AND USE IN UNITED STATES. 55 



The reasons why the American farmer 

 does not grow fine flax are now apparent. 

 The farmer who has sufficient intelligence 

 to cultivate flax, does not care to send his 

 wife and children to weed the flax field on 

 hands and knees. He himself is accus- 

 tomed to do his farming with improved 

 machinery. He ploughs, sows, reaps, binds, 

 threshes, etc., all by machine. Labor is 

 expensive, and he cannot afford, nor is he 

 accustomed, to employ sufficient sailed 

 labor to go into a culture that requires so 

 much hand-work. Nor does he have the 

 time or patience to acquire the special 

 knowledge and manipulative skill of the 

 manufacturer. These difficulties have been 

 repeatedly stated in the Agricultural Re- 

 ports. For instance, here is a quotation 

 from the Report of the Department of 

 Agriculture in 1864 : " But flax growing in 

 this country has its drawbacks at the pres- 

 ent time. First, the farmer lives thirty 

 miles or upwards from where he could bring 

 his flax to market : what is he to do in the 

 event of growing such a crop ? Where is 



