26 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



that it may well be mowed for hay two or three (vast floods of cotton fabrics and yams, at prices 

 times in the course of the summer, and this i (nominally) very low, and the imexampied de- 

 piece of husbandry is recommended for farmers! mand f(ir iireadstuffs and other food, during the 

 whose lands are mostly dry or unsuitable /'or j ijeriod referred to. The effect has been to 

 grass. place flax farming so far in tlic back ground, 



The quantity of seed to be sown on an acre ! as scarcely to attract the attention of agricul- 

 should vary according to the soil, tlie time of tnral societies, when ena;aQ;ed in promoting im- 



sowing, and the purposes for which it is in- 

 tended. If it be sowed in the latter part of 

 August, or beginning of September, and is in- 

 tended to remain for a seed-crop, the quantity 

 should vary I'rom 32 to 48 quarts, according to 

 the goodness of soil. Later sowing requires 

 more seed, and in some cases two bushels to an 

 acre will not be too great a quantity. Bannis- 

 ter's Husbandry says, "• when this grain is sown 

 for sheep-feed, it is proper to allow three bush- 

 els to the acre, for where the blade, hanm or 

 stalks form the primary object, a much larger 

 proportion of seed is requisite, than when the 

 crop is meant for harvesting." 



Although the following able article has been 

 already pretty extensively published in news- 

 papers and other periodical publications, we 

 are induced to transplant it into our columns. 

 It contains the best insti'.ctions we have seen 

 on the important topic of which it treats, and 

 we think should compose a part of every far- 

 mer's library, and be referred to in every stage 

 of the culture of a crop which may at no dis- 

 tant period form one of the most valuable sta- 

 ples of New England. The machines which 

 have been lately invented for dressing Flas, 

 without the trouble and expense of water or 

 dew rotting, promise to obviate the principal 

 obstacle to its general culture ; and should the 

 expectations of those best acquainted with those 

 iiiacuines tie fully realized, we see nothing to 

 prevent Flax being as proiitable a staple of the 

 Northern, as Cotton is of the Southern parts of 



the Union. 



From the Massachusetts Agiicultiiral R.epo5itory. 



ESSAYS ON FLAX HUSBANDRY. 



BI S. W. POMEROy, ESll. 



•First Vice President of the Massachusetts Society for 

 Promoting: Agriculture. 



No. I. 



The great surplus and depressed prices of 

 our chief agricultural products, render it neces- 

 sary for the farmer to seek others upon which 

 he may calculate for more prolitable lettirus, 

 or at least such as will constitute a division of 

 his risk ; with this view Flax may be presented 

 as an item deserving particular consideration. 



For twenty years preceding 181G, the annual 

 export of Fiax Seed from the U. States, aver- 

 aged but about two hm)dre<l and liity thousand ' 

 iushels ! When they were British colonies, with 

 one fifth of the present population, and a terri- 

 tory under cultivation probably much less in 

 proportion, there were exported in one year 

 (1770,) upwards of three hundred and twelve 

 thousand bushels.* It is very obvious that the 

 causes of this decrease, which exhibit such a 

 contrast to the increase of all other products of 

 the soil, may be attributed to the introduction of 



'" Pitkin's Statistical \'iovv. 



proved mfthods of cultivation for other crops, 

 and also, it is f-ared, to curtail household man- 

 ufactures, the extension of which, it will not be 

 denied, is eminently conducive to the prosper- 

 ity of an agricultural people. For although 

 prudent farmers have usually a small patch, the 

 object has been so inconsiderable as not to de- 

 mand any particular care in its management, 

 and a tolerable crop, which, in Europe, is con- 

 sidered as certain as any they raise, is supposed 

 in many districts to be the effect of chance, or, 

 as it is termed good luck. We will not pretend 

 that Flax was at any period in this country es- 

 timated as a profitable, though formerly a ne- 

 cessary crop. But it is presumed, such has 

 been the acquisition of knowledge, and improve- 

 ments in agriculture, and especially those bran- 

 ches of mechanical science connected with it, 

 that an entire new view may be taken of flax 

 husbandry — that it may be made to enter into 

 the agricultural system of the country much 

 more extensively than heretofore, and possibly 

 be ranked as a considerable, and not unprofita- 

 ble staple. With these impressions I have de- 

 voted some attention to the subject, and shall 

 submit such information as I have been enabled 

 to collect from various authentic sources ; to 

 gether with some remarks and intimations, 

 which, should they throw no light on the ques- 

 tion, may promote inquiry, and induce others, 

 possessing better qualifications and more expe- 

 rience, to pursue the investigation. 



