
be mingled with it, and where mice and rats will
not work. The best way of stacking is, to make
a long stack-bottom, by placing tliree poles, sticks
of timber, or plank, side by side, from two to
three feet apart, according to the length of the
haulm, and one foot above the ground ; and then
lay two courses of sheaves, with the tops to-
gether, and with one course above another, a#
represented in fig. 11. As flax haulm will hanr
together so well, the ends of the stack niaj
be carried up square, without any posts ot
stakes. In order to give the sheaves a good
pitch, the heads of a few of the top courses
may be laid on each other. Then cover it with

11. — STACK OF FLAX.

canvass, or with boards, as represented in fig. 11.
If barn room can be had, let all chaff and hay
seed be swept away before the flax is hauled in.
Tangled Flax. — When flax is mowed by
hand, or with a mower, and the stalks are not
kept straight, it is called tangled flax. My own
practice, which coincides with that of other far-
mers accustomed to raise flax, has been to cut it
as close to the ground as possible, and cure it,
rake it, cock it, and stack it, or put it in a mow
just as if it were hay. When it is mowed with
scythes, let it remain about one day in the swac^
and then turn it over. As soon as it appears suL"-
ficiently cured, rake it into bunches with iiand oi
horse rakes. If the weather is favcrable, iCt it
remain in bunches about as large as a man oau
pitch at one forkful. When flax is managed in
this way, we prefer to put it in the barn, in pre^
ference to stacking it. When it is stacked, how-
ever, the top of the stack should be built sloping,
instead of pointed like a roof, and covered with
sound boards, or with canvass, as a stack of tan-
gled flax will not turn rain so well as hay. When
the flax is to be cut with a reaper, and it is de-

12

FLAX CULTURE. ETC.

Birable to keep the stalks straight, we put on the
platform as for reaping grain, fork off the flax in
gavels, and let them be set on the but-ends, as
soon as cut, as illustrated
by fig. 12, which repre-
eents a gavel of flax plac-
ed on tlie end. Some-
times the flax is so long
and heavy that it will not
be practicable to rake, or
fork it off, while the reaper
is in motion. In such a
case, as soon as enough
for a gavel has been cut, Fig. 12.-- gavel .
stop the machine, remove it with the hand, set it
on the buts, and let another hand straighten it up.
A little longer time will be required, if the reaper
is stopped for every gavel, but the work will be
done enough better to compensate for the extra
care, and time will be gained in the end.

Threshing Flax. — When flax is bound in
small sheaves, we sometimes take a bundle in both
hands and strike the heads on a large stone, or
on a plow turned upside down on the barn floor.
Sometimes the seed is threshed off with flails. If
the sheaves are not too large, the best way is to
whip it out ou a large boulder. Strips of canvas,
or blankets, should be hung up on three sides, to
keep the seed from flying beyond the floor. When
Ihe seed is whipped out on a stone, all the loose
seed will of necessity be separated from the
haulm; but when it is threshed with flails, the
sheaves require much shaking to separate the
ibelled seed. ^Moreover, flails will break the
stalks, more or less, which works an injury to the
fibre during the rotting process. When the
seed is whipped out on a stone, the stalks will
not be broken, and a man can thus whip out
more seed than he can thresh with a flail.
Another way is, to thresh with a common thresh-
ing machine. If the cylinder is what is called
an " over-shot," raise the concave so that the ends
of the spikes in the concave and in the cylinder
will just meet, but not pass between each other.
If the concave is beneath the cylinder, and can
not be lowered, adjust the feeding table so that a
bundle of flax may be thrust directly against the
middle of the cylinder. This done, thrust the
top of each bundle against the cylinder in mo-
tion, and be careful not to let it be snatched out
of your hands. The bundles should not be held
to the cylinder, after the bolls are removed, as the
spikes would lacerate the fibre. Tlirust the bun-
dle against the cylinder, and withdraw it, turning
It partly over, and give it another thrust, until all
the bolls are removed. We never unbind our
bundles of flax to thresh them with a machine.

Tangled flax is sometimes threshed with horses
by treading it out, and sometimes it is run through

a threshing machine, as oats and wheat are
threshed. But tlie concave must be raised, or
lowered, from the cylinder, as the case may be,
so as to make as much space as possible between
them, and still thresh clean. When the concave
is not adjustable, some tlireshers take out half or
two-thirds of the spikes in the cylinder. As flax
seed will thresh very easily, it is not necessary to
set the concave as close to the cylinder as to
thresh cereal grain, and, furthermore, when it is
set close to the cylinder the machine will not
thresh one-half as fast. If the flax is long and
damp, the machine must be fed with cure, or it
will wind up on the cylinder, and choke the ma-
chine, or damage the fibre.

RipPLtNG — Rippling and threshing are fre-
quently used in America, as synonj^mous terms.
In the Old World, the bolls are usually separated
by rippling, which is done as soon as practicable
after the flax is pulled, and before it has been al-
lowed to cure. The flax is pulled while a por-
tion of the seed is yet in the dough state, and the
tops are drawn through a ripper, a coarse
hatchel, or comb, with long, sharp-pointed iron
teeth, which tear off all the bolls and chaff,
whether green or matured, and the flax is hurried
away to be rotted as soon as practicable, before
it has been alloweJ to cure. The bolls, seed, and
chaff are all spread out on a floor and dried, and
mingled with oats or barle)', and ground into
meal for feed. This constitutes the difference be-
tween rippling and threshing. Both green and
dry bolls may be separated from the haulm by
rippling, but green ones can not be threshed.

Rotting or Retting. — After the seed has been
separated, the stalks are passed into the hands of
the manufacturer, whose business it is to prepare
the fibre for market by rotting and dressing it.
If the producer desires to perform a portion ol
this labor himself, he should understand what to
do and how to do the work. The stalk straw or
haulm of flax consists of two parts — the fibre or
inner bark, and the shives or woody interior por-
tion, and which is also frequently called shoove.
shove, boon, and hurl. The fibre adheres firmly
to the stalk by means of a glutinous substance
and the object of rotting the stalks is to dissolvi
and decompose the mucilage which holds tht
fibre and the woody parts so firmly together; and
when properly rotted, the shives will separate
from the fibre as readily as bark will peel from a
young willow sprout in early summer. There
are two ways of rotting flax, preparatory to
dressing it. One is called aerial rotting, and the
otlier water rotting or steeping.

Aerial or Dew Eotting, — This is accomplish-
ed by spreading the flax on a smooth grass
plot, in long straight swaths, about half an inch
thick. A lad goes before the man who spreads

PRIZE ESSAYS.

13

the flax and divides the bundles into handfiils,
throwing them down where the swath is to be
made. The spreader either bends his body for-
ward, or squats down with tlie tops of the stallis
toward him ; and with a quick motion spreads
the handfuls as fast as they can be thrown to him.
There are only two things to be observed when
spreading flax, which are, to keep the buts even,
and to spread it of a uniform thickness. Some
spread the swaths so closely that they touch each
other, but I always prefer to leave a space of a
few inches between, to prevent the tops of one
being tangled with another. After it has lain a
week or ten days, it should all be turned upside
down, by running a long slim twenty-foot pole
beneath the swath, near the top ends of the flax,
and let a man and a boy turn over a section of
about twenty feet at once. I have always found
that two would perform this part of the work
better than one could do it with a short pole, be-
cause every time a portion of a swath is raised,
unless some one stands on the swath where the
separation is to be made, it will be more or less
tangled. The length of time required for rotting
■will depend entirely on the state of the weather.
If alternate rains and sunshine prevail, two,
three, or four weeks will be sufficient. The
length of time that flax has been spread must
never be relied on as a correct guide for deter-
mining whether or not it is rotted enough. There
are certain rules which all experienced flax grow-
ers understand, which will enable a beginner to
determine when it is sufficiently rotted. The
most reliable rule is, the stalks, if bent with
the fingers, when dry, will snap like pieces of
glass, and the shives separate freely from the
fibre. Beginners should watch their flax every
day and apply this test, lest it be rotted too much,
causing a great waste of good fibre. When rot-
ted too much, the fibre will separate from the
shives at the junction of the main stem and
branches, and sometimes the fibre of the main
stems will separate from the shive ; and portions
of the stem will be seen in the form of an Indian's
bow, when adjusted for the arrow. It needs a
little experience to determine the point at which
flax is sufficiently rotted.

Steeping or Water Rotting. — The true way of rot-
ting flax is to steep it in water. In dew rotting,
if the weather be ever so favorable, a good pro-
portion of it will be rotted too much if it be kept
on the ground until all the stalks are rotted
enough. But when steeped or water-rotted, there
Is greater uniformity in the process. If it is kept
in the water just long enough, it will be all rotted
alike, and be done veiy much better than it can
possibly be by dew rotting. Moreover, flax can
be rotted much sooner by steeping, than by dew
rotting, the object being simply to dissolve the

mucilage that holds the fibre and woody parts to-
gether, so that they will separate readily as soon
as the flax has been dried. Prepare a pond of
water in the same way as a mill pond, with a
waste gate to let the water ofl" at pleasure. A
suitable place can be prepared on almost every
farm at a trifling expense. The bundles are held
in an erect position, a few inches from the
ground, so that the water may pass both beneatfr
and above them. For this purpose a platform
may be made of rails or boards, and fastened
down with stones or stakes. Tlien set up the
bundles and drive down stakes, and nail strips of
boards from one to the other, over the tops of the
bundles, to keep them from rising out of the
water, which covers the flax a few inches. Then
shut the waste gate and let the pond fill. Some-
times a crate is made, and launched on a mill
pond and the bundles secured in it, when it is
floated into deep water and sunk sufficiently with
stones placed on the crate. Soft rain water is
superior to spring water for rotting. While it is
in the water a partial fermentation commences,
which must be arrested at the proper time, or the
fibre will be damaged in proportion to the
degi'ee of fermentation beyond the proper state.

When to Remove from the Steep. — As the
process of fermentation will progress very slowly
in cool weather, and rapidly in warm, it is impot-
sible to state any definite period of time for keep-
ing it in the water. If the water be of the cor-
rect temperature, the process of rotting will be
completed in six or seven days. The cooler
the water the longer the flax will be in rotting.
After it has been steeping about five days, it
should be examined carefully every day, for the
purpose of ascertaining when it is rotted just
enough. Pull a few stalks from different bundles
in several places, break them into pieces a few
inches long, and pull out the shives. If they
separate very freely from the fibre, the water

fig. 13.— HAND-BKAKE.

should be let oflT without delay, and the flax
spread out on clean grass to diy ; when dry enough.
it should be bound in large bundles and housed.

14

FLAX CULTURE. ETC.

Breaktng. — The Hand-Brake. — Fig. 13 is a cheap
hand-brake. The lower part consists of three
Blats of hard wood, 4 feet lonir, 5 inclies wide, H
inches thicit, at one end
fastened firmly into the
post of a building, and
the other ends mortised
into a frame. The upper
edges of each slat should
be dressed to an edge.
Two blades of the same
form and size are bolted
in long mortises in the
post, as shown in fig. 13,
and tlie outer ends of
these slats are fixed in a
block. Set the two up-
per slats opposite the spaces between the low-
er; and the edges of all, when shut together,
should be on the same level. A wooden pin in

Fig:. 14 — GAVEL HOLDER.

Fig. 15. — POWER BRAEE.

the head above the blades serves for a handle.
The slats in brakes of this form are sometimes
made to shut between one another, as a knife
blade into its handle. This is a wrong construc-
tion, because when the edges of the slats pass be-
tween each other, they stretch and tear much of
the fibre, and break out the shives no better. In
using such a brake, crush a handful of straw be-
tween the slats, working the upper part up and
down, moving the handful along, and turning it,
until the shives are well broken from end to end.

For convenience in holding a handfuJ during
the process of breaking, make two sticks, (fig.
14,) about a foot long, and three-fourths of an
inch diameter, and tie them together, about 15
inches apart, with a small cord. The cord is
passed around the handful of flax, as shown by
the dark line, and tl>etwo sticks are grasped with
one hand. By this means one can hold the flax
firmly, keeping it evener than with the hand alone.

The Power Brake.— Fig. 15 shows a cheap re-
volving brake, which is driven by horse, or water
power. It consists of two fluted, or corrugated

rollers between which the bunches of flax are
passed repeatedh', until the stalks are broken so
finely that the shives may be readily separated
by shaking, and with the scutcher. The rollers
are about two feet long, and six inches in diame-

Fig. 16. SWINGLE. Fig. 17. — scutchtng board.

ter. The lower roller is stationary, and the bear-
ings of the upper one play up and down in slots
three inches long. This roller is held down to the
other by iron rods, or strips of band iron, which
pass over the gudgeons and support a stick, which
holds a tub filled with stones. This weight can
be increased at pleasure. A large driving pulley
on the journal of the lower roller, gives a velocity
of about one hundred revolutions per minute.
The rollers may be made of cast iron, or of wood
covered with iron ridges screwed firmly to its
surf\\ce, as shown at R, fig. 15. A handful of flax
is placed on the inclined feeding table, and a man
catches it as the rollers bring it through toward
him. He then places it again on the feeding
table, and continues to run it through until it is
thoroughly broken. After the flax is broken,
the loose shives are shaken out, and the rest is
worked out b} scutching.

Scutching. — Figure 16 represents a hand
scutcher, or swingling knife. It is of hard wood,
2 feet long, with
two edges. The
hand scutching
board is about
three feet long,
and one foot wide,
with a notch as
shown in the cut,
and fastened se-
curely to a heavy
block as shown in
fig. 17. The length
of the scutching
board is regulated
by the stature of
the man who uses
it. A handful of
flax is grasped one Fig. 18.— power eccTCHEB.
side of the middle in one hand, and is held in the
notch of the .scutching board. The knife is then
strufk on it as if it were to be cut ofi" on a line

PRIZE ESSA\3.

15

with the surface of the board. The handfuls
are turned, and both ends scutched until the
Bhives are removed. A Eevolving Power Scutcher is
shown in fig. 18. This consists of a wooden
shaft, with a system of scutching knives set in it,
like the spokes of a wheel. These knives have
but one edge ; and they must revolve as trae as a
mill stone. The shaft should make from 150 to
200 revolutions per minute close to a scutching
board. If desired this shaft may be made long,
with sets of scutching knives every four feet.

Hatcheling. — After the bunches have been
well scutched, they are hatcheled. The teeth of
a fine hatchel are about six inches long, one
eighth of an inch in diameter at the large end,
and taper to a sharp point. About 10 of these

are set say 4 inch apart, in a hard b( ard, and
the fibre is drawn through them until it is suffi-
ciently lacerated and combed. The handfuls are
then twisted a little, and packed in a clean box
for market. In some markets, however, hatcheled
fibre will command no larger price than the un-
hatcheled, because the process of hatclieliug is
the business of the spinner, and requires skille^l
labor to do it properly. An inexperienced hatch-
eler will waste a large per centage of good fibre.
For this reason, flax growers should aim simply
to remove the shives or " boon," and leave the
fibre as whole and long as possible, and let the
spinner perform the hatcheling, unless dealers
make a great difference in the price between the
hatcheled and unhatcheled fibre.

SECOND PRIZE ESSAY. -BY JAMES CAIRNS,

BALLTDUBANE, CLOROKITTT, COUNTY CORK, IRELAND.

An essay of so circuniscribed limits as this, and
yet on a subject embracing so many difierent pro-
cesses as the flax crop must pass through, while
in the hands of the farmer, each requiring the
most minute description in detail, does not admit
of many introductory remarks. I shall, therefore,
not attempt any in the present instance, but, re-
serving tlte limited amount of space allotted to
me, for absolutely necessary matter, address my-
self to my subject at once, and first, as to
--:::^oiL. — Flax is not, as some suppose, confined
to a narrow range of soil. On the contrary, good
crops may be grown on almost any soil that is
new to it. The soil which by common consent is
voted to be the best adapted to flax culture is a
sound, dry, deep, friable loam ; a soil of the great-
est possible variety of ingredients. But while this
is universally admitted to be the best, I have al-
ways found, in practice, that no soil whatever is
capable of producing a better crop of flax, both
as regards yield and quality, than a sharp
gravelly clay, provided it is deep and dry. Tak-
ing the loam above described, however, as the
standard soil, we may extend, on the one hand so
far as midway between it and a heavy, retentive
clay ; and on the other hand, so far as midway
between it and a light sandy soil, with every cer-
tainty of success so far as soil is concerned. These
limits embrace a very wide range, and great va-
riety of soils, aU capable of producing, under
proper treatment, superior crops of flax. Good
crops may also be expected a considerable dis-
tance beyond these points, but as we approach
very heavy retentive clay, or very light sand, our
chances of success become less ; and on the latter,
flax culture should never be attempted. It will
be easy for any man to say whether the particular
■oil which he has to deal with is suitable to the

growth of flax or not. But whatever the soil may
be, it should be borne in mind that it must eithei
be naturally dry, or rendered so by thorough
draining and subsoiling. These operations, where
necessary, ought to take place at least two years
previous to the introduction of a flax crop. <^

Rotation and Situation. — The place in the
rotation which I consider most suitable for the
flax crop is on oat stuble after rich old lea. I do
not mean rich in applied manures, but in dead
vegetable matter. I have also frequently grown
it, very successftilly, as a first crop on such lea ;
but when it is desirable that oats should occupy
any place in the rotation at all, I much prefer pre-
ceeding the flax by oats, as by so doing the rich old
lea sod — the very best manure for flax — has sufli
cient time to become completely decomposed, and
its elements made available as food for the flax, and
by the repeated plowings, etc., it must necessari-
ly undergo, be thoroughly blended with the soiL
In this way a much evener, better yielding, finer
quality of flax, can be obtained than it is pos-
sible to produce under any other circumstances,
or in any other place in the rotation, except by
mere chance. The next best place is on wheat or
barley stubble after green manuring ; very good
crops are sometimes grown in this place in the
rotation, but the result is not so certain, and
never so satisfactory ; the crop being less uniform
in length, coarser in quality, and rather more
wasteftil in cleaning. Flax should never be
grown as a first crop after green manuring. My
objection to this is the impossibility of mixing
the manure applied to the preceeding crop, so
thoroughly with the soil as the nature of the flax
plant requires. The roots of the flax do not
spread far in a lateral direction, but sink perpen-
dicularly; the result is that plants sending theii

16

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

roots doTirr through lumps of undivided manure,
get a start, and monopolizing the air and light,
branch out and spread over their less fortunate
neighbors. To a casual observer the crop may-
appear very good, as it generally has a very
luxuriant appearance, but a man of experience
will look to the great waste that is certain to ensue
in the mill ; for, as the scutcher holds the " streek"
nearer to one end than the middle, a great deal of
the shorter flax escapes his grasp, and finds its
place among the tow. But if even this were not
the case, the sample would be of unequal quali-
ty— some very coarse, and some fine, therefore, of
less value to the spinner, and consequently to the
grower. The same objections apply, with still
greater force, to the application of farm-yard ma-
nure directly to the flax crop. The application of
lime is also objectionable. When light poor soils,
however, are the subject of treatment, a slight
dressmg of finely pulverised commercial manure,
such as phosphatic or Peruvian guano, super-
phosphate of lime, etc., may be beneficially ap-
plied, if well harrowed in and incorporated with
the finely pulverised soil. Keeping the foregoing
observations in view, it is of little consequence
what the other crops in the rotation may be ; but
as the flax plant delights in change of soil, I
would not reccommend it to be grown oftener
than once in a five-course rotation on the best
soils ; and according as we depart from the stand-
ard soil, before indicated, the intervals between the
occurrence of flax crops, in the same land, should
extend to six, eight, or ten years, according to
gradation of soil. As to situation, the only places
we have to guard against are high, bare, exposed
situations, and the shade of trees. In the latter
case the crop is apt to lodge or become rusty be-
fore it has put on fibre. The aspect does not mat-
ter much, but a southern, or south-eastern aspect
is to be preferred, chiefly as it gives an opportu-
nity of sowing earlier, and consequently of hav-
ing the crop watered before the cold nights in
autumn.

Preparation of the Sotl. — This operation
should, for the most part, take place in the
autumn, shortly after the removal of the previous
crop. If a proper system of farming, and deep
clean cultivation has been followed, the prepara-
tion of the soil for flax becomes as easy as for any
other crop, in fact, land "fitly prepared for a green
crop is also fit for flax. In the case of oat stub-
ble after lea, (which I greatly prefer) it should
receive its first plowing in a diagonal direction
across the former furrows; the object being to
break up, as completely as possible, the old sod,
and afterwards be grubbed, harrowed, and cleanly
picked of all root and surface weeds. It is un-
necessary to say how often these operations are
to be repeated, that, of course, wiU depen(f on

the state of the land. TLe object to be attained it
to get the land, by repeated plowings, grubbings,
harrowings, pickings, etc., into tlie deepest, finest,
and cleanest state possible. After this a heavy
roller should be passed over i^ and the autumn
preparation finished, by plowii^g, with a tolera-
bly deep furrow, in the direction of the greatest
slope, in which state it remains undisturbed until
seed-time. The object of rolling is to consolidate
the soil so that the furrow slices may remain
more entire, and a greater surface be presented to
the ameliorating influence of the iVost and atmos-
phere during the winter. In case of wheat, oat,
or barley stubble after green manuring, the course
of preparation is the same as that just described;
only that the first plowing need not necessarily
be either diagonally or across the former ridges;
nor does it require so much work to get it into a
deep, clean, finely pulverised state.

Wlien it is intended to grow flax as a first crop
on rich sward ground, only one plowing is nec-
essary, but this must be performed with the great-
est care, and by a good plowman, followed, if
possible, by the land presser ; the depth of farrow
should not be less than seven inches, and the
slices narrow, so that the greatest amount of sur-
face may be exposed during winter. All that is
necessary in the spring to render this fit for the
seed is a heavy han-owing, first lengthwise, and
then in all directions. In the former two cases,
in which it is supposed the soil has been made
perfectly fine in the autumn, a light plowing or
grubbing across is necessary, and should take
place about a fortnight before sowing the seed, so
that any seed weeds the land may contain, may
have time to vegetate, that they may be destroyed
in seed-leaf, by the after harrowings. Thi3
plowing should not be more than 3 or 4 inches
deep, so as to preserve the winter surface, only as a
bed for the seed ; and this important fact should
be always kept in view, that flax requires an ex-
tremely fine surface, but a firm, solid bottom.
From the smalluess of the seed and the tender-
ness of the young plant, this desire for a firm un-
dersoil, may, to a person unacquainted with the
crop, appear strange, but so fully am 1 convinced
of it, from long experience, and close observa-
tion of its habits, that it is as much on this ac-
count, as that of the benefit derived from expos
ure to the frost, that I so strongly recommend
autumn preparation of the soU, so that it may
acquire solidity during the winter, and that
no part may be required to be disturbed in the
spring but what is merely necessary to form a
surface bed for reception of the seed ; for the
same reason, where the land is at all inclined to
be light, it can scarcely receive too much rolling,
in order to consolidate it underneath, always
loosening up the surface with the harrows. There

PRIZE ESSilYS.

is another thing I wish specially to direct
attention to, that is, that none of the spring ope-
rations of plowing, harrowing, rolling or sow-
ing, should ever take place while the land is at all
wet, or during rain, better wait for one, two, or
three weeks, than stir land in preparation for flax,
in a wet state. All that remains now to be done
is to get the surface, to the depth of 3 or 4
iuclies, into a finely pulverised state by repeated
harrowings in all directions, pick off all stones of
an injurious size, roll with a heavy roller, after
which, give a turn of the sod-harrows up and
do-WTi to loosen the surface. The land, now pre-
senting an even surface, with little or no appear-
ance of ridges or farrows, it becomes necessary,
as a guide to the sower, to mark it out in beds of
equal widths, which may be done by running a
light one-horse plow on the surface, guided by the
plowing poles set up by an attendant.

Selection op the Seed. — The selection of
the seed, like every thing else connected with
flax management, requires considerable care and
attention. The proper time to do it, however, is
not in the same order in which we describe it —
after the ground has been prepared for it — but as
early as it is known that the new arrivals from
abroad have been received. Riga is the kind best
adapted to the generality of soils, and is to be
preferred as giving the heaviest crop, but where
the soil is inclined to be rather heavy and clayey ;
Dutch does remarkably well, and is generally
finer in fibre, if not quite so heavy in produce as
the Riga; but whatever the kind, it should be
heavy, plump, and of a shining appearance, not
too dark. It is always safest to purchase from a
respectable merchant, if not quite so cheap as
others, as there is considerable fraud practiced in
the lower branches of the flax-seed trade, such
as mixing old with new, badly home-saved with
foreign, and packing inferior samples in Riga bar-
rels and A\Tappers of the best brands, etc., etc.
Some samples of flax seed contain seeds of for-
eign weeds, these should always be rejected, as
some of those weeds are very troublesome. The
flax dodder, a parasitic weed with greyish seed,
which twists itself around and actually feeds on
the sap of the flax, is one of the most pernicious
of these, as it is impossible to weed it out without
pulling or cutting down all the flax infested with
it. The well known hemp seed, so plentiful in
some samples of Riga, is also very injurious, as,
from its taller and more robust growth, it over-
tops and chokes the flax.

I procure samples from several merchants, and
make a selection of two or three of the best of
them, so far as appearances can guide me. I take
as many balls of well moistened earth, break each
in two, and having counted a certain number of
Beeds from each sample, say 50 or 100, and spread

each kind on the broken face of one of the balls,
I put them together again, and lay them in a
warm place, duly labeled with the merchant's
name, and kept moistened with wet moss. In
about 48 hours all the good seeds will have vege-
tated. I then take them down and count tlie
number of sprouted seeds in each ball, and in-
variably give my orders to the merchant whose
sample gave the largest percentage of sprouted
seeds. Xo matter how free of weed-seeds it may
appear, I take the ftirther precaution of passing
it through a wire sieve of about 13 holes to the
inch. By these means I seldom or never have
bad, old or dirty seed. The sample producmg
the largest proportion of sproi;ted grains will also
be foimd to have vegetated soonest, showing the
newness and freshness of the seed. If the seed
is old it will be slow in shooting ; and if a mix-
ture of old and new, vegetation will make un-
equal advances in a given time, and if badly
saved, some seeds wiU be altogether dead.

