450 [Assembly 



length. He has raised it for seed and fibre with profit for forty 

 years past. We should look out for new and better modes of 

 culture ; we must not adopt the errors of some farmers as to 

 its exhaustion of soil. As to its preparation, Schenck's system 

 should be well examined ; hot water steeping and rippling the 

 flax by machinery, separating the flax from the fibre without 

 damage to the germination or the oil produce of the seed. For- 

 merly the seed was, by some, kiln-dried, which killed its germ. 

 Donelan's plan left impurities in the fibre, which appeared at va- 

 rious stages of the manufacture. 



The committee who examined it disapproved of Donelan's 

 method. In 1815 and 1816, two gentlemen in England claimed 

 to separate the fibre by some chemical process, but it was aban- 

 doned and the people went back to the old ways of water rotting. 

 In that operation, much depends upon a suitable temperature. 

 The plan of these gentlemen was the dry one, and that now under 

 consideration is loosening the fibre from the gum and resin and 

 dissolving the silex by chemical means. We must wait for a 

 successful result. In Belgium, Holland, and some in Ireland, 

 the division of labor prevails in tlie flax crop. The Royal Socie- 

 ty of Ireland recommended it to the Irish farmers, but they did 

 not generally adopt it. The demand for linens and lor flax-seed 

 is now greater than the supply. It is said in England tliat the 

 manure of cattle fed on oil cake is very enricliing to the land, 

 more so than from any other food, and will fully restore the 

 exhaustion caused by growing the seed. When flax goes to seed 

 I think that it exhausts the soil, taking out some of the richest 

 ingredients of it, but if we can get them back through the same 

 article, there is no harm done. 



At present, Schenck's patent goes ahead of every other for 

 cheapness and efficiency in preparing the fibre for usej it is 

 adopted and more generally used than any other. The society 

 for improving tlie flax culture of Ireland, in tlieir last report 

 recently made, recommend it decidedly. It is done in a shorter 

 time and much better than the old pool system. It is done in vats 

 or large tanks, containing a large quantity at once, in hot water 

 of a uniform temperature and perfectly under the control of the 



