1B39] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



sa 



Having thus briefly stated the object and pros- 

 pects of the company, we will here remarit that, 

 after considering all the advantages which the 

 company derive from their contract with the in- 

 ventor, (ffiving them the entire control of the 

 state of New Jersey, which produces a larger 

 quantity of flax per year than any five states in 

 the union together,) the profit to share-holders 

 must be very great. 



Extract from sketches of the Upper Wabash 

 Valley, by H. VV. Ellsworth. 



"For the purpose of ascertaining whether flax 

 could be raised with advantage on the western 

 prairies, Mr. Schermerhorn visited one of the 

 largest flax manufactories in the United States, 

 conducted by Mr. Sands Olcott, at New Hope, 

 Pennsylvania. The results of that investigation 

 will be found in the following letter, together with 

 a description of the short staple we have men- 

 tioned : 



New York, July 28, 1838. 



"Bear Sir — Agreeably to your request, on my 

 return from Washington city, I visited Mr. Sands 

 Olcott, of New Hope, Pennsylvania, the gentle- 

 man who has discovered a method of preparing 

 the short staple flax, (of which you showed me a 

 specimen at the the Patent OlRce,) so as to make 

 it into linen on the common cotton machinery now 

 in use. It is, indeed, a beautiful and valuable ar- 

 ticle, having such a fine gloss or silky appearance, 

 that most persons mistake it for raw silk. The in- 

 troduction of this article will be of great impor- 

 tance to our country, and will produce a great and 

 profitable change in our manufactories. I found 

 Mr. Olcott very ready to communicate to me such 

 intbrmaiion as I was in search of, in rettjrence to 

 the cultivation of flax, and manufacturing it into 

 his short staple, with a view of ascertaining whe- 

 ther the raising of flax can be made profitable on 

 our western prairies. 



"From the information I have received, I have 

 no doubt that linen of as good quality can be 

 made fi-om the short staple prepared by Mr. Ol- 

 cott, as has been made by any method heretofore 

 pursued. I know it may be conjectured that, by 

 separating the fibre and bleaching it, in preparino- 

 the short staple flax, the linen made from it will 

 not be of as good a quality as that made in the 

 old way. But if you will go to the trouble of ta- 

 kmg a lew threads out of any piece of linen, and 

 untwist them, and then pull ihem to pieces, you 

 will find you have the same kind of article from it 

 that Mr. Olcott calls his short staple flax. From 

 this It appears to me that, by the ordinary process 

 ot water or dew-rotting, breaking, swingling, 

 hatchling, spinning, weaving, and bleaching, tlTe 

 fibre of the flax, when manufactured into Tinen, 

 in the common way, undergoes the same chanrre 

 ivi ^^P^''^'^"" the gluten from it that is effected by 

 Mr. Olcott, by a short and speedy process, before 

 It IS made into cloth. Indeed, I ihink it will make 

 a belter and firmer linen, because the Huten is 

 perfijctly separated from the fibre before it is 

 woven; whereas, by the old method, much of the 

 gluten remains in the fibre after it has been water 

 and dew-rotted and manufactured into cloth, and 

 which is separated by bleaching. Consequently, 

 according to the quantity of gluten separated from 

 the cloth, It becomes loose and open, though this 

 defect the manufacturer studies to disguise by 

 starching. From experiments already made, Mr. 



Olcott is satisfied that his short staple flax can be 

 manufactured into linen, on common cotton ma- 

 chinery, as easy and cheap as cotton shirting can 

 be made of the same quality. I mean now only 

 as to the price of spinning and weaving per yard. 

 If this be so, the flax crop will become of as muck 

 importance and profit to the farmers and manufac- 

 turers of the northern states, as I he cotton crop is 

 to the southern states; lor the difference between 

 linen and cotton cloth of the same quality, is 

 about as one to four, or twelve and a half cents to 

 fifty in favor of linen, while the flax crop can be 

 raised in half the time, and with less than half the 

 expense of a cotton crop. This discovery of Mr. 

 Olcott will make as great a change in the linen 

 trade as the invention of Whitney's cotton ofin 

 did in the cotton trade; and must, in a short time, 

 greatly increase the demand, and enhance the 

 value of prairie lands, in Indiana, Illinois, Mis- 

 souri, and Wisconsin, which are admirably adapt- 

 ed to the cultivation of flax. Indeed, I have seen 

 a wild flax, resembling our common flax, grow 

 spontaneously in the prairie. Farmers settled on 

 the prairies of the west will do well to turn their 

 attention to the cultivation of flax, as one of the 

 most productive crops they can raise. The lands 

 in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in the vicinity 

 of New Hope, as an average crop, yield one ton 

 to the acre of the stem, which sells readily at ^12 

 per ton; and it is fair to calculate the flax-seed 

 worth at least as much more fi'om an acre, which 

 will amount to §24, the avails from an acre of flax. 

 This, the farmers here consider doing a njood bu- 

 siness. However, in our rich prairies of the west, 

 we can raise from one and a half to two tons per 

 acre, as easily as they raise one in New Jersey; 

 and by sowing our seed the first crop on the prai- 

 rie sod, we shall have no weeds for some time to 

 contend with. Instead of being under the neces- 

 sity of pullino; our flax by hand, we shall be able 

 to reap it with our mowing machines, and this 

 will enable our farmers to raise very extensive 

 crops, from which they will realise great profits. 



"Mr. Olcott informed me, that in his flax estab- 

 lishment at New Hope, he works up about 3,000 

 tons of flax in the slem per year; and that this 

 will produce about 430 tons of his short staple 

 flax; that is, it takes seven tons of the raw mate- 

 rial to manufacture one ton of short staple fine 

 flax. The expense of manufacturing (he fine flax, 

 including the price of the raw material, is about 

 •9250 per ton. The expense of making this fine 

 flax into fine linen, will be four cents a yard lor 

 spinning, weaving, and pulling it up ready for 

 rnarket. This calculation is made on the suppo- 

 siiion that prices for spinning and weaving will be 

 about the same as that of cotton. In the above 

 estimates, however, nothing is included except the 

 expense of the hands that do the work. The in- 

 terest on the capital invested, the risks on the 

 building, and wear and tear of the machinery, are 

 not taken into the account. 



"I deem ir very important for the interests of 

 our country that linen factories should be estab- 

 lished; and if the profit arising fi-om this business 

 was generally known, I have no doubt capital to 

 any amount could be raised to carry them on very 

 extensively. As I take a deep interest in this 

 matter, I have endeavored to obtain all the infor- 

 mation I could on the subject, with a view of call- 

 ing the attention of capitalisls to this branch of 



