NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY GEO. C. BARRETT, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural Warehouse.)—'!'. <i. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL. XII. 



BOSTON, WEUVESDAY EVENING, MAY 21, 1834. 



NO. 45. 



From the Quarterly Jou nal of igricutture, Mechiinics ami 



M mufacturts. 



GROWTH OP FLAX A9iD MANUFACTURE OF 



LLVE.V IK THE UNITED STATES. 



gjR — [ would not subscribe to ilic opinion of 

 Dean Swift, that "he who makes two blades ol 

 corn, or two spires of grass, grow where one grew 

 before, does more essential service to mankind 

 than the whole race of politicians" put together;" 

 but I (irmly believe, that lie who points out to 

 honest industry a source af individual and natioi ,' 

 Wealth, renders more benefit to mankind than lie 

 who astonishes the nation with his eloquence iu 

 exciting the flame of party spirit. 



In this belief, and with this object in view, I 

 take the liberty to offer you a few remarks on the 

 Culture, management, and manufacture, of flax ; 

 not, however, with any expectation of effecting so 

 desirable an object as to place that article on the 

 footing to which it is entitled among the produc- 

 tions of our country, and on which footing it is 

 destined to stand at no very distant period, in spite 

 of the caprice of fortuitous circumstances; bit 

 merely to suggest a few rude hints, which may call 

 the attention of better talents to the subject, and 

 perhaps ser\e as a kind of nucleus to a body of 

 better information respecting it. 



The older inhabitants of our country rememler 

 when cotton, either as an article of agriculture, 

 manufactures, or commerce, was scarcely knewn 

 in this country ; and when, even in Europe, the 

 principal acquaintance with it in a manufactured 

 Mate was in goods imported from India. ' t that 

 time, though the price of a pound of cotton was 

 fifty cents, or more, the southern planter could not 

 afford to si parate it from the seed even at tha: 

 price. Linen was then nearly the sole article used 

 for under dress, or for fabrics used as household 

 furniture. 



But the ingenuity of two or three men has turn- 

 ed the scale. Mr. Whitney invented a machine to 

 separate the cotton from the seed, and Margrave 

 and Arkwright machines to spin it ; and tie labor 

 of producing the finest fabrics, with the additional 

 help of the power loom, is now almost aim h dated. 

 In the space of a few years linen is almost expelled 

 from market and from use, and cotton has become 

 the basis of the manufacturing interest, and the 

 main pillar of our cxportations. 



15ut this entire revolution in the use of the two 

 articles is in no degree owing to their relative 

 value; but to a remarkable concatenation and suc- 

 cession of accidental circumstances, which, had 

 the order of the causes and circumstances been re- 

 versed, would have produced a complete!' revers- 

 ed elieet. 



For many uses, the decided preference due to 

 linen over cotton is abundantly proved by its still 

 being purchased, at a much higher price, by those 

 who can afford it. The money which would have 

 purchased one pound of cotton and paid for spin- 

 ning it into coarse yarn, before the application of 

 machinery to cotton manufacturing, would now 

 buy eight yards of handsome cotton cloth, finished 

 in a superior style ; hut the price of flax is the 

 same now as fifty years ago. In the spinuing no 



improvement of much importance has yet been 

 effected ; and in weaving, even the common fly 

 shuttle is still but partially introduced. But the 

 reduction in the cost of cotton goods, though more 

 than three hundred per cent., is not the only ad- 

 vantage which cotton has gained over linen ; it has 

 improved as much in perfection and beauty as in 

 cheapness. , 



^iid yet, I repeat it, the present commanding 

 uperiority which cotton has gained over linen, is 

 no. owing to its relative intrinsic worth, but to the 

 caprice of adventitious circumstances. Had it been 

 tie good fortune of flax to have been the subject 

 of the improvements of which it is susceptible, it 

 would have held at this day, as distinguished a 

 tank in agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, 

 as is now occupied by its more fortunate rival, 

 though it can hardly he reckoned amongst the ar- 

 ticles of American production ; and what there is 

 is scarcely entitled to the name. 



Nothing but total abandonment can now put 

 cotton back to the place it occupied a few short 

 years ago ; and nothing but a little ingenuity, sus- 

 tained by proper enterprise, is wanting to advance 

 the progress of linen, at least in a corresponding 

 ratio. 



To effect this object it will be necessary to com- 

 mence, not only by laying anew the foundation, 

 hut by preparing the ground on which to lay it. 

