44 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Frou .he Massachusetts Agricultural Pi.epository. 



ESSAYS ON FLAX HUSBANDRY. 



BV S. W. PO.IIEROY, ESa. 



First Vice President of the Massachusetts Society for 

 Promoting Agriculture. 



No. I!I. 



SOAVING. 



The SPied should be got in as early as it is 

 possible to prepare the gronml. Dr. Deane ob- 

 serves that a slight frost after the plants are up 

 will not injure them. For no crop is it more 

 important that (he seed should be equally dis- 

 tributed. Fortunately what has long been a de- 

 sideratum is now attained. A machine for sow- 

 ing small segds broad cast, with perfect regular- 

 ity, great expedition, and in any desired quan- 

 tity, has lately been invented, and performs to 

 great satisfaction.* 



WEEPIN'G. 



V/eeding is considered m Europe, and by good 

 husbandmen in this country, as necessary to se- 

 cure a good crop of flax, which is a very tender 

 plant when young, and more easily checked in 

 its progress by weeds than any other. It is not 

 sup|)0sed to be injured by the clover and grass 

 sown with it : on the contrary the Flemish farm- 

 ers think them beneficial, by protecting the ten- 

 der roots from drought, and keeping the weeds 

 under. It should he carefully wed when the 

 plants are three or (our inches high : thev are 

 not then injured by the laborer going barefooted 

 over them. 



PULLING. 



This should he perlbrmed as soon as the 

 leaves begin to fall, and the stalks shew a bright 

 yellow color, and when the bolls are turned a 

 little brown. The seed will continue to ripen 

 afterwards. When the flax is lodged it shoulrl 

 be pulled immediately, in any stage of its 

 growth, or it will be entirely lost ; great care 

 is requisite in sorting the difl'erent lengths, an^' 

 keeping them separate till after the flax is hack- 

 led, or much waste will ensue in that process. 



SAVING SEED. 



As soon as the flax is dry enough to put under 

 cover, the bolls should be rippled, as it is termed. 

 A comb resembling the head of a rake, but with 

 teeth longer and nearer together, made of liick- 

 ory or oak, is fastened upon a block, and the 

 flax, taken in parcels no larger than the hands 

 can tirmly grasp, is <lrawn through, and the bolls 

 rippled off; attention to sorting at the same 

 time should be continued. The bolls are to be 

 riddled ;uid winnowed immediately ; spread thin 

 on a clean floor, or on sheets, in the sun, and 

 when sufficiently dr3', and beginning to open, 

 threshed. By this method the foul seeds arc 

 completely separated wilh little trouble, and 

 good, clean seed is ready for an early market, 

 often the best, without the use of expensive ma- 

 chinery to make it so. Here the operations of 

 the farmer ought to end I The process or pre- 

 paration being foreign to, and unconnected wilh 

 h s other pursuits ; and vvhich has been the 

 greatest objection to extensive flax culture. — 



* Bennctt^s machine for sowing broad cast, a des- 

 scription and drawing- of which are given in the Me- 

 Eiohb of the Philadelphia Agricultural Society, vol. 4, 

 vi!'i anple testimony of its usefulness. It is pushed 

 fo.-ward by a man, like a wheelbarrow, and will sow 

 irrire than one acre in an hour, uuiinpedcd by wind or 

 light rain. 



Can there be any reason why the farmer is to 

 prp|)are his flax more than the h.des of his cat- 

 tle which he sends to the tanner ? They are 

 both chemical processes ; and to dis'nhe the 

 glutinous or resinous sulstances by which the 

 fibres are attached to the stem, wilhoul impair- 

 ing their strength, is perhaps as critical, and 

 requ:res as m'lch care and judgment, as to ex- 

 tract the animal juices from the hides, and fill 

 the (>ores with tannin ! In short, the flax grower 

 and flax preparer and dres«er, should be distinct 

 i professions. They are said to be so in Flanders 

 j and Holland, and were extensively so in Scot- 

 j land, where the farmer sold his flax on the 

 ground, or in sheaves at his barn or rick. 



The preparation of flax by steeping is very 

 general in the great flax growing countries in 

 Europe, but it is not quite finished in the water. 

 It remains spread some days on the grass, which 

 is necessary to render it soft and give that sil- 

 very appearance so desirable. The destructive 

 process of dew rotting, is most commonly prac- 

 tised in this country, and when water is resorted 

 to, it is at an improper season, and the process 

 imperfect ; which is the cause of its being so 

 harsh and brittle. Pt^rhaps no part of the system 

 requires such an allowance for difierence of cli- 

 mate. In the humid atmosphere of Ireland, it 

 is not very material when it is spread ; but in 

 this climate, when exposed to a July or .\ugiist 

 sun, every drop after a shower, becomes a burn- 

 ing-glass, and literally scorches the fibres ; be- 

 sides, such a highly putrid fermentation as will 

 Ihen take place in the water, though it separ- 

 ates the harle more speedily, not only injures 

 it, but communicates a stain that renders the 

 process of bleaching- much more tedious and 

 expensive. 