Sowing the Seed. — The proper time for sow-
ing sometimes differs considerably in different
countries, of the same latitude, and also in differ-
ent localities in the same country, according to
soil, situation, aspect, and elevation above sea-
level, so I shall give one or two general rules that
the intelligent farmer can easily apply to his
own particular case. Sowing should never take
place until there appears good reason to suppose
that the pinching frosty nights have ceased ; as,
not only would many of the tender plants, as
they come up, be killed by such frost, but those
that would escape with life would be so retarded
in their growth, by its chilling effects, that should
the land contain charlock or other weed-seeds,
these, being of a hardier nature, would get a start
of the flax, causing immense trouble and expense
in hand weeding ; whereas, if no hard frosts occur,
and the weather genial and warm, the flax
comes up and gi'ows very rapidly and the hardier
but slower growing weeds are not able to make
their appearance. I would say then, sow as early
as the apparent cessation of fi'ost, the dryness of
the land, and a fine settled state of the weather
will admit. Sowing should never take place dur-
ing rain, or when the soil is so wet that it will
adhere to any implement. The proper quantity
of seed is 21 bushels or IS imperial gallons to the
English statute acre. Some sow more and some
less, but this is the quantity which I have found
to give the most profitable results on the gener-
ality of soils. It is safer, however, to err on the
thick, than on the thin side ; as thick sown flax
grows straight and uniform in length, producing
only two or three bolls or seed vessels at the very
top, and its fibre is always very much superior in
fineness and strength to thin sown fiax, which al-
ways grows coarse and uneven, branching out lx>-

18

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

fore it attains a suflScient hight, and seeming to
put forth all its energy in the production of an
abundant crop of seed, instead of the formation
of fibre. I would, therefore, sow a little more
than I have stated above — say up to 2^ bushels,
on light poor soils, while I would in no case sow
less than 2 bushels to the Enghsh acre on the
best loams. I may here state that a Riga barrel
contains 3i bushels, and a Dutch hogshead two
Riga barrels, or seven bushels. Having ascer-
tained, then, the quantity of seed necessary for
the extent of land to be sown, and the land hav-
ing been marked out into about 12 feet wide beds,
as previously described, the total quantity of
seed in quarts, must be divided by the number of
beds to be sown, so as to ascertain the number of
quarts there are for each bed. The sower, who
must be a very careful person, and accustomed to
sow grain well, should take the number of quarts
thus obtained, into his seed basket or sowing
Bheet, and proceed to sow, going with a steady
measui'ed step, taking small tight handfuls, and
throwing pretty high, strong and fearlessly, let-
ting each cast slightly overlap the other, and
taking great care, as the seed is exceeding slip-
pery, and apt to glide from the hand impercepti-
bly, that too much does not escape from him in the
backward swing of the hand; and so proceed
with bed after bed, giving each its proper number
of quarts of seed, until all is finished. Should
the furrows formed by the previous plowings,
act be sufiiciently obliterated, the harrowing by
vhich the seed is covered must take place in the
direction of these furrows, lest too much seed be
drawn into the hollows indicating the same ; but
should no such indications exist, then, go over
with the seed-harrows across the direction in
which the seed was sown, then cross-harrow, and
lastly roll. If the soil is one of those charac-
terised as "light," leave it presenting the rolled
surface, but if heavy clay, it is better to break
this surface again by the harrows.

"Weedinq. — If the autumn cleaning of the land
has been properly executed, the weeding of the
crop will neither be very tedious nor expensive,
and where the land has been undergoing a course
of deep clean tillage during the previous part of
the rotation, it very often happens that the opera-
tion can be dispensed with altogether; but should
weeds, unfortunately, make their appearance, as
is too often the case, they must be got rid of be-
fore the crop exceeds six inches in hight. This
work is best performed by women, girls, or boys,
without shoes, as the tender plants bruised be-
tween shoes and small stones seldom recov-
er, whereas treading with bare feet, or the knees,
does not do the crop, at this stage of its growth,
the slightest injury, care being taken to lay it all
in the same direction. The weedei'S should work

facing the wind, so that the breeze may assist the
down-trodden crop to rega,in its upright position ;
and be provided with knives, to cut all large
weeds, such as thistles, docks, etc., a little under
the surface, the pulling of which would be apt to
uproot a good many of the adjoining flax
plants. Moist weather should be chosen for the
operation of weeding, in preference to veiy dry
weather, as it is easier for nature to repair any
damage that may be done in the way of bruising
of plants, or exposing of roots, when assisted by
weather favorable to vegetation. If new dams
have to be made, as soon as the weeding is fin-
ished is the proper time to make them, so that
they may be filled with water, and their banks well
saturated, some time before the flax is ready for

Pulling. — The proper time for pulling is a
very nice point to determine, and one upon which
even experienced flax growers do not quite agree.
Some advocating early pulling, on account of the
superior fineness of the quality gained thereby;
whilst others say that by letting it become rather on
the ripe side, the increased weight of clean fibre far
more than compensates for the want of quality.
I believe both are correct according to the mar-
ket, and perhaps it is necessary for the develop-
ment of the various shades and the degrees of
fineness in our flaxen textile fabrics, that this dif-
ference of opinion should exist. There is no
doubt but that the extraordinary fineness of
quality of some samples of flax produced in cer-
tain parts of France and Belgium, and worth as
much as £200 steriing ($1000) per ton, (of 2340 lbs.)
is chiefly obtained by pulling the crop in rather a
green state ; but it is equally certain that this re-
sult is obtained at a great sacrifice in the amount
of fibre. Experience shows that the medium be-
tween the rather green, and the rather ripe state
is that which produces the greatest possible
amount of fibre, compatible with a marketable
quality; and therefore, the most profitable state
to pull in. This medium point is determined,
first, by observing that the bolls begin to turn
from a green to a light brown color; and, sec-
ondly, by examination of the stalk, the leaves on
which should have become yellow for two-thirds
of its length from the ground, and also the lower
half, either divested of its leaves altogether, or
have them quite withered and ready to fall. This
examination of the stalk is even more to be de-
pended on than the coloring of the bolls, which,
in very dry weather, sometimes commences be-
fore the stalk presents these appearances. The
field, moreover, when viewed at a little distance,
should have begun to assume a uniform yellowish
tinge. A combination of all these appearances
will indicate the proper period. Sometime pre-
vious to this, bands should be provided for tying
the beets as they are rippled. Rushes dried in the

PRIZE ESSAYS.

19

Fig. 19.

i«un make the best bands, the next best are short
thumb-ropes of hay, which are, however, much
inferior to rushes ; but in no case should the flax
be tied with itself About eight women or men
will pull an acre in a day. They should gather
with the right hand, catching it near the middle,
and with a firm grasp, not gathering too much at
sach pull, so as to be able to keep it perfectly even
at the root ends. Great attention should be paid to
this keeping of the roots even, in its passage
through this, and every subsequent process; as
its brush-hke evenness in the root end greatly en-
hances its value to the spinner. If the weather is
wet, the flax shonld receive a stroke across the left
thigh, to free it from any earth that may adhere to
the roots ; dry weather, however, is very much to
be preferred, both as afi"ording greater facility in
drying the bolls, and less liability to mildew in the
heart of the beets before steeping. The pullers, as
Ihey proceed, should lay down the handfuls cross-
ing each other thus, fig. 19, and in little
heaps of eight or ten, or tied in " beets,"
60 that they will lift, for rippling, with-
out tangling. Should there be some
parts of the crop, short, and some long,
either from having been grown after a green ma-
nure crop, or on imperfectly drained, or wet land,
the different lengths should be pulled and kept
separately, through this and every after operation,
for reasons before mentioned.

RrppLiNG. — This operation should take place
jn the same field, and simultaneously with that of
pulling. In many of the best and most success-
ful flax growing districts in the north of Ireland,
there exists a sort of prejudice against rippling,
or any other method of utilizing the seed, and it
is therefore almost altogether neglected. This is
a great mistake, as it is throwing away a large
amount of really valuable feeding stuff. Some
insist— judging I suppose from its returning but
little to the land — that flax is an exhausting crop ;
an opinion which I do not entertain ; but if it is
so, we have all the more need to preserve care-
fully the only portion of the crop which may be
returned to the soil, and the production of which
is, at the same time, most exhausting. "When
growing flax for its fibre, I do not advise the
saving the seed for other than feeding purposes,
as it is impossible to have both fibre and seed in
perfection at the same time; but half ripe flax-
bolls, when properly saved and ground into meal
make a most wholesome and nutritious food,
when made into mucilage, and either given to
calves, or sprinkled over chaffed straw or hay, etc.,
for older stock. The rippling comb, (fig. 20), a
very simple implement, is generally made of half-
inch square rods of iron, with the angles towards
each other, 3-16 of an inch asunder at bottom,
and half an inch at top, fixed in a blofk of elm

Fig. 20.— COMB.

They should begin to taper 3 mches from the top
and be about 18 inches long, so as to spring with
each pull, and thus save much breaking of' flax.
I prefer round iron as not being so liable to peel
or mjure the fibre. The comb should be screwed
on to the middle of a short
plank, fastened across a can
box, with the wheels taken
ofl", a winnowing sheet being
spread underneath, to re-
ceive whatever bolls may
not faU within the cart. Two
ripplers work at each comb, standing at opposite
sides of it, facing each other, and, keeping firm hold
of the handfuls, strike, or rather draw them through
the comb ; letting it take a light hold at first, until
some of the bolls are off. A handy rippler can
finish a handful at two strokes. Great care should
be taken not to draw the handfuls farther through
the comb than is necessary for taking off the
bolls. A boy or girl lays down the beets, untied,
at the right hand of the rippler, who lays down
the rippled handfuls at his left, crossing them
diagonally as in figure 19, (the advantage of
which precaution will appear in the operation of
spreading), to be tied up and removed by the same
attendant. The beets should not exceed 6 or 7
inches in diameter, so as to be easily handled
when wet, and tied moderatelj' tight, to prevent
dragging of stalks, in the after handling. If the
weather permits it, the bolls had much better be
dried in the field, spread out on winnowing
sheets, and kept constantly turned; in wet
weather they must be carted to the farm-yard at
once, and spread out in sheds, barn floors, or lofts,
all doors and windows being left open to promote
a free circulation of air, and prevent heating,
which, from their oily nature, they are exceeding-
ly apt to do, and which would materially injure
their feeding qualities. Their drying is greatly
facilitated by passing them through a winnowing
machine, with a coarse riddle, thereby removing
leaves and straw. When nearly diy, thej' should
be taken to a com kiln, and their drjing com-
pleted, very slowly, and then ground into meal,
husks and seed together. If oat taUtngs or mill
seeds be mixed with them, it will counteract the
tendency of the oil to clog the millstones. The
rippled flax shoiild be put up into long, two-row
stooks of 12 beets each, where it may remain for
2 or 3 days, if the rippling cannot be finished
sooner. Some recommend great haste in com-
mitting it to the water, if not the same day it is
pulled, at farthest the day after ; but in my prac-
tice I have never been able to find out the great
virtue in this precipitation. It is always attended
with great inconvenience, especially if the quan-
tity is large, without compensating advantages. II
the proper time for pulL-r/j has been nicely hit.

20

FLAX CULTURL, ETC.

the flax will receive no injury by remaining out
of the water until the third day, which will afford
time for the rippling to have been completed, and
for the sap to become uniformly disseminated be-
fore steeping. It is of great importance that all
the lot should be ready to go into the water at
the same time, so that it all will be fit to take out
together, and that the taking out of one part of it
may not disturb the fermentation in the other.

Watering or Retting. — This has very justly
been termed the most important process the flax,
while in the hands of the grower, has to pass
through; for, no matter how suitable the soil,
how well it has been prepared, or what amount
of care and skill may have been brought to bear
on the operations of sowing, pulling, etc. No
matter, in fact, what train of fortuitous circum-
stances may have conspired to render the crop
one of the best that possibly could be grown ; a
single day, nay a few hours, under or over water-
ing, may reduce it 30, 40 or 50 per cent in value.
More than this it is unnecessary to say, in order
to bespeak the entire attention of the new and
inexperienced flax grower to a description of the
method, rules, and indications which practice and
experience have proved necessary to the bringing
of the crop safely, and in the most profitable
state, through this critical process.

The "dams," as I have remarked elsewhere,
should be made some weeks or months previous
to the pulling of the crop, and where an unfail-
ing supply of water can be depended on in the
driest season. They are generally made 3i to 4
feet deep; and single dams, or those accessible
only on one side, 8 to 10 feet wide, whilst a width
of 16 or 18 feet Ls found convenient for double
dams, or those accessible on both sides. The sides
should be cut with a definite slope, as in fig. 21, to
guard against the falling in of banks, when sa-
turated by the water.

The choice of position of the dam is, of course,
limited to a great extent by the water supply;

'ipiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiPiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiwiRipi'i-iiiliM

Fij. 21. — DOUBLE DAM — CROSS SECTION

but as far as this limitation will admit, a warm
situation, as the south side of a fence, should be
chosen in preference to the north side ; and the
soil should be sufficiently retentive to prevent
much loss of water by leakage, and the conse-
quent cooling of the dam, by the necessity of
keeping up too great a feed stream, to supply this
loss ; water must stand at an equal depth all over
the dam. If circumstances admit of it, it is also
yery desirable that the position of the dam should
be such as to command some gently sloping
(jround on a lower level, with a view to running

off, and utilizing the flax water, as a top-dressing
or irrigation for grass land. This water codtaina
very considerable manurial qualities, and should
always be made use of when practicable ; and it
is desirable that gravitation should be pressed
into our service, for the purpose of distributing it
over the land. Soft water is the best for retting flax.
River water, or that which has ran a considera-
ble distance, exposed to the sun and air, should
always be preferred; while spring-water, and
that impregnated with lime, iron, or other min-
eral substances should be avoided as much as
possible, as the former is always quicker and
more certain in its action, and mineral waters are
apt to discolor the flax more or less permanently.
Beginners are generally apt to think that, to be
successful, they must produce flax of a very white
color. This is quite a mistake, as flax of a nice
silvery blay is quite as marketable, if not more
so, than the very white. Any discoloration, of
vegetable origin, such as that caused by weeds in
the flax, or from the banks and bottoms of old
dams being covered with vegetation, or any which
takes place in soft water, is no blemish whatever,
as it is easily got rid of in the bleaching process
which the fabrics made of it must all undergo;
and it often occurs that blay flax is found to pos-
sess the fine, soft, silky quality, to a larger extent
than the purely white. There are certain miner-
als, however, which, if they exist largely in solu-

Fig. 22.

tion in the water in which flax is steeped, im-
part to it a dull leaden color more difficult to get
rid of in the bleach — it is only this latter case,
then, that is to be guarded against. In the case
of river water it need not be let into the dam (un-
less for the purpose of proving the latter) until
after the flax is placed in ; but when spring water
has to be used, the dams should be filled with
it some weeks before the flax is ready for pulling,
so that it may have time to become somewhat
softened, and warmed by exposure to the air and
sun. Having got all ready ; and the flax alongside,
it must be placed in very carefully — in case of a
dry dam, by a man standing in the bottom, and in
case of a dam previously filled with water, by a
man standing first at the end, and then a short
plank or board placed on top of the flax. A per-
son on the bank hands the beets to the man in the
dam, who, commencing at one end, places thorn
in regular rows across it, root end down, and
standing at an angle of about 75 degrees, (fig. 22.^
and so proceed till all is in. By observing this
angle and posi' on, the dam will be full enough

PRIZE ESSAYS.

2t

without a second row, which some put in, but
which is objectionable; another advantage that
this position of tlie beets has over the flat position
adopted by some, is, that the coarser and more
easily " watered" root ends occupy the cooler and
more slowly retting part of the dam, while the
finer, and more slowly affected top ends occupy
the warmest part of the dam ; and thus the ret-
ting process is kept up equally along the whole
length of the flax. When the flax is in, it should
be all covered over, to the depth of about an inch,
with rag-weeds, or, in case they cannot be got,
then, with other weeds, grass, ferns, or vegetable
subtance of some sort ; and in case of new dams,
the bottoms and sides should be lined with some-
thing of the kind. Rag-weed, Ambrosia artemis-
icefolia, is preferable, on account of the quan-
tity of potash it contains. Some keep down
the flax by covering it all over with sods, but
although fermentation goes on well under them,
they are, nevertheless, objectionable, on account
of their dirtying the flax, and the trouble and ex-
pense of replacing them every year, by fresh
ones; flat stones are, therefore, to be preferred,
as being cleanlier, more convenient, and inex-
pensive, for, when once collected they can be
piled up beside the dam and used year after year
for any length of time. The weight of stones
put on should be such as to keep the flax barely
resting on the bottom, half suspended in mid-
water, but sufficient to keep it from rising higher
than within six inches of the surface.

In about three days it will rise a little, show-
ing that fermentation has commenced; a few
stones should now be put on, here and there, to
counteract this bouyant tendency. In about four
days more it will begin to sink again, when the
extra stones must be removed to enable it to re-
gain its former position. From this time constant
attention, and frequent examinations are necessa-
ry, as, if all is going on right, it may be expect-
ed to be sufficiently watered any time from the
8th to the 14th day. In the case of spring water,
however, it sometimes takes tliree weeks, and if
later in the season, even longer, it is always safest,
however, to examine it after the 7th day, by get-
ting into the centre of the dam, taking up a stone,
and thrusting down the hand into the heart of
a beet, if it feels hard and wiry to the grip, the ex-
amination may terminate here for the present,
to be repeated the next day, and from day to
day, mitil it is found, when pressing it in the
hand, to be a shade softer ; then the examinations
should take place every 12 hours, and when de-
cidedly softer to the grip, a beet should be taken
on top the centre of the dam, opened, and a little
loclc, of about twenty stalks, from the heart of the
beet, bent across the fore finger in several places.
If the shove or woody part of the stem only

bends, and does not break, or if only few of them
break, and there is no appearance of loose fibre
becoming detached from the stem, then it must
be replaced, and examined in the same way, and
in several parts of the dam, every six hours, until
most of the stalks break freely when bent across
the finger, and start out, clean from the fibre.
When this is found to be the case it is either
ready or on the point of being so; but a further
and last test has to be applied. Having opened a
beet take from the centre of it a medium sized
stalk, not the finest nor the coarsest; break the
shove quite through, in two places near the mid-
dle, about six inches apart, and having freed the
lower end of this broken bit of wood, careftxlly
ft-om the fibre, catch it with the finger and thumb
and pull it out downwards ; repeat this on several
stalks, and if all or most of them pull out freely,
without breaking, tearing the fibre, or having any
of it adhering to them; then the proper time has
arrived for taking it out. At the same time that
this latter test applies ; on looking over the open
beet, it will be observed that in a great many
stalks, the fibre shows a tendency to loosen, and
detach itself from the woody part, of its own ac-
cord ; no time should now be lost in taking it out,
which should be done carefully, aL L by the hands,
instead of forks, taking care not to break or dou-
ble the flax. If taken out at the time indicated
by the above tests and appearances, after drain-
ing for an hour or two on the bank, it may be
drawn to the spread-field, and dropped in separate
beets as the carts pass along, so that the spread-
ers may find them as required. Although this
process of retting, is, from the quickness of its
action, in some cases, the most critical that the
flax has to pass through, yet, with a little experi-
ence, it becomes a very easy matter to conduct it
safely through, and indeed, the tests are so sim-
ple, practical, and easy of application ; and the
appearances which indicate the proper state, so
easily determined, that even the beginner need
have no fear or hesitation, in undertaking it.

In every new flax district, we generally find
ten times more flax spoil through under, than
over watering. The inexperienced farmer, in his
first or second attempt at flax growing; knowing
that it is so easily injured in the water, becomes
oppressed with an overload of fear, and intend-
ing to be very cautious, says to himself. "I have
a fine crop so far, if any misfortune should hap-
pen to it now, I will be broke. I will therefore,
take care, and not give it too much of the water,
and whatever it wants of being well enough wa-
tered, I can make up for it on the grass," and
thus gets involved in the very evil he was so much
on his guard to avert. No exposure on the
grass can ever wholly make up for defective wa-
tering. The action of alternate dews, or showers

22

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

and sunshine will bleach and soften it no doubt ;
but, unlike that of fermentation, it will weaken
and make towy the fibre before dissolving the
gum which binds it to the woody stem. Far bet-
ter is it, should an inordinate fear of over-water-
ing have caused one to take out flax a day, or a
few hours, to soon, to let it remain in rotheap on
the bank for a night, or a few houi-s longer. When
flax is over watered tliere will be a great waste
in scutching, a great deal of the fibre breaking and
forming tow, but what will remain, will be of a
very fine silky quality. When under watered, the
same waste takes place in the mill, the increased
amount of power which must necessarily be em-
ployed to free it from the shove, breaking a great
deal of the fibre and dragging it among the tow,
with this additional evil, that what remains is
harsh and coarse in quality. Care should be
taken that a slender stream be admitted to the
flax dam, during the process of retting ; just suf-
ficient to supply any loss that may take place
from evaporation and unavoidable leakage. Pro-
vision should also be made against the possibility
of flood-water breaking into the dam, as the pro-
cess of retting never goes on so satisfactorily
again, after having been interrupted by any
means ; and lastly, a second batch of flax should
never be steeped in the same water. Tliis is a
point almost universally overlooked by theoreti-
cal flax instructors, and one on which the inex-
perienced are very often led to commit very seri-
ous mistakes. Such persons are apt to arrive, too
hastily, and without due consideration, at the
conclusion, that, as a matter of course, fermenta-
tion will take place more quickly in sour water
than in fresh ; but practice shows that the reverse
is the fact with respect to flax and old flax-water,
as the former is always sure to " sit" in the dam.
Spreading.— Clean thick open pasture ground,
free from the shade of trees, should be selected
as a spread-field, should there be any weeds on
it, they should be mown eveu with the sward,
and removed as soon as the flax has been put in
the dam. The spreading, which is performed
chiefly by women and girls, but sometimes also
by men, should commence at the same time that
the carts commence to drop the beets all over the
field, as, if allowed to dry in the beet, the flax does
not separate freely. Each spreader— standing
with her back to the wind, if there is any ; but if
calm, towards that point whence the prevailing
winds come — takes an open beet on her left arm,
from which she takes a handful, lays it down on
the grass, root end next herself, and spreads it
with the right hand, very evenly, and so thin that
the grass can be seen all through it, and in a per-
fectly straight row, running from right to left of
the iSeld, keeping each row a few paces in ad-
vance of the other as in fig. 23, and the tops of

each row overlapping the roots of the preceeding
one about two inches; this slight overlap is a
great protection against wind, and as there is no
fibre on the roots it is of no injury to the flax.
Should any little locks be left unseparated, they

Fiar. 23.

may not dry evenly, or if they do, the flax, when
dressed, will present a streaky unevenness in
color, from unequal bleaching, hence the necessi-
ty of even spreading. If the directions under the
head of Rippling have been attended to, the
spreaders will find no diflSculty in separating the
handfuls, without any tangling or dragging of
stalks. Some recommend turning the flax after
lying a few days on the grass, which is done by
running ash wands under it, and turning it right
over its root end, but if spread sufficiently thin
and evenly, this operation may be dispensed with
altogether, and indeed with advantage sometimes,
in case of wind, for if ouce moved on the grass,
the flax never lies so close again and is very apt
to catch the wind and be blown about. Tuiniing ia
never practiced in the best flax districts in Ireland.
The bands, as they are taken off the beets, are
thrown on the grass, under the flax, so that they
may be found where they are wanted when

LrPTENG. — If flax has been properly hit in the
watering, it should be fit to lift, at wliatever time it
is found perfectly dry, between the fourth and
the eighth day, and these are the appearances it
should then present: The " shoves" should clean
out very freely, when a little lock is rubbed be-
tween the hands; and upon looking over it, as it
lies on the grass, a great many stalks will be
found to have formed bows and strings, by the
contracting of the fibre, and consequent bending
of the stalk. When these appearances take place
within the above time, it is a pretty sure sign
that the watering has been rightly managed. It
should never be necessary to leave it on the
grass longer than the eighth day, but in no case
should it be allowed to lie until the grass begins
to appear through it, for then it is difficult to get
it perfectly dry, and besides, it is almost cer-
tain to mildew, which weakens the fibre very
rapidly, and spots it all over. Lifting should not
commence until the dew is quite gone. The
lifters commence at the side of the field whe'e
the spreaders left ofi"; each one standing at the root
end of the flax she is lifting, takes a row from

PRIZE ESSAYS.

23

Fig. 34

right to left of the fiekl, lifting or gathering the
flax with the right hand, and letting the left lie
on the bundle as it is gathered. Those accus-
tomed to the work can canter along, and get
through it very quickly, but great care must be
taken to keep the flax perfectly even at the root
ends. The flax is bound into beets of about
eight inches in diameter, with the bands that are
uncovered as the lifting proceeds, and should be
carted under cover of barns or slieds, or built
into stacks, before the dew falls in the evening.
If wet weather prevent the lifting taking place at
the proper time, and there is danger of the flax
becoming too soft, it should be taken
up, even wet as it is, and set up in
conical heaps, like an extinguisher, or
the thatch of a beehive, (fig. 24) with a
band loosely tied around the top : in
this way it receives very little injury from the wet,
as the air, passing freely through it dries it very
quickly, even in showery weather ; it should be
attended to between showers, and bound up and
Becured as soon as it is found dry.

