FLAX. 



189 



weighs about 50 Ibs. per bushel, and is usually sold at 25 

 to 35 cents. 



The uses of Broom Corn are limited to the manufacture 

 of brooms from the brush ; and the consumption of the seed 

 when ground and mixed with other grain, in feeding to fat- 

 tening or working cattle, sheep and swine, and occasionally 

 to horses. Brooms manufactured from it, have superseded 

 every other kind for general use in the United States, and 

 within a few years, they have become an article of extensive 

 export to England and other countries. The brush and wood 

 for the handles are imported separately, to avoid high duties, 

 and are there put together, and form a profitable branch of 

 agricultural commerce to those engaged in the traffic. The 

 cultivation of broom corn has, till quite recently, been almost 

 exclusively confined to the northeastern States ; but it is now 

 largely raised in the Western. Their fresh, rich soil, how- 

 ever, does not yield so fine and tough a brush as that grown 

 in the longer cultivated fields. 



FLAX (Linum usitatissimum, Fig. 43). 



This is one of the oldest cultivated plants of which we 

 have any record ; and its habitat or re- 

 gion of naturalization, extends from the 

 torrid to the frigid zones. Its long, 

 silken fibres, which come from the outer 

 coating or bark of the stem, have been 

 used for the manufacture of linen, from 

 time immemorial. The absolute quanti- 

 ty at present grown, is probably equal 

 to any preceding age ; but relatively, it 

 is falling behind the product of cotton, 

 which is rapidly on the increase. Flax 

 is still a profitable crop, for in addition 

 to its use as a material of clothing, the 

 seed is of great value for its oil, and the 

 food it yields to cattle ; and for the latter 

 purpose, the whole plant is sometimes 

 fed with decided advantage. 



The proper soil for Flax, is a good alluvial or vegetable 

 loam, equally removed from a loose sand or tenacious clay. 

 In a very rich soil, the fibres grow too coarse, and on a poor 

 soil, the crop will not make a profitable return. Fresh barn- 

 yard manures are not suited to it, and they should, in all cases 

 where necessary for a proper fertility, be added to the pre- 



Fio. 43. 



