No. 144.] 185 



average prices of cotton. With straw at $10 per ton, the amount 

 paid the farmer is 5 cent? per lb. for fibre, and the cost of break- 

 ing and refining enough for a pound, will be less than 5 cents 

 more, making the refined material, like that exhibited, less than 

 10 cents per lb., about the average price of cotton. If the flax 

 that is cut with a scythe like hay, such as can be bought at the 

 West for about $5 per ton, be used, of cour-^e the fibre uould cost 

 less. At any rate very large profits must be made at the linen 

 business for many years, until competition shall eventually bring 

 down prices. Shirt linen will average 4| yards to the pound, so 

 that the raw material will cost less than 1| cents per yard, all the 

 rest being labor in the factory. There is no doubt that such goods 

 can be produced for 10 to 12 cents per yard. From a calculation 

 that had been made, one twenty fifth of the cultivated land in 

 the northern States being in flax, would produce an amount of 

 linen fibre equal to one-half of our present average cotton crop, 

 and there is no reason why one-twelfth, or even one-sixth of the 

 cultivated land should not be in flax if desired. It was remarked 

 that no figures could be made from any true data that would show 

 a less profit than 100 per cent by the new mode of manufacture, 

 either of linen, cordage, or coarse bagging fabrics. 



Mr, Coleman, of Brooklyn, asked Professor Mapes as to the 

 escape of the ammonia. 



Professor Mapes referred to the example so often mentioned by 

 him of a barrel of soil into which manures, with their ammonia, 

 are put, all of which are fjund to he absorbed by the soil, and 

 nothing escapes at the bottom but clear water. The strong smells 

 of guano and other matters are lost in the soil. The Professor 

 spoke of the use of green crops ploughed in — clover for example 

 — as being due to the fact that the constituent fertilizers were con- 

 tained in a perfectly divided state in the green plant, and when 

 mixed with soil were perfectly ready for the use of other plants. 

 It is on the same principle that the fluid manures act so benefi- 

 cially for plants. 



Mr Meigs — In reference to the now well-known facts that the 

 stimulants and pabulum for plants do not descend, but ascend, 