Breaking. — The operations of breaking and
sctitching are best performed by mills fitted with
the proper machinery for the purpose, and where
they exist, of course, farmers will avail them-
selves of them to a great extent; but as the culti-
vation-of the crop generally preceeds such ma-
chinery in districts where it has not been pre-
viously grown, and then manual labor has to be
resorted to, for the purpose of cleaning it, be-
fore the introduction of machinery. Moreover,
as breaking and scutching are very extensively
performed by hand, in districts supplied with the
best mills, through economic motives, where the
farmer may have plenty of help, and little to do
in the winter, I describe, brieflj', a few of the
methods usually resorted to in such cases. The
most primitive of these is simply pounding the
flax straw with the common beetle on any hard
smooth surface, such as a stone, or block of
wood, preparatory to scutching. A speedier and
less laborious method of
breaking, is by a lever
flax brake, constructed
precisely the same as the
lever turnip cutter, on-
ly with blunt knives.
Another flax brake of
about equal merit is the
"crig," (fig. 25), a block of beech or sycamore,
about the size and form of a plane stock, with a
beat handle mortised into it. The flax is spread
out about 6 inches deep, on a hard flat surface,
sometimes a barn floor, sometimes the public
road: two men facing each other, and moving
backward and forward over the flax, beat it al-
ternately, with these crigs, swinging them round

their heads, and changiig them from right to left,
each alternate blow, until it is quite crushed and
soft. There is a plan of flax breaking much su-
perior to any of these, which is used extensively
in the north of Ireland. The following is from a
letter of my own, descriptive of it, in the Irish
Farmers Octzette. "I think it is better adapted
to new flax districts than any of those you de-
scribed— first, because there is no skill required in
the operators beyond ordinary intelligence; and
secondly, because there is no machinery, what-
ever, needed, except what we must presume is
already in the possession of every flax grower—
namely, horses and carts. I believe there is more
flax broken in the North by horses and carts, on
the public roads, than by the millstone. It is a
very speedy and efl'ectual plan of breaking and
does not tangle or toss the flax. A hard, level
road is selected ; the beets of flax opened and
spread out in rows, about 6 inches deep ; the
carts are loaded with stones, and drawn along the
rows, a wheel on each row, the horses walking
between, and the drivers sitting on the carts. As
the work proceeds, the rows of flax are shifted
out and in under the wheels, by little boys and
girls, with rakes, and turned once or twice. The
quantity laid down at a time may only be limited
by the help at command, as it is desirable to fin-

Fig. 26.

ish off" each day's work in itself; but the largest
farmer generally has as much help gathered as
finishes off all his flax in one day. The farmers
of a townland or district very often join, and
spread down their flax in a line, one after the
other, leaving two or three yards between each
lot, all the carts going ft-om one end of the line to
the other before turnmg. There is considerable
economy in this, as there is much less time lost in
turning, it can only be attempted, however, in
fine weather. This plan is adopted not only when
hand-scutching is resorted to, or in preparation
for mills having no breaking machinery, but very
frequently also in preparation for mills supi lied
with the best fluted rollers, as the farmer thereby
effects a considerable saving, flax millers chargmg
half-a-crown less per cwt. for scutching flax that
has been broken previous to commg to the mill."

24

FLAX CULTURE, l!.TC.

But the best of all the home methods of break-
ing, is by the millstone, (fig. 26) ; this machine is
Bimply a millstone (il), supported vertical by a hori-
zontal pole (P) about 30 feet long, attached to and
movable on, an upright post (O), occupying the
centre of a well hardened ring (R), round which
the stone travels on edge, drawn by a horse, over
he flax, which is spread out six or eight inches
deep, and turned occasionally ; the pole can be
moved out and in on the centre pivot, to cause
the stone to traverse all parts of the ring of flax.
Scutching.— Flax broken by any of the above
methods is fit for scutching either by hand or
mill; but first of all, it must be
streeked; that is made into hand-
fuls, each handful or " streek" crash-
Fig. 27. g[| in the middle, between the hands ;
BO as to bend over the scutching stock, twisted a
little so that they will separate freely again, and
tied mto beets with two bands (fig. 27) ready for
the scutcher. The implements generally used in
scutching are veiy simple, consistmg merely
of a scutching stock (fig. 28), which is a deal
board about 5 feet long, with a pf]F5|;
notch in it to admit the streek,
and fastened to a square block
of wood, to keep it upright ; and
the scutching handle (shown
leaning against the stock) which
is a very thin board of sycamore,
about 2 feet long, with a handle
at one end to hold it by. The
streek of flax is placed and
held firmly by the left hand,
in the notch on the stock, while it is beat with
the sharp edge of the scutching handle, held
in the right hand, by a succession of blows,
sb^htly curved, tangent to the face of the stock.
The streek is turned and opened out occasionally,
and the scutching repeated until the shoves are
all cleaned out. "Where the quantity is not very
large, and where there is plenty of help that must
be maintained on the farm in the winter, this is a
very economical way of preparing flax, as it gen-
erally yields one eighth more than the mill ; it is.

Fig. 28.

however, a tedious metL )d, and, therefore, where
large quantities of flax have to be got through,
machinery must be employed if within reach.
Various scutching machines, more or less porta-
ble, each claiming some superiority over the
other, and all doing their work well, have been
invented of late years. I have seen most of these
machines at work, and admire the ingenuity dis-
played in some of them, but I have not yet seen
the machine I would prefer to the old stationary
mill, with the "handles" or "wipers." The
mills are nearly all now supplied with the patent
fluted American Rollers, for breaking, which per-
form their work in a most efBcient manner.
Where a choice of mills can be made, that one
should be patronised which is fitted with the best
machinery, and which has the most careful
scutchers, and where these are paid by the day
and not by the cwt. "When scutched, and made
up into full length beets and tied with three
bands, the flax is ready for market ; but if kept
under a heavy weight, in some cool dry place, for
about two months, it will sell to much greater ad-
vantage, as it acquires a soft silky appearance,
and also increases in weight.

Hitherto, I have considered flax as grown for
its fibre ; the appropriation of the half ripe bolls,
to feeding purposes, being a subsidiary use ; but
as some flax must always be grown for its seed,
as aprimaiy object, the fibre of wdiich though use-
less in the finer branches of the trade, is still of
considerable value in the manufacture of canvass,
sacking, and other coarser materials, it may be as
well to state that the proper way to treat the
flax straw, when the seed is taken ofl", is to stack
it up and keep it dry till the warmest time in the
following summer, then steep it and treat it as
if had been grown for the fibre alone.

Although undoubtedly a critical crop to man-
age, requiring the greatest carefulness of mani-
pulation, in all its many stages, yet it is to be
hoped that by strict attention to the foregoing
plain instructions — which may be relied on as the
result of long and extensive practical experience-
few can fail of success in, and none need fear to
undertake, the cultivation of flax.

PRIZE ESSAYS.

25

THIRD-PRIZE ESSAYS.— Ko. 5.— BY WM. H. WHITE,

SOUTH WINDSOE, HABTFO^ CO., CO.N.X.

Flax is partial to no particular climate or coun-
try; having been grown in the Northern part of
Russia and in the countries of the Torrid zone,
from the remotest ages of which we have any
history. We read of it in the Sacred Volume, as
raised in connection with barley in the days of
the Israelites in the land of Egypt, and by them
made into fine linen fabrics.

Soils. — Flax will grow on nearly every kind of
soil by attention and good culture ; but some soils
are better adapted to it than others. A rich mellow
deep loam free from wet is the best. If the soil
or subsoil be retentive of water, it should be well
drained. Dry, sandy soils as well as wet bottom
lands are unsuitable, and will cause failure, from
mildew. To produce the best returns a thorough
system of rotation should be followed. The soil
should be in good heart and freed from weeds, by
previous clean culture, as they are the bane of
the crop. A clover sod, an old rich pasture, or
land under a hoed crop the previous year, is
usually the best for a good crop of flax. Such
lands should be thoroughly plowed in the fall,
not less than eight inches deep ; (better subsoiled,)
that it ma}^ be ameliorated by the frosts during
winter. Deep mellow soil gives the roots a
chance to penetrate to a good depth. In the
Spring, as soon as the ground is dry, it should be
plowed again three or four inches deep, and if in
good heart from previous manuring, no additional
fertilizers will be necessary. Should it be neces-
sary to apply manure, a mixture of equal parts
of plaster, salt, and ashes, form an excellent fer-
tilizer, applied at the rate of four to six bushels
per acre, after the land is plowed and harrowed
in the Spring. Fresh manures, or those contain-
ing much nitrogenous matter, or any containing
weed-seeds, are utterably unsuitable to apply for
this crop. The finer the soil is made, the better
the crop, the more even the growth, and the finer
the fibre produced.

Seed. — Flax having been raised more for the
seed than for fibre in general in this country for
years past, and as such seed produces a poorer
quality of fibre and more branchy short straw, it
is unsuitable for producing good flax, where fibre
is the object. Where seed only is the object, it is
sown thin, and branches low, produces several
heads ; and the fibre is short and knotty, as well
as coarse. Riga seed, which may be procured of
reliable seedmen, is the best for fibre ; yet this
often contains weed-seeds and should be screened

through a wire sieve, of 12 holes to the inch, and
wmnowed. Where Riga or Dutch cannot be ob-
tained, select from the best in a place where flax
has been raised for fibre in our own country.
Select none but clean, bright, shiney, heavy seed.
It is best changed from a distance occasionally,
as if grown in one soil continually it degener-
ates ; this is seen in branching low, and produc-
ing several heads, and when this occurs it is time
the seed was changed.

SowTNG. — The land having been prepared by
plowing, harrowing, fertilizing, roll to complete
the pulverizing, and sow the seed broadcast, at
the rate of two bushels per acre. Too little seed
is used generally here to produce good fibre, and
still more seed wUl produce a better article. Di-
vide the land into beds of about ten feet each
way, to facilitate the sowing, and evenning of the
seed. Sow one half of the seed lengthwise of
the field, and the balance across. Great care
should be used in sowing, as the seed is slippery,
and is liable to fall unevenly. The seed having
been spread as evenly as possible, take a light
seed harrow and go both up and down, and cross-
ways of the field to spread the seed even, and
prevent it falling into rows made by the harrow
teeth as liable when harrowed but one way. A
very light harrow should be used to prevent cov-
ering the seed to a greater depth than one inch.
After the harrowing, to leave the surface in the
best possible condition, to prevent weeds from
growing, and facilitate harvesting by pulling or
otherwise, it should be again gone over with
the roller, if the soil will not adhere to the
roller. Remember, the object is to obtain the
best, and most even fibre, and the greatest amount
from a given area ; and to do this the land need
be in the best heart, and the soil evenh^ commi-
nuted, as near to good garden mould as possible.
If none but clean seed is used, and the foregoing
directions strictly followed, very little fear need
be felt of weeds injuring the crop. The sowing
should be done as early in the spring as the
ground is sufl3ciently dry to be properly worked,
and fears of hard frosts are past. Labor being so
high, and laborers scarce, it is out of the question
to thinking of weeding the crop as is done in
foreign countries; and indeed little is gained it
the requirements heretofore mentioned are car-
ried out. The crop is either pulled or cut.

PiTLLiNG, for the small grower, is the best
and most economical, as it give^^ a greater quanti

26

1L.AK (Jll,ii;re. etc.

ty of better fibre. To determine the time when
to pull, calls into exercise the best judgement
of the cultivator ; if puUed a little too soon, or a
little too late, a waste in tow, or loss in quality of
fibre, causes a depreciation in the product. When
the seed bolls are about half turned brown, or
upon opening the boUs, the seed is beginning to
turn from a green to a light brown, the leaves
fall, and the stalk turns yellow two-thirds of its
length or rather more, is the proper time to pull
to produce the best fibre. Should any of the
crop have fallen down and be suffering from wet,
it should be pulled, if not ripe, and kept by itself,
as it will rot and become a total loss if left.
Should the crop from any cause grow uneven
either in length or coarseness of stalk, such
as is alike, should be kept assorted and by itself,
not only in pulling, but in the rotting process. It
is easier assorted in pulling than afterwards.
The puller should clasp the flax just underneath
the bolls, which will leave the undergrowth, and
weeds standing ; no more stalks should be grasped
than vsdll come up without breaking or otherwise
injuring the flax; as soon as a good handful is
pulled, it should be laid vrith the roots all in one
direction, and even as a brush. It is best kept
even by taking time and evenning each handftU
before spreading. It is spread thinly and evenly
in swarths similar to grain as left from the cra-
dle. When dry, it is gathered into bundles about
the size of a man's thigh by a hand rake, great
care being used to keep the root ends even and
the straw straight. After lying an hour or two in
mid-day to dry, it is bound, by taking a few straws
of flax in the right hand, near the roots, then reach-
ing over the gavel, run the left hand under, raising
the gavel a few inches, grasp the root end held
by the right hand, and draw the band around, let-
ting it slip through the right till about in the cen-
tre on top, draw tight, then give one and a half
turns with the top end of the straw with the
right hand around the root end held by the left,
tuck the top end under, and between the band
and bundle, and it is bound. Set the bundle
up firmly on the roots and pass to the next, and
proceed in like manner till the whole is bound.
The foregoing presupposes that you will have
fair, pleasant weather in pulhng and taking up
the flax ; wet or foul weather will cause more or
less damage to the crop. In good weather the
bundles can stand in the field one or two days,
and dry suflBciently to be carried to the bam or
to the stack; the former is preferable when con-
venient. Where a large quantity is raised and
help is deficient, resort in gathering must be had
to the cradle or machine reaper, but it is a waste-
ful way, giving stumpy ends to the fibre as well as
a loss in the quantity, I do not recommend this
mode. Far better raise a less area, only what

tan be pulled with the help at command. Pulling
Has been, and now is, the custom among all na
lions, and practised by all successful producers.

Hot SING. — It can be carried on a common hay
wagon, care being used in loading, and handling,
not to break the straw, which is apt to waste
fibre. If laid up in the barn, it should be on Tpea
scafiblds, where the air may circulate around it
The floor of the scafibld may be rails, or poles
laid a little open to admit of a better circulation;
the looser the bundles are packed the better. If
the flax has been well dried previous to being
taken from the field, there is no danger of its
getting harm in the bam. Should you have room
in stables or sheds where there is free circulation
of air, the flax can be got in before drying thor-
oughly, and the danger from rain thus lessened.
Should it be necessary to stack it out, a founda-
tion of poles should be laid a foot or more from
the ground ; a " stack-pole" consisting of three
poles set a little apart at the bottom and fastened
together at the top, is placed in the centre about
which the stack is built. These poles may be a
little shorter than your stack to admit of a thatch
covering. Commence at the bottom, and set the
bundles slanting at an angle of about thirty de«
grees, around the stack pole ; outside of this place
another layer, letting the roots rest on the founda-
tion, enlarge in like manner to the size you wish
your stack. On to this build the next layer or
course, observing to keep the stack true and even,
build the sides perpendicular, or swell a little in
the centre, drawing in at the top to fin.sh off,
similar to a stack of wheat. Give a good thatch
covering, and fasten on by straw ropes passing
over it, and tucking the ends into the stack to se-
cure them.

Thkeshxng. — In the month of September is a
good time usually, the weather being dry, the
seed may be removed in a variety of ways, two
only of which I shall describe. First, by the
threshing machine. Open the concave so that
the teeth wUl just come together; then with one
to open and pass the bundles, another takes them
by the root end, spread ia fan shape, and applies
the seed end to the machine, holding the straw
firmly ia the hands, and withdrawing it as soon
as the seed is torn oS", he passes it to the third
who gives it a whip to shake out loose seed, binds
it again and lays it aside. Other ways are to
pass the seed bolls between rolls and cr»sh them;
and to whip the seed out over a stone block, or
head of a barrel. Take a stout barrel with long
chines ; set it on one end on a tight floor and take
a bundle of flax and whip the heads over the
chines and head of the barrel, and the seed is soon
shelled out if the flax and weather be dry. The
flax should be laid convenient for handling before
commencing. The seed mav be whipped out in

PRIZE ESSAYS.

27

this way from the product of an acre by one hand
in two days, or less if he be expert. The seed is
cleaned by the fanning mill, or may be run
through a sieve in a draft of wind. Seed needed
for future use is better l©ft in the straw till want-
ed for sowing ; it perfects itself and keeps better.
EoTTiXG. — The next step after clearing of the
seed is rotting. Two ways are practised in rot-
ting ; liy steeping in water, called " water rotting,"
and what is termed " dew rotting." The former
is the more expeditious and by some thought the
best; the latter the way most practised in this
country, it being the less inconvenient and least
offensive in handling, etc., during the rotting pro-
cess. "Water containing iron or other mineral
Bubstance, or hard water, that will not bear soap,
are unsuitable, and should never be used. A
sluggish stream, where there is a constant change
of water may be employed ; but it is safer to dig
a pit near the bank of some stream, or where the
water of a spring may be conveyed into it ; it
should have also an outlet where the water may
run off as fast as it is supplied ; such pit should
be of a size proportioned to the quantity of flax
to be rotted, and from 3^ to 4 feet deep. This
pool should be in a position to receive the full
heat of the sun ; and if to be filled from a spring,
it should b: let in several days before putting in
the flax, to give the water time to soften a little ;
river watcir may be let on the same day, or the
day before. Place the bundles of flax in the pool
in an inclined position, loosely, with the roots
down, in regular rows, the roots underneath the
tie of each row of sheaves to reach the roots of
the previous one; fill the pool, or put in what
you may wish. Cover the flax with some straw,
weeds, or boughs of trees, and place weights on
top to keep the bundles of flax just underneath
water; it should not be sunk on the bottom, or al-
lowed to rise out of water; consequently the
weights may need to be varied in the different
stagis of watering and ferhaentation. No exact
time for the flax to remain in the water can be
given as an infallible guide. The time varies from
six to fifteen days, depending upon the weather and
water; the warmer the weather and water the
sooner the process is completed, and vice-versa.
The only infallible guide is to test the flax by
taking from the centre of a bundle an average
sized straw, and break from near the centre a
piece of the woody part, about six or eight inches,
and draw it out downwards ; if sufficiently water-
ed the fibre will slip out without breaking, and
it is immediately removed to the grassing ground.
It vi better a httle under than over rotted, as it
can be remedied in the grassing. Over rotting
weakens the fibre and makes it worthless, or
nearly so. It should be taken from the water
carefully, so as to avoid breaking or otherwise in-

juring it. The best way is, for one to stand ic
the water and carefully lift the bundles out to an
attendant, who receives them and places them on
the root ends, where they may remain to draic
a day, or perhaps a little more. They should not
be placed too compactly, or too many together,
without some intervening space to give air to
prevent heating.

Grassing.— A clean thick sward, usually short
fed pasturing, clean from weeds, etc., is the most
suitable for this. Lay the flax in swaths, roots
all one way and even, spread thin and even,
leaving a space of about a foot between each
swath or row. In three or four days, if the wea-
ther be humid, and warm, or longer if dry and
cool, it will be best to turn it over to complete
the rotting. This is done by taking a smooth
pole about ten feet in length, and running one
end under the flax near the top end, and turning
it over, letting it rest on the ground, taking care
to keep them even.

Lifting.— This is done when the flax is rotted,
so that the woody part of the straw will readily
part from the fibre upon being crushed in the
hand or brake, without tearing or breaking the
fibre. Fine, and coarse straw, will rot unequally,
and should be kept separate. The middle of the
day in clear, dry weather, is the best time to take
it up. It is then raked into bundles somewhat
larger than at first and bound as before, recollect-
ing to keep the roots even as a brush. Set the
bundles up on the root ends, and allow them to
stand and dry a few hours. In good drying wea-
ther it will do to cart direct to the barn and be
stored as before directed, or stacked. If the wea-
ther is " catching," (likely to shower), the straw
may be set up with the roots spread and the tops
together, in this way it will dry sooner, and may
be sooner secured.

Dew Kotting. — Is the way generally practised
in this country, and the least unpleasant in the
operation. About the first of October, the straw
is taken to a moist meadow where the grass is
short and thick, with no weeds, rushes or other
growth. The straw is spread thin and even as
directed for "grassing" under "water rotting."
As the weather may be either warm, and damp,
or cool and dry, the tune of rotting varies ac-
cordingly; a longer time being required in the
latter, than the former case, varying from three
to five weeks or more. After lying about half
the time necessary to rot, depending on the wea-
ther, it should be turned as before directed. The
same tests are also applied as directed under
water rotting, to know that the rotting is com-
pleted. When the straw is gathered, bound,
housed or stacked as before described.

Breaking, etc.— This is usually done during
dry weather in winter, or spring. Not having

28

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

had expenence witli any of the improved or late
patented brakes, I can not give instrnctions in
their use; but give the primitive way of dressing,
practised by many of the small producers, and
which is within the means of the humblest pio-
neer settler; remarking here, that in a community
where flax is raised to any considerable extent, it
would pay for the producers to unite and procure
one of the best of the late improved brakes (if no
single individual is able or willing;) and use it in
common. Tlie cost varies according to the size
and capacity of the machine. The old brake re-
quires but little ingenuity, and can be made bj'
any carpenter in a few hours after the materials,
which are seasoned hard wood, are together. In
addition to the brake, a Swingle Board and
Blade, and a coarse Hatchel are necessary. The
Brake consists of two end posts, seven blades,
and a head ; the rear post is twenty-eight inches
long, tapering from the bottom up, 6 x 20 inches
at the bottom, 6x12 at the top; into the top of
this four blades are framed 1^ inches apart, and
maae fast so that the top edge of the blades are
three inches below the top of the post, three
other mortises are cut in from the top for the
three olades to hang on a pin or bolt, and to work
up and down; into these mortises the three upper
blaQofi are put, and a pin of J or 1-inch iron is
passea through the post and blades, the three
upper t)iades are framed into a head 12 inches
long, 6x1^ square, one inch apart. The lower
edge ot tlie blades drop one inch lower than the
head. Into the front post, which is 6 x 12 and 24
mches Ion.?, the four under blades are framed
fast, one Inch apart, the upper edges rising one
Inch above inetop of the post. The whole brake
Ii8 four feet long; the blades are made of one inch
•txiff, and are put one and one half inches apart
m the rear post; the under blades are four inches
wide; the upp^r ones Ak inches; the blades are
oevelled to a roanding edge one side ,and shut
jnto each other ; when shut they lap about one
inch. A li-incu wooden pin put into the back
ot the head for a handle to lift and shut the
Diake, completes the same, except a brace from
one post to the other, near the bottom, to keep
them firm and steady. The swingle board con-
sists of a hard-wood board 3 feet long, 13 inches
wlae, and one inch thick, this is bevelled to a
wedge shape at the top, and fastened at the bot-
tom to a block two feet long, 4x12 inches, and
stands upright. The Swingle Blade is a stick
about iwo feet long, two edged, somewhat thick-
er in the middle, with one end rounded for a
handle. The Hatchel is made by setting sharp
pointed hon pins, about six inches long, made
of 'lio-inch iron rods, into a hard-wood board.
Then teeth are set | of an inch apart in a square
of six to eignt inches wide.

To break the flax, take in the eft hand as
mucii straw as can be held, near the roots; with
the right take hold of the handle of the brake
and raise the head, introduce the straw between
the blades, to about the middle of its length, and
work the brake up and down, shifting the straw
along. Turn the straw, taking hold of the broken
end, after whipping and shaking out the loose
shives, and break the root end. Repeat the ope-
ration, and when well broke and the shivea
whipped out, it is ready for swingling, etc. It is
better while one breaks to have another swing-
ling to receive it as fast as broken, in tliat way
two expert men may dress fifty pounds or more
of dressed flax in a da}'. Should but one work
at a time, after the flax straw is broken it is laid
one side carefully, kept straight in handfuls, till
a quantity is broken, and then swingled. To
swingle, take what is readily clasped between
the thumb and fore-finger a little one side of the
middle, throw the longest half over the swingle
boai'd, wliich should have a rounding end edge.
With the swingle blade a few strokes are given
it to brush out and loosen tlie shives ; it is also
drawn through the hatchel which tears off" more,
again it is whipped up and down with the swin-
gle, over the swingling board, and alternately
hatcheled till free of shives, after which the
other end is turned, and the operation repeated.
It is next drawn through the hatchel to straighten
it. Then take it by the ends, one in either hand,
hold one end fast, with the other twist a few
turns by moving the hands in a circle, giving a
twist at each time ; after a few turns bring the
ends together, doubling in the middle, give the
"hand" of flax a turn or two, and twist the ends
together, and tuck them into the hand to fasten
and lay it aside ; proceed in like manner till the
whole is done.

Preparation for Market. — To prepare it
for market several of these hands are put to-
gether and tied. A press is best for this part ; it
may be made with a stout bottom, with end
pieces well braced, one end is no higher than the
thickness you wish your bundle; the other may
be fitted for a lever to press the bundle before
tieing. Place two cords a few inches from where
the ends of the flax hands come in the press, and
lay the hands, in layers, the large ends alternately
either way, till you have twenty-five or thirty,
then press with your lever, and tie. It is then
bagged or baled, similar to wool, if to be sent a
distance; if marketed near this is unnecessary; it
may be carried in the bundles using care in hand-
ling. In conclusion I would say, flax should not
be raised on the same land oftener than once in
five years, and better seven years ; a system of ro-
tation should be pursued where it is intended to
raise it regularly; that system must be lefl to 'he

PRIZE ESSA^S.

29

good jndgeTnent of the producer, remarking that
when it is raised on old plowed ground it should
follow a hoed crop, where the ground has been
kept clear from weeds ; sucli we usually find to
be tf)bacco, corn, potatoes, and carrots. Success
in the culture of flax consists mainly in good
plump clean seed ; good soil clear from w^eeds,
well pulverized, and rich; perfect rotting, and

dressing without having it rotten. In the fore-
going essay I have endeavored to give, in a con-
cise manner, full details for raising and preparing
flax for market, in a primitive way. All the
labor and trouble of clean and thorough culture,
as well as the rotting, either by water or dew, is
as necessary with the improved methods as with
the old, for on these the quality depends.

