24 



FLAX CULTURE. 



RECEIPTS AT ST. LOUIS OF HEMP, FLAX AND JUTE. 



IMPORTS OF FOREIGN DRY GOODS 

 AT THE PORT OF NEW YORK, AND VALUE 

 OF FLAX PRODUCTS INCLUDED THEREIN, 

 SHOWING THE PROPORTION OF THE LATTER 

 IN OUR ANNUAL IMPORTS, viz. : 



RESUME. 



On the immense area of 1,127,300 

 acres, second only to Russia, we annually 

 raise Flax seed to the value of $,000,000, 

 (about j. i o per acre), while four-fifths of 

 the Flax straw produced being through 

 careless and improper cultivation of too in- 

 ferior a quality, is wasted, and a very 

 small quantity is turned into coarse tow 

 for upholsterers, or used for cotton bag- 

 ging or twine, or given as feed to cattle. 



The value of the product of Flax fiber 

 and seed in Russia, on an area of 2,000,- 

 ooo acres, is above 60,000,000, or more 

 than $jo per acre. Belgium, on an area 

 of 140,901 acres, or one-eighth of the 

 area under Flax in the Western States, 

 annually produces $/, 000,000 more than 

 we. France, on an area of 162,099 acres, 

 or exactly one-seventh of the area under 

 Flax in the United States, produces 

 $j, 000,000 more than we. Sweden, on 

 an area of 33,639 acres, or one thirty- 

 fourth of our Flax area, would nearly cover the present demand of our home industry. 

 Our imports of Raw Flax, Linen manufactures, Hemp, Jute, and other fibers and man- 

 ufactures thereof, during a period of eleven years, from 1871 to 1881 inclusive, have 

 drained the land of the enormous sum of $302,387,571. 



