PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 267 



on the lop a little straw tied with a rope. In this way, if pro- 

 perly built, it will stand secure for months, or it can be put in a 

 barn, if preferred : in either case, the seed is to be taken off 

 during the winter, and the flax steeped in the following May. 



Mr. Carpenter proceeded to remark that as the seed will pay 

 for all the expense of cultivating the flax, and as the seed will 

 be good when the bolls begin to turn brown while the fibre will 

 be nearly as good, it is important in this country that we should 

 be abh; to use both. 



The Chairman called attention to the fact that the Sanford 

 machine lays the fibres remarkably straight and parallel. 



The Chairman. — I do not believe that flax culture will ever 

 obtain in this country unless we can make both fibre and seed 

 available. 



MAKING OF VINEGAR. 



Mr. Robinson read a letter of inquiry upon making vinegar, 

 stating that two millions of dollars annually are spent in this 

 country in the manufacture of vinegar. 



Mr. Fuller. — I have some cider which has been under the pro- 

 cess for a year and a half, and it is not vinegar yet. 



Prof Renwick. — Twenty-five j^ears ago vinegar was made in a 

 week or two, from molasses and water, and no doubt is still so 

 made. The mixture was fermented bj' the action of yeast into a 

 "weak vinous liquor, of which large surfaces were exposed to the 

 air, by passing it through vessels filled with shavings. 



Mr. Robinson. — The writer of this letter tried filtering through 

 shavings without success. It remains sweet yet. 



Mr. Pardee. — I never had any difficulty in making vinegar rap- 

 idly. I put in one-fourth water, and a little mother of vinegar if 

 I could get it, and then took a few strips of stout brown paper 

 and soaked them a day or two in molasses, and dipped them into 

 the bunghole for a nucleus for the mother to form upon. I do 

 not think I ever used any that had been less than two months 

 preparing in a warm chamber. After the vinegar was once formed, 

 I would draw off perhaps a barrel a month, filling up the casks 

 with fresh cider, which would become good vinegar in a few days, 

 and continued to do this for five or six years. I learn from 

 Wells & Provost, who furnish vinegar to the government, that 

 they have a method of manufacturing it by a chemical process, 

 in a week or ten days. It is not made from cider — and they 