THIRD-PRIZE ESSAYS.- No. 17. -BY G. S. KUESTER,

NKW CASTLE, LAWRENCE CO., PA.

Soil.— The soil should be of the best quality
and in the finest order. "With us the best soils
are rich loose loams, good com ground or rich
silicious soils in good tilth. Any location will do
except cold, wet low-lands, or river bottoms.
They cause mildew. Ground which brings a fine
crop of corn will also give a like return in flax,
provided the culture be good. One thing must be
remembered primarily in the culture of flax, the
ground must be clean, free from those pestilent
w^eeds which inffest so many farms. It is useless
to think of raising flax where weeds have been
the principal crop. The ground should be pre-
pared by a preceding hoed crop. Never select
a liglit sandy or weedy soil for flax, but let the
soil be fine and clean.

Preceding Crop. — The crop that should precede
flax, is potatoes, as it leaves the ground in the
best possible condition by keeping it clean, and
then leaving it open in the foil, after digging, for
the frost to act upon. Corn comes next in the
list, turnips is also a good preceding crop. Oats
and wheat are sometimes employed, but they do
not do so well, as weeds will struggle up, and the
ground must be plow^ed in the fall, which makes
more extra work than is necessary, especially
where a farmer raises a potato or corn crop.
Never use beans or peas" as a preceding crop.
Flax should always be raised in a rotation, of
which I give two examples, viz. : First, rotation
of 6 or 7 years ; 1st Grass, 2nd Oats, 3rd "Wheat,
4th Potatoes, 5th Flax, 6th Clover ; second, a ro-
tation of 5 or 6 years ; 1st Grass, 2nd Potatoes
or Corn, 3rd Flax, 4th Oats, 5th Grass.

Cultivation and Manttring. — The mechani-
cal condition of the soil is perhaps the most im-
portant point in this connection. Because when
finely pulverized it does not part with the mois-
ture readily, and is perfectly free from stagnant
water. Thorough tillage is the secret of successful
flax raising. Care in preparation is the rule,
which if cai'efuUy adhered to, and the season is
at all favorable, it is almost impossible to fail.
While all crops are benefitted, especially on dry
lands, by the ground being broken up in the foil

and thrown in ridges, that the frosts of winter
may mellow it for the future use of the crop, no
crop probably feels it so sensibly as flax, and for
the trouble it gives ample return.

Use manure which is thoroughly rotted, and to
benefit the immediate crop let it be put on in the
fall, then the different ingredients will become
diff"used in the soil. But be careful, — you may
make your soil too strong for flax. If it would
get a good crop of oats, you may expect a good
yield of flax. "When too strong it jdelds a long,
coarse and inferior article. Flax that is grown
upon poor land will not give satisfaction, even if
manured in the fall and plowed, because it re-
quires the power derived from old manure re-
maining in the ground ; however, this difficulty
might be obviated by using a liquid manure which
takes immediate effect, but that kind of manure
is not always on the farm, unless arrangements
have been made for the same.

Flax is the most exhausting crop you can raise,
unless it be tobacco. Its demands are great, and
no doubt if the proper course were taken it could
be made to be equally remunerative as a manure.
" The simple rotting of flax for three years in
succession on grass land is equal to one good top-
dressing of barn-yard manure." Ashes are an
excellent manure, wood ashes are preferable to
coal. The manure, however, made from linseed
cake should never be used on flax ground, as it
is deemed injurious— w'hy it is I cannot tell, un-
less it is too powerful.

Seed and Seed-Thvie.— In this section we have
two varieties of seed from which good fibre is
obtained :—" Little-seed" and "Sapling." The
Little-seed (the only name I have ever heard for
it) brings far the best flax ; in fineness it is superior,
and for strength is equal to the Sapling; the
length is not quite so long, but the quality makes
it up. It is bright dark brown, plump and fiill,
gives a fibre of 1 to li yard in length. The Sap-
ling seed is yellowish "brown, my neighbors say
it has a greenish tint, but I could never see that
color in it. I consider this variety as the most
valuable for market, both as regards the seed and

30

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

fibre; the fibre often times being a yard and a ha.f
in length, and as a general thing When sown for
that purpose, it is very prolific in seed. The Sap-
ling is a variety best calculated for canvass and
cordage, the fibre being much coarser than that
raised from the Little Seed, the latter being fine
and smooth. In selecting seed to plant be sure it
is plump, heavy and the color bright. Good seed
is of great importance. It is necessary to change
seed occasionally, this may be done by bringing
that raised on an inferior, poorer soil, to sow
upon a richer and more powerful one.

"When shall I sow ?— is the question asked by
the new beginner. As early as you can— the
earlier the better. The old German time is
" Good Friday" in the morning— it may be said,
sow last of March, till middle of April. It is most
generally sown about the first of May, but early
sowed flax gives the largest yield ; is of a more
uniform and finer fibre ; is stiflfer and less liable
to fall; does not sufifer from drouth, and grows
more thriftily with the increasing warmth of sum-
mer. The early sown flax, though it grows slowly
at the start, obtains a strong durable fibre, while
that of the late, from its rapid growth, is soft and
weak m fibre and is much lighter when prepared
than the former.

It is necessary to sow evenly if you wish a
uniform crop. You can sow it in the same man-
• ner you do wheat or other cereals. If a coarse
fibre is wanted, or the seed only, sow thin, from
three pecks to a bushel. For fine fibre sow from
one and a half bushels to two and a half, or three
bushels. Flax that is sown too thin will have
thick stalks, while that which is too thick will be
short and unsatisfactory. There are several
ways to cover the seed after it is sown, viz., by
the thorn or crab bush, by the harrow, the roller,
and by letting the rain do it. The first, the one
which I consider the best, as it covers the seed
about the right depth, is done by taking a thorn
or crab bough and sweeping the ground over.
The second does middling well, but covers too
deep; it is the easiest way, and suits the lazy
man. The third makes heavy soil too compact,
hard, and the plant seems to struggle hard to get
along and looks sickly ; it may do very well in an
extra loose soil. The last is one of nature's plans
of planting and does well, but it cannot always
be relied on. The first is the most reliable and
seems to be the nearest the wants of the plant,
and for that reason may be considered the best.

Enemies. — The cut worm is the only enemy
I know or ever heard of— when it attacks the
young plants they never do anything afterwards,
for they never throw out new shoots or sprouts.
This alone is a very great objection to planting
on sod, as some of our farmers do— it should
never be done. Flax is not attacked by birds of

any kind to my knowledge, it may be on account
of the hardness of the seed-bolls and the light-
ness of the haulm. The plant is sometimes in-
jured by rust which destroys its value for fibre;
in this case it is only valuable for its seed.

Weeding. — This is something that need never
be done if the culture of the preceding crop
has been thorough, unless it should be in new
ground, and then, with proper care in raising pre-
vious crops, it would be unnecessary. It may
however be well enough to state how to do the
weeding, if a novice should have occasion for
that ever to be detested job. If the flax is weedy,
when about six to nine inches high, you should
pass through it with your bare feet, so that you
will not destroy the young plants, and pass in a
straight line across it, weeding clean as you go
and continue thus until the job is done.

Signs of Ripeness — Gathering and Drt-
ING. — The signs of ripeness with flax are as per
ceptible as that of wheat, rye, or other grain.
The haulms or stalks of flax become clean, the
lower leaves falling ofi" half way up, and its color
turns fi-om greenish to yellow, the seed bolla
turn a httle yellow and hard. When wanted for
seed it should be allowed to become fully ripe.

Pulling must always be considered the best
plan of harvesting flax, on account of the fibre, .
which is taken from the root, it being equal if
not better than fibre taken from other parts of
the plant. You should make each handful a
sheaf, and it should be shocked like wheat, with as
many sheaves as you please in the shock, but with-
out any headers, and left to cure from six to
eight days ; in rainy unfavorable weather, several
weeks. By this course, the flax is kept straight,
and nicer than by any other course, with less trou-
ble. Some harvest flax by cutting with the cradle,
this is very injurious to the fibre as much of the
fibre is lost in the root, and the part left on the
field ; if the seed only is wanted, then it is proper.
In gathering you should be careful to assort it, as
in the same field you will always find flax of dif-
ferent lengths — put the short by itself and the
long in like manner, that of an inferior quality
being placed along with the short. This care at
first will save much trouble subsequentlj'. After
it is dried or cured in the fieM, it should be taken
in and placed away in the shed or barn like
wheat or other grain, to remain until threshed.

Beating off and Preserving the Seed. —
When the flax has become perfectly dry the seed
is immediately beaten ofi" — (unless it is not in-
tended to rot until the following year.) The flax is
often laid dovra like grain, two dozen bundles at a
time, and threshed with flail. This method I do not
approve of, on account of the injury it does to the
fibre, although it is the quickest way to get a.ong
with it. The better plan is to take a barrel, thee

PRIZE ESSAYS.

31

take a sheaf at a time and beat off the seed-cap-
sules over the edge of the barrel, which -will
thresh it clean, and in the end may be about as
quick as any plan. If a barrel is not at hand, just
turn a plow upside down and beat it out over the
mould board; or fix up a rail and beat it over
that, which will answer the same purpose. These
latter modes are the best, as the fibre is not so
much broken, and they can be done with very
great ease. Threshing should always be done in
the bam, on a smooth floor, where you can use a
fanning mHL

You can put the seed away in barrels, after
cleaning, until wanted for use or market, if in bar-
rels it should be occasionally removed from one
to the other, this will keep it from becoming com-
pressed and assist in evaporation ; like wheat dur-
ing the summer, moving it does it good. It is
said that the seed-capsules, soaked in hot water,
are good for cattle — I have never tried it; but the
seed itself, fed in small quantities to animals of
any kind, is good.

Rotting. — The time for rotting flax is from
last of August till the middle of September. It
is spread out in straight rows in the meadow,
there to remain for some four weeks, if there is no
rain, in rainy weather three weeks will be suffi-
cient. Turn it about once a week. To teU when it
is rotted enough the following rules are a guide.

1. When the flax splits at the forks or joints on
which the seed bolls are.

2. When the woody stock has become brittle,
BO that it breaks like glass, with a peculiar soimd,
if it bends and you can wrap the stock around your
finger without breaking it is not rotted enough.

3. If you take a stalk when damp, and wrap it
in a little round ball, and throw it into the water
and it sinks, then the flax is rotted.

After it is rotted it is then bound up in sheaves
(similar to those made at first) ready for

Breakeng. — This is a branch in the culture of
flax that can be done away with in a great mea-
sure when you are near to market, or within
reach of flax-dressers — as they will buy it in straw,
and in many instances prefer to do so. In this
section they give for straw, when it is rotted, $15
to $18 per ton for cut, and $28 to $45 per ton for
pulled. At these figures the farmers wiU be re-
munerated, and much tedious labor saved, unless
they have labor saving machinery on the farm
for that purpose. However, when it is the inten-
tion to break the flax at home, it may be done in

the following way. Take a handftil m the left
hand, and with the right hand take hold of the
handle of the breaker and raise it up, and place
the flax across the lower knives, and then bring
the upper knives down upon it, with right hand,
continuing the operation until the flax is broke
one half its length, then turn it, wrapping the
flax that is broke around the fingers of the left
hand, repeating the same operation till broke,
when you take it out and give it a switch or two
in the air for the purpose of taking out the shoves,
(or pieces of straw,) after which it is twisted to
keep it from tangling.

If your flax is not sufficiently rotted you should
" fire" it, that it may break easier. This is done
by digging a place at the side of a hiU, so as to
give you a kind of back wall, and then, placing
n rack over the same, about four feet high, and
spreading the flax thinly over the top, it becomes
well dried or fired as it is called. Another mode
is to dig an underground flue about fifteen feet
lr-r,o-_it is not used with us— it works well and
is ie&5 liable to burn the flax. In firing be careful
that you don't make the fire too big. Some farm-
ers fire all their flax, but it is unnecessary, and
need only be done when the flax is in the condi-
tion spoken of above. Labor-saving machinerv
is becoming so plenty that the hardlabor of tlie
past in flax culture can readUy be done away
with. Several flax breaking machines have been
patented, and are, I believe, within the reach of
many. These supply a long-felt want, and
will prove advantageous. These machines are
made of different sizes to suit small as well as
large operators. It is hoped this machine may
do for flax and hemp, what the gin has for cotton.

Scutching. — Is done by having a board placed
perpendicular in the ground, the top of which is
square, it being about 6 to 10 inches wide, and in
connection with the same, a wooden scutching-
knife. Take knife in your right hand, and a
handful of broken flax in the left hand, which lay
across the board, commence to scutch, by striking
the flax close to the board with the knife in your
right hand, and so continue till all the scutching
tow and shoves are out. If the crop or seed
bolls are thick in the lint, and will not break off,
you should use the hackel. The tow which re-
mains among the long fibre is taken out with the
hackel. Another mode of scutching is with a
scutching mill, but it does not do the work as thor-
oughly as it should be done. It may be dressed on
it first and finished in the manner spoken of above.

33

PRIZE ESSAYS.

THIRD-PRIZE ESSAYS.-No. 18.-BY HUGH McKEE,

XORWICHVILLE, CAXADA WEST. (ExtiaCtB.)

Soil xsd Rotation. — By careful cultivation,
almost all of our soils will produce good flax,
but some are particularly adapted to it, Tlie
best is a naturally dry, or properly drained, deep
clay loam with a clay subsoil. It is very impor-
tant that the land be drained and subsoiled, as,
when it is saturated with either surface or under-
ground water, good flax cannot be expected. The
land should be in the finest, deepest and cleanest
state, as the roots of tlie flax will often penetrate to
a depth in the ground equal to half its hig^it
above it. Flax prefers a rich soil, but any soil
that will produce good corn or oats, will produce
good flax, and it may follow either of them, or it
may be sown on a clover sod. Flax should not
be grown on the same ground more frequently
than once in 5 or 7 years. In Ireland, where
more flax is grown than in almost any other
countrj', once in 10 years is common practice.
The land for flax should not be manured
the year the flax is grown ; if it needs manure it
should be applied to the previous crop, so as to
get thoroughly rotted and mixed with the soil.
Manure applied directly to the flax produces a
ranlj and uneven growth. Thorough cleansing
tne land from weeds, and a thorough preparing
of the ground is most important. If sown on
stubble land, the field should be harrowed soon
after harvest, so as to cover all seeds of weeds
that may be on the land, so as to make them
sprout; all laud that is intended for flax sliould
be plowed late in the fall and left in as rough a
state as possible, for the action of the frost, by
which it is crumbled down finely. In the spring it
is better to cultivate with a gang plow or two
wheeled cultivator than to plow, in order to
avoid the turning under the fine surface mould,
which is so necessary for the flax seed. This cul-
tivation should be done as soon as the land can
be worked in the spring, so as to cause weed-
seeds to germinate, and it should lie a few days
before sowing. When ready to sow, drag with a
heavy harrow, so as to pulverize the soil, and
kill any weeds that may have started ; then roll
with a heavy roller ; then sow, and harrow in
the seed. In harrowing in the seed use only a
light harrow so as not to cover the seed too deep,
for if covered more than half an inch, two
chances to one it does not come up. The land
should be then rolled again so as to leave the
surface smooth and level. Care should be taken
not to roll when the ground is so wet as to adhere
\o the roller; nor, indeed, to work the soil at all.

Seed and Sowing. — The best seed for sowmg
when the flax is grown for the fibre is Riga, hut
as that is expensive and difficult to get, good
American seed should be used, that of good
quality is very oily when' broken, smooth and
slippery, and will sink in water. The quantity
sown will depend on the object of the grower,
and the condition and quality of the land. If
grown for the seed three peclo is sufficient. Thin
sowing causes the plant to branch out, and bear
abundance of seed, but the flax is very coarse
and of an inferior quality ; the richer the land the
less seed is required, as it will branch more. But
if fibre is required, from two to three bushels
should be sown (on rich soils, three bushels, on
poor, two). It is better to sow too thick than too
thin, for if sown thick, the stems grow straiirht
and tall, and produce but 2 or 3 seed bolls, and
the fibre is superior in length and fineness, to that
produced by thin sowing, whicli grows coarse,
branches out, and produces an inferior quality of
fibre. Great care should' be taken to get clean
seed. In the old country, the crop is weeded by
hand, but that would be too expensive in this
countrj', where the price of labor is high, there-
fore the cleanest land and cleanest seed should be
selected. If any rank weeds start they should
be carefully pulled. The time of sowing will
vary with different localities, the favorite time in
Canada is the latter end of April and the first
week in May. It should be sown as early in
April as the weatlier will permit, but not before
the soil is dry and warm. The seed is sown broad-
cast, and care is necessary to sow it evenly, some
recommend to go over the ground twice, sowing
half the quantity each time. For fine fibre early
sowing is indespensa])le, vegetation is veiy rapid
in the later part of the season, and there is noth-
ing like steady growth for securing good quality
in tlie crop. After sowing, which requires much
skill, as the seed is very slippery and ver\' apt to
be sown unevenly, cover it with a light seed har-
row, going once lengthwise of the land, and then
across, as it will then get more evenly spread, and
the small drills left by the teeth if harrowed but
one way, will be avoided. The ridges should be
little, if any, raised in the centre, when the seed
is sown, or the flax will not ripen evenly. There
should be no ridges when the land is thorougly
drained. The most critical time in growth of the
flax, is before it is up sufficiently to cover the
ground ; a heavy frost or scalding sun might then
cause great damage. The olant flowe:s ab'-ut the

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

33

middle of June; and the field with its light blue
flowers, at that time, is a very beautiful sight.

PrrLLiN-G. — If the flax is grown entirely for the
seed, it should be allowed to get ripe, but not ripe
enough to shell ; it can then be cut with a scythe,
or reaping machine the same as any other grain
crop. If grown for the fibre, experience has
Bhown that it should be pulled before fully ripe,
and it is a nice point to determine the right time.
If pulled too soon, the fibre is finer, but loses too
much in weight; if it gets too ripe, the fibre loses
m quality. The best time is when the seeds be-
gin to change from a green to a pale brown, and
the stalks change to a yellow for about two thirds
of their length above the ground. If any of the
flax is lying down from any cause, and suffering
from wet, it should be pulled as soon as possible,
and kept by itself.

When the flax is in the right state for pulling,
it should be pulled as rapidly as possible, which
is done by the puller taking hold of a small quan-
tity near the top as it stands, and carefully pulling
it up and keeping the root ends even; when pull-
ing, all weeds should be thrown out. If the
ground is not underdrained, and not level when
it is sown, the flax will be found of various
lengths. In such cases pull the different lengths
each by itself, and keep them separate, in all fu-
ture operations. This can be effected by grasping
the flax immediately under the bolls, this allows
the under, or shorter stalks to remain, which can
be got by a second pulling; if the latter be few, it
would be better to let them remain, as the loss
from mixture and discoloration of the weeds which
will be pulled with it, would make the profit very
small. If the land has been drained, and leveled,
the flax will be nearly all of a length. It is very
necessary to keep the flax even, like a brush, at
the root ends. This increases the value to the
manufacturer, and of course to the grower, who
will be amply repaid by a higher price for all his
additional time or trouble. The handfuls of flax,
as they are pulled, should be laid on the ground
by themselves, or two or three across each other,
taking care to keep the but ends even.

Three methods may now be adopted for its
future management, viz.: 1st, Rippling imme-
diately after pulling, and steeping at once. This
is the general way in Ireland. 2nd, It may be
dried in stooks of a peculiar structure, the seeds
taken off at leisure, and either steeped, or dew
rotted when convenient, this is the plan generally
adopted in this country. 3rd, The flax may be
sold in the field, or after it is pulled.

1st Method. — The flax should be rippled as
soon as pulled, and this should be done in the
same field with the pulling. The rippling comb
consists of a row of iron teeth, screwed into a
block of wood. The best have half inch squai-e

pointed teeth of iron, set with the edges approach
ing, 'lie of an inch apart at tire bottom, and hall
an inch at the top. They are 18 inches long, to
give sufficient spring to prevent breaking the flax.
The points begin to taper three inches from the
top. It should be taken to the field and screwed
upon a plank, 9 feet long, and placed on two
stools. The ripplers may either sit astride or
stand on opposite sides of the plank. A winnow-
ing sheet must be placed under them to catch the
bolls as they are rippled off. The fiax can often
be rippled by drawing but once through the comb.
The sheaves of flax are laid at the right hand of
the rippler; he takes up one handful at a time,
and spreads out the tops, so as to give a wide
surface to the teeth, and draws it through. If the
bolls are thick, two drawings may be required.
Four men with tM-o ripples will ripple more than
an acre a day. The rippler lays down the hand-
ful at his left side, which should be then bound
up in sheaves, called "beets." The bolls should
be winnowed, to blow all the chaff and long straw
that may be in them, and then thoroughly dried,
either on the barn floor, or on the winnowing
sheets out doors, they should be turned twice a
day until dry. When they may either be sold to
to the Oil Mill, or kept for feed. Flax treated it
this first method should be rippled as soon at.
pulled, and carried to the water as soon as possi
ble ; it should not be allowed to stand in the
field, if avoidable, even the second day, that the
straw may not harden. Although this method
of treatment will produce a better quality of
fibre than any other, it will hardly be adopted
as it makes considerable labor in the season when
labor is high and scarce.

2nd Metliod. — The flax as pulled, should be
bound near the tops, in loose bundles, about one
half larger than a man can hold in one hand, say
about 4 inches in diameter, and gathered into
shocks, with the root ends spread well out, that
it may become thoroughly dry, which will take
from 6 to 8 days. If it is not thoroughly dried,
it will be apt to mould and spoil. When it is
dry, it may either be stacked so that the rain will
not penetrate, or taken to the barn, and allowed
to remain until after harvest, when the sjeed is
taken off, and it is either dew or water-rotted dur-
ing the fall. The seed may be taken off during
the winter, and the rotting take place the follow-
ing spring or summer. It may remain 2 or .3
years, if kept dry, and free from mice. Various
means are employed to remove the seed ; some
using the rippler already described ; some, what
is called a beetle, which is a block of wood about
10 inches long, and 3 or 4 square, into which a
handle is inserted, though frequently the handle
is a prolongation at an angle of the head, made
small enough for the hands to grasp, by such an

34

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

instrument the seed can be beaten out. A more
expeditious way is, to pass tlie seed ends through

rcdlers, driven bj
horse or other
power, as describ-
ed on page 76 of
the American Ag-
riculturist, for
1863, and illustrat-
ed by fig. 29. Seed
taken ofE in this
way, after the

29.— ROLLER FLAX- THRESHER.

Btraw has been thoroughly dried, does not require
to be spread out to dry, but simply to be winnow-
ed like any other grain, to remove the chaff.

Zrd MetJiod. — It is beginning to be the custom
•where flax-mills are erected, for the proprietor
of the mill to purchase the flax standing on the
ground when in flower, or after it is pulled and
stacked, either before or after the seed-bolls
are taken off"; this I think will be found to
pay both parties the best, as the manufacturer
will then have skilled persons to take charge
of it, and can produce a more uniform and
better quality of fibre, than each farmer can by
rotting his own.

A system something like this is carried on in
Belgium, which involves a division of labor, and
no doubt contributes, in a great measure, to the
excellence of the flax produced in that country.
The farmer lias thus but to produce the crop in the
utmost perfection that good culture, soil and sea-
son will admit of. The flax-dresser's attention is
then exclusively devoted to its after-management,
and the laborers employed by him soon become
expert, eacli in his particular branch of business.

Rotting. — The rotting process is the same for
flax, treated either in the 1st or 2nd methods. If
a stem of flax be examined, it will be found to
consist of three parts, 1st, a woody, central, hol-
low stem in the center, called the " shove " or
"boon"; 2nd, a tubular sheath surrounding the
shove, composed of long and firm cells, this is
the fibre, and 3rd, a delicate covering of skin or
bark. To separate the fibre from the worthless
parts connected with it, is the next step.

Dew Rotting. — As soon after harvest as possi-
ble, the rippled straw is taken to a smooth mea-
dow, or clean pasture field, and spread out care-
fully in swaths, about half an inch thick. The
swaths should be several inches apart so as not to
gfet tangled in turning, and be careful to keep the
straw straight and even. The length of time it
will have to remain, will depend upon the state
of the weather : if warm and showery, it will not
take so long as it will if the weather is dry or
cold ; the period may be shortened by turning it ;
the turning is easily and quickly performed with
a smooth pole about 10 feet long, as in figure
8

80. From 4 to 6 weeks will be required for
rotting it, and it should be turned 2 to 4 times:
though some recommend to let it lie until one
side is done, and it will then require but one
turning ; but I think several turnings better.
When the flax takes on a silver gray color, and
the fibre begins to separate from the woody
part, especially at the ends ; or when on breaking
a handful of the straws, or on twisting them,
the woody part comes freely out, and leaves the
lint or fibre clear, it is ready to be taken up. In
taking it up, keep the straw straight and even,

Fig. 30. — TURNING THE SWATHS.

and bind in moderate-sized sheaves. If not
thoroughly dry, set them on their ends until they
are so. It is now ready for the brake and scutch
mill, or it may be stored under thatched stacks,
or under cover until otherwise disposed of.

