362 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MAY 81, J834. 



a question worthy ol serums attention, nun noi m 

 very difficult solution, especially to one who pos- 

 sesses the requisite science and the means to make 

 the experiments. 



The operations of dressing, fining and Boftening, 

 open a most extensive and interesting field to tin 

 inventive and enterprising mechanic. It is this 

 part alone which now retards the progress of im- 

 provement. Let ingenuity do for flax in this 

 branch of the business what Mr. Whitney has done 

 for cotton, and the rest of the business is so far 

 accomplished that we shall soon see the linen man- 

 ufacturing interest at least successfully competing 

 with cotton. 



It cannot but be obvious to any man of talents, 

 as a general mechanic, that the simple operation ol 

 dressing flax may be expedited to almost any de- 

 gree required ; and that even without the aid ol 

 any great complication of machinery. This object 

 may not perhaps be effected at once, but let it 

 once be fairly commenced, and meet with any de- 

 gree of liberal patronage, and successive improve- 

 ments will complete the race. 



When the flax is dressed, and is entirely clean 

 from shives, the next step in the process will be 

 fining. The principles of this operation may be 

 learned from ancient experience, wherever it has 

 been long in practice, particularly in Holland and 

 in Ireland. The fibres of flax seem lo be suscep- 

 tible of longitudinal division, almost to infinity. Ii 

 would be difficult to reduce a fibre of flax so fine 

 but it may be split in two. But the laborious and 

 tedious process by which this part of the business 

 is now effected, could not fail to suggest to an in- 

 genious mind that it is infinite lengths behind the 

 improved state of the age. The business of soften- 

 ing is nearly connected with the fining, and much 



From the Mrcluntk's Magazine. 

 ADVICE ON THE CARE AND MANAGEMENT 

 OP TOOLS. 



From a new edition of the Cabinet Maker's 

 Guide, we quote the following ; — The goodness ot 

 saws, chisels, and other edge tools, depends upon 

 ihe quality of the steel, which should be uniform 

 without, and it is always better to have ihem tem- 

 pered too hard than too soft, for use will reduce 

 the temper. If at anytime you wish to restore 

 Ihe temper, and to perform the operation yourself, 

 ihe best method is to melt a sufficient quantity ol 

 lead to immerse the cutting part of the tool. Hav- 

 ing previously brightened its surface, then plunge 

 it into the melted leatl for a few minutes, til' il 

 gets sufficiently hot to melt a candle, with which 

 rub its surface, then plunge it in again, and keep it 

 there until the steel assumes a straw color, (but he 

 careful not to let it turn blue,) when that is th j 

 case, take it out, rub it again with the tallow, am. 

 let it cool ^ if it should he too soft, wipe the 

 urease oft" and repeat the process without the tal- 

 low, and when sufficiently hot plunge it into cold 

 water, or water and vinegar mixed. — By a proper 

 attention to these directions, and a liule practice, 

 every workman will have it in bis power to give a 

 proper temper to the tools he may use. — If a saw 

 is too hard, it may be tempered by the same 

 means ; if you are near a plumber's shop, you may 

 repeat the process conveniently and without ex- 

 pense, when they are melting a pot of lead. In 

 other cutting tools you must wait till the steel jus) 

 begins to turn blue, which is a temper that will 

 give it more elas.icity and at the same time suffi- 

 cient hardness. 



A CURIOUS HORTICULTURAL ANECDOTE 



When Sir Francis Carew hail rebuilt his man- 



in the same state of improvement, or rather in the . . „ ... „ 



' ' sion house at hedilington, in burrey, he planted 



same want ol improvement. 



When these processes shall have received and 

 profiled by the attention they merit from ingenuity 

 — when flax is grown and delivered to the manu- 

 facturer in a clean and thrifty state — when it is 

 duly sorted according to its qualities — when it is 

 dressed clean, fined, and softened, it will then, anil 

 not till then, lie fit for spinning by machinery, anil 

 weaving by ihe power loom. We may then ex- 

 pect to see flax of superior quality making as re- 

 spectable an item in the exports of the northern, 

 eastern, and western states, as cotton now makes 

 in those of the southern. We may then clothe 

 ourselves in linen at as cheap a rate as we can 

 now do in cotton, and in finer fabrics than it lias 

 ever yet produced. 



The first adventurers in the manufacture of 

 linen, on the principles here hud down, will find 

 themselves amply compensated in consequence ol 

 the high price which the goods manufactured by 

 hand must necessarily bear ; and the fanner will 

 find a new source of profit in taking his load ol 

 flax to market and sidling it at a fair price, without 

 having to go through the (lo him) hateful and un- 

 profitable labor of dressing it. The country will 

 see itself in possession of a new and very valuable 

 article for its use, and the patriot will have the 

 Satisfaction to see his country acquire a new and 

 important source of wealth and independence. 

 Samuel Blydenburgu. 

 Lansingbvrgh, Feb. 11, 1834. 



