eCri^TURE OF FiAX, 81 



the hoeing has been thoroughly attended to, so as effectually to 

 destroy the weeds, which are fatal to the growth of flax. 



It has been remarked above, that flax is an exhausting crop. 

 But as I have found a difierent opinion communicated to the 

 Philadelphia Agricultural Society, I think it merits too much 

 consideration not to be noticed, while on this subject. 



The author observes, that he cultivated flax and potatoes in 

 the same field ; each crop having an equal quantity of manure ; 

 that in gathering an excellent crop of flax in July, the ground 

 was immediately ploughed, and sov/ed with turnips ; and pro* 

 duced one hundred bushels of good turnips per acre ; on re- 

 moving the crops of potatoes and^turnips, about the middle of 

 October, the ground was put into wheat ; and that the wheat 

 on the flax and turnip ground, was fully equal, if not superior, 

 to the wheat on the potato ground. The same author ob- 

 serves, that the Irish, who for many years, have had great ex- 

 perience in the cultivation of this valuable plant, generally 

 raised it on ground manured and planted with potatoes the 

 preceding year. They sow on such ground three or four 

 bushels of the best American seed to the acre. Hence a query 

 may be suggested, whether the fineness of the Irish flax may 

 not be owing to this thick sowing, rather than to their flax be- 

 ing pulled before it is fully ripe. It is said that the Flemings 

 nev-er pull the flax intended for their fine cambrics and linen, 

 until the seed is ripe. 



The quality of the flax may also depend very much on the 

 future operations of rotting, breaking, and dressing. 



In America, flax is for the most part rotted, by being laid 

 thni on a grass field. The time required in this operation de- 

 pends on the dryness or wetness, heat or cold, of the season. 

 Flax is judged to be sufficiently grassed, when its bark is a lit- 

 tle blistered towards the extremityof the plant, and when it parts 

 easily from the seed, which at this time becomes very brittle. 



The same author farther observes, thit he had exposed flax 

 m the months of August, September, and October, and that he 

 had always found it rotted in August the best ; and that some 

 farmers of experience had observed, that the injury which the 

 flax is thought to receive by the heat of the mid-summer sun, 

 is by no means equal to the benefit it receives by being ouick- 

 ly maturated. When flax is exposed in a variety of weather 

 in a cold season, the putrefaction necessary to loosen and de- 

 stroy the cohesion of the fibres of the flax from the seed, is SQ 

 tedious as frequently to injure the fibres themselves. 

 ^ The process of water rotting flax, is almost wholly practised 

 m Ireland. One motiiod of water rotting practised in soim 



