NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



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ulii llie\' be siiscoptiMc of tlie iipphcaticn 

 vatiT or steurn power, in anv Heu^ree pro 

 t.oiialo, the ii()v,int;\2ros may be inciilcuhilile 

 in Ilio present incjniry, we place tliP'se m.\ 

 es, however desirable, entirely out of tlu 

 ■li siion. 



ra;>nrCT. 

 not uncommon in Great Britain ami Ire- 

 obtain eight hundred pounds of tlax 

 1 an acre! Six hundred pounds is estimated, 

 uie districts, as an averaa:e ; but it shoul'l 

 ibserved, that little, if any, seed is obtained, 

 averasfe crop in New F.nglanil, as far as 

 llinformation extends, cannot be estimated al 

 e than two hundred pounds, and six or eight 

 els of seed. (We do not include the rich 

 inis on tlie Connecticut, and some other 

 s.) Dr. Deane was of opin on that four 

 Ired pounds might be calculated on with 

 er management. 



e think that four hundred pounds of good 

 tlax, and eight or ten bushels of seed, 

 fairlv be assumed as a medium crop on fa- 

 de soils, where the culture becomes such 

 ject as to make other (arming operations 

 rvient to it, and due attention is paid to 

 hanse of seed. 



ose who grow flax to any extent are of 

 3n, that ihe seed, at the price it has been I 

 me years past, pays for all the labor be- 

 d cii the crop to the time the flax is ready 

 prepared or rotted. 



ve are correctly informed, flax of a fairj 

 y cannot be imported from Ireland for 

 lan fourteen cents per pound. And the 

 of the best of Russia flax delivered on 

 card at St. Petersburg, is ten and a half 

 [jer pound. The quality called •' twelve 

 J" costs nine and an half cents on board 

 ! quality of t]ax raised in this country va- 

 ore than any other product ; and of course 

 ice, which is from six to eighteen cents: 

 ledium about ten cents per pound, 

 ust be acknowle<lged, that no great exer- 

 an be expected in the pursuits of any peo- 

 I "• the prospect of reward sweetens their 

 And 1 anticipate the question that some 

 i disposed to ask, before they have tin- 

 le perusal of these essays, " where is the 

 to tind a market, if flax is extensively 

 'ed ?" We will ask whore could the plan- 

 s found a market tor his cotton if nia- 

 jlfrjni had not been invented for spinning it ? 

 imlfll w could he have supplied it, if the labor 

 thousand bands had been required to 

 of the seeds, that is now performed by 

 ton Gin invented b}' Whitney ? W'e have 

 hat the expense oi dressing flax has been 

 tVom one third to one tenth of its value,* 

 a fact well established, that there are 

 Ihe country, machines for spinning flax, 

 rtbrin as well, and more expeditiously, 

 or the finer thread*^, than those for spin- 

 ton ! The Paterson sail cloth is I'ahrcca- 

 j jj,e reiy from yarns spun and twisted by ma- 

 j((e assisted by as htile manual labor as cot- 

 '• UjiH hines. In those m.inutactories-are six 

 , ,|j1i spindles. In the state of New iork 

 ■■'enuiylvania about three hundred inor" 

 loyed for sewiug thread, sheeting, bed- 

 oe thread, twuie, &,c. The expense i-: 

 ter the flax is hackled, in attending a 



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sual toll for ginning Cotton in Alabama, we 

 ed, is one twdtlh. 



■nnohine of twenty-tour spindles lor spinning 

 I'ominon shoe thread, is thirly-three cents per 

 day, spinning on an average twenty-four pounds 

 a day, or one pound a day for each spindle ! 

 ■■qual, as it is said, to the production of a cotton 

 spin He for live or six days ! 



Can any thing be wanting but the application 

 of power looms for weaving linen, to place the 

 manufacture nearly upon an equality with cot- 

 Ion ? .\nd is there any doubt but they can be so 

 applied ? 



The perfection of cotton spinning machinery, 

 .ind the invention of power looms, with such 

 improvements as are exhibited at Waltham, it 

 IS well known are about to produce an entire 

 revolution in the India trade ! If they can stop 

 the spindle and the shuttle of the Ilnuloo, who 

 ,s supjiurted upon a handtui of rice a day in a 

 climate where little is required for clothing or 

 shelter, what must be the elTcct of correspond- 

 ing machines in the linen manufitclure, upon 

 the Russian and the German ? There is prob- 

 ably at this moment, a million tons of American 

 shipping clothed with Russian canvass ! What, 

 but the raw material of good quality, is required 

 to elicit Capital, to manufacture in a few years 

 even to compete with European nations in the 

 linen market ? 



The exportation ot linen from Germany to 

 North and South America has been and is at 

 present, of vast amount ! The single province of 

 Silesia has sent in one year to Hamburgh and 

 other ports, linens to the v.ilue of nearly five 

 m.lhons of d(dlars to be shipped by the circui- 

 tous route of Cadiz, to the Spanish colonies. 