He that follows his recreation instead of his 

 business, shall in a little time have no business to 

 follow. 



the garden with choice fruit trees. There he was 

 visited by Queen Elizabeth ; — and Sir Hugh Piatt 

 in bis Gardens of Eden, tells a curious uliecdote 

 relating to one of these visits. " I conclude " 

 says he, " with a conceit of that delicate knight, 

 Sir Francis Carew, who, for the better accom- 

 plishment of bis royal entertainment of our late 

 Queen Elizabeth, led her Majesty to a cherry tree 

 whose fruit be had of purpose kept bark from ri- 

 pening at least one month after all cherries had 

 taken their farewell of England. This secret he 

 performed by straining a tent, or cover of canvass, 

 over the whole tree, and welling it now and then 

 with a scoop, as ihe heat of the weather required ; 

 and so by withholding ihe sunbeams from reflecting 

 upon the berries, they grew both great, and were 

 very long before they bad gotten their perfect 

 cherry color ; and when he was assured of her 

 Majesty's coming, he removed the tent, and a few 

 sunny days brought them to their maturity. 



Front the Northern Farmer. 

 PLANTING POTATOES. 



As the season for planting is approaching — and 

 as some of our farmers, as it would seem, are not 

 sufficiently sensible of the loss ibey sustain, by plant- 

 ing small potatoes, or what to me seems very little 

 belter, cutting the eyes from the larger ones, ami 

 planting from three to five pieces in a hill, I am 

 induced to enter my protest against this practice, 

 as one tli.it is decidedly prejudicial to the crop, 

 anil ought to be abandoned. 



1 was educated to believe that potatoes of lie 

 above description were as good as any for seed ; 

 and that a good crop depended not on the goodness 



of the seed, hlit on the goodness of the ground and 

 be manner in which it was prepared. 1 had prac- 

 ised on this principle to a considerable extent, 

 electing the smallest potatoes for planting, or cut- 

 ling the eyes from larger ones, in the manner 

 above slated. The correctness of this practice, 

 however, 1 was disposed to doubt for some years 

 before I finally abandoned it, which I did imme- 

 diately cl'ter trying what to me appeared a fair ex- 

 periment on the subject. 



Four years since [1830] at the season of plant- 

 ing, the ground for my potatoes (about two acres) 

 vvifs heavily manured, with fresh manure from the 

 barn-yard and stable, and the manure thoroughly 

 ploughed under. Near the middle of the field I 

 planted eight rows — two with small potatoes and 

 pieces having one eye each, cut from larger ones, 

 putting four or five pieces in a hill, according to 

 my former practice — four rows with large potatoes 

 cut directly across in the centre, between the seed 

 end and the stem or butt end, planting Iwo rows 

 with the seed ends and two wilh the butt ends, 

 Hid two rows with whole potatoes of ihe middling 

 ■ize. The ground on which these eight rows were 

 planted was level, and otherwise in all respects 

 equal throughout. At the time of harvest, each 

 piir of rows were dug and measured separately, 

 Tae difference between the produce, from the two . 

 rovs planted with small potatoes and pieces and 

 thai from the two planted with good sized whole 

 poiatoes, was something piore than one-fourth, 

 nearly one third in favor of the latter. This dif- 

 ference was not in the number of potatoes, but in 

 ihesize; the greatest number being found in the 

 two rows planted wilh the small potatoes. From 

 this experiment, I was satisfied that to select small 

 potatoes for plaining, or to plant large and small 

 ones piotuiseuously, was an error of no small con- 

 sequence to the farmer. In the rows from the 

 butt ends, and from the seed ends, the produce 

 was nearly equal in quantity ; but the potatoes from 

 'he butt ends were largest and most equal in size, 

 while those from the seed ends were more'numer- 

 ous with greater disparity of size. The product of 

 these last, rows, though better than that from the 

 small seed, was nevertheless inferior to that from 

 the rows planted with the large whole potatoes. 

 The result of my experiment clearly proved that 

 though :me half of the seed might be saved by cut- 

 ting large poia oi s in two i qual parts, yet the differ- 

 ence of product in favor of the whole potatoes 

 rendered them preferable for planting. 



1 have been considerably engaged, for the last 

 ten, or twelve years, in experimenting upon differ- 

 ent kinds of the potato, for the purpose of ascer- 

 taining vihich is the most valuable for keeping late 

 in the s|iing, taking also into view their produc- 

 tiveness. 



I shot Id be highly gratified to have the views of 

 some of your intelligent correspondents, who can 

 speak (rem experiment on this subject. There is 

 a manifest difference in potatoes in lliese respects, 

 and it is of importance that farmers should posses* 

 ihe best rarieties. Matthew Buell, Jr. 



Newport, Jpril -23rd, 1834. 



CarroU for Live Stock. The Altringham carrot, 

 grown in rows IS inches apart, and ihe carrots at 

 ihe same distance from each oilier in the rows, ihe 

 roots attaining the thiikni ss of a man's thigh, and 

 the length of three feel, wilh a vigorously growing 

 top, for feeding cows or other cattle. — Loudoift 

 Magazine. 



