252 



FLAX CULTURE. 



Symington Flax Factory, Mukwonago, 



Wisconsin, December 1851. 



Dear Sir — I liave the pleasure of acknowledging the receipt of your Letter 

 of 1st instant, requesting information about flax, for the use of the State Agri- 

 cultural Society. 



Following, in some measure, the order of your interrogatories, I proceed first, 

 to " describe the manner of raising and preparing flax for market as practised 

 by me." 



Soil. — I select and rent good new land Avhen I can get it, in order to keep 

 clear of weeds. In this neighborhood we have mostly oak openings, with small 

 prairies and bottom lands bordering on marshes. I have found flax grow well 

 on all, but I prefer the black soil of the latter. Sandy land is not good for flax. 

 Fall-ploughing is preferable, and the ground should be as well pulverized as 

 possible. 



Seeding.---I find the most suitable quantity of seed to sow, to the acre, to be 

 one and three-quarter bushels, where, as in my case, the fibre is more an object 

 than the crop of seed. In 1849 I put on two bushels, which was rather too 

 much, the thick growth keeping the flax short, though fine. 1 commence sow- 

 ing so soon as I have reason to believe the night frosts are over, say about the 

 twentieth of April, and up to the tenth of May; not later. I cover the seed in 

 with a light drag, thickly studded with wooden teeth. It is still a question undi- 

 cided by the most experienced in flax culture, whether rolling is advantageous 

 or the reverse. I do not adopt it. 



Pulling. — I have the flax all pulled by hand, employing from sixty to eighty 

 men in harvest. It is tied up in small bundles, say about twelve inches round, 

 and four or six of these set up together, leaning as lightly as can be on each 

 other, so that the tops, with the seed on, may dry soon. When it is in a suffi- 

 ciently dry state and not likely to heat, I put it up in cocks like hay, root ends 

 outside, buildinof the bundles on liffhtlv so as to have a circulation of air, and 

 thoroughly dry the flax and seed capsules; of course I protect the top from 

 rain. When the whole is perfectly dried, it may be stacked up and remain for 

 years without injuiing quality or weight of flax. 



The object of having the flax tied up in small bundles at pulling is two-fold: 

 it dries sooner, say in two or three days, as the state of the weather ma}' be, 

 whereby the color is not injured on the outside by the scorching sun, which 

 would bo the case if standing till the inside of lai'ge bundles was dry ; and again. 