Watering or Steeping. — This is a process by
which the vegetable matter connecting the stem
and fibre is decomposed by fermentation under
water. The value of the fibre depends very much
on the care bestowed on this process. The steep-
ing pond should be made about 4 or 6 yards long,
2 to 4 broad, and from 8 to 4 feet deep. River
water is the best ; a small stream of water allowed
to run through the pond will very much improve
the fibre in color. Care should be taken to avoid
using water containing minerals, as it will dis-
color the fibre. The flax, after rippling, is brought
to the pool, in which it is placed in rows, one beet
or sheaf deep, at an angle of 45 degrees, the bands
of each succeeding row reaching between the
root ends and bands of the last ; straw is then
spread over it, to protect it from the sun, and
boards laid on, and weights are placed on them
8o as to sink the flax from 4 to 6 inches under the
surface of the water. It should be kept from the
time it is put in until it is taken out at that depth,
but great care should be taken not to sink the
flax so as to touch the bottom, which should not
occur. Additional weights are required when
fermentation commences, to be taken off" when it
subsides. When the fermentation subsides, it
should be carefully watched to ascertain when
it is fit for removal. This is one of the most
critical stages, and on it the profit or loss may
turn. It will require on an average from 5 to 15
days to get sufliciently steeped, this will depend
very much on the heat of the weather and

PRIZE ESSAYS.

35

the nature of the water. The besl test that I
know of to tell when it should be taken out is, to
try some stalks of an average thickness, hy break-
ing the stem in two places, about 6 or 8 inches
apart, at the middle of the stem; catch the
broken bit of wood or shove, and if it will freely
pull out downward, for that length, without
breaking or tearing the fibre, and with none of
the fibre adhering to it, it is ready to take out.
Make this trial every 6 or 8 hours after fermenta-
tion subsides, for sometimes the change is very
rapid. It is, however, more frequently under,
than over watered. Every grower should learn
to know when the flax has had enough of the
water, as a few hours too much may injure it.
If it is found, after taking it out of the pond, that
it has not remained long enough, the error mav
in a great measure be rectified, by allowing it '
remain longer on the grass.

Never lift the flax roughly from the pool, with
a fork, it should be done by men standing in the
water, who hand it to others, ready to receive it,
on the bank. The steep water can either be used
as liquid manure for meadows, or kept in the
pool till the next flood, — it should not be run off
into the river or creek when the water is low, as
the odor is very unpleasant, and the water thus
impregnated, is poisonous to fish. (It is contrary
to law in Canada). It is much nicer handling if
the flax bundles are placed on their root ends, to
drain for 12 hours or more, before they are re-
moved for spreading, it should not be piled in
heaps, as it is very apt to heat and spoil.

Spreading. — Select when possible, clean, short,
pasture ground, or a newly mown meadow, lay
the flax evenly on the grass, and spread thin and
very equally. If it has been properly rippled,
the handful will come readily asunder, without
entangling, plrom 4 to 8 days, if the weather
is damp, or from 8 to 12 if it is dry, should be
sufiicient time for it to lie on the grass. A good
test of its being ready to lift, is to rub a few stalks
from top to bottom, and it is ready to lift if the
woody part breaks easily, and comes from the
fibre, leaving it sound. Also when a large portion
of the stalks are found to form a bow and string,
the fibre contracting and separating from the
woody stalk. But the most certain way is to try
a small quantity in a flax mill. Some recommend
turning it while on the grass, (as described in dew
rotting) but it will not require it if it is evenly
and thinly siiread.

Lifting. — When lifting, keep the flax even at
the ends, so as to avoid loss in scutching. Dur-
ing all these operations the different qualities and
lengths should be kept separate, as a mixture
would lessen its value. It should not be lifted
when the straw is damp. When it is lifted it
should be bound up in bundles and *et on their

root ends for a few hours to thoroughly dry
It is now ready to be sent to the scutch mill,
though it would be much improved by being
put up in small stacks, loosely built, ana
set up on capped posts, to prevent injury from
rats or mice, and to allow free circulation "of air.

Soa\e objections may be made to the steepimr.
on account of its tainting the water, and the
air, and possibly, those unacquainted whh it may
think that the smell, which is disagreeable, may
be unhealthy, but it has never been found so,
either in France, Belgium, or Ireland, and no
healthier women can be seen than those employ-
ed during the whole flax season in pulling, spread-
ing and lifting it.

The trouble which flax entails in the various
processes which it has to be put through, before it
is ready for the market, is often objected to.
This will not be considered of weight, by the
careful and enterprising, when it is found that the
profits increase in proportion to the care and skill
used in the different stages of its management.

DRESSixa. — Among the many new methods
brought forward in the Old Country, for the prep-
aration of flax, that of Mr. Watt, is perhaps the
most prominent. Since its first introduction, it
has made rapid progress, though perhaps its
merits have not yet been sufficiently tested. The
steeping of the flax is effected by the agency of
steam, which disunites its cementing materials,
thus dispensing with fermentation.

It may be briefly described as follows : The flax
straw is delivered at the works, in a dry state,
either with the seed on or off, if the seed is on, it
is taken off by metal rollers. The straw is then
placed in close chambers, hav-ng two doors,
which is for taking in and discharging the flax,
the top is of cast iron, and serves the double pur-
pose of a top and steam condenser, the straw is
then laid upon a false bottom of perforated iron,
the doors are closed, and made tight by screws.
Steam is driven in by a pipe round the chamber,
and under the bottom, and penetrating the mass
at first removes certain volatile oiJs, contained in
the plant, and then is condensed on the bottom of
the iron cover, and descending in a continuous
shower of condensed water, saturates the straw,
forming a decoction of the extractive matters
which connect the fibrous and non-fibrous por-
tions of the plant. The liquid is drawn off from
time to time, and the more concentrated portions
used with the chaff, (and light seed) for feeding
cattle and pigs. The process is shortened by
using a pump, or some arrangement, that will re-
peatedly wash the mass, with the water allowed
to accumulate. In from 8 to 12 hours varying
with the nature of the straw, it is removed from
the chamber, and having been deprived of all its
1 extractive matter, without decomposition, it i«

tlax. culture, etc.

passed through large iron rollers, for the purpose
of removing tUe epidermis, or outer slvin of the
plant, and for the purpose of discharging the
greater part of the water contained in the satu-
rated straw, and while in the wet state splitting
it up longitudinally. The straw being free of all
products of decomposition, is then easily dried,
and is in a few hours ready for scutching. The
invention of Mr. Watt has a two fold object,
first, to obviate the objectionable process of rot-
ting, and secondly, to work up the bolls and re-
fuse of the plant into cattle food. Of the pro-
cess of steeping in water, spreading on grass,
lifting and drying, we need say but little to those
engaged in it, it being from the first to the last
disagreeable, at every stage of the process. The
manual labor is filthy in the extreme, while if the
Rteep ponds are allowed to run into rivers or
creeks, these will be so polluted, as not only to
destroy fish, but to be unfit to be used by cattle.
Flax, after drying, is improved by stacking,
technically speaking, it " comes." Temporary
sheds answer every purpose, if the roofs be tight.
DRESsrs'G is the next operation in order. It
is by manual labor that nearly all the flax in
Belgium, Holland, etc., is dressed, formerly in
Ireland, it also was the case, but now improved
machinery is used. It is evident that to make
flax pay in this country, machinery must be used
in the preparation of the fibre for market. Flax
will not pay to be dressed by hand in America.
There are improved machines made now, which
can be got at a very reasonable price, for scutch-
ing straw. The one most in use in Canada, is one
patented by Mr. Rowan, of Belfast, Ireland. It
can be used by any person, and I believe comes
nearer to the requirements of the flax grower
than almost any other ; any person, although he
may never have handled flax before, will find no
difliculty in using this one. A single machine,
requii'ing the attendance of one person, and a
double machine, -worked by two persons,
•which do not occupy a space of more than
3 by 5 feet on the ground, and wliich may
be attached to any horse power in common use,
have proved profitable. This machine will de-
liver twenty pounds of scutched flax per hour,
for each hand. Tlie yi Id of clean fibre is
greater than if hand scutched. Another ma-
chine which I have not seen, but one that is
highly recommended, is manufactured and sold
by a prominent house in New York.

It consists of a series of fluted iron rollers, be-
tween which the flax is drawn from the feeding
board, a peculiar motion is given to the rollers
by the gearing, which causes the flax to pass re-
peatedly back and forth between the rollers, and
it ««mes out with the boon or shove so thorouQ;hly

broken, that a large part of it can be shaken out
of the fibre, without any farther dressing. This
machine, as well as the one first described, is por-
table, and can be driven by any common horse
power. Any person who can run a threshing ma-
cliine or fanning mill, can run either of these ma-
chines. The saving of fibre in both of these ma-
chines are about the same.

Other machines are in use in some flax districts,
but they require more power, with experiencea
workmen to drive them, they leave a greater per
centage of shove in the fibre, and there is con-
siderable danger in working them.

The most common kind of a hard brake, con-
sists of two sparred frames. * * * [Descrip-
tion omitted. See 1st prize essay, Ed.] * * ♦
The flax is shifted until all the stems are broken,
and then it must be scutched to remove the shove
or broken woody parts from the flbre. Hand
scutching is still a common practice in some parts
of the country, but it is tedious, and the time it
takes makes it expensive. [Description omitted.]

In the scutching mill, several wheels are fixed
on a shaft, distant from each other 3 feet or more.
The scutching blades of hard wood or metal are
attached to, on the rim of these wheels, upright
pieces of metal, called stocks, and so placed, that
the blades as they revolve, pass near their sur-
faces, the tops of these being on a level with the
shaft. The blades are from 6 to 7 eighths of an
incli from the stock at the striking point, and 4 to
5 eighths at the heel. The wheels are 3 feet C
inches in diameter, and make from 200 to 250
revolutions per minute, and are covered to pre-
vent dust or accident.

After flax is broken, it is " stricked," that is,
made into "stricks," for the scutchers, a strick is
as much flax as one can grasp in one hand, evenly
arranged and slightly twisted. A large percent-
age of tow is made in scutching. Flax when
scutched, should be sorted into qualities, each de-
termined by the judgement of the workmen. It
is commonly made up into bundles of 14 pounds
each, the sorter laying thestricks lengthwise ovei
3 bands, with which the bundle is bound.

Another method is to give the strick a twist and
double it together, and then to pass a band round
their twisted ends, making them ready for bag-
ging. The bales generally weigh 200 lbs., being
16 bundles of 14 pounds each. Flax has now
been brought to that state in which it is ready for
spinning or the market. It should be stored in a
dark, cool place ; if kept too dry, it loses in
weight and quality. It is much improved by
being stored a few weeks, A ground floor is
more suitable than a dry or airy loft, but it should
not be allowed to get damp

The manufacture of flax cotton is a subject
of great importance. It consists in producing

PRIZE ESSAYS.

87

from the coarse kind of flax and the roughest
kind of tow, a material resembling cotton, fit
for spinning or using as batting. Flax intended
for this use can be cut with a scythe or mow-
ing machine, and treated in all respects the
same as hay. Flax that is grown for the seed
can also be used for this purpose. The straw
may be threshed in an ordinary threshing ma-
chine. The tedious rotting process is not re-
quired in making flax cotton.

In Belgium, "stricked" flax is made from
the best Riga seed, sown five bushels to the
acre, on land most carefuUy cultivated and en-
riched. Forked stakes are driven into the

ground, forming squares, poles are laid on
these 8 or 10 inches above the ground, and
upon these a netting, well secured, is stretched.
The flax grows high and slender, and is sup-
ported by the poles untfl it matures. As soon
as the seed begins to form, it is pulled, set on
ends in circles, and dried without much ex-
posure. Great care and attention are paid in
watering and scutching it. Flax treated in
this manner is worth, in its green state, from
$300 to $350 per acre, and when scutched, from
$1,200 to $1,500 per ton, and its value is greatly
increased when manufactured into the finest
Brussels lace.

THIRD-PRIZE ESSAYS. -No. 19.-BY JAMES BAKER,

HOOSICK FALLS, RENSSELAER CO., N. T.

Kind of Soil. — Nearly all moderately fertile
soils will produce flax, but a clay loam, the loam
preaominating, is the very best soil, as that gives
the largest quantity, and the best quality of fibre
or " lint," as it is generally called. A. sandy loam
and clear loam are the next best, sand and gravel
being the poorest soils, although in very cool
aioist seasons, good crops may be raised on such
Boils. A moderately rich clay loam is very sure
in any season, whereas on dry soils it is often a
failure in dry times. Slaty soils produce an ex-
cellent quality of flax in moist, cool seasons. As
a general thing, any soil that will produce srood
barley, will give good flax, except on very low
land, where it is liable to rust, which injures both
lint and seed. Although poor or worn out soils
will not produce flax, still it is not advisable to
sow it on land that has been made exceedingly
fertile by recent application of manure, as it is
liable to fall down and rot, causing great loss and
sometimes a total loss of the whole crop, and for
this reason, always take off some other crop after
making an application of manure, before sowing
to flax. Applying manure to flax also causes
weeds to grow up in the flax, choking the crop,
and making bad pulling. Land should be as free
from weeds as possible, consequently, flax should
De sown on land devoted to some hoed crop the
previous year, or it may be sown on pea stubble,
as that is generally clear from weeds. Good
crops may be raised on wheat stubble, if the
land is moderately rich. Never sow flax on
land infested with Canada thistles, as it costs
more to pull it, than the crops are worth, if the
thistles are plenty. A weed called spurry or
*o\nt weed should also be avoided, as it causes
great waste, one stalk sometimes spoiling a foot
square. Flax requires a cool, moist soil, or a
oool wet season to bring it to the greatest perfec-
tion, tlierefore, on farms, much affected by I

drouth, it should be sown on the most moist part,
and on lands not badly affected by dry weather,
it may be sown on the dryer portions if desira-
ble. It should not be sown on the same piece of
land oftener than once in five years; neither on
sward laud, as the yield and quality is generally
very poor, and the same land without any ma-
nure, will raise better flax after taking off a crop
of corn or potatoes, than if sown on the sward.
Land for flax should be plowed very fine, the plow-
man being careful to cut it all up, and pulverize
it as much as possible. As soon as plowed, level
down with the harrow, and it is ready for sowing.

The Time op Sowing varies in different
latitudes, and in different places in the same lati-
tude, consequently no definite directions can be
given, but every one must be governed by the
circumstances by which he is surrounded. When
just coming out of the ground it is quite easily
killed by frost, and should not be sown until there
is a probability that all danger is past, and the
sooner after that the better, as like some other
crops, the earliest sown produces the heaviest
yields of both lint and seed. In Rensselaer and
Washington Counties, the two greatest flax-raising
counties in New- York, the usual time of sowing
is ft-om the 25th of April to the 10th of May.
according to the season.

The Quantity of Seed. — Depends upon the
object in view. If raised expressly for the seed,
24 to 28 quarts is sufllcient, and if wholly for the
lint, 5 to 6 pecks should be sown, but if lint and
seed are both desired, one bushel is considered the
best quantity. Very rich soils require less seed
than lighter land, therefore, on light soils, from
34 quarts to 5 pecks should be sown. If a very
fine, nice lint is desired, sow very thick. If both
seed and lint, sow about one bushel, varying a
little according to the soil.

Sowing the Seed. — The sowing is best dont

33

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

with the broadcast seed sower, but as every farmer
does not have one, such must sow by hand. In
sowing by hand, it is better to sow the land twice
over, which g:ives a more uniform seeding, than
can possibly be obtained with once sowing. Take
half the quantity of seed and sow once over, sowing
the same as hay seed, then cross sow with the
remainder. The last time over vrill generally
cover all places, not sown the first time over.
Any one familiar with sowing hay seed can sow
flax seed. After sowing, harrow thoroughly once
over, and roll down. More harrowing injures
the crop. In case the weather should become
wet after sowing and before harrowing, and
should continue until the seed had sprouted, the
ground should not be disturbed at all. Excel-
lent crops have been raised that were not har-
rowed in, but it is better to harrow. When the
flax is about an inch high sow one bushel each
of ashes and plaster to the acre, or if the land is
wormy, double the quantity of ashes without the
plaster. Should there be any mustard, yellow
seed, or Canada thistles, pull them out as soon as
they show themselves ahove the flax, which is all
that is necessary to be done until

PrxLiXG. — This is the most laborious part of
flax raising, the more so, as no mechanical ap-
paratus has as yet been invented to perform that
part of the work in a satisfactory manner. Three
diflFerent machines have been invented, with
which to pull flax, but as all were failures from
one cause or another, it is useless to describe
them here. The only method of pulling flax,
and keeping it in suitable shape for dressing, is
by hand, and the more care there is used in hand-
ling, the greater will be the profits. Much, also
depends upon the state of the flax when pulled.
It is conceded by all flax raisers, that the yield is
greatest if pulled just as the bolls have turned a
brown color, the lint and seed both being heavier
then, than at any other time, but as puUing is a
slow operation, it follows that it must be com-
menced before it arrives at that state, as loss may
ensue. The time of commencing must be deter-
mined by circumstances. A farmer having but
little flax and plenty of help may defer pulling
until it is in the best state for pulling, whereas,
one having a large quantity must commence ear-
lier. The rule among old people used to be,
when the leaves had fallen ft-om the stem half
way up from the bottom, but where large quanti-
ties are sowed, it must be commenced sooner,
otherwise, there will be loss before it can all be
pulled. There is less loss of fibre sustained in
pulling it green, than by leaving it until dead
ripe. When allowed to get very ripe, the bolls
fall oS" in pulling, and the lint becomes brittle,
causing it to whip away in dressing. Eveiy day
that flax stands after ripening, diminishes its

value five per cent. ; but it may be pulled as soon
as the bolls have turned from green to yellow,
with but little loss, if properly taken care of atter
pulling. Whi;n pulled green, it should be tied in
small handfuls, say three or four inches in diame-
ter, lest it mould in the center of the bundle.
Neither should it be pulled when wet ; but aftei
the flax has ripened it may be kept in a littU
larger bundles, and may be pulled at any time, wet
or dry, as it will dry out if kept set up. In ordei
to make flax a profitable crop, three rules must
be observed in pulling, viz., to pull it clean, to
keep the straw straight in the bumUes, and to
keep the roots even. In pulling, stand with the
back down the hill, so as to avoid stooping aa
much as possible, and turn the right side to the
flax, and with the right hand strike around what
flax there is on four or five inches square, at the
same time taking hold of it with the left, and
drawing it quickly from the ground with both
hands, move it quickly to the side of the standing
flax. Still holding it with the left hand and keep-
ing the buts on the ground, with the right hand
gather another handful, bring that and the one
previously puUed together, and pull as before.
So continue to do until enough has been pulled
to make a bundle. Then it should be taken
loosely in both hands, and shocked on the ground,
two or three times to even the buts. Then hold
it with the left hand, and with the right pass
around the middle of the bundle about a dozen
stems of flax, holding the ends together and
whirling the bundle until the band is twisted suf-
ficiently to hold. As it is pulled, throw into
bunches of six or eight bundles to facilitate set-
ting up, which should be done every night.
Make what are called long shocks, that is, bundles
set two and two ; as it dries much quicker and
nicer, than when setup in round shocks. This is
done by setting the buts about two feet asunder,
and pressing the tops together as compactly as
possible, then two more on each end, leaning
them a little towards the two first set up, never
setting more than eight in a shock. Should any
of them get blown or faU down, they should be
set up immediately, as flax moulds very soon if
left lying on the ground when wet.

As soon as the bolls have all turned a brown
color, and .the stem has become dry, it should be
drawn in. The best way of handling, is to bind
each shock into a bundle, either with rye straw
or flax, as it is then more expeditious handling,
and wastes less seed than if handled without
binding. As soon as one load is dry, it should
be taken in, as rains injure it very much after it
is cured, making it rot unevenly, and causiug
also a waste of seed.

Flax seed may be threshed by hand or by
rollers moved by power of some kind. Thresh-

PRIZE ESSAYS.

39

ins: by baud or " w^ippirig," is a simple, but
laborious operation. A large flat stone is placed
on the barn floor, at an angle of about forty-five
de^ees, and the operator standing behind it,
grasps the bundle near the root end, striking the
heads upon the stone, turning the bundle in his
hands while whipping. Four to six blows are
usually sufficient if the flax is dry. If set out in
the sun a few hours, the labor is dimiaished. As
fast as it is whipped it should be bound up into
large bundles again for convenience in drawing
to the field for spreading. The same bands with
which it was bound before will do for this pur-
pose. The power machine (see fig. 29) consists of
four cast iron rollers, fourteen to eighteen inches
long, and about nine in diameter, fastened one on
each end of two iron shafts, about four feet in
length, and set in cast iron boxes, in a strong
wooden frame. One shaft has a driving pulley in
the centre for the belt or rope, and the other is
placed in movable boxes against which half of a
common steel wagon-spring presses. This spring
is pretty strong, and the middle of it bears against
one of the cross pieces of the frame. The rollers
when not in use are close together, the spring
keeping them in that position, but allowing them
to separate when anything comes between them.
They may be driven by horse or water power,
two horses being sufficient.

Five or six men are necessary to work well,
one at each end of the rollers, to feed, and two to
hand the bundles, and one to rebind and throw
them out of the barn. The feeders stand at the
ends of the rolls, taking hold of the buls of the
bundles, and drop the heads of the bundles down
between the rollers, taking care not to put them
in any farther than is necessary to mash all the
bolls. Passing four or five times through, more
or less, will usually mash off" all the bolls. A full
set of hands M'ill thresh twelve hundred shocks,
of eight bundles each, in a day. After a quan-
tity has been threshed, it should be drawn upon
a smooth piece of meadow for

Spreading. — In spreading, begin at the highest
part of the field, and drop the handfuls about
three feet apart, the buts from you, and up the
bill. "When a row is dropped across, commence
And spread back, taking care to keep the buts
aven. Take a common jack-knife in the right
Hand, to cut the bands; then take a bundle in the
left hand, cut the band, and, with both hands,
spread the flax out evenly over the space between
the two bundles, and the rest in the same man-
ner. One quarter of an inch is as thick as it
should be spread. Care should be taken to
spread it as evenly as possible, so that it may
rot uniformly. When one swath is spread, an-
other may be dropped. "When it has become
thoroughly weathered, which will require from

two to four weeks, according to the weather, it
should be turned over. This is done by taking a
light, smooth pole, about fifteen feet in length,
and, beginning at one end of the swath, run it
under the flax, near the top, and turning it hot-
torn side up. The pole should be pressed down
on it after turning, to prevent the wind from dis-
turbing it. "When a wisp of it, as large as a man's
finger, can be taken in the hands, and a portion
of it, bent backwards and forwards a few times,
will break the shove so that it will separate from
the fibre readily, it is rotted sufficiently, and
should be taken up. The best manner of doing
this, is to pick it up with the hands, taking up aa
much as can be clasped at once, and laying it on
the swath ; then taking under the swath, and that
also, moving it as before, until enough for a
bundle is gathered, when it should be set up on
end for a few hours before binding. This is
much better than raking it, as it is not tangled
at all, and each handful separates easily. After
it has dried a few hours, it may be bound and
placed in the barn, or taken to the mill for dress-
ing. This ends the labor for the farmer, as the
dressing is a separate business; but as some may
wish to set up machines for dressing, I give a
description of the necessary machinery, etc.

Dressing.— First, a water power and wheel
are necessary, and then all that is required is the
brake and swingling machine. The brakes
consist of fluted cast-iron rollers, from six to ten
inches in diameter, and about three feet long,
placed in a frame, with a heavy spring applied,
to press them together on the flax. There are
various kinds of brakes, and any one building a
mill must be guided by his means and his judge-
ment in making a selection. They vary in price
very greatly. The common mills have but
two rollers, and the flax is passed through them
from four to eiglit times, or until the fibre and
shives can be easily separated. Some of the
more expensive kinds will break it sufficiently
in one passing through. The apparatus for dress-
ing (scutching) consists of two sets of knives,
each set containing five knives, which are fast-
ened to a pulley, each knife projecting about
eighteen inches from the pulley. The pulleys
are both attached to the same shaft, making
about 140 revolutions per minute. At each set
of knives is an upright swingling board, about
eighteen inches wide, with a notch, nine inches
deep, on a level with the shaft. These boards are
placed so the revolving knives pass within an
inch of the first one, and half an inch of the
other, and the tops so fixed that they may fall
back away from the knives one-and-a-half inches.
The flax is passed from the brakes to the first set
of knives, where it is rough-dressed, by holding
it in the notch in the board and allowing the

40

Fi,A.X. CULTURE, ETC.

knives to whip the shives out. When the greater
part of the shives are out, it is passed to tlie
finisher, who subjects it to the scutching of tlie
other knives, until it is entirely cleared of the
Bhives. Then it is tied up in bundles of 50 to
100 pounds, and is ready for market. One set of
brakes will answer for two sets of scutching
knives, making employment for five hands. For
those not wishing to do a large business, these
are the best kind of mills, as they are the least
Gxijensive of any in use, the cost of them vary-
ing according to locality, price of labor, lum-
ber, etc. The tow that is obtained from the first
dressing is called Coarse Tow, and, after the
shives are shaken out, is baled and sent to market.
That from the other knife, is called Fine Tow,
and is disposed of in the same manner. Those
wishing to do a large business can find a superior

brake, in New York, manufactured by a leading
agricultural house. They make several kinds,
having four to twelve cylinders, and adapted to
aU kinds of straw, tangled or straight, and vary-
ing in price very considerably. One man wiE
dress 50 to 100 pounds per day, in the common
machine. One man will pull from one-fifth to one •
thiid of an acre per day, and will whip out the
seed grown on an acre in one-and-a-half to two-
and-a-half days. One-and-a-half acres is a good
day's work for spreading. A good yield is 300
pounds of dressed flax, 100 pounds of coarse
Tow, 30 pounds of fine Tow, and 10 bushels of
seed. The market price on the 1st of January,
1865, was $3.25 to $3.56 per bushel for seed ; 80
cents to 33 cents per pound for flax; 10 cents for
fine, and 2 cents for coarse Tow.

THIRB-PRIZE ESSAYS.-No. 20.-BY JOHN E. STEWART,

REDDING EIDOE, FAIRFIELD CO., CONN.

Flax has not been very extensively raised in
this section for the past thirty years, but the high
price of cotton goods has induced many farmers
to turn their attention to the production of the
raw material, from which can be manufactured a
cheaper fabric for clothing purposes. Conse-
quently, patches of flax begin to show themselves
on many of the farms about here, and, setting
aside its utility, it is as profitable a crop as can
be raised, with us, counting the cost of produc-
tion and preparation for market.

