No. 149.] 403 



The Chairman said, I am told that flax has already been reap-" 

 ed like wheat. 



President Tallmadge continued — In the sowing of flax seed, 

 we have, in one important point, been ahead of Europe — that is, 

 in our mode of rolling it. In the best methods of rotting, sepa- 

 rating the fibre, &c., we have not made a beginning — steeping in 

 hot water vats ; in cold water ; stagnant unwholesome water ; 

 dew rotting, &c. I merely wish to call public notice to all this, to 

 stimulate inquiry ; for England, at this moment, boasts of having 

 patented better methods, which perform the work of weeks, or 

 months, in a few hours. I do not yet believe that this has been 

 accomplished ; but I am persuaded that she desires to forestall 

 our inventions, and make us think it unnecessary for us to try to 

 invent what she has already discovered ; and when we succeed, 

 she will then claim them as hers. I urge my countrymen to pro- 

 ceed with inventions. 



About 20 years ago, Mr. Anthony Dey, a respectable member 

 of the New- York bar, proclaimed an invention of magnitude, to 

 dispense with rotting, by crackling flax dry, to obtain the pure 

 fibre. He was, so far, entirely successful ; but after cloth was 

 made of it, of seeming purity and excellence, the cloth being 

 placed in a closet, turned of a dark color, and it was found rotting 

 and ruined. Here was a mysterious acetous fermentation, hitherto 

 unsuspected. That which would have been taken out by the old 

 plans of rotting, now came out as existing in the fibre, the 

 destroyer of the woven linen, by mildew and mould. Mr. Dey's 

 loss, by this failure, from this cause, was about twenty thousand 

 dollars. Chemistry is to be called upon in this work ; let her 

 now step forward to aid in this vast movement, or be ejected. 



From the seed, we have the oil cake which we send to Eng- 

 land to fatten cattle there. It is good for that ; but when tried 

 upon cows, the effect of the oil on the milk is as if lamp oil had 

 been spilled in the milk pail. This effect is perceived when the 

 cow has eaten the oil cake two days. 



Our imports of linen, in 1849, exceeded eight millions of 

 dollars. This should be home production, and stop the importa- 



