CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



it depends on the various qualities of soil, goodness of seed, &c. The rule for 

 seeding small grain is reversed; flax requiring to be sown thickest on rich soil, 

 as not more than one stalk is wanted from a plant. In England and Scotland, 

 never less than two, or more than three bushels to the acre is sown. Two and 

 a half is the most usual portion. In Flanders and Ireland, seldom less than 

 three bushels are sown, except when seed is an object. Thick sowing is to 

 obtain fine flax. In this country, it will be important at present to sow at such 

 a rate as will insure good crops of each; and experience only can determine 

 the exact point. 



If sown very thin, too many lateral branches will be thrown out; each pro- 

 ducing a boll, or pod, affording more seed, but shorter and inferior flax. If 

 sown too thick, the plants will draw up weak, with a single boll on a plant, 

 and subject as our climate is, to heavy showers and thunder gusts, very liable 

 to lodge; one of the greatest dangers a flax crop has to encounter. The com- 

 missioners for promoting flax culture in Scotland, considered it as practicable, 

 and strongly recommended that the system should be so conducted as to obtain 

 good flax and good seed at the same time. It is so viewed in Ireland, among 

 the more extensive cultivators, except when wanted for fine linen, cambric, 

 lawn, &c. Dr. DEANE recommends from six to seven pecks. It is probable 

 that six pecks is the least and two bushels the extent that should be sown, to 

 obtain the most profitable results. 



Sowing. The seed should be got in as early as it is possible to prepare the 

 ground. Dr. DEANE observes, that a slight frost after the plants are up will not 

 injure them. For no crop is it more important that the seed should be equally 

 distributed. Fortunately, what has long been a desideratum is now attained. 

 A machine for sowing small seeds broadcast with perfect regularity, great ex- 

 pedition, and in any desired quantity, has lately been invented, and performs 

 to great satisfaction. 



Pulling. This should be performed as soon as the leaves begin to fall, and 

 the stalks show a bright yellow colour, and when the bolls are turned a little 

 brown. The seed will continue to ripen afterwards. When the flax is lodged, 

 it should be pulled immediately, in any stage of its growth, or it will be entirely 

 lost; great care is requisite in sorting the different lengths, and keeping them 

 separate until after the flax is hackled, or much waste will ensue in that pro- 

 cess. 



Saving seed. As soon as the flax is dry enough to be put under cover, the 

 bolls should be rippled, as it is termed. By this method the foul seeds are sepa- 

 rated with little trouble, and good clean seed is ready for an early market, often 

 the best, without the use of expensive machinery to make it so. Here the 

 operations of the farmer ought to end. The process of preparation being 

 foreign to, and unconnected with his other pursuits, and whicn has been the 

 greatest objection to flax culture. Can there be any reason why the farmer is 

 to prepare his flax, more than the hides of his cattle which he sends to the tan- 

 nerl They are both chemical processes; and to dissolve the glutinous or re- 

 siium- l>y which the fibres are attached to the stem, without impair- 



ing their strength, is perhaps as critical, and requires as much care and judg- 

 ment, as to extract the animal juices from the hides and fill the pores with 

 tannin. In short the flax-grower, and flax-preparer and dresser, should 

 be distinct professions. - They are so in France. Flanders and Holland, and 

 were extensively so in Scotland, where the farmer sold his flax on the ground, 

 or in sheaves at his barn or rick. 



Preparation of the Flax. This article cannot be complete 

 without a brief account of the method usually adopted for the 

 preparation of the flax. It will be interesting to new beginners 

 and those who may possibly devote a few acres to its culture. 

 When the crop is ready, the plants are pulled up by the roots 

 and laid in handsful alternately crossing one another, and left 

 upon the ground for a few days to wither. They are then 

 freed from the capsules or seed-vessels, made into small sheaves, 