The usual modes of cultivation, rotting, etc.,
are those pursued by our ancestors, generations
back of generations, and are very defective ; in
fact, I believe it impossible to produce a good
article of flax by those modes.

I have adopted, for the past three years, differ-
ent practices, chiefly in the particulars of sowing
and rotting, and have been amply repaid for my
trouble, in having better crops of seed, and a
longer, finer, and heavier yield of fibre. I will
endeavor to describe the common methods of
growing and treating the crop, as well as those
which I have adopted instead, as improvements.

Flax is raised for the seed, which grows in
little bolls on the top, and for its fibre. It does
not exhaust the soil, but should not be sown upon
the same land oftener than once in five years, nor
should it be sown immediately after upon land
where flax has been spread to rot, because flax
leaves an ingredient in the soil which unfits it for
another crop of flax, but it is not injurious to any
of the grains or grasses, or vegetables. If sown
upon the same laud oftener than once in five
fears, h pood crop need not be expected. One 1

experiment will satisfy any farmer of tins fact
Soil. — Flax requires a mellow, rich contrition
of the soil, but it will grow upon almost any land
if it be not very wet, nor dry. As a general thing,
land that will bring good corn will bring good
flax, but it will not do to apply barn yard manure
to flax ground at sowing time, as it is impossible
to mix it thoroughly with the soil, and the flax
grows and ripens unevenly. Common wood
ashes, sown at the time of sowing the seed, at
the rate of twenty bushels to the acre, is an ex-
cellent manure for flax on poor soil. I have also
used swamp muck with good results. The muck
must be got out upon dry ground in the fall, and
exposed to a winter's freezing. It is best to
draw it on to the land designed for flax, dumping
a cartload in a place, thirty loads to the acre.
Spread and plow it in in the spring. But the
best soil is that which is rich enough without any
manure, as is the case in most of the Western
States, or that which is made rich by previous
manuring. My practice is to sow upon land
planted the previous year with corn, piovided it
was well manured for the corn crop. As soon in
the spring as the ground is dry enough to be
worked, remove all the cornstalks, weeds, and
rubbish from the field to the barn 5-ard, where
they will make manure. That the surface may
be clean, break up the cornhills, or ridges, by
plowing twice through each, and harrow the
ground down as level as possible with an iron-
toothed harrow. Then plow clean, cutting the
furrow deep and narrow (one plowing is sufficient,
if well done), and go over the whole with the
harrow, until all lumps are broken and pulverized.

PRIZE ESSAYS.

41

and the surface present* a fine, level appearance.
It is now ready to sow.

Sowing. — ^^The seed must be new, raised tlie
preceding year, for old seed will not always
vegetate. The quantity generally used is too
small, varying from half a bushel to five pecks to
the acre. The consequence is, the plants grow
broad and short, and throw out a great many side
branches, which bear seed, but are almost useless
for fibre. Thin sowing also gives the weeds a
fine chance to grow. I prefer sowing from two
to two and a half bushels to the acre, which, being
thick, causes it to grow fine and tall, with no
branches except two or three to each plant, near
the top, while the weeds are effectually choked
down. The yield of seed is much greater, and
the fibre more than doubled, and of superior
quality. The ground being ready, sow as evenly
as possible, that it may grow evenly throughout
the field, and all ripen at the same time. Harrow
in the seed with a tooth-harrow, crossing the last
harrowing, and go twice over the whole to be
sure that the seed is well covered.

It is best to finish with the roller, and the roll-
ing is indispensable if the flax is to be harvested
with the cradle, as otherwise it cannot be cut
close to the ground. It may now be left to itself
and nature, until it is ripe and fit to pull, which
period comes on in this latitude (41°) about the
time of the oat harvest — from the 10th to 20th
August. [Compare Covering, in First Prize Essay.]
Harvesting. — When the little seed bolls upon
the top begin to turn yellow, and the leaves upon
the stalk begin to drop, and the stalk itself is
yellow two-thirds up from the ground, the plant
is ripe, and should be harvested as soon as
possible, for if it gets over ripe the fibre is harsh
and rough. There are two methods of harvesting,
pulling and cutting. By the former method, as
many plants as can be surrounded by both hands
are seized a few inches below the bolls, and with
a littie jerk are easily lifted from the ground, and
laid on the ground, each handful by itself, spread
a little, with the root ends towards the laborer.
Care must be taken to keep the roots perfectly
even, as it saves much trouble and time in the
after process. It is thus pulled and laid in
straight lines, or swaths, across the field, the root
ends all one way. The cutting is performed with
the common grain cradle, and the flax laid in
swaths, the same as grain. By this method, the
fibre on the lower part of the stalk, and the roots,
is lost, while the square ends, occasioned by the
cutting, are not liked so well by the spinner as
when it is stripped the whole length of stalks
and roots. Cutting is the most expeditious, and
will probably be followed where help is scarce,
and the breadth of flax extensive ; one man who
is able to lay down three acres per day with the

cradle can hardly pull a half acre in the same
time. Yet pulled flax will bring a much letter
price, and pay well for the extra labor. But,
whether cut or pulled, the after management of
the crop is the same.

By the old method, it is left upon the ground
until it is cured or dry enough to thresh, which
requires sometimes a week or ten days, when, on
a clear day, it is raked up, or gathered with the
hands, and bound into tight bundles, eight to ten
inches in diameter, and carted to the barn, where
the seed is threshed out immediately, or it is
stowed away, like grain, for a more convenient
time. If it is unbound, to be threshed, the straw
gets out of its even order, and becomes entangled,
which causes a great deal of trouble and loss.
It should, therefore, be threshed in the bundle,
and tlie seed cleaned by running through a fan-
uing-niill. The chaff, light seed, etc., which blows
out, is valuable for feeding stock, and the plump,
heavy seed is saved for sowing, or sold, and brings
iiood prices, finding a ready market. The straw
is generally laid aside for awhile, or until the
warm weather has mostly passed, and the au-
tumnal rains commence, when it is spread out on
the grass to rot. The hot rays of the sun are
considered very injurious to flax while it is rot-
ting, for which reason this operation is delayed
until cool weather comes on — about the last of
September.

I believe the above method of drying and
threshing very injurious to the fibre, and have
adopted a different plan, but those who wish to
dew-rot their flax may as w^ell pursue that as any
other mode. It will be perceived that the flax
remains on the ground, after pulling, some eight
or ten days, exposed to the sun, wind, dews and
rain, and in its green state it is burned and
dried, so that no subsequent process can separate
the fibre from the straw without damaging its
quality. By the plan which I have successfully
adopted, the flax is not suffered to lie on the
ground but two days, or just long enough for the
seed to "plump out," as it is not entirely ripe
when pulled. Gather it together in handfuls,
about as large as can be encompassed with both
hands, and bind them together in sheaves a foot
in diameter, the little bunches being laid top of
each other, roots and heads alternate, so that it
may not become entangled. It is carted to the
barn and the seed taken off with an iron comb,
or ripple. * » * [Description of ripple omit-
ted. See previous Essays.] * * * The large
bundles are unbound, and the smaller ones, which
will come readily apart, are, one at a time, divested
of seed, by drawing the seed end through the
comb, which is quickly done at one or two draw-
ing strokes. The small bunches are again bound
into large ones, root ends all one way; and the

42

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

seed is spread upon the barn floor. Many of the
seed bolls will probably come off whole, and re-
quire some threshing with a flail before it is run
through the fanning-raill. The seed will not be
entirely dry, and may be allowed to remain,
spread thin for a few days before it is threshed.
The straw must be immediately subjected to the
rotting process.

Dew Rotting. — There are two ways, " dew
rotting" and "water rotting." I have abandoned
the former, although it is simple, and much the
easiest. Those that dew rot also dry their flax in
the field before it is threshed, and wait until cool
weather begins before it is spread out to rot. At
the right time, it is taken to a smooth piece of
pasture ground, or meadow, and spread out thinly,
in straight lines, the root ends even, and all one
■wa}^ After lying about two weeks, it is turned
over, a long pole being thrust under it, and a
space of several feet turned at a time. It does
not need to be exposed quite as long after turning
as before, and it is determined by trial when the
rotting has gone far enough. Grasp a small
handful tightly in both hands, three inches apart;
give them an alternate backward and forward
motion, a few times, so as to break the stalks, and
bring them together two or three times, suddenly
jerking them apart. If the wood breaks easily,
and flies out, leaving nothing but the fibre, it has
been exposed long enough, and must be bound
into sheaves, and put in a dry, sheltered place,
where, for further operations, it will await the
farmer's convenience. Care must be taken that
it does not get too rotten, and the fibre weakened,
if not spoiled, as is often the case. Flax v.-hich
has been rotted in this manner, has a dirty brown
color, is harsh and coarse to the touch, and often
weak and tender. It is worked into rope bag-
ging and coarse articles of cloth. To manufac-
ture it into fine linen is out of the question.

Water Rottlng. — "When it is designed to
w'ater rot, holes must be dug 85 feet in depth, and
in other dimensions according to the quantity to
be rotted. A hole 12 feet broad and 18 feet long
will hold the produce of a half acre. Prepare
the hole near a river, when convenient, in such a
situation that it can be kept full of water. Spring
water will answer very well, in which case the
water must be let into the pool three or four
weeks previous to its being wanted for use, that
it may get warmed and tempered by the sun.
Place the bundles in the hole, somewhat sloping,
with the root ends underneath. They should be
close together, and in regular courses, the second
course lapping upon the first one half its length,
the third lapping upon the second, and so on.

A light covering of straw or bog hay should be
put on to exclude the light, and rails or stones
laid on to keep the flax under water. Fermenta-

tion will coHLmence the second or third day, and
continue until the flax is sufficiently rotted.
Under favorable circumstances, eight days is
long enough for it to remain in the water, and
sometimes fourteen days is not too long. If the
weather be sultry, it should be examined about
the sixth, and each day afterward until it has had
enough of the water, which may be known by
taking a few stalks and breaking them. If the
inside, woody part, comes out clean, with none
of the bark sticking to- it, the flax is ready to
come out. Wash the bundles clean of the filth
and sediment which may adhere to them, as they
are taken out, and set them on the root ends, six
or eight together, to drain for twenty-four hours.
Its color, jiow, is a dark green, and it must be
thinly spread on smooth grass ground to improve
its color and complete the rotting. In six to ten
days it will change from green to a beautiful
white, the woody part will be brittle and easily
separated from the fibre, and, when dry, it must
be bound into bundles and stored in the barn.

Dressing. — The operations by which the fibre
is separated from the rest of the plant are termed
" dressing," and the implements in common use
for that purpose are simple and of easy con-
struction. They consist of the brake, sometimes
called crackle, the flax-mill, and hatchel. By the
brake the woody part is broken into small pieces,
which mostly fall out during the operation, while
the flax-mill cleans out the remainder and knocks
ofl'the outside covering of the fibre. The hatchel
is used to straighten the filaments and draw
out the knotty fibres, which occur wherever the
branches unite with the main stem.

Breaking. — [Description of the brake omit-
ted.] * * * The operator stands near the
front end of the brake, with a handful of flax in
his left hand, laid upon the lower jaw, while with
the other he brings the upper one forcibly down
upon it, repeating the blows, moving the flax in
and out, turning it over, and changing ends, until
the woody stems are all broken. Give it a shake
and a flirt, now and then, during the breaking, to
expose the unbroken parts.

Scutching. — The next implement is the "flax-
mill," which cleans out the "shives" — as the bits
of broken wood are called. This is a simple
wheel, about two feet in diameter, with four
wooden blades, eighteen inches long, projecting
from its periphery, and equidistant. Revolution
is given the wheel by the foot, hence the wheel
should be quite heavy, so as to be continued in
motion without much exertion. * * * pDe-
scription omitted.] * * * The wheel is set in
motion, and a broken handful of flax held firmly
with both hands, near one end, is let gradually
over the board, and subjected to the beating of
the blade. It is turned over and drawn out occftp

PRIZE ESSAYS

sionally, until it is free from sliives, when the
other end is served in the same manner. This
process is called scutching.

Hatcheling. — The hatchel consists of a num-
ber of round iron teeth, set in a board, close
together, in the form of a circle, six inches in
diameter, with the centre thickly filled up with
the same. The teeth should be one-eighth of an
inch in diameter, six inches in length, and should
taper to a sharp point. The flax should be drawn
through the hatchel a few times, to straighten the
filaments and draw out all knotty portions of the
fibre. Each little bunch of flax should be tied
around with a few threads of the same, just suf-
ficient to keep it straight, and then bound into
larger bundles, eight or ten inches in diameter.
These can be pressed into boxes, or bales, ready
for market. Care should be taken in all these
operations that the flax be kept even at the ends,
as when it was pulled, and the fibre straight, for

if it becomes uneven and tangled, much loss will
occur in the scutching and hatcheling.

Remarks.— The principal conditions, it will be
seen, on which depends a good crop of flax, are
rich soil, thick sowing, pulling, rippling, and
water rotting. These differ materially from the
old methods usually pursued in this section of
country and involve more labor, but tlie value of
the flax is more than double, pound for pound,
while the yield is nearly double. The writer's
experience warrants him in giving, as tlie produce
of an acre, twenty bushels of seed and five
hundred pounds of dressed flax. The seed is
worth neariy $4 per bushel at present, and the
fibre should be worth $1 per pound. The dress-
ing, which is the most tedious part of the work,
may be performed any time during the winter,
when the farmer has little else to do. Many crops,
at this time, are paying better, but cost double
for their production, both in hurry and worry.

[INOTE.— The foregoing five Third-Prize Essays are'arianged, not in order of merit, but in order of the numbers they
chanced to receive at the time of their reception. They are presented, as nearly as possible, in the language of the
»utliors. The following are portions of some of the remaining Essays, selected and condensed, with the view of bring-
ing out important points, in which tliey either differ from or corroborate the statements in the Prize Essays. — Ed.]

ESSAY BY JOHN D. RENGSTORFF,

AFTOJT, WASHINGTON CO., MINN. — (TBAJJSLATED FROM THE GERMAN LANGUAGE. )

I

Soil. — If a porous, rich, sandy loam, on which
flax does best, is not at hand, take any good loam
on which a hoed crop, such as potatoes, cabbages,
etc., has been raised the previous year. Land, on
which com has been raised the previous season,
will produce good flax, if it is free from weeds,
and that which was manured the year before is
preferable to that which has just been manured.
Hog and sheep dung are best for flax; horse
manure should not be used, because it will make
the flax rust. The soil should be prepared in the
fall, as soon as the crops of that season are re-
moved. The land should be plowed at intervals,
several times, and made perfectly fine. After the
last plowing, leave it unharrowed in the furrow
over winter. If the land is binding, and has be-
come too compact by the wet winter, it should
be plowed as shallow as possible shortly before
sowing time. I prefer a single-horse corn plow,
and make narrow furrows. Newly broken up
land needs only thorough harrowing to form
e good seed bed.

Seed and Sowing. — In Germany, two kinds
of flax are raised — the "short" and "long."
The seed of the first was called " sun-flax," be-
cause the seed bolls opened in the sunshine, as
soon as ripe. It produces a fine and soft flax, but

does not yield nearly so much as the long, because
the fibre is too short. The seed I have seen in
America is the long variety, and is like the seed
from Riga, which we got from Bremen. The
time of sowing depends on the diflerent climates.
The common rale is to sow in spring, when the
soil is dry, and no more night frosts are to be
feared. But when flax is grown in larger quan-
tities, and other grain crops are raised, flax ought
to be sowed a little later, so that the crops wiU
not be ready to harvest at the same time. Flax
will ripen 10 or 11 we^ks after sowing. Before
sowing, harrow the land. Should there be any
lumps, they should be broken down fine. 125
pounds of seed are used for an acre. Sow twice,
the second time crosswise. Do not fear to sow
too much, as the closer the flax stands the finer
the fibre will be, and the more weeds will be kept
down. Then harrow the land until all the seed
is covered, the last time with horses on a trot.
If a roller is at hand, the land should be rolled
after harrowing. Should there be heavy raina
before the seed is sprouted, and a crust cover
the seed, so as to prevent the young sprouts
coming up, then the crust must be broken by
driving a flock of sheep over the flax land. Or it
should be rolled with a light roller made of a loo

44

FLAX CULTURE, ETC

8 to 10 iuclies in diameter, drawn by two men.
After tlie land is rolled, the young flax will soon
make its appearance.

"Weedixg. — As soon as the young flax is about
two inches high, and weeds appear, they must
be exterminated. The weeders sit flat on the
ground, and weed on each side of them, as far as
they can reach, and hitch along on their hands
and seat. The plants are not injured by persons
sitting on them ; on the contrary, it does them
good, because the soil is pressed closer to the
roots, which promotes the growth. As weeding
(s very tedious work, it is best to have the soil
oo prepared that very few weeds will appear.

HARVESTns'e. — "When the flax becomes of a
yellowish color, and the lower leaves drop off, do
not delay the pulling lest the good quality of the
flax be injured, though the bolls may yet be
rather green. When the flax is pulled, it is tied
in large bundles, with rye straw or willow twigs,
which are set up on the root ends. In this
condition the flax is exposed as little as possible
to the sun, until it is carted home to have the
seed bolls removed. For this purpose, an instru-
ment called the rippler is used, which consisits of
an iron comb, one foot in breadth, and with teeth
a foot long. It can be made by a blacksmith, out
of iron plates, which stand so far apart that the
seed bolls mil be stripped off when the flax is
pulled through. The rippler is fastened to a
block of wood. In Missouri, I made such a comb
myself, out of wood. Taking an oaken plank,
with a large saw I sawed out the wood between
the teeth, and pointed the latter. This instru-
ment did good service. After the seed bolls are
removed, the flax is bound in small bundles, about
as large as can be spanned by both hands.

RoTTiXG. — Water Rotting. — Slow running
brooks, with sandy, or gravelly bed, or still
ponds, the beds of which are free from mud,
should be selected for this purpose. To prevent
its being carried down stream, should the stream
rise, a pole is driven in the ground, at the spot
where the rotting is to be done. Then a few
bundles of flax are tied crossways, and slipped
over the pole. The other bundles are then, one
after another, laid around the pole. Brush, or
straw, is placed over them, and stones are put on
top, so that all the flax will keep under water.
If no stones are at hand, sods, with the grass side
on the flax, will answer the purpose. The water
rotting requires from four to seven days. If the
aighis be warm, the rotting will be done sooner.
After four days, examine it, to ascertain how far
the rotting has progressed. Pull a little flax out
of one of the bundles, and if the shives break
short, when bent, the rotting is completed.

Take the bundles out of the water, rinse them
elean. because the gummy substance that covers

the flax will color the fibre red, if it is not re-
moved. Sometimes, however, in examining the
rotting flax, it will appear to be twisted together
and tangled. This is called rough rotting. In
this condition, the flax must not be taken out, but
you must wait until it is straight again, which
will require about two nights. After the flax is
removed from the water, haul it to a stubble
field, or a mown meadow, and spread it. Take
a bundle in the left arm, and spread the flax out
thinly with the right hand, while walking back-
ward. Children can hand the bundles to the
spreader. Here the flax is left until it becomes
somewhat slack in sunshine. "When this is no-
ticed, take up a little and break it in the middle,
rubbing it thoroughly, and if the " bast " separates
readily fi-om the shove, it is time to take it up
with a rake, bind in sheaves, and secure it
in a dry place. In rotting, remember the rule:
" Rather too little than too much rotting." [The
writer's remarks on Dew Rotting are omitted.]

The seed is removed, after rotting, in the fol-
lowing manner: The flax is laid on a bam floor,
or on an even, hard piece of land, and threshed,
being beaten with a beetle, or " crig," [as described
in the Second Prize Essay, but with a deeply
corrugated and cross-cut bottom.] The flax is
beaten until it is soft, and is then turned over and
the other side treated in the same manner. The
more the flax is worked in this way, the less
breaking will be required afterwards. In taking
up the straw, be very careful to pull out all that
hang over, or that do not lie even, and straighten
them. After this, the flax is laid up in little ricks,
built around a stick, like a broom-stick, set up-
right in a block li feet square. The flax is laid
up in small handfuls, until about five or six feet
high, and is there left until wanted for breaking.
[The writer's remarks on the breaking, e^c, are
good, but add nothing to what has been previously
given. Of the Hatchel, he says :]

There are two Hatchels in use, the coarse and
fine. Those I have seen here are unfit for pro-
ducing fine lint, and these must be imported from
Germany. On the coarse hatchel the flax is pre-
pared for the finer one, and all shives are removed-
Through the finer hatchel the flax is pulled, unti.
all the tow is removed.

Seed. — The unripe seed is not fit for sowing,
and that which is threshed off in breaking may
be used for oil, if an oil-mill is near, and it will
make good feed for horses, when scalded with
boiling water. The best and most seed may be
gained by raising the plants in rows, so that they
can be hoed. If so-rni broadcast, sow thinly,
hardly one-half the quantity mentioned before.
The seed is ripe when the straw turns brown, and
the seeds rattle in the bolls, when shaken. The
plants, either pulled or mowed, are left in the sud

PRIZE ESSAYS,

15

to dry tlio»:;ughly, and are then carted to the
house and threshed at once. The straw has no
value. The seed is cleansed m a fannmg-mill,
and is kept in a dry place, where the changes of
the weatlier have the least influence. Fax seed
will last good for six years, if well kept, and
that more than a year old starts most uniformly.
Enemies. — The most dangerous enemy of the
flax is the weed, spoken of before ; then comes
the cut-worm. Last summer, I sowed a few rows
for raising seed ; the plants came up finely, and
as there were no weeds in the plot, it happened
that I did not visit the spot for several days. I
was greatly astonished to find a whole row gone
one morning, and, investigating the matter, I
found the evil-doer, the cut-worm. AVith the aid
of my wife, I dug out half a gallon of these
worms, and fed them to the chickens. A friend
claims that, by sowing salt with the seed, and
harrowing it under, these worms can be destroyed.
Long-continued drouth is also disadvantageous
to flax. It often happens that there is but little
rain from May to June, and more from July to
the fall, it would, therefore, be advisable to sow
part of the seed early, and another part late. In
farts where prairie land has been broken in the i

beginning of June, a good crop may yet be raised
on such land. In the year 1835, 1 sowed, in Mis-
souri, in the first week of April, half a bushel of
flax seed, pulled the plants eleven weeks after-
wards, rippled the flax, dried the bolls and thresh-
ed them. The seed thus gamed I sowed July 4th
of the same year, on the same piece of ground.
The plants grew taller, but the fibre was coarsei
than the early flax, the plants having stood toe
thinly, because all the seed did not germinate.
This double crop produced 66 pounds of clean
and very fine flax, for which I received, in St.
Louis, 25 cents per pound. * * *

Treatment op the Tow.— The tow, especi-
ally the coarser sorts, must be worked over before
it can be used for spinning. It is laid in small
quantities on the floor, a man sits flat before it,
the feet stretched forward, with a willow twig, as
thick as a little finger, in each hand, he whips the
tow thoroughly, shaking it from time to time to
remove all the remaining shives. The tow is
twisted up in "heads," spun, and used for
weaving bags, workingmen's aprons, tent cover-
ings, etc. ; the finer sorts, when flax-yarn is taken
for the web, will make good filling for sheets and
table-cloths, as also for towels.

ESSAY BY GEORGE W. HICKS,

Wi.BRBN CKNTER, BRADFORD CO., PjL. (EXTBACTS.)

Sod. — I have raised more or less flax, every
year, for the last fifteen years, selecting a field
that has been planted the previous season with
Indian corn, potatoes, or some other hoed crop,
to have as few weeds among the flax as possible.
I plow it in the fall and spring, with narrow fur-
row slices, say six or eight inches wide, and ten
deep, at each plowing. Then haiTOw it thor-
oughly. I have raised good flax on green sward
plowed in the fall and harrowed in the spring,
but such ground is liable to be so grassy as to in-
jure the crop and to prevent rapid pulling.

Soicing. — I sow about one bushel of seed per
acre, when the crop is designed for lint. When
seed only is the object, one-half the above quan-
tity is suflScient. If the seed be sowed too thick,
the flax will be fine and short. I measure my
ground, and sow it in lands six paces wide (going
and returning on the same bed). Beginners are
apt to sow it too thin (or too thick), unless they
measure their ground and seed, and exercise
much care when sowing. Some farmers sow two
ways, sowing half the desired quantity each way,
but this is not necessary if you measure both
ground and seed. After sowing, I harrow lightly.
Most farmers harrow too much after sowing. I
knew of five acres of flax that were sowed, and

about one-half of it was harrowed in, when it
commenced raining, and rained for twenty-four
hours. The other half was never harrowed, and
I never could see any diff"erence in it, though 1
helped pull the whole of it. It yielded eighteen
bushels of seed, and about four hundred pounds
of dressed flax to the acre. I sowed a lot of six
and one-fourth acres, in 1854, and it yielded sixty
bushels of seed and twenty-six hundred pounds
of dressed flax. In 1863, 1 raised twelve acres of
flax, and it yielded about nine bushels of seed
and three hundred pounds of lint per acre. I
bought and dressed, in 1863, sixty acres of flax,
after it was rotted, and it yielded about three
hundred pounds per acre. This season, 1864, I
raised five acres, which juelded eight bushels of
seed per acre. The heaviest yield of seed that I
know of in this town, this season, is thirteen and
one-half bushels per acre.

