United States will be carried out by the American Flax Company, of wbicli Mr. Thomas Kimber, 

 Jr., of Philadeli^hia, is the Managing Director, to whom all applications in reference to it should bo 

 made.] 



"By this process we have all the advantages obtained by Watts — economy ofprodncts — 

 increased economy of time, only four hours being required instead of twelve — and, in addition, 

 great economy of labor. Another great improvement is claimed by Buchanan, his method of drying 

 the steeped straw preparatory to scutching. This is usually a tedious and costly process as regards 

 labor and arrangements. The fibre, too, is to a certain extent liable to be injured by the necessary 

 handling. The ordinary mode is to place the flax thinly spread between two wooden laths, which, 

 when closed by means of hooks or rings over their ends, firmly hold the stems : about fifty-six of 

 these are required for a cwt. of flax. They are then carried to the drying shed and suspended 

 from frames, where they remain exposed to the action of the air until they are dry. The time 

 required depends on the weather — from tliree to four days to as many weeks. In Watts' process, 

 where steam is available, theprocess of manipulation is the same, but the drying is effected in a 

 heated chamber in a much shorter time. Buchanan's method is entirely different. He proposes to 

 etiect the desiccation in the same vat in which the flax was steeped, by means of dry warm air, 

 wliich is driven through it in unliiuited quantities, at a very little expense. The air is readily 

 obtained in the desired state by causing it to pass through porous earthenware pipes set across the 

 lower part of the chimney, which, while heating the air, deprive it of its moisture. These com- 

 municate on the one side with a blower driven by the engine, and on the other side with a pipe 

 which conveys the heated air to the lower part of the vat containing the flax to be dried. This is 

 all the arrangement needed. The blower drives the air through the earthenware pipes ; its tempe- 

 rature is then raised, and moisture abstracted, and entering the bottom of the steeping- vat, it comes - 

 in contact with the flax aiid passes through it, absorbing and carrying off the moisture, and leaving 

 tlie flax in a perfectly dry state. It is then ready to be rolled and scutched. The patentee's 

 experiments induce him to believe that by this process the entire operation of converting the straw 

 into dressed fibre may be effected in the working-day, or twelve hours ; and, from the simple 

 nature of the mechanical arrangements and of the materials required, a very moderate outlay 

 would suffice for the formation of an establishment equal to the probable produce of a given district. 

 The steeping process bemg entirely automatic, the cost of labor is very small indeed, and the 

 whole expenses of the operation materially reduced." 



Agricultural Scpiools. — Mr. C. L. Fleishman, who was educated in one of the 

 German agricultural schools, says : 



Who i? not acquainted with the history of the wars which enervated Germany — which exhausted 

 all her pecuniary means and brought her to the verge of utter ruin ? Germany was after the close 

 of the French war in a pitiable condition ; and had it not been for her kind soils, which for thou- 

 sands of years enabled her to stand the severe calamities which befell her during that long period, 

 Germ.any would now be a second Greece. She abopted, at an early period, various means to 

 improve her agriculture. Professorships of Agriculture were instituted at the Universities — peri- 

 odicals and journals were published to disseminate modern improvements — fairs and meetings were 

 rep-ularly held to encourage the farmer ; but all that gave not the desired results. A thorough 

 education was found necessary, practical and scientific education, which enables the farmer to 

 enhance the value of his landed property, as circumstances and condition allow it, to give them the 

 knowledge to improve and change the various modes of culture, and to he more than a mere imitator. 

 Proper agricultural schools were wanted, and the monarchs of Germany spared no means to 

 accomplish this important object. The ablest men were selected for the Institutions, and nothing 

 was spared to induce them to take charge of them. The late King of Prussia, who like his ancestors, 

 paid gr(^at attention to all improvements in husbandry, was the first to establish such an institution. 

 He invited Tn^R, the celebrated German agriculturist, to settle within his kingdom and introduce 

 Agricultural schools. Tu/Er accepted his offer, and left Cella for Berlin. The other monarchs of 

 Germany followed the example of the King of Prussia, and Germany had, in 1847, sixty-two large 

 Institutions. With some of them Forests and Veterinary schools are connected. Austria then had 

 9; Prussia 12; Saxony 5; Bavaria 16; Hanover 2; Wurtcmburg 8; and other States 14; in 



all 62. 



-^^ 



There is a capital of $80,000,000 invested in the culture of the cane in the States of Florida, 

 Louisiana, and Texas. Tiiese States produce annually about 308,000,000 pounds of sugar, beside 

 which foi-eign importations are made to the extent of 350,000,000 pounds. Even a short crop of 

 sugar at the South, which reduces the usual production only 100,000,000 or 150,000,000 pounds, 

 invariably advances the rate of sugar from one to one and a half cents per pound ; which, on the 

 entire consumption of 660,000,000, is equal at one cent to $6,600,000, and at one and a half cents 

 to about $10,000,000. 



