.518 



Experiments for the shortening; of the interval, b^^ means of powerful 

 fertilizers, have been unsatisfactory. Soils thus forced do not readily 

 recover their fertility. Even when cultivated on a new soil, but along- 

 side of one cultivated in flax the ))revious year, this crop often fails to 

 come to maturity for tliree or four meters next the old soil, and some- 

 times for double that distance. 



In addition to these discouraging facts, the culture of flax is one of 

 the most laborious, and its product can be utilized only after passing 

 under the hands of the retter and the stripper, the latter being gener- 

 ally called the flax-maker. But if thus greedy of labor as well as of 

 capital, flax-culture is one of the most remunerative, a good crop re-im- 

 bursing several bad ones. It also leaves the ground in better condition 

 for subsequent crops. 



For use, and on account of being an indigenous crop, flax is regarded 

 as above cotton by the Belgians as a textile, though many farmers 

 prefer hemp as a remunerative crop. Such ignore the fact that flax is 

 more productive than hemp, and that in certain soils hemp is only used 

 to prepare the seed-bed for flax. For use, also, hemp is much less dur- 

 able than flax; the thickness of its fiber, charged with gum, gives it a 

 weight which is greatly reduced by washing. 



Subventions of the English government have caused the culture of 

 26,000 acres in Ireland with flax. The French government has never 

 granted any subventions, but local committees have given partial assist- 

 ance ; hence flax-culture has lost ground in France. 



Since the formation of the Belfast " Irish Association for the Propa- 

 gation of Flax-culture," Robert Kane has been analyzing numerous types 

 of this textile, and preparing a formula for good and cheap manures. 

 This formula, still employed in Ireland, is composed of pulverized 

 bones, chlorides ^f potassium and soda, powdered white plaster, and 

 sulphate of magnesia. 



Subsequently, at the Agronomic Institute at Versailles, Georges Yille 

 proposed a formula for flax-fertilization antipodal to Kane's prescrip- 

 tion. Regarding chlorides as injurious to many crops, especially to 

 flax, his formulae were exclusively composed of acid phosphate of lime, 

 sulphate of ammonia, nitrate of soda, nitrate of potassa, and plaster, in 

 different proportions. He cashiers all raw salts, chlorides and sulphates 

 of soda and potassa. Ville's formula embraces 400 kilograms of super- 

 I)hosphate of lime, 200 kilograms of nitrate of potash,. and 400 kilo- 

 grams of sulphate of lime ; total, 1,000 kilograms per hectare, or 892.2+ 

 pounds per aci*e. 



The Societe agronomique of Eastern Flanders, located at Ghent, tried 

 several experiments in flax-culture with farm-manures and with the 

 formula of Ville on different plots of equal size. During five years, com- 

 mencing with 1869, one of these plots was fertilized each year at the rate of 

 20,000 kilograms of barn-yard manure and 500 kilograms of colza-oil- 

 cake per hectare, or about 17,844 pounds of the former and 446 pounds 

 of the latter per acre. The other was fertilized with 1,000 kilograms of 

 Ville's preparation per hectare, or 892.2 pounds per hectare. In 1869 

 the first plot produced 3,359.16 pounds per acre of straw and 679.86 

 pounds of beaten flax ; the second, 4,098.81 pounds of straw and 817.26 

 pounds of flax. In 1870 the first produced 4,218.36 pounds per acre of 

 straw and 807.45 pounds of flax ; the second, 4,098.81 pounds of straw 

 and 847.60 pounds of flax. In 1871 both plots produced the same 

 amount of straw, 3,857.91 pounds per acre, but the chemical fertilizer 

 made 1,048.35 pounds of flax, while the barn-yard manure made but 

 753.92 pounds per acre. In 1872 the Ville fertilizer produced 3,947.13 