My attention was drawn to the present ob- 

 ject, in consequence ot viewing the manufac- 

 tories of sail cloth in Paterson, near the fails ol 

 the Passaic in New Jersey, the last autumn : 

 where I was informed that six thousand bolts of 

 Duck had been made for the Navy, the year 

 preceding, of a quality superior to what 1 »vas 

 prepared to expect, and which is pronounced, 

 by those experienced in nautical affairs, to be 

 worth, for service, from thirty to filty per 

 cent, more than canvass imported from Russia ! 

 — Indeed the respectable and liberal propri- 

 etors of those establishments arc entitled to 

 great credit for the perfection of this article ; 

 it is presumed they have conformed to the par- 

 ticular stipnlations of their contracts with the 

 commissioners of the navy board, who in this 

 instance, as in others, are conspicuous for their 

 attention to those minute details so necessary to 

 insure solidity and permanence to what per- 

 tains to that department. But the political eco- 

 nomists, and perhaps some farmers of the U. 

 States, will be surprised when told, that " the 

 flax from which this sail cloth was fabricated, 

 was imported from Ireland and the Baltic ! that 

 if a s\ifficient quantity of native growth, could 

 have been procured (which was doubtful) it 

 does not possess sufficient strength to make such 

 canvass as the navy board would, or ought to 

 have been satisfied with !"' The question oc- 

 curs. What is the cause of this inferiority ? It 

 will not be pretended, we believe, that there is 

 any inherent defect in the soil, or that t4ie cli- 

 mate is uncongenial to its perfection. On the 

 other hand it will bo. admitted tjiat there is no- 



thing so peculiarly favorable, as to require le 

 attention and care in the cultivation, than is b 

 stowed in those countries in Europe, where 

 forms an important agricultural staple, & vvhe 

 similar management would unquestionably pr 

 duce the same effects; for, however plausif 

 the prevalent opinion may be, that the inferic 

 ity of American fiax is owing solely to the inj 

 dicious preparation by dew rotting, and we w 

 grant it is one very prominent cause, still the 

 are others, which will be noticed in the sequi 

 and may be considered as having a very po' 

 erful influence in deteriorating the quality, 

 well as lessening the product. 



The common flax |)lant {Linum Usitatissimm 

 possesses habits more peculiar than any olh 

 within the range of our cultivation ; and it m 

 be useful, in order to reconcile the farmer, a 

 to impress on his mind the importance of atten 

 ing to those habits, to trace this plant to its n 

 five soil, or rather to the country where thi 

 were acquired by cultivation, for a vast seri 

 of ages — for it is not improbable, that, like t 

 small grains, its present appearance is esse 

 tially different from that in its indigenous stat 

 but to which it seems to be returning, in sot 

 parts of our country, by gradations less imp< 

 ceptil)le, than it may have originally advanci 



Linen is mentioned at a very early period 

 sacred history as the production only of Egy 

 The most ancient and credible author of pi 

 fane history* speaks of its remote antiquity I 

 ing peculiar to that country ; and those writi 

 who treat of the fabulous ages, ascribe the c 

 ture of Fiax and invention of spinning and wei 

 ing to Isis, a queen of Egypt ; the Ceres oft 

 Greeks, to whom they attribute the discovt 

 of bread corn. But if there was any quest: 

 on this point, the habits of the Flax plant 

 note its most natural soil to have been on 

 margin of a river annually inundated, subsid 

 exactly at the period of seed time, leaving 

 entire new soil, or, by forming new combi 

 tions, completely renovating the old, which s 

 liecomes dry, mellow and friable at top — ret; 

 ing, or having conducted by art, suliicicnt m 

 lure at bottom, aided by copious dews, to ins 

 its maturity, but never any am or stormi 

 beat it down ! Where could this plant have fo 

 such a location but on the banks of the Nil 

 It has degenerated when transplanted to ev 

 other country, probably in proportion to 

 want of care and attention to assimilate the s 

 and gratify that impatience of change, to wl 

 it has been so long habituated. Hence it is i 

 flax owes the reputation of being the most 

 hausting of all crops. Let us inquire to w 

 extent it may be well founded. 



Sir Humphrey Davy remarks, in his eig 

 lecture on agricultural chemistry, that "i 

 proved by facts staled in his seventh lecti 

 that plants require different materials from 

 soil, and that particular vegetables require 

 collar principles to be supplied to the laat 

 ivhich they grow." And, " as a most rem* 

 able instance of the power of vegetables to 

 haust the soil of certain principles," he st 

 " that Mushrooms are said never to rise in 

 successive seasons on the same spot." He mi 

 have cited Flax, as another instance not less 



i 



* Herodotus, Euterpe, chap. 37, 105. 



t The iDUDdation of the Nile beghis to decrease ti 

 the 20th of September. The seeds are sowft, an4 

 crops perfected while the suu is ia the Southern trt 