 To make the business of flax-growing successful, 

 a judicious location is of serious importance. Dry, 

 windy, mountainous situations can never compete 

 in the growth of flax with warm alluvial vallies, 

 with rich and sufficiently dry soil, but moist atmos- 

 phere. When such a situation is selected and duly 

 prepared, especially by the extermination of every 

 weed, for flax cannot, like hemp, outstrip the weeds 

 in growth — when it is skilfully sown With good 

 seed, — nothing farther, except a good fence, is 

 wanting to insure the agriculturist a good and pro- 

 fitable crop, provided he is met at the proper point 

 by the manufacturer, and a market thereby opened. 

 But this meeting must take place when the flax 

 is taken from the ground and hound in bundles. 

 If it is intended for fine fabrics, this must be done 

 while the stock is yet green ; if for coarse, then 

 the seed will be suffered to ripen, and will be re- 

 tained by the farmer ; but, in either case, the flax 

 from that period must be transferred to the care 

 and management of the manufacturer. No essen- 

 tial improvement can even begin to take place so 

 long as the separating the flax from the stock, er, 

 as it is commonly called, dressing, continues to be 

 the business of the farmer. 



The labor of dressing, as it is now performed, 

 is, generally speaking, worth more than the flax 

 when dressed, so that all the expenses previous to 

 that operation are completely lost. Therefore no 

 judicious farmer will spend his time in producing 

 it; and of course, the American market can never 

 afford a regular supply for any extensive opera- 

 tions. 



It can never stand in competition with cotton 

 so long as it is spun by hand ; and it never can be 

 profitably spun by machinery so long as it con- 



tinues to he gathered in small parcels from differ- 

 ent sources, and consequently of different qualities 

 —dressed and prepared by different hands— some 

 of it long, some short, some coarse, some fine, 

 some clean, some foul, some harsh, SO me soft. It 

 cannot be spun to any advantage by machinery, so 

 long as the same parcel contains staple of different 

 lengths, because the distance between the front 

 and hack roller must be in proportion to the length 

 of the respective fibres; and if the rollers ure suffi- 

 ciently near to suit the short fibres, then the long 

 ones will he held fast at both ends, and if far 

 enough apart for the long fibres, then the short 

 ones will want support: in either case the, work 

 cannot go on. If fine flax be mixed with coarse, 

 they cannot he drawn info fine twist, and the fine 

 fibres will not unite with the coarse to form a 

 smooth thread, and of course a waste of stock is 

 occasioned by spinning fine flax into coarse rough 

 twist. 



It has been abundantly proved by numerous ex- 

 periments, that flax of nearly uniform length may 

 be spun by machinery with far more rapidity than 

 cotton ; and it is no less evident that it may be 

 drawn to any degree of fineness which the staple 

 will admit of. But still, owing to the above causes, 

 nothing of much importance has yet been effected. 

 To remove these ev ils, which prevent any essen- 

 tial improvement in the manufacture of linen, there 

 exists but one remedy. The farmer must obtain 

 and avail himself of due information as to the best 

 method of managing the culture and growth of 

 flax, until, as before stated, it is taken from the 

 ground, properly dried, either in its green state or 

 after being divested of the seed and hound in bun- 

 dles. In this state it must pass into the hands of 

 the manufacturer. The price may be fixed by the 

 ton or hundred. 



The first business of the manufacturer must be 

 to assort it into different parcels, according to the 

 length, texture, and other properties. By this 

 process the qualities of each parcel will be suffi- 

 ciently uuiforin, and each may be spun with hith- 

 erto unknown rapidity and evenness of thread, and 

 as fine as the fineness of its fibres will admit. 



The next process will be that which is common- 

 ly termed rotting, or preparing the fibres to separ- 

 ate from the inner stock, which constitutes the 

 shives, and from each other. The quickest and 

 safest, and without doubt the best method of effect- 

 ing this, now in use among the most skilful pro- 

 ducers of flax, is water-rotting. It is not the in- 

 tention of this article to give any detail of the mani- 

 pulations in rotting or dressing flax, nor in the 

 subsequent operations of spinning and weaving, 

 but merely to awaken and invite the attention of 

 inventive genius to make improvements, where 

 reason and science declare that improvements can 

 absolutely he made. 



To make improvements in the processes of rot- 

 ting and dressing certainly opens a field for inter- 

 esting experiments, both to the chemist and me- 

 chanic. How far the former can be aided by the 

 application of steam, or by the chemical agency of 

 chlorine acid, or by any other chemical agency, is 



