THE GENESEE FARMEE. 



61 



FLAX CULTURE. 



•■' I NOTICED an article iu the December number of 

 • the Farmer, from Mr. R. T. Brown, of Indiana, on 

 the Cultivation of Flax, by the Hon. H. L. Ells- 

 worth. His calculations are altogether too high. 

 I visited Ireland last summer for the express purpose 

 of knowing how they manage their flax after it is 

 pulled. I have three brothers in the North of Ire- 

 land, all extensive flax-growers, who have been in 

 that business for many years. I remained there from 

 the time flax was iu Ijlossom until it was scutched. I 

 was also in a number of the most extensive linen 

 factories. I found but one opinion among the manu- 

 facturers, which was that any chemical process for 

 separating shove from the lint, that had yet been 

 tried, was very injurious to the lint. The whole pro- 

 cess adopted there can be used here, with one excep- 

 tion only, and that is pnlUng, which is the most costly 

 part of the labor. For that, I intend to cut with a 

 reaping machine, having the ground well roUed when 

 the seed is sovrn, making a smooth surface. The ma- 

 chine will cut within two and a half inches of the 

 surface. In Irelaud, three-fourths of all the lint is 

 dressed by steam power. The shove is quite suffi- 

 cient for fuel for the engine, and a boy can attend it; 

 it performs the breaking and scutching very perfectly. 

 Flax can be steeped, spread upon the grass a few 

 days, and gathered and bound in bundles and taken 

 to the flax mill, at as little cost as any other way, 

 and perhaps less. The manufacturer cuts all the lint 

 before carding, from three to five inches in length; it 

 is then roped and spun, the same as cotton. I bought 

 some yarn spun in one of these factories so fine as to 

 bave twenty-two dozen in one pound, spun by ma- 

 chinery. If you wish, I will send you a little flax, 

 which will pay to export when dressed. It is worth 

 iJ2.50 per stone of 16 lbs. — the break and sutch, 21 

 ^nts per stone. It is not dried before breaking. I 

 owed a little of the white flax seed last year; it 

 ,TOws about eight inches taller than the brown seed, 

 nd I think will be adopted by those who intend 

 ,aving the lint Hugh McEleoy. — Sidney, Shelby 

 ■ ounty, Ohio. 



[We thank Mr. McElroy for his instructive letter, 

 : nu should be pleased to receive a specimen of the 

 ax which he says he will send to the editor. If 

 his important plant can be profitably grown in this 

 jountry for its luit as well as seed, it will give another 

 staple to American agriculture.] 



POULTRY ECONOMY. 



Mb. Editor : — The excitement and rage about 

 poultry have no precedent; and the fabulous price 

 paid for imported breeds speaks well for their quaUty, 

 if the cost of a thing is evidence of value. Of the 

 imported kinds I know nothing from experience ; 

 but in keeping the Domenigues I am well acquainted, 

 my stock ranging from twenty to forty. I give them 

 what they require to eat the year round, principally 

 com. The consequence is, there has not been a day 

 in two years which has not given me new-laid e^o-s. 

 In the summer of 1852 my fowls were cooped up 

 five mouths; in 1853, for three months. In the De- 



cember number of the Genesee Farmer, 1851, there 

 is an article credited to the Agricultural Gazette, 

 stating that poultry kept in coops beyond fourteen 

 days, will grow leaner, and ultimately die. Now I 

 have no doubt they would die, if fed on grain and 

 water only. They require more than this, and obtain 

 more when at It^. --e. Forty fowls will eat one bushel 

 of weeds or gi'a&s in twenty-four hours, when placed 

 within their reach in the coops. The want of this 

 green feed may be the cause of their dying; at least, 

 my poultry did not want it, and they did well. Can 

 this be a secret to poultry-raisers ? It must have 

 been so to the Jlgi-ic-ullural Gazette, if not to others. 

 It may have been thought of too little importance to 

 notice. I can not regard it thus Hghtly, since it may 

 affect the poor more than the rich. The poultry kept 

 by the poor is often an objection to their occupying 

 a tenement near by a field designed for raising grain 

 Poultry kept in coops avoMa this objection. I would 

 not recommend keeping fowls ia coops as a mattei 

 of economy, but for convenienco. They will pay ii 

 coops with proper feeding. All mast know that thej 

 require hme in some shape. I give mine shells broker 

 to a proper size, the year round. Poultry will nol 

 pay without enough to eat; and as i matter of econo 

 my, I would suggest that their foc<l be placed in i 

 situation accessable to them at all times, Th^ 

 treated, the return for the investment is as snre ^ 

 any other. My coop is four feet by six, and thr.x 

 and^a half high, with the ground for a floor. Th*. 

 sides and ends are open and airy, with poles acrct ' 

 the top. Iu the coop they show no desire to inco 

 bate. My chickens do not have the gapes. Alsi 

 ANDER Titus. — York Town. 



Sheep and Cattle in Scotland. — Extract from i 

 letter I received a few weeks ago from a Mr. Meihle 

 a farmer in one of the Border Counties of Scotland: 



"I had 290 ewes, and from these 507 lambs; 31( 

 of the top lambs were sold at D. Boswjill's fair, anc 

 the second ones at Melrose a month afterward. Ott.' 

 average number of twins from 100 ewes is from 7( 

 to 75 pairs. As to the wool, a hog's (that is, a year 

 Img sheep) fleece, weighs from 6 to 8 lbs., and th« 

 ewes' rather lighter. Prices this year are, for hogg 

 wool Is. 6d., and for ewes' Is. 4d. per ib. 



" With respect to cattle, it is of great importance 

 to have a 2:>roper breed. Ours is the Short-hort 

 Calves get milk three or four months; and after the; 

 are a month old, we add a httle hay, cut turnips, o 

 oil cake, which they very soon learn to eat; of cours 

 we put them on grass as soon as it is ready. It i 

 very necessary to keep them always advancing i' 

 condition. The first winter we give them turnips an 

 straw, or hay ; gi-aze them well the foUowing snmmei 

 and next winter feed them off on turnips. We hav 

 different kinds of turnips; the first two months w 

 give them Globe or common turnips ; next tw 

 months. Yellow or Green-top ; and then finish of 

 M'ith Swedish, along with a httle oil cake or bruise 

 corn (grain). Many have this year realized from £1 

 to £20 ($90 to $100) a head for two-year-olds; bv 

 prices this year have been unusually high. Our ave • 

 age price for two-year-olds is from £14 to £16 

 head (that is, from $70 to $80)." 