Pulling. — The old rule for pufling is, when one-
third of the bolls, or heads, are turned brown.
If I have considerable to pull, and help scarce, 1
commence a little sooner. If it gets dead ripe, it
will dress away more. I prefer to pull it a little
green, than to allow it get too ripe, as it will make
more pounds of dressed flax per acre. I com-
mence on the lower side of the field, if on piilling

^

FLAX CULTLRE, ETC.

ground, aud pull a strip about thirty feet wide
across the piece, and l)ind it in small sheaves.
When it is diy enough to draw in, I bind each
shock in one bundle, as it occupies loss room.
Some farmers draw it in without binding, but it
is apt to snarl and pull out and waste if it is not
bound. The best way of threshing off the seed
is with rollers, driven by water or horse power.
The next best way is to place a large fiat stone !
on the bam floor, with one edge raised sixteen or
eighteen inches, and to beat it out upon that.

Batting. — Flax should not be spread in very
hot and dry weather, as the scorching sun. injures
the fibre, and makes it dark-colored and harsh.
It should be spread as soon as the fall rains com-
mence. If left until cold weather, it rots slowly,
and will not weigh so much as if rotted earlier in
the season. Spread with the tops towards you,
as they are apt to snaii when from you. Spread
the swaths about six or eight inches apart.
When it is about half-rotted, turn it over with a
smooth pole, about fifteen feet long. Run one

end of it under the swath, near the top of the
flax, and raise the top ends and turn it over, let-
ting your pole drop on the flax so as to press it
down, that the wind wUl not blow it away.
When it is rotted enough, the fibre will begin to
separate from the coarsest stalks, as the coarse
fiax rots soonest. By rubbing a few stalks in
your hands, if the shives separate readily, it is
rotted enough. When taking it up, take a com-
mon hand-rake, and walk close to the buts and
rake it, by sliding it along every time you step
If you roU it as some do, it brings the long and
short all mixed together, and does not handful
out as well when you brake it. I rake the
bundles as large as I can bind handily with a
double band. Before binding, you should raise
every bundle up fifteen or twenty inches, and let
it drop on the buts to even them. When dress-
ing, make your bunches of flax so that they wiU
weigh from flfty to seventy-five pounds. If to
be shipped by railroad or boat, it should be sack-
ed, say 150 or 200 pounds in a sack.

ESSAY BY L. M. HOLBROOK,

DUNDEE, Ki.NE CO., ILL. (EXTRACTS.)

The best soil for producing flax with a strong,
fine fibre, is a sandy loam that has been well
manured three or four years previously, and no
other crop raised on it but com, and this kept
entirely free from grass and weeds. It is true
that you can raise a tolerable crop of flax on
almost any soil, and by almost any process, but
remember that you cannot raise a large crop, of
good quality, without taking great pains to have
the son in a high state of cultivation. For seed,
the very best should be selected, free from every
foul seed. As soon in the spring as the weather
becomes warm, and the ground settled, begin to
prepare your ground for a crop of flax, have it
entirely free and clear from aU weeds and rub-
bish of every kind, and work the ground when
it is dry enough to crumble and not stick to-
gether in lumps. Treading the ground, when
plowing, injures it very much. When you have
plowed the ground, about six inches deep for
common soil, take a fine, heavy harrow and drag
it the same way it was plowed. Pulverize it suf-
ficiently so that no lumps wiU be likely to hinder
the growth of the young plants. In the prepara-
tion of the land, you lay the foundation for a
good or poor crop. After you have sown the
seed, it is too late to rectify any mistakes, or atone
for any neglect in preparing the soil. As soon as
the ground is well prepared, the seed should be
sown. Sow, as evenly as possible, from one-half
to three-fourths of a bushel per acre. If you

sow it mainly for the seed, sow the smaller quan-
tity. But if you want a good quality of straw,
sow it thick, as the larger the stalk the coarser
will be the fibre, and vice versa. After the seed ia
sown, take a harrow and drag it the same way
you did the first time, and be careftil and not fill
the dead furrows up. Then roll it lightly. If
there is any place where water will be likely to
stand, it must be drained ofi", as standing water
wUl kill the young fiax in a short time. Flax is
a plant that cannot grow with weeds, without
being materially injured by them. The general
opinion is, that in order to have the best quality
of fibre, flax must be pulled before the seed is
ripe. In Illinois, until within a year or so past,
not much account has been made of am1:hing
except the seed. As soon as the seed is fully ripe,
it is cut with a reaper, gathered, and threshed, and
the straw sold to the factory. As soon as the
boUs begin to turn yellow, it is time to pull it.
Commence on one side, and take a breadth about
four or five feet ynde. Grasp a handful near the
top and pull it up. When you have as much as
you can hold in both hands, lay it down in a
swath and continue thus through the field. It r
pretty hard work, and will be likely to makt
your back ache, but it is the only right way to
harvest it. It can be cut with the reaper, like
grain, but it injures the fiax. When you have it
pulled, bind it in small bundles, and set it up in
stocks, and as soon as it is dry enough so that the

rRlZK ESSAYS.

4<

seed will shell out, take it on the bam floor, and
lay the heads together, not unbinding the bundles,
and thresh the tops with a flail. Do not break
the straw more than is absolutely necessary.
Then shake the bundles to get out all the seed.
There are two methods of rotting flax, called
dew, and water rotting. Dew rotting is generally

practised in this country. Take your straw to 8
piece of smooth meadow, and spread it evenly
and thin, in swaths. Let it lie two or three weeks,
or untU the woody part is so weakened that it can
be easily broken. Then bind it up, and plai e it
under cover in some dry place. [Account ol Uie
operations of dressing, etc., omitted.]

ESSAY BY W. B. MOREY,

eEOBOETOWN, MADISON CO., N. T. (EXTRACTS.)

SoU. — Flax may be grown advantageously on
all moderately cohesive soils resting on a sound
clay subsoil, if naturally dry or underdrained.
The land should be free from weeds. Hence it
should best succeed some hoed crop, but very-
good crops of flax are often raised upon wheat
land where barn-yard manure had been freely
applied, and the weeds thoroughly exterminated.
There is stiU richness enough remaining in the
soil to prove servicable to this crop, without
resorting to other means of supplying nutriment.
The ground should be thoroughly plowed in the
autumn, in time to insure the germination of the
weed seeds, that they may be efifectually destroyed
by the frosts of winter. Fall plowing, if the soil
be heavy, is preferable for this, as well as many
other crops, and deep plowing is advantageous
to insure the success of the crop, and for this
purpose the Michigan double-plow is to be re-
commended. The ground should then be well
pulverized, by the use of a harrow, or cultivator.
Flax should be sowed as early as the ground is
in a condition to be worked in the spring. The
ground may be enriched by the application of
ashes, plaster, salt, old leached ashes, and phos-
phates. The three former may be mixed, or used
separately, with advantage. Dr. Ure says that
30 pounds of potash, 28 of common salt, 34 of
burnt gypsum, 54 of bone dust, and 56 of sul-
phate of magnesia, will replace the constituents
of an average acre of flax. From one bushel to
one-and-a-half of clean seed should be used per
acre, where lint and seed is the object. Two
bushels will give a finer fibre. In those countries
where the finest linens are produced, from two to
four bushels is the quantity sowed per acre. But
in that case, the seed is not allowed to ripen
before harvesting. Where flax is sowed for the
seed principally, and allowed to get fully ripe, it
is then of less value for lint, which is often sold
to manufacturers of pasteboard and paper, at fair
prices. The yield of a crop of Imt will vary
from one to two tons to the acre, and the yield
of seed from ten to fifteen, and sometimes as
high as twenty bushels to the acre.

Pulling, or Cutting.— The crop is readv for

pulling when t^e seed is beginning to chana^e
from a green to a pale brown color, and the stalk
becomes yellow about two-thirds of its length.
Pulling too soon, or allowing the crop to get too
ripe, are both Uijurious to the fibre. In pulling
the flax should be separated from weeds, should
be pulled when dry, the root ends kept even,
and tied up into small sheaves, these may be set
up two and two in stocks, from fifteen to twenty
bundles in a bunch, and allowed to stand till
thoroughly dried. Where but few acres are
sowed, it can be pulled by the help of women
and children. But if many acres are sowed,
great care should be exercised in the preparation
of the ground, that it may be clear of weeds and
smooth, so that it maybe either cut with a reaper
or mower, or cradle. The seed can be threshed
very fast, with a common flail, when bound in
small bundles, by threshing the heads on both
sides. Other ways are by trampling with horses,
by a threshing machine, by drawing through a
hatchel, by rollers operating by horse power, or
by whipping over a smooth board, or stone.

Rotting. — This is accomplished either by water
or dew. The process of water rotting is said to
produce a finer and softer fibre. Soft, or river
water, should be used. A tank, or vat, is used for
the purpose, where the fiax can be covered in
water, to remam until properly rotted, the time
required, depends in part upon the ripeness of
the flax, and varies from ten to twenty days. It
should be taken from the water as soon as the
lint wiU freely separate from the woody part.

The more common method is, to spread as evenly
as possible in swaths, upon a smooth meadow.
It should be turned occasionally, that it may rot
alike on both sides. It is reatlily turned by run-
ning a pole unf"er the straw. October is a proper
time for this operation. The length of time re-
quired for rotting depends upon the condition of
the straw and state of the weather. In good
weather, with occasional rains, it will rot in from
one to two weeks. In very dry weather, it will
take much longer. When rotted suflSciently, it
is bound in good-sized bundles, as soon as it is
dry, and housed, or drawn to the factory to be

48

fLAX CULTURE. ETC.

dressed. Suitable buildings with machines are I at so much per hundred. The old method of
no-:v being put up in different localities, where dressing it by hand will now be resorted to only
the flax is either bought or dressed, on shares, or | by those remote from such machinery.

ESSAY BY CARL BOES,

DBTROIT, MICH. (EXTRACTS.) TRANSLATED FROM THE 0ERMA5 LARaT7AaS.

Soil. — There are few plants on which the soil
has so much influence as on flax. Neither light
saudy soils, nor heavy loams, are suitable for
it. On the former it grows weak'.y, for want
of moisture, while heavy, binding, clayey soils
hinder its growth. I do not say that heavy soils
should be avoided, on the contrary, a strong soil
is suitable to flax, but it must be worked fine, and
not bind and bake after rains. A mellow soil,
mixed with old vegetable mould, is best. After a
piece of land is selected for flax, it is manured in
the fall, and the manure plowed under. In the
spring it is again plowed and harrowed. Land
having been manured and used for hoed crops,
such as cabbages, potatoes, etc., may be plowed
and harrowed in spring for flax, without previous
manuring. Land that has been down to grass, or
clover, and broken up the summer previous, is
especially desirable. Although moisture is bene-
ficial to flax, wet soil is not suitable, and low
lands must be well drained.

Sowing.— The seed should not be sowed until
danger of frost is past, the cold rains have ceased,
and warm weather has come. Therefore, the
preparation of the soil for seeding cannot be
commenced early. The particular time of sow-
ing cannot be given in this extended country.
The time of sowing ranges from the middle of
May to the beginning of June. Here in Michigan,
and further North, it is not safe to sow before the
latter date, as a late frost may kill the young
plants. In the Middle States, and at the East,
the sowing may be done earlier, according to cir-
cumstauci^s. When the time for sowing has
come, the soil is thoroughly worked with the
cultivator, which I prefer to plowing, and is then
harrowed finely. This double working in the
spring is beneficial for two reasons. First, on
account of the early plowing, and the working
afterwards, the soil becomes more porous and
fertile, and retains the moisture longer. Second,
the weeds that have grown in the meantime will
be destroyed. When the soil is thus prepared,
the seed should be sowed. The seed should be
fully ripe and glossy, not musty, as it is some-
times, on account of carelessness in drying, and
It should be entirely free from weed seed. If the
seed is not clean it should be made so by sifting.
The proper quantity of seed is 2i bushels for an
acre. The seed is sown in the same manner as
~>ther small seed, and is harrowed in thoroughly.

Weeding. — When the flax is four to five inches
high, the work of weeding commences. This is
a necessary labor, not only for the better growth
of the flax, but the weeds will hinder the work
materially at the time of harvesting, when they
will have grown tall. The cultivator must be
particularly careful to exterminate a weed called
" Flax-Dodder" {Cuscuta epilinum), which is plen-
tiful in flax-growing countries. It is a parasitic
vine which grows upon and winds itself around
the plants. This hinders not only the errowth
of the plant, but is also very troublesome in
dressing the flax. [This plant is smaller than,
but very much like, the common American Dod-
der {Cnscuta Gronovii), which is a leafless, light
orange-colored vine, clinging to other plants,
and living upon their juices, and having numer-
ous tufts of small flowers. — Ed.] All of a
household take part in weeding, and I gladly
remember the time, in my youth, when flax
was to be weeded ; to expedite the work, the
youngsters were offered a little reward. The
weeding is done by each one taking a strip as wide
as he can reach the weeds on each side. Bending
the plants does not injure them. The next morn-
ing after weeding the difference may be distinctly
noticed in the field. The riddance of the weeds.,
and the loosening of the soil in consequence,
gives the plants a strong and healthy appearance.

Harvesting. — When flax has made about two-
thirds of its growth, the flowers come out, giving
the field a very attractive appearance. After
flowering, the seed bolls appear. When the
flax haulms become of a yellowish color, the
leaves die, and the bolls become brown, the
harvesting should commence. It is not neces-
sary to wait the full maturity of all the bolls,
as this would injure the quality of the flax.
The crop is pulled by grasping a handful of
haulms with the right hand, and then helping
with the left hand. The haulms remain in the
left hand until it is filled. The flax is spread
evenly, in rows, just behind the workman. This
is continued until all the flax is pulled. Here the
flax is left for eight days, and is then turned ovei
with a long, smooth stick, bent a little at one end,
and is left to remain for eight davs more, after
which time it is bound and carted home. The
next work is to free the flax from the bolls, by
drawing the top ends through a rippler.

The governments in flax-growing countries or

PRIZE ESSAYS.

49

Germany encourage the use of foreign seed, by
giving the seed to the poorer classes of the dis-
tricts at reduced prices or on long credit. It
■would be advisable that some of our seed-dealers
procure some of the new Riga seed, which can
easily be done through a Bremen or Hamburg
house, so that those who wish may try it. The
flax is now ready for the brake, and only needs
drying for this purpose. A sunny day is selected
and as much flax as is intended to be broken that
day, is placed alongside of the building or in
other similar exposure, and the flax is taken for
breaking directly out of the sun. Tliere are
other methods of drying flax, such as putting it
into a still hot baker's oven, or digging a trench
in the ground, over which a light scaff'old or
platform is made, on which the flax is placed, a
fire being kindled below. Those methods are
not only dangerous, because the flax may easily
take fire, but they require, especially the latter,
the steady supervision of a careful man. (De-
Bcription of dressing, etc., omitted.)

The process of hatcheling must be preceded by
scutching, as the flax fibres still stick together,
and must be parted, so that the hatchel will not
tear them. For this purpose a scutch ing-board
is used. An upright board, with a foot piece
and a swingle blade. Some of the straw is
taken in the left hand and placed through the
opening of the board, while with the swingle in the
right hand it is hit downward. The flax is held

as much as possible apart, and the points of the
swingle help doing this. After the handful is
turned over several times, shaken and swung
sufficiently, it is twisted around and laid aside,
and the work continued in the same way.

Now the last work, to hatchel the flax, is to be
done. The machine for this purpose consists of
a i-inch board, 1 foot broad and 2 feet and a few
inches long. On this the hatchel is fastened,
which is a block 7 to 8 inches square and 4 inches
high, a little smaller at the top than at the bottom.
A piece of tin is fastened on the top, into this
holes are made, and the steel needles, a little
stronger than knitting needles, 5 inches long and
evenly pointed at the top, are inserted. The dis-
tance apart is *li8 to '[g of an inch, accord-
ing to the fineness the flax is desired. In
hatcheling, this machine is taken between the
knees, and the feet rest in the openings at the
lower end, or a kind of stool may be made, with
two open arms, into which the hatchel is placed
and fastened by bolts. Some lay down a chair,
fasten the hatchel upon it, and draw the back of
the chair towards themselves. Half of one of the
scutched beets taken into the right hand and
brought over the hatchel, with the left hand the
lower end is taken hold of and pulled, while the
right hand makes an up and down motion. Piv>-
ceed thus until the desired fineness is reached.
For very fine flax two hatchels are necessary.

ESSAY BY "NOVICE,"

•ABATOOA SPRINGS, SARATOGA CO., K. T. (EXTRACTS.)

Growing. — Soil. — Any good, strong, well cul-
tivated ground, that is free from grass, sods, and
weeds, and will raise a good fair growth of oat
Btraw, will answer for flax.

Preparation of tlie Ground. — If the soil is heavy,
the lot intended for flax may be plowed in the
fall. If a light soil, it should be plowed as soon
as the frost is out of the ground in the spring.
Harrow the ground well three or four times, at
least, to provide a good seed bed, and to enable
the young flax plant to root readily in the soil.

Seed. — The best kind of seed to sow is the
Kiga. It yields more seed per acre, and more
flax per tun of rotted straw than other kinds that
I am acquainted with.

Time of sowing. — The same as with oats. As
early as the season will permit, as the flax plant
makes its best growth when the weather is cool
and the ground moist.

Where flax is raised for the seed alone, one
aalf bushel is sufficient seed for an acre. For
ttbre and seed together, one and one half bushels

will answer. For fibre alone two bushels is bet-
ter, as the plants will be crowded, grow slender,
and without branches, which is desirable, as the
flax straw will handle better, make better dressed
flax, and yield more per tun of straw, and also
more flax per acre.

Sowing. — The seed should be spread evenly
over the ground, and then be well harrowed into
the soil. Some go through their flax on their
knees as soon as weeds appear and pull them out.
Others wisely defer weeding until pulling time.

Time to pull flax— Is when two-thirds of the
bolls are ripe. If there should be wet places
where the flax is green, and places where the
flax has fallen down, they should be pulled before
the main crop, and each kind kept by itself.

(Pulling and binding omitted.)

The flax should be set up on its root ends as
soon as possible, placing from four to six bundles
together in a stook, so as to dr}' evenly and
quickly. As soon as it is dry, it should be drawn
to the barn and stored away, to prevent its beiue

I

50

FLAX CULTURE. ETC.

sunburned, as burned flax will not rot evenly.
To remove the seed, place a large stone on the
barn floor or other tight floor. Incline the upper
surface of the stone to about the angle of forty-
five degrees, block it firmly in its position, and
you are ready for work. Now take a bundle of
flax in both hands, clasping it near the root ends,
raise the bundle above your head and strike;
bring it down across the stone, the bolls will fly
In all directions. Repeat this a few times and
the bolls will be all whipped off. Jam the root
ends against your breast to even them and the
operation is ended. Some roll them ofi" by ma-
chinery, but boys, with the assistance and direc-
tion of one man, will whip them off cleaner, and
the work will be nearly as cheaply done without
the extra cost of machinery. The bolls may be
threshed with a flail, trod out by horses, or pass-
ed through a machine set for threshing grass seed
or clover. Flax seed may be cleaned in a com-
mon fanuiug-mill, by providing suitable sieves,
and when cleaned it is ready for market. Here
the labor of the farmer should cease, and those
of the manufacturer begin. The farmer raises the
straw, but cannot always spare the necessary time
and labor at the proper season of the year prop-
erly to prepare his flax.

Water Rotting.— This should be done if pos-
•ible while the weather is warm, because the
ngents to be used are warmth and moisture.

Pool. — A pool may be dug in any place where
»oft water may be found or collected ; or if this
M not attainable, any pond or river of soft water
may be used, providing the water will make
good suds with common bar soap. Such is not
too strongly impregnated with minerals. Set
the bundles of flax tops down and roots upper-
most in a row, at one side of the pond or pit, in-
clining the straw at an angle of forty-five degrees.
Add to the first another row, shingle fashion, and
still another, until you have enough down to
manage at once, say 1,000 lbs. of straw in a bed.
Now lay on the roots poles or slabs, and on them
stones enough to settle the bed under the water.
It will stay there until you want it to come out.
If the weather is warm and the water also, look to
your bed the second day, and if the woody part
separates easily, and does not stick to the fibre,
it is ready to come out, and the sooner you tend
to it the better. If it does not separate readily,
let it lay a few hours, but examine it very often,
as a few hours time may destroy a valuable bed.
When it is ready, take the flax from the water and
let it drip some of the water out.

Spreading.— This should be done carefully.
Break the bands and spread it as soon as possible
In thin, even swaths, on a meadow to dry. The
roots should be placed evenly together.

Taking tip —As soon as it is dry. take a hand-

rake and draw gently together, without rolling
the straw, into a small bundle, bind and set it up
to dry out any remaining moisture it may contain.
House the flax, and you may repeat the operation
if you please on a new bed if any is left. You
will notice as you look over your rotted flax that
there is here and there a handful of straw so rot-
ten that it will not bear handling. This was
either green or lodged, and should have been kept
by itself and rotted by itself, as you may do now
if you have saved any separate. No amount of
care or skill can make good flax from poor
straw. More depends on the treatment flax re-
ceives in the field, after pulling, than most farm-
ers are willing to allow. Water-rotted flax is rot-
ted evener, is brighter and stronger, and will
bring a higher price in th.e market than dew-
rotted flax. But if soft water is not attainable or
help is scarce, the flax must be dew-rotted.

Dew Rotting. — To accomplish this the flax is
spread evenly upon the ground, like water-
rotted flax, and is allowed to remain nearly two
weeks, when it is turned. This is done readily
by running a small pole under the flax and turn-
ing it completely over. It is allowed to remain
in this position until the woody portion will sep-
arate readily from the fibre.

Taking up. — Take a hand-rake and draw it
gently together, without rolling the straw, into a
small bundle, bind and set it up to air, and
remove any remaining moisture, as it should be
perfectly dry before housing. It will not bear
exposure equal to water-rotted flax. House the
flax where moisture will not readily penetrate,
and if sold in the straw it is ready for market.

Sometimes it is advisable to get the flax
dressed, so as to obtain a fair compensation for
our labor and capital invested, and compete
with speculators in market. In this locality we
can have our flax dressed for 3 cts. per lb. of
dressed flax, and bailed in good condition to send
to distant markets. Well-rotted, good flax, will
yield 500 lbs. dressed flax per tun of straw ; poor
flax in proportion. In localities where specula-
tors control the market, farmers do themselves a
great injustice if they do not combine and pur-
chase the necessary machinery to work up their
own flax in good condition, and thus supply the
increasing demand for a staple product of our
country. It will pay to transport dressed flax as
far as flour or pork can be freighted at paying
prices. Farmers living in the West, and others
distant from large markets living near transpor-
tation, may, by watching the market reports,
successfully compete with those living nearer
the place of consumption, or manufacturers
Profit and loss vary from $30 per acre clear lost,
to $80 per acre clean profit, is quite an important
step for a farmer to make on a single acre of

PRIZK ESSAYS.

51

ground. He is an unfortunate man to lose more
than thirty dollars, and a very fortunate man to
gain eighty dollars clean profit per acre.

From this estimate it will be seen that there is
considerable expense incurred in cultivating and
preparing flax for market, and at the same time
quite a wide margin for profits for the man who
intends to raise flax for market as a speculation,
to consider. The capacity of land to produce is
60 variable, and drouths and other adverse cir-
■ cumstances so prevalent, that it is impossible to
fix permanently the limits of profit and loss of
any of the staple product of this or any other
country. I know an old farmer, who, last season,
made fifty dollars per acre on flax, was so elated
with his success that he hired all the good land
he could bargain for at a fair price, in his vicini-
ty, and, owing to the drouth, lost twenty dollars
per acre on all he had under the crop. He came to
the conclusion that flax will not pay, and yet his
corn crop was a total failure. Still he did not
conclude to reject it as an unprofitable crop.
Another farmer had a good crop of flax, and
after it was ready for market, overreached him-
self in the sale, and found to his chagrin that the
crop was produced at a loss. He will not raise
flax again. Another, whose land is poor and
Bandy, seeing a statement that " fifty dollars
could easily be made from an acre of ground,"

sowed five acres as an experiment. He received
four bushels of seed and a proportionable amount
of straw, four inches long, and now (justly
enough he thinks"> estimates the "flax specula-
lion" as a "humbug." I think the average
profits, acre by acre, in average seasons, to be
thirty dollars per acre. I do not mean to be
understood as saying that under favorable circum-
stances that this is a proper estimate. 1 lliink
that on good soil, with good cultivation, a good
to fair season, care in harvesting and rotting,
with good dressing, a judicious marketing, and a
fair price, that my limit of i)rofit may be reached,
(i. e., that $80 may be made clear of all expense
on a single acre of ground.) As a novice in flax
culture on medium to good ground, may wish to
embark in the entei-prise of raising flax, I will
say for his encouragement that I made $25 per
acre on medium soil, under unfiivorable circum-
stances, with extraordinary prices paid for labor,
operating against me the expenses, consuming
one-half the returns from the sale of the crop. I
do not think the flax crop exhausts the soil any
more than oats or wheat, while the returns from
the sale of the flax and seed will nearly double
that of either oats or wheat, and the profits ar*?
sufiicient in most cases to return as much as the
land used for the crop would probablj' sell for,
the first season it is occupied.

ESSAY BY S. C. GORDON,

■OOTR EASTON, WASHINGTON CO., N. T. (EXTRACTS.)

Flax has been raised on my farm every year
since 1810, as a member of a regular rotation of
crops. In the year 1810 I was left with a farm,
and legacies to pay to other heirs. Among other
experiments tried was that of cultivating flax,
and this, which we soon found, would yield in a
favorable season more money than any other
crop we had tried. Our friends remonstrated
against raising a crop that was so deleterious
to the land, assuring us, that if we persisted
in sowing flax that our farm would be ruined,
and finally set us down as insane for our per-
severance in raising more each succeeding
year, but the soil continued to improve. In 1820,
we had 40 acres of flax growing, and the most of
our adjacent neighbors had each a few acres. The
Boil throughout this region of country is rather
a cold, springy, yellowish, slaty soil, on a blue
hard pan, abounding in small stones. A strong
rich soil naturally, yet heavy and hard to till.

