AND USE IN UNITED STATES. 31 



Our thirty or more flax-mills have dwin- 

 dled to a half-dozen." 



Nor is all the flax grown in New York 

 of a quality suitable for linen manufac- 

 ture, as witness the report from Steuben 

 County, found in the Transactions of the 

 State Society for 1871 (p. 599). The sec- 

 retary of the County Society says, '* The 

 culture of flax is already occupying much 

 of the attention of the farmers in the 

 northern part of our county. This sea- 

 son about four hundred acres were sown. 

 The straw is entirely used in making up- 

 holsterers tow." 



This State Society takes the place in 

 New York of a State Department of Agri- 

 culture, and its annual reports are now 

 published with the official documents of 

 the State. It is a curious commentary on 

 the importance of the flax industry in 

 New York, that since 1871 there is no 

 mention of flax to be found in these 

 annual reports, although much space is 

 devoted to almost every crop ; nor do the 

 reports from the counties mention flax. 