 These customers are at our doors. The United 

 Slates possess the '•'■ Golden Gates of this Com- 

 merce," and with exertions well directed to 

 her aijricullure, Europe will be obliged to sur- 

 render the keys. 



From the Old Colony Memorial. 



No branch of science, perhaps, more deeply 

 interests the practical farmer and fruiterer, than 

 Entomology. It is an object of the first impor- 

 tance to investigate the natural history of those 

 insects which are peculiarly injurious to us in 

 anv way ; and perhaps no country on the earlh 

 more al>ounds with such insects than our own ; 

 yet their history has hitherto excited but liltio 

 attention. The last year was remarkable in 

 this place, (and more or less thro'' the county) 

 for the devastation made by the grub-worm on 

 almost every green thing. The fact was no- 

 ticed in your paper at the time, and the patri- 

 otism of the Roxbury Farmer, "ever trem- 

 bliiiglv alive" to the interests of our agricul- 

 ture, impelled him to invite information "■ of 

 the kind of insect capable of making such ex- 

 tensive devastation." A description of the grub 

 worm was given, so far as facts could then sup- 

 port it, with a pledge to observe its progress, 

 its habitudes of life, and if practicable ils meta- 

 morphosis, which was then assumed as a matter 

 of course. 



With these views, on the approach of cold 

 weather, viz. on the 18th of October, 1 put six 

 of them into a box wiih earth, and had them 

 placed in the cellar secure from frost. On the 

 .iOlh October, on examining those in the fields, 

 1 found they had buried themselves deeper in 

 • he earth, say four or live inclll^s. On the l'2th 

 November, and again the 21st December, in 

 ploughing those fields which had beiore been 



eaten by them, many were turned iq) by the 

 plough, at live or six inches deej) ; and in other 

 places they are said In be fonnd in all depths, 

 from six inches to three feet. The greatest 

 depth at which I have at any time found any, 

 was about 18 inches, in (lijging a hole to set ;» 

 post; from these, and many other inspections, 

 1 could never find any I hat bad asv\imed the 

 chrysalis state, but were found at all sizes, from 

 half an inch, to one and half inch long in the 

 grub. 



Those I put into the cellar, I occasionally 

 watered to keep them from perishing, and in 

 April had them brought into the open air, and 

 on examinalioii could observe no visible change. 

 They were then placed in the garden, and the 

 box covered with a sod to ailord them food,, 

 and were inspected weekly, without perceiving 

 any alteration, except wasting, until the 15th 

 of July, whiMi finding two of the number dead, 

 I gave liberty to the others. Thus my antici- 

 pation of observing their metamorphosis was 

 disappointed. 



In connexion with the subject I will state an- 

 other observalion made in July. Having occa- 

 sion to move some manure from the barn to 

 prepare a piece of ground for ra.sing the round 

 or English turnii>, I found an unusual number of 

 the large white worm, (such as are generally 

 found in similar siluat.ons, and are considered 

 harmless.) I was induced to subject several of 

 Ihein to an examiuaiion through the micros- 

 cope, and found them perfectly similar to this 

 grub, in all points, the number of the incisors 

 and spiracles the same, the position and number 

 of the legs and antennse corresponding, and no 

 perceptible dilference except they might possi- 

 bly be a.litsle larger, or certainly of the largest 

 size, and were also infested with a parasitical 

 aniinalcula, in appearance through the micros- 

 cope resembling the turnip fly, but invisible to 

 the naked eye. Now these from theit situa- 

 tions must be a progeny ol annual growth, for 

 the manure, in which they were recumbent, 

 I was the collection of the preceding winter and 

 spring. 



j The larva of the cock-chaffer, so analogous 

 I to Ihe giub-worm under consideration, is ascer- 

 tained to continue in its larva state four years, 

 ! before it assumes the chrysalis ; and on the fifth 

 it becomes metamorphosed into the imago or 

 parent. This is the fillh year since the ravages 

 by this insect where noticed here, and its re- 

 semblance to the larva of the cock-chaffer being 

 so striking, ils habits and ravages so correspon- 

 dent, it was assumed to be the same ; hence the 

 anticipation, that on selecting some of those 

 that where full grown, and preserving them 

 throu'^lh the winter, of witnessing their trans- 

 formation into the imago, the beetle probably, 

 from their crustaceous head. 



Perha|)s it may not be irrelevant to the sub- 

 ject, to conjecture, that the devastation of the 

 tiiree or four lasl years may be inlimately con- 

 nected with the character of the seasons, which 

 be.ng peculiarly arid, may have driven them to 

 the necessity of seeiung moisture from the veg- 

 etable creation, to preserve their o\vn existence. 

 The present is a wet season, and ullhough the 

 worms are found to be as numerous in Ihe ground 

 as heretotore, they are perfectly innoxious ; no 

 vegetable appearing to be injureil iroui their 

 presence, allho' 18 or 20 are taken iu digginj 

 one hill of^iotatoes. 