In selecting seed, we much prefer the " sap-
ling" variety, as the straw is stronger, not so apt
to fall, and the yield both of lint and seed is great-
er. Our practice has been to sow flax aft;er a

crop of Indian corn. We apply upon a pasture
sod that has lain two or three years, a good coat
of barnyard manure, in the fall, and plow it if
convenient. If not, plow it early in the spiing
and plant com. In cultivating the corn crop,
great pains is taken to kill the weeds, particularly
the Canada thistle, which abound here. In the
spring following, the corn hills are split with the
plow as early as the soil will permit. In a few
days it is cross-plowed with great care to have it
well done. Then it is well harrowed that the
earth may be fine and free from clods, as the seed
is much more likely to take well if the ground
is in prime order. The seed is immediately sowed
broad-cast, about one bushel to the acre, and har-
rowed in, going twice over the field with a large
square harrow, of two leaves hung together with
hinges. The earlier the seed is sown in the
spring the better for the flax. A slight frost will
not injure it after it is up, but rather cau.se it to
branch out and cover the ground more closely,
consequently it will produce more seed than a
straight stalk, and will not be so apt to fall from
rain or wind. If the soU has been made too rich

5S

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

and the £ax grows too rampant, it is apt to be
blown over, or fall by its own weight, before it is
ripe, and nearly destroy both the lint and the seed.

T7ie Seed for sowing ought to be entirely clean,
and free from foul seed. We sift ours through
three sieves, one coarse splint one, to take out
any substances that maybe left, from the fanning
mill. Then we use a coarse wire sieve with long
meshes that lets the flax seed through, and retains
coarser seeds ; then, a finer wire sieve, with square
meshes, that will retain the flax seed, and allow
any finer seed to go through. This leaves the
seed in fine order and pays well for extra work.

Weeding the flax should commence when it is
about six inches high (if there be thistle among
it), while their roots are tender and the ground
soft. TVe use wooden pinchers similar to a black-
smith's forge tongs, having handles about 3 or 4
feet long for pulling weeds. It gives a long reach.
Sometimes it may be necessary to go over the
field a second time about two weeks later to se-
cure good pulling, if the flax is not too large by
this time. It is not well to go much among it
after it is in bloom, as it is tender and easily
broken down.

Harvesting. — Pulling is commenced as soon as
it assumes a fine golden hue, before the seed is
ripe, and being a slow operation, it should be
done before the flax gets too ripe and brown.
We employ men, women, and such children as
are old enough, to assist in this work, paying
them usually by the acre. It is pulled with care
to keep it even at the but or root ends, and bound
into small bundles as it is pulled. These are set
up in small shocks, of six or eight bundles each,
where it is left to cure. When so dry that the
seed will easily shell out, it is drawn to the thresh-
ing floor, we put a band round each shock as it
stands in the field, this keeps the fiax from slip-
ping and becoming uneven, and it will not shell
ofl" so much seed in handling it, afterward. Whip-
ping ofi" the seed, we have done by taking one of
the bundles and striking it hard on a block of
wood, or a barrel laid on the side ; either answers
verj' well, the block or log perhaps lies more solid.
Many are using a roller machine for taking off
the seed, which does it more quickly, but leaves
the fiax uneven by drawing it between the rollers.
After the seed is whipped clean ofl" of the stalks,
the little bundles (or beets) are thrown in a heap
until there are enough to bind, say six, eight or
ten, they are then bound and thrown in a heap at
the barn door, where it may lie for a week, or un-
til the crop is all cleaned ofi", if there is no rain
to wet it. If it gets wet it should be drawm to
to the field immediately and spread, particularly
If the weather is warm.

Rotting. — For rotting the flax we usually tak«
it to the meadow or pasture where surface i»
smooth, and drop the bundles over the ground to
be convenient for the spreaders. The spreader
follows, takes up the bundles (beets) and spreads
them, laying the flax about half an inch thick.
After getting across the field, he turns and spreada
back, leaving a space of three or four inches be-
tween the swaths, and the tops all the same way.

If the crop is large it is better to spread or put
it out to rot at different times, that none be over-
rotted by Ijdng too long. If the weather be cold
and dry, it requires much longer time than in
warm, damp, or rainy weather of early fall I
think it better to turn the flax over when it is
about half or two-thirds rotted, it gets more
evenly done, and is not so apt to be streaked.

I prefer the flax that is rotted late in the fall,
the progress of rotting being slower and the rays
of the sun less powerful, it passes through a kind
of bleaching process which softens the lint, and
gives it a soft silky appearance, one more surer of
an even rotting, and more time in securing it
[The completion of the rotting process is deter-
mined as elsewhere repeatedly described.]

Dressing flax in the mills is the almost univer-
sal mode of preparing the crop for market of late
years, and this is a great saving both of time and
lint. The flax is taken to the mill at such times
in the winter as it can be received, or as soon as
there is a vacancy in the mUls, there it is dress-
ed and tied up in parcels of perhaps an hundred
pounds each, in order for market.

In storing away flax after it is dressed we pre-
fer a rather damp place, and think the flax is im-
proved by laying some weeks in a moderately
damp room, not in a cellar, but rather in a half-
under-ground room. Flax keeps finely in such a
room, and will improve in softness of texture and
increase in weight.

Some farmers sell it on the ground before pul-
ling, others pull it and store it and then sell it,
others again, go farther and whip off the seed and
then sell it, with the understanding that they will
rot it and put in the bam, and the purchaser
takes it from the barn.

We have thought it the better way to have the
crop dressed and stored before oflering it in mar-
ket, unless the dresser himself became the pur-
chaser, and received it at the mill, saving to the
farmer the trouble and expense of drawing i\
home, storing and marketing it. For severs?
years past speculators have been plenty, to pur-
chase all that has been raised, and are willing tc
pay remunerating prices.

PRIZE ESSA7S.

53

ESSAY BY It. WRIGHT,

HOSKILLSVILLB, STEUBBN CO., N. T. (BXTKACT8.)

The most suitable ground for flax is a good mel-
low loam (not saudy) or wet, which has produced
a hoed crop the previous year. Such ground is
not as liable to be weedy. It ought to be in a
good state of cultivation, so as not to need ma-
nuring, as manure is apt to make it lodge. I have
known it to lodge in spots where manure was ap-
plied, so that there would be neither fibre or seed.
Plow the ground well twice, and harrow before
sowing. For a brush harrow take two hard-
wood trees, about three inches through at the but,
and twelve feet long, with all the limbs on, and
two more trees about two thirds as large, and
wind a chain around the but ends, to hitch the
team to. Spread the tree* with the largest ones
on the outsides, in the form of a crotch harrow ;
and fasten a stick across them about the middle,
to keep them spread. Draw the brush crosswise
of the furrows and it will brush about twelve feet
at each time crossing. If some of the largest
limbs make too large a mark, cut them part way
off. I have never known any one to raise flax on
sod 'ground. It used to be said that flax would
not do well on the same piece of ground two
years in succession. I once saw this tried, and
the second crop was not more than two thirds as
large as the first. As soon as the ground is in
good order to work in the spring, sow the seed
and harrow it in well. Procure good plump
seed and be sure to have it clean of grain and all
foul seed. I used a sieve made about the size of
two sheets of tin, with a wooden rim about 85
inches wide around it. The holes in the sieve
were about i of an inch long, and wide enough
to let the flax-seed through, but not the grain.
For separating weed seeds I used another sieve
made like the first, only the holes were small and
round, and would not let the flax-seed through.
One bushel of seed to an acre was considered
enough. "When the leaves are dead half way up
the stalks, it is time to pull it. Some men prefer
to pull what they can hold convenient in their
hands ; and bind it as fast as it is pulled, and set
it up in bunches to dry. Others spread it on
the ground as fast as it is pulled. Let it remain
spread until dry ; then take it up and bind it in
bundles about as large round as a water-pail, as
larger ones are more apt to "snarl" together by the
heads. It ought to be taken up with the hands
and no' with a rake. If it is raked up, it is diffl-
cult to separate it, to whip off the seed. After it
is taken up it must be sheltered to keep it dry
nntil put out to rot. My manner of threshing off

the seed is, to place a barrel on the barn floor, on
its side, to thresh on. Unbind a bundle, part off
as much as you can well hold in your hands, and
whip the heads on the barrel until the seed is offi
If your flax is tied in handfuls when pulled, as
some do, you will have no unbinding and bind-
ing up, when you whip off the seed. It is quite
necessary to have a dry day to whip the seed ofl;
and if it is sunned that day, it will whip all the
easier. It is sometimes necessary to thresh 1 oe
bolls to pieces with a flail before cleaning the
seed, as many of them remain whole.
- When it is to be rotted, spread out in tJiin
swaths on a low piece of ground, where it vrill
not be overflowed with water. "When it is rotted
enough the fibre will start from the stalk at the
branches, as it appears to shrink in length, soa$
to pull straight across the crooks that aie fornued
by the branches. Another way of ascertain.ng
when it is rotted enough is to take a few speara
in the hands and rub them, and see if the woody
part will break and come out easily. "When rot-
ted enough, it must be taken up, bound in bnn
dies, and put under cover until dressed out. The
latter part of September is the best time to put it
out to rot. It is better not be spread until most of
the hot dry weather is over for that season, as it
will rot soon enough to be taken up before winter.

To break flax, unbind a bundle and part ofl
nearly as much as you can grasp with both liands,
always taking some care to keep the but ends
even, and put the top end in the brake, and break
it one third the length, so that it will be easy to
hold. Then grasp it with your left hand, and lay
the but end of the handful on the brake ; and
with your right hand spread it in the sliape of a
fan. Then hoist the head of the brake, swing
the flax in edgeways, as it breaks much easier for
being tliin than it does to be in a bunch. Turn
it over in your hand as you break it, until it is
well broken. Then whip it over the brake to
get some of the shives out. Pull off some of the
longest ends and put them on the handful, so as
to keep it even; put the top end of the handful
in the brake again, and break it until broke
enough. Then wliip it over the brake again to
clear out the shives, and pull off some of the long
ends again, and put on the handful to even it,
and it is finished. Twist the handful and lay it
away until you are ready to swingle it. The ob-
ject of twisting it is to keep it from snarling in
case it is handled before it is swingled.

Before swingling, it is necessary to have a

TA

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

oatchel, or, as some call it, a flax-comb, which is
made by putting a lot of some forty teetli or
more, made of iron or steel, five inches long,
three-sixteenths of an inch square at one end, and
tapered at the other, to a point. Set a row of
them a little less than half an inch apart, in a
board one and one fourth of an inch thick, then
set another row about the same distance that tlie
other teeth are apart, and so as to break joints
with the first row, then another to break joints
with the last row set, and so on until you have a
hatchel with about eight rows one way, and six
rows the other way. A smaller one will do, but
a larger one is better. Flax swingles easier if
partially hatchel ed.

The manner of swingling flax is to lay the top
end of a handful over the end of the swingling
board, and whip it with the knife, and turn it
over and whip it again until most of the shives

are removed. Then change ends with it. After
swingling out the shives on the outside of the
handful, hold it up before you and let the end
bend down over your hand, and with j'our right
hand part and turn it inside out, so as to get all
the shives out. It is best to pull off some of the
tag ends occasionally, and lay them on the hand-
ful, so as to keep it even. "When swingled clean,
twist it and double it, like a kink in a rope, and
lay it away, and after you get a lot dref5sed ; it
may be tied up with a wisp of flax or other string.
When swingling, I used to hit the flax occasionally
with the knife, when raising it up, so as to throw
a portion of it up over my hand that held it
Then strike so as to draw down a little more at
each stroke, until I had drawn it all on to the
front of the board. When it is very dry, it will
dress clean without turning the handfuls inside
out, as described.

ESSAY BY ROBERT GRAY,

DKNRISOR MILLS P. 0., SHIPTOR, B. T., C. W. (BXTBACT8.)

There is a great difference of opinion in regard
to the kind of land suited to the culture of flax.
You can grow it on any kind of land if it is dry.
"When I was engaged in the cultivation of it in
cho Old Country, I mostly sowed it after potatoes,
in which case I always found it to do well. The
manuring for the potatoes left the land in good
order, and the weeding and picking off the stones
left the land clean, a thing you must always do
in order to raise good flax. Sometimes when the
land was too rich, I took a crop off it of oats, be-
fore the flax. Land that has been pastured for a
few years is well adapted for it. Land that will
grow good corn will give good flax. On the
lighter kind of soil the Riga seed will do best, as
it is naturally of a stronger growth than the
Dutch or American seeds. There are four kinds
of seeds in use in Ireland — Riga, Dutch, English
and American. Being grown on a light soil
makes the stalks grow finer, therefore the woody
part of the stalk is reduced, and also the fibre is
increased and of a finer quality. If sowed on
heavy clay or rich bottom lands, it must be sowed
very thick, else it will grow too rank, and the
fibre coarse. On such land I always sowed the
Dutch or American seed. Where flax is raised
only for the seed, the Riga is the best. Where
you raise it for the fibre alone, the Dutch seed is
the best. But I believe the Riga will do best for
this country, as it is the best for seed, and the
second in quality of fibre. In Ireland, where
flax is raised for fibre only, they will get from
200 to 240 lbs. of dressed flax from a bushel, sow-

ing in a good season on good land. And T have
known as much as 320 lbs. to be got on very rich
land. In Ireland and Scotland they put from 2
bushels to 2i seed to the acre.

Land for flax must be plowed in the fall. Then
plowed again in the spring, not too deep, or else
you will turn under that part of the soil that was
exposed during the winter. The finer the soil
is pulverized the better : harrow well before
and after sowing ; sow from fifteenth to the
twentieth of Maj"^; pick off the stones and clods.
Many farmers in the Old Country pass a light
roller over it on light soil, when it is sprouted
about an inch above the ground. I have never
done so myself, but I have seen it done often, and
with good effect, too. Be careful and pull out
any grass or weeds that may spring up amongst
it; no other care is necessary until it is ready for
pulling. When the bolls containing the seed are
turned of a brown color it is time to pull it ; but
if you care more about the seed than the fibre,
you must let it become riper. A dry day is
the best to pull flax. When you go to pull,
catch it near the top, as much as you can
conveniently hold in your hand, pull it out of the
ground, strike the roots against your foot or
somethmg to knock off any dirt that may adhere
to it. Tie it up in sheaves and shock it as you
would grain. If you want to take the seed off,
do it with a rippling comb. If you want to make
good flax, you must steep it within two days after
pulling. For steeping select a place where you
can conveniently have about four feet depth of

PRIZE ESSAYS.

55

irater, and if possible a place where you can
iiave a grassy sward for sides and bottom of dam.
This is to be preferred, for mud or clay difiFused in
the water is apt to color the fibre. So particular
are they in Ireland on this point, that when they
cannot have such a pond, they strip the sods off a
field to line it with, cutting them only about an
inch thick so that they may have as little clay as
possible. Having filled the hole with water a
few days before it is wanted for use, in order to
subject it to the softening influence of the sun and
air, then proceed to put in your flax in a sloping
position, roots down. Then place some stones or
Bods on top so as to keep it down, for if allow-
ed to get above water it will spoil. Let no more
water run in, only to make up the waste from
evaporation. It will take from a fortnight to
three weeks to steep, according to the softness
%nd temperature of the water. Very cold or hard
water will take longer, but the only certain test
13 to take a few stalks and break them, and if the
outer part, which is the fibre, separates from the
inner or woody part, it is time to take it up.
Then allow it to stand a day on the bank to
drain before spreading it on the field. The best

place is a dry meadow; it will keep the article
clean, and benefit the grass more than any other
thing you can put on it, as also the water which
j'ou have steeped it in is a most valuable manure,
especiallj' for grass land. Spread the flax on the
field in thin, regular rows, and if n shower ot
rain would f;ill on it so much the better, for it
would wash off a certain gummy substance
which adheres to it. To know when to take it
up, take some of the stalks, break them at the
top, and if the fibre will strip off easily from top
to bottom, it is ready to lift, if dry. Tie it up
again in sheaves ; then you can house it. But if
not perfectly dry you must give it plenty of barn
room, or stook it out a while, if the weather is
fine. It is then ready for dressing. This ends
the cultivation of flax. I thought on giving you
an account of the manner of hand-dressing or
scutching, but it is a tedious way compared to
the present improved manner in which it is done
by machinery. The capital required is but small,
and there are men enough who have capital to
engage in the business if they were only stirred
up, and it is very profitable (and likely so to
continue for a considerable time to come).

ESSAY BY G. E. W. LEONARD,

CSOAR BA.FID3, LINN CO., IOWA. (EZTBACTS.)

Flax raised Chiefly for Seed. — Any ground
9n which you can raise corn, will raise flax ; yet,
from my experience, I would prefer sandy loam.
T?ie preparation is of great importance. PI o w your
ground thoroughly and deeply in the spring,which,
as a general rule, is better than fall plowing,
leaving the ground more mellow; less inclined to
weeds, that sometimes may drift with snow from
the neighbor's farms. Then harrow it twice
thoroughly. Be sure you have good and clean
seed. Half a bushel to the acre on common soil
is suflicient. If the ground is rich, sow it thicker.
After it is sown evenly, harrow twice, and roll it.
The best time of harvesting is when about three-
fourths of the bolls have turned brown. If you
wait later the seed will waste. If harvested
sooner, it will shrink, and sometimes mould, if
the weather be rainy.

From boyhood to manhood, the universal cus-
tom in my native State was pulling by hand,
binding in small sheaves, and threshing by hand.
But here in the West I have found a much easier
and faster way. I use one of the best Reapers
and Mowers, combined, with two horses, and one
hand. I harvest ten acres a day, cutting it close
to the ground, leaving it in little bunches, where
I let it remain five or six days; then I draw it to
the bam and put a load on the floor, and tread

out the seed with three or four horses abreast,
turning it once over in the meantime. I then
haul the straw to the meadow and spread it out
to rot, and when it is rotted, take it to the facto-
ry. The seed is run through a fimning-mill and
taken to market. It can be cut quite fast by a
hand cradle, going back and forth, and laying
two swaths together. Let it lie till dry; rake
it up in the morning when damp, then draw
to the barn to tread out. Those that have no
barns, can make a floor on the ground. Those
that raise but little, harvest it bv pulling. The
seed is whipped out on a stone or block of wood.

For rotting, I spread it out evenly on a meadow.
Sometimes it will need turning, if it does not rot
evenly. It usually takes about three weeks to
rot it sufficiently for the brake, or for sale at the
factory. The length of time depends on the
weather. You can readily tell by taking five or
six stalks between the fore finger and thumb in
each hand, and rubbing them up and down. If
the stalks break to pieces readil}', and drop from
the fibre, it is ready for the brake, and should be
housed at once, for if left too long the fibre rots.

The old way of dressing was by the hand-
brake, which is slow and tedious, but will answer
for family use. Where there is no factory, I
would recommend using superior machines.

66

FLAX CULTURE, ETC.

GLOSSARY, OR EXPLANATION OF TERMS.

Atpeet.— The point of the compass towards which land
■lopes.

Bast.— The long fibres.

Beets.— A small sheaf of flax.

Blay.- SUky lustre.

Boll.— The seed capsule of the flai plant, cotton, etc.

Brake. — The implement for breaking flax, which see.

Breaking. — Any operation resulting in reducing the
wootly part of the plant to small pieces.

Brushing. — Drawing bushes or small tree-tops over
newly plowed land, usually to cover seeds.

Crig. — A kind of beetle-like flail.

Dam. — A pool for rotting flax.

Dead Fnj row. —The furrow left through the centre of a
land, from which furrows were turned each way.

Exhaustion of Land. — Failure of the soil to produce
good crops on account of repealed cropping without
proper man\iring.

Firing Flax. — Drying by aiiificial heat.

Flax.—l. The plant. 2. The dressed fibre.

Gavel. — Properly an unbound sheafl

Grassin"-.— Spreading upon the grass for drying and for
rotting.

Green Manure. — A crop plowed under where It grew, (as
clover.)

Grub. — To work over the land by hand with hoes, or
mattocks, instead of plowing.

Hand. — A handful of dressed flax.

Handful.— As much flax as may be held in the hand ; ap-
plied to undressed flax.

ifarrf-;)ara.— In' 'urated sub-soil, or upper part of It.

Hatcheling. (Hetcheling). — Freeing the ''long line" from
tow with a hatciel. and reducing the fibre to a greater de-
gree of fineness for spinning.

ifau?m. —Stems or stalks, as of grain, clover, peas, flax,etc.

He-iders. — Sheaves which cap a long stook.

Land. — Tlje piece of ground struck out by the plowman,
and plowed, turning the furrow, slices outward.

Lea, — Land in grass.

Line. Long Line. — The dressed fibre of flax, th« raw ma-
terial of linen.

Linseed.— The seed of flax.

Lint.— The long fibre.

Loam.— A soil in which clay and sand mingle, ne.'thst
predominating.

Retting, (rowing-)— Incipient decay of the flax plant after
pulling or ouitine;.

Retting Pool, {Rotting Pool) or Dam.— A pool with sod-
ded bottom and sides, for retting flax under water.

Ridge. — The two furrow-slices turned together between
lands ; also the entire siiare between two dead f'' rows.

Rippling. — Removal of the bolls of flax with - comb.

Rotation of Crops. — A regular successioa of different
crops on the same land.

Rotting. — See retting.

Scuiching.—Removal of the shove or shives by whipping
with a blade called a swingle, or scutcher.

Shoove, Shove, Skive and Shives. — The woody or Straw-
like pai t of the flax haulm removed in breaking.

Soil. — Agriculturally, the earth turned by the plow «»»
spade ; in distinction from the sub soil, which see.

Stack. — A larg^e quantity of hay, or of grain in the straw,
laid up to stand the weatlier.

Steeping. — Soaking in water.

Stook, Shock. — A small number of sheaves or bundles
arranged with system in the field, and standing on the buta.

Siraui.— Applied to the haulm of flax, also to the wof»djr
poriion.

Streek.—See "Hand."

Stubhle. (Stubble land).— The land from which small
grain has been cut.

Sub-Soil. — The earth below the soil which may be nb-
jected to artificial drainage, or stirred by sub-soil plow.

Swingle. — See Scutching.

Tailings .—Ijight grain, etc., blown over with the chaff ia
winnowing.

Tov. — Broken, or tangled fibre.

Watering.—Wa,iei retting.

ALPHABETICAL INDEX.

Awards and Report of Committee,.. ..». 1-2

Assorting flax, ^,^ .-. 10 18, 29

Baling and Storing „ 35

Bands— Best material for....^ 18

Belgian Stacked Flax. , 36

Bolls, etc., as cattle food,." 8, 34

Brake, Power. 13, 30, 35, 36. 39

Breaking bv hand, 13,22, 26,42,-53

Breaking,.'. 13, 22

Bush Harrow, 7,53

ruttin? flax, 10, 11.55

Dew Retting, 11,26,30,33,39,42

Dodder, 16, 48

Dressing by han^ not profitable,.... 35

Dressing machine of Rowan, 35

Dressing machine of Sanford & Mallory, 30, 35, 55

Drying by fire heat, 30

Enemies of the flax crop, »«....« ,16 29, 48

Essay, 1st Prize— by S. E. Todd 3

Essay, 2d Prize— by James Cairns, 14

{by Wm. H. White, 24
by G. S. Kuester, 28
by Hufih McKee, 31
by James Baker, 37
by John E. Stewart 40

Essay by John RengstorflT, (Ger.) 43

Essay by Geo. W. Hix, 45

Essay by L. M. Holbrook, 46

Essay by W. B. Morey, 47

Essay by CarlBoes (Ger.) 48

Essay by " Novice," 49

Essav by S. C. Gordon, 51

Essavby N. Wright 53

Essay by Robert Gray, 54

Essav bv G. E. W. Leonard, 55

Fertilizers, 16,24,40

Flax— Acres raised In Ohio, V , 1

Flax— Bad luck with, 51

Flax-Cotton, 35

Flax Culture— Profits of 36, 50

Flax— $1,000, $1,200 to $1,500 per ton, .<^ 17, 37

Flax— Finest pulled green, 17

flax Plant— Description of .^....^^........2

Flax Plant— Habits of growth of .-.4

Glossarv, ..•. S6

Hatchefling, 14, 43

Housing, 25

Lifting, 81,26.34

Manure of animals fed on Oil cake, 1

Pressing and Baling, 27

Pulling bv machinery, -9

Pulling by hand «, 18. 25, 29, 32, 38, 41

Pulling or cutting, time of 8, 17,25, 29

Rippling ^ 11,18,32,4!

Rippling comb, 1'

Rotation— Place of flax in....- 14,27,32, 40.5-

Rotting bv steam "

Rotting— Philosophy of H. ''

Rotting the Second year,

Rotting pools. '^^'o''".

Scutching by power, 13i 23, 35, 38, 4'*

Scutchinsby hand, 13,23,27,30..'^'

Seed — Contents of Commercial packages,

Seed-CoVering 7,8,17,24,2b

Seed— Irregular covering, '

Seed— Preserving !■...„. ";:;■„«

Seed-Selection of 5,16,24,28,32

Seed— Testing of •"•l-

Seed— Use of Green, ■ •••••••■°' -.

Soils and preparation i\il7%V oo' I7' 1'

Sowing .7,16,24,28,29,37,41

SowinI thick or thin, ^'l^'^l^V

Snrea'i-,g, 21, 26, r

Stacking 10, /•■

Storing dressed fibre, '■'*

Snawof flax iunbroken)—Price paid for -.••'

Tangled Straw— Treatment of I

Thre-hin2 bv the Roller machine, :•• •••„•„••■'.

Thn-shingoiff the bolls, 11,25,29,32,39,

Turning. ,• "'•

Water Keiting, 12, 19,26,33,42,

Water retting not injurious to health

Wee 'e— Extirpation of .- •••■•

Weedine '' «* U

Yield of Flax V'i?'!!

Yield of seed and fibre..... 1, W. *•

if