THOUGHTS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF LABOR. 



343 



ited, intelligent association of patriotic indi- 

 viduals ! — with the pages of the Farmers' Li- 

 brary at command, ready to have all their draw- 

 ings and diagrams gratuitously engraved and 

 distributed ? These are among the glorious re- 

 sults we anticipate when landholders take up- 

 on themselves the duties of legislation and con- 

 trol of public money levied on themselves di- 

 rectly, or indirectly which is worse, and lavish- 

 ed on objects alien to their pursuits and at war 

 with their best interests. 



But our chief object at this time was to show, 

 what have been the fruits in a single case, of 

 the establishment of a society for a single object 

 in another country. Why not establish a sim- 

 ilar society in our Hemp and Flax region ? — 

 But to the case in view^ — we commend what is 

 here set forth especially to the cultivators of 

 Hemp and Flax hi Virginia, Ohio, Missouri, 

 Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina, and oth- 

 ers engaged in this branch of industiy, the States 

 mentioned being the largest producers, if any 

 confidence is to be placed in the Census. The 

 best reference we can make for quantities pro- 

 duced by each is to the Tables in our last, from 

 " Tucker s Progress of the United States." 



In towns, for promoting improvement in the 

 arts, there is tlie less necessity ibr such separate 

 and especial associations, for there the whole 

 community may be considered a club within 

 itself; They are in constant daily communica- 

 tion of thought, and in the way of observing 

 every new discovery. They work, as it were, 

 under the eyes of each other, and the constant 

 interchange of infonnation produces an aggre- 

 gate of knowledge, and all imaginable accele- 

 ration in the career of improvement and efficien- 

 cy. The very condition and circumstances of 

 existence of those who make up dense commu- 

 nities, supply the necessity and the place of or- 

 ganized associations, so useful to isolated farm- 

 ers, if they would keep within sight or hearing 

 of those wlio are marching on other lines of in- 

 dustrial pursuits. 



In Ireland, then, there exists, as it appears, 

 and has done for some years, a " Society for 



THE PROMOTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE 



GROWTH OF Flax." Among other proceed- 

 ings, to throw light on the culture and manage- 

 ment of flax, this society published a small tract, 

 comprising the best infonnation to be had at 

 borne and abroad on that particular subject. It 

 is well known that the value of the crop de- 

 pends mainly on the care taken in the prepara- 

 tion of the fibre, tlie value which that may be 

 made to a.ssumc when it has undergone the fin- 

 ishing process of the finest manufacture, and the 

 amount of employment which the produce of 

 only three acres may afford are well illustrated 

 by the following exposition by Doctor Kane. 

 A Mr. William Blakely, he says, grew last 

 (T07) 



year near Warringstown, Ireland, three statute 

 acres (la. 3 r. 16 p. Irish measure) of Flax, 

 which he managed strictly according to the di- 

 rections put forth by the Society. The pro- 

 duce of the field was purchased for 15 shillings, 

 say $3,75 per stone of 16 pounds, by the eminent 

 manufacturers of cambric, Messrs. McMurray 

 and Henderson, who pronounced it equal, if not 

 superior, to any Flax they had ever seen, and 

 that they had given for foreign Flax of inferior 

 quality thirty six shillings per stone. 



The entire produce of the three acres was es- 

 timated at 120 stones, which at 15 shillings, 

 would give the farmer .£90 or $450; but 

 as a part of the Flax had not been gathered, 

 and might possiblj- fall below the estimate, Doc- 

 tor Kane puts down the crop, with certainty at 

 100 stones, which will reahze £75, or $375. 



This Flax, when Doctor Kane wrote, was in 

 process of conversion into cambric pocket ua{)T)- 

 KERCHIEFS, and was capable of being spun into 

 thirty hanks to the pound, and was to be spun 

 by hand. Mark now, says he, the employment 

 this will give. 



" It will give constant employment for twelve 

 months to 158 women to spin it; 18 weavers 

 will be occupied a like time in weaving, and it 

 will employ forty women for a j^ear to hem- 

 stitch (or vein) the handkerchiefs, thus giving 

 constant employment, for twelve months, to 210 

 persons. 



" It is curious to trace the result of the process 

 which this flax is now undergoing. It will pro- 

 duce 210 webs of cambric, each web contain- 

 ing five dozen handkerchiefs, each dozen will 

 be worth 50 shillings, and the entire produce of 

 the three acres of flax when carried through 

 the entire process of manufacture will be worth 

 £2,600 or S13,000,or upwards of $4000 per acre 

 for the manufactured produce. What an illus- 

 tration is here, of the dependence of the world 

 upon Agriculture ! — and yet how little of the 

 world's legislation is really directed by and for 

 the landed interest ! The calculation is, as will 

 be seen in a subsequent chapter, that the labor 

 necessary for these three acres, would be seven 

 days for three men, fifty-four days for three 

 women, and four and a quarter days for a liorse. 



It has been seen to how many people, propor- 

 tionably, the product of the labor of a few till- 

 ers of the soil gives employment and support; 

 who, in their turn, make demands on the surplus 

 products of the agriculturist, demon.strating the 

 harmonious dependence of these classes on each 

 other, a harmony and mutuality of support that 

 should be left in their natural relations, and that 

 ignorance or wickedness only would seek to 

 disturb or impair. 



The quantity of flax grown in Ireland ap- 

 pears to be on the increase, and its quality to be 

 improving, as, in the Report of the "Flax So- 