The flax should not be put into the water 

 till about the first of October, and remain from 

 ten to tburteen days, according to the tempera- 

 ture of the weather, and should be taken out 

 before the fibres will separate freely, spread 

 on the grass, when the frost will very much 

 assist the operation, and the flax exhibits a 

 gloss and soilness that it is impossible to give 

 it otherwise. 



The following method of preparing hemp, 

 will apply with great force to the point under 

 discussion. During the late war, an experi- 

 enced ship-master in Connecticut, and who was 

 also a good firmer, raised a crop of Hemp. As 

 soon as it was dry enough to be stowed away, 

 it was put under cover, and remained till Octo- 

 ber ; was then put into clear, soft water, till 

 the fibres would separate wilh some difficulty, 

 when it was spread on the grass ; the frost 

 completed the operation, and when dry it was 

 immediately secured. There was no putrid 

 fermentation to deteriorate the harle, nor was 

 it mililevved by being exposed to the weather, 

 and when dressed, exhibited that fine silver 

 green hue by which the best Russian hemp is 

 distinguished ;* and when worked up, was pro- 

 nounced by the rope-makers to be ecpial to any 

 hemp ever imported 1 Here is a lesson for our 

 western brethren that is worth more to them 

 than real mines of silver. Clear, soft, stagnant 

 water is preferred in Europe. A canal, forty 

 feel long, six broad, and four deep, is said to 



* The best Riga Hemp, supplied for the British 

 Navy, is prepared by steepij'.g. during which it is shilt- 

 cd three times. 



be suflicient for the purpose of an acre of flaj 

 at one t;m3. It should be tbrmed on a clav, o 

 some holding soil, where the water from a sprm 1i 

 or brook can be conducted in with convenience 

 the expense would not be great, and on moi 

 i'arms suitable sites may be had. May not boj si 

 ing or steaming be found the most advantageor 

 process of preparing flax ? The very superio 

 sample of thread exhibited at Brighton, in 18H 

 for vvhich Mrs. Crowninshield, of Danvers, n » 

 ceived a premium, was spun from flax prepare 

 by boiling! It appears by the " transactions c 

 the Swedish Academy," that a method was pra< i 

 tised in Sweden of preparing flax to resembi 

 cotton, by boiling it ten hours in salt watei 

 spreading on the grass, and frequently watei 

 ing, by which it becomes soft and bleachec 

 Boiling or steaming will not appear very foi 

 midable or expensive when we examine th) 

 sufiject. A box twenty feet long, six feet wide 

 and four deep, well constructed with stout planM 

 a boiler, from which a large tube extends inti ' 

 and communicates with the water in the hoi 

 will boil the produce of a quarter of an acre ii 

 a day, that is, if we allow double the room fl 

 boil in that is required I'or sleeping. A steam 

 pipe, instead of the tube, and having the top o 

 the box well secured, would permit the procea 

 of steaming to go on. It is probable that 

 either method, grassing will be necessary 

 obtain soft flax. The yarns of which the saii 

 cloth is made at Piterson, are all steamed.— 

 The navy board expressly forbid their bei 

 boiled in alkaline lye, as is usual in-ra()st mam 

 faclures of linen. It is from this precauti 

 that their canvass has the pliable, oilv fee 

 which so much recommends it. Il should ni 

 be lost sight of, that by boiling or steaming mu 

 time and expense ivill be saved in bloachin_ 

 We arrive at the final process, Dressing, ai 

 in this our climate gives a decided advantf 

 over Irelanil, Flanders, or the north of El 

 rope, where the flax is dried on hurdles, ov 

 a peat fire, in ovens, or kilns, requiring grei 

 care in regulating the heat, to prevent injiii; 

 .411 ihis trouble and hazard is obviated bv ot 

 dry atmosphere and keen north-west wiiids.-r 

 Dr. Deane estimated the expense of dressii 

 flax by hand at one third the product. 1 h 

 lieve the present price does not much val 

 from his estimate. A respectable gentlems 

 from Duchess county, New York, informed mi 

 that mills or machines, impelled by water, hai 

 been erected there, that break and cnmplelel 

 dress the flax for a toll of one tenth ! It is sai 

 that one or more of them are in operation il 

 the western part of this state. These mil 

 were invented in Scotland, and are now said 

 be brought to great perfection. They a 

 erected in alt directions in the principal fli 

 districts in Ireland, and notvvithstanding the Ic 

 price and limited demand for labor, are resol 

 cd to by the poorer classes of people, the dn 

 smg by hand being mostly abandoned. Thdi 

 are machines in England thai; dress the flax il# 

 mediately from the field, without any prepar* 

 tion whatever. An account of them may '" 

 found in the 5th vol. of the Massachusetts 

 ricultnral Journal. It appears, by the rep^ 

 of a committee of the House of Commons, tblt 

 in 1817 ihey were in successful oi)eralion. Jk 

 man and three children impelled the machine 

 and dressed sixty pounds a day. We have n» 

 information of any further improvemenls."* 



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