52 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



CULTIVATION OF FLAX. 



At a recent meeting of the New York Farmer's 

 Club, the following discussion took place in regard 

 to the cultivation of flax : 



Mr. Carpenter gave his opinion that this was 

 one of the most important questions that lias evor 

 been brought before the Club. Flax should be 

 sown about the 10th of May, on well-prepan d 

 soil, about half-a-bushel an acre. Flax fiber mixod 

 with cotton improves both. 



Prof. Nash — The flax crop is grown at the West 

 for the seed alone. When I was a boy every fam- 

 ily used to grow, flax enough to make cloth for 

 domestic use, all "over New England. It requires 

 a strong, heavy soil, and is very exhausting — so 

 much so that grass did not take well. If sown for 

 seed, or to use the fibre for coarse cloth, half-a- 

 bushel per acre is enough. For very fine fabrics 

 a bushel and a half per acre is sown. Plow about 

 May first, and make the surface very smooth be- 

 fore sowing. It is pulled as soon as a part of 

 the seed is ripe, and dried, and the seed beaten off, 

 and then spread on grass to rot, so that it can be 

 dressed. 



Dr. Trimble said that the culture of flax has 

 been abandoned in a great measure by the Penn- 

 sylvania farmers, who used to grow enough for all 

 family use. But cheap cotton has driven out flax, 

 because the labor was so great it could not com- 

 pete with cotton. It will not be revived unless the 

 great labor of its preparation can be done by ma- 

 chinery, at a cheap rate ; that is the great difficulty 

 in the way of inducing farmers to extend the flax 

 culture. 



Mr. Gale — There is still a great deal of flax 

 raised in Pennsylvania, and in the interior of this 

 State. It is now prepared by machinery that ob- 

 viates the most of the disagreeable hand labor of 

 the old time. Farmers are content to raise flax at 

 about twelve cents a pound. There is no trouble 

 about growing flax ; the only question is about be- 

 ing able to produce it as cheaply as any other fibre, 

 whether cotton or silk. All the business of dress- 

 ing flax is very dirty and disagreeable when done 

 by hand, and most farmers prefer to raise other 

 crops, and buy substitutes for linen cloth. 



Mr. Carpenter stated that it does not require a 

 very strong soil to grow flax, nor does it exhaust 

 the land any more than other crops, and he wants 

 to see the cultivation greatly extended, and hopes 

 that this Club will lend its influence to promote 

 this object. 



Dr. Jarvis — Without doubt, cotton is not as 

 healthy as flax. If flax is dirty at first in its pre- 

 paration, cotton is always so through all its wear; 

 it is giving off fine particles of dust that fill the air 

 of our houses, and injure the health of all who use 

 cotton cloth. He thought in every sense of the 

 word, cotton has been a curse to the world. It is 

 not as healthy as flax for any kind of clothing, par- 

 ticularly bedding, and he thought the world would 

 be greatly benefitted by the use of flax, to as great 

 an extent as it now u*es cotton. 



Mr. Henry — I had supposed that rotting, and 

 breaking, and swingling, and hatcheling flax, were 

 among the antediluvian notions of the world. As 

 to flax exliausting the soil any more than any other 

 crop, I don't believe it ; and certaiuly with the im- 



proved machinery of the age, there is no difficulty 

 in preparing the fibre for use. 



Prof. Nasii — Flax will grow of course, on stony 

 land, but the soil must be good. The reason that 

 flax culture ceased so far in this country is be- 

 cause cotton can be produced so much cheaper. 

 The mere act of swingling occupied a man all day 

 to dress sixteen pounds, and the culture of flax 

 will never be extended in this country until we 

 can prepare the fiber at a cheap rate — by some of 

 the processes that have been tried — either by 

 steam, or acid, or alkali. I have no doubt flax is 

 more healthy than cotton for garments, and it may 

 be produced to any extent desh-ed, if it can be 

 cheaply prepared for use. So far as my experience 

 goes, all the operations connected with flax are 

 laborious and generally unpopular with all farm- 

 laborers. Pulling flax is very hard work. 



Rev. Mr. Weaver, of Fordham — What are we 

 going to do with flax if we produce it in the great 

 quantities proposed? Will it be accepted as a 

 good substitute for cotton and wool ? I have 

 found that it will not answer for me to wear linen 

 in such weather as this. Is it likely to be gene- 

 rally adopted by people, even if linen cloth can be 

 made as cheaply as cotton ? 



Mr. Lancaster, formerly of N. H. — With regard 

 to flax seed, it depends upon what the article is 

 to be used for. If for seed alone, three pecks 

 per acre will do ; if for seed and fiber, a bushel, 

 or a bushel and a peck; and it should be sown as 

 early as possible after the frost is out of the ground. 

 It is a very exhausting and laborious crop. A 

 band will not pull over a quarter of an acre per 

 day. When dry, the seed is beaten off, it is spread, 

 and not turned till it is rotted sufficiently. A man 

 in New Hampshire, where I used to work among 

 flax, could dress from twenty-five to fifty pounds 

 per day. And as to the use of linen, there is no 

 end to its use ; and there is no cloth applied to so 

 many uses as that of flax. We can grow four hun- 

 dred pounds per acre, and used to count it a good 

 crop at fourteen cents per pound for the flax, and 

 one dollar to one dollar and fifty cents per bushel 

 for the seed, as an acre would produce twenty-five 

 bushels. 



The flax question is one of great importance to 

 the country; because, if we can prepare the lint 

 cheaply, all parts of the country can produce a 

 better fiber than cotton, sufficient for the use of the 

 inhabitants, at less than the average price of cot- 

 ton, and the fabric will be more valuable, and its 

 use more healthy. 



Horse Disease in California. — A fatal disease 

 has made its appearance among the horses in Cali- 

 fornia. Last year, David Spear, of Monterey, lost 

 one hundred and fifty head. It attacked the horses 

 at the latter end of the dry season, when grazing 

 on bottom land. It first shows itself in the ani- 

 mals throwing out the head, with the body much 

 drawn up, and the hind legs crawn forward — stag- 

 gering about for several days, refusing food till it 

 falls down, and writhes in pain till death occurs 

 after two or three days. Post mortem examination 

 fails to throw liglit on the cause. 



