No. 149.] 415 



names, such as Irish, Scotch and English. Dowlas linen is ex- 

 ceedingly strong and made for shirts. Drill is twilled linen 

 made for pantaloons. Linens generally made use of for sheeting 

 are mixed with cotton, and are called Irish and Union Irish. 

 Then there is the Lancashire linen, Union Lancashire, Russia, 

 Imitation Scotch, Barnsley, Yorkshire, &c. There are also un- 

 bleached linens, brown Holland, Silesia, brown damask, linen 

 damask, diapers, dorsock, huckaback, tick. We have also the 

 intensely fine linen fabrics, called cambric, possessing a most 

 beautiful silky appearance. 



The average produce of an acre of flax when prepared for 

 market, in soil perfectly adapted to its culture, may be put down 

 at about six hundred weight. If grown for seed, ten bushels 

 may be considered a good yield. If well ripened, five bushels 

 may be selected for sowing, and the other five bruised for oil, 

 which is much used by painters. The refuse is called oil cake, 

 and is very extensively used for fattening cattle. If I were in 

 the habit of raising flax, the seed should be fed on the farm, in 

 which case it could not be considered an exhausting crop, but if 

 sold it is most decidedly so. 



It is as food for stock exceedingly nutritious, and may be fed 

 advantageously to all kinds of animals ; you may feed it to calves 

 instead of milk ; to horses and cattle mixed with bran, crushed 

 oats, or cut hay, which they relish sufficiently to improve their 

 condition with great rapidity, and at the same time operate as a 

 cure for costiveness and inflammation. 



Notwithstanding all the advantages that can be brought for- 

 ward in favor of flax culture, I for one am fully determined not 

 to raise it on account of the disadvantages in its cultivation that 

 I can name, to wit : 



1st. It is most assuredly an exhausting crop. 



2d. Much labor and manure is required in the preparation of 

 the land. ^ 



3d. Much attention is necessary at the season of pulling, as 

 different parts of the same field ripens at different periods. 



