138 



FLA 



FLA 



unless care be taken to prevent it. 



FLAIL, an instrument for 

 threshing;. A flail consists of the 

 handstaff, the swiple or flyer, the 

 caps or caplins, the string or band. 

 The staff should be of the hghtest 

 timber, such as ash, and made per- 

 fectly straight ; the flyer should be 

 of a heavy kind of wood, as wal- 

 nut, elm, or beetle wood. Some 

 make the ca|)s of wood, but stiff 

 sotj leather is better. The string 

 or thong, which connects the cap 

 with the flyer, may be of the neck 

 of deerskin. But the skin of an 

 eel will last much longer than any 

 other string I have met with. 



FLAX. The following observa- 

 tions on this subject are extracted 

 from " Essays on Flax Husbandry. 

 By S. W. Pomeroy, Esq. First 

 Vice President of the Massachu- 

 setts Society for promoting Agri- 

 culture. 



" Change of seed. Notwith- 

 standing it is an opinion well 

 established among experienced 

 Flax growers in this country, that 

 a change of seed is advantageous, 

 it is apprehended that they are not 

 aware of the extent of the benefit 

 to be derived by selecting seed 

 from a soil or climate essentially 

 diflferent; and it may be owing to 

 a want of attention in this particu- 

 lar that the flax crops are so un- 

 certain, and the quality inferior, 

 however perfect in other respects 

 the system may be conducted. 

 Mr. Young observes that foreign 

 flax seed was universally used in 

 Ireland, when it could be obtained, 

 otherwise they were careful to 

 procure seed which grew upon 

 soil of an opposite quality from 



that which was to be sown," " that 

 American seed was to be preferred, 

 and produced finer flax than any 

 other. Baltic seed produced more 

 but of a coarser quality. It is 

 well known that American seed 

 always bears the highest price in 

 the Irish market.'' 



Mr. Pomeroy cites a number of 

 examples to show the importance 

 attached to the culture of flax in 

 Europe, *' and to justify the con- 

 clusion that in this country, a con- 

 tinued, judicious change of seed 

 will be indispensible to the suc- 

 cessful prosecution of flax hus- 

 bandry ; and a further inference 

 may be drawn, that experiments 

 on various soils, with seed the 

 growth of different climates, are 

 requisite to direct the farmer to 

 the quarter from whence his best 

 seed may be obtained. Here 

 opens a legitimate field for our 

 numerous agricultural societies to 

 labour in : on their exertions the 

 farmer must depend in the outset; 

 but let it once be ascertained that 

 Riga seed is best in one section, 

 Dutch or German in others, and 

 mercantile interest, if not patriot- 

 ism will distribute them. 



" Should it be objected to im- 

 porting seed on account of the 

 expense, we reply that large quan- 

 tities of linseed oil are constantly 

 imported, and the difference of 

 price between our own seed and 

 that imported, will not much ex- 

 ceed what is now paid for good 

 clean seed for sowing or export, 

 and that which is sold for crush- 

 ing ; but if it is fifty cents per 

 bushel, or more, it can be no ob- 

 ject, compared with the advanta- 



