1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



159 



laws were in force for many years, and regulated 

 the manufiicture of calico to a great extent. 



In America, the manufacture of linen was among 

 the first of domestic jjroducts. Hand wheels and 

 looms were introduced into almost every farm- 

 house, and in many cases a surplus of linen was 

 manufactured, beyond private domestic use, and 

 was sent to market and sold. In some cases, as 

 at Londonderry, large amounts of goods were an- 

 nually made for market by the Scotch Irish, who 

 settled there, and a trade mark was given them 

 for the protection of their linen from counterfeits 

 from other but inferior producers. 



The value of linen has not been diminished, but 

 rather has increased since cotton came into gen- 

 eral use, but its manufacture is mostly confined to 

 Europe. The great scarcity of cotton at the pres- 

 ent time has made it a subject of more general in- 

 terest than for many years in the past. 



Flax cotton has been a subject of investigation 

 and research for more than a century, l)ut the ex- 

 periments have, generally, almost entirely failed. 



The fibrilizing process of flax and hemp how- 

 ever is a perfect success, and at the present time 

 an article of fibrilia is made which answers a good 

 purpose for both cotton and wool, and can be spun 

 and woven on the ordinary machinery for those 

 staples with but little necessary alteration. 



In the production of this article the whole pro- 

 cess of the manufacture of flax and hemp has 

 been changed. The gathering of the raw flax, the 

 extraction of the woody matter of the stalk, 

 as well as the dissolving of the gummy matter 

 holding the fibrils together, and the preparation 

 for spinning and weaving, or coloring and bleach- 

 ing, has no analogy with the manufacturing pro- 

 cess of long line flax for linen. The whole pro- 

 cess is accomplished for less than one-third the 

 cost per pound of long line fibre, while for cali- 

 coes mixed half and half with cotton, it is much 

 better than cotton. 



The whole process of manufacture is very sim- 



f)le. The flax or hemp straw is mown or cradled 

 ike grain, and is cured like hay, after which the 

 seed is threshed out in the ortlinary way. It is 

 then passed through the brake, which takes out 

 fourteen hundred pounds of shives out of every 

 two thousand pounds of straw, (the sliives, if un- 

 rotted, being good for cattle,) and the fibre is 

 then steeped in the retort with warm water at dif- 

 ferent temperatures, which dissolves the glumien 

 in the fibre, after wJiich it is rinsed or washed be- 

 fore coming up to the boiling point. It is then dried 

 and run through the stranding and cleaning ma- 

 chine, followed by carding, spinning, S:c., on short 

 stapled machinery. If it needs bleaching or col- 

 oring, it may be done in the retort at first, before 

 removing — the difl'erent liquors being passed 

 through the receiver to bleach or color, as the 

 case may be. 



The cost cf fibrilia thus made, provided the 

 manufocturer buys and brakes his flax under his 

 own supervision, and at the present cost of straw 

 in the West, is about from ten to twelve and 

 one-half-cents per pound. In ordinary times it 

 can be manufactured so as to mix half and half 

 with cotton for calicoes for eight cents per pound. 

 All that is now needed is a multiplicity of the 

 same machinery we are now making to su})ply the 

 world with a substitute for cotton and wool in 

 great abundance. 



The success of fibrilizing flax and hemp as sub- 

 stitutes for cotton and wool has been placed be- 

 yond a doubt. The time necessary to bring out 

 fiibrilia in such quantities as to supply the world 

 with that product must l)e determined l)y the co- 

 operation of the peoi)le in building mills and fur- 

 nishing capital, the same as in any other branch of 

 business. 



Messrs. Wilkinson &: Wheeler, of Roxbury 

 have adopted the fibrilia principle in making 

 crash, and are succeeding beyond exjjectation. 



The mills now running under our svstem, 

 though comparatively small, are making satisfac- 

 tory goods, and the profits are quite large enough 

 to satisfy the most fastidious money-maker. The 

 tendency now, however, is so speculative, both 

 by the farmer who raises the flax, and the capital- 

 ist that we have had to use a restraining rather 

 than an encouraging influence to keep each in 

 proper check, lest both should be carried on too 

 fast and too far, simply because though thev were 

 willing to give their lands and money to tlie enter- 

 prise, they were not studying the subject properly 

 as they advanced. 



If the friends of the fibrilia enterprise have 

 erred in the minds of capi'alists in one way more 

 than any other, it has been in keeping the subject 

 free h-om speculative influences, which, though 

 promising largely at first, might not be so well for 

 the proprietors in the long run. 



The twelfth meeting of the series took place 

 Monday, April 6. Mr. Brown, editor of the X. 

 E. Farnvr, was elected chairman. He said he 

 was gratified to address the society in a somewhat 

 unusual, but pleasant form, as ^'ladicji and gentle- 

 men" — there being several ladies present. He 

 spoke at some length upon the ?///productive con- 

 dition of wet and heavy lands, of the great labor 

 to cultivate them, and their liability to diougld, 

 and the consequent decay of plants growing upon 

 them. He urged the necessity of thorougli drain- 

 age as one of the leading improvements of the 

 ace in farm pursuits. This he attempted to show 



by 



1. The ditach^antarjfis of cultivating wet lands. 



2. The j^reveniion of drought. 



3. The meclianical and f'eiidiziniy eff'ects of a 

 shower upon thoroughly drained land, in contrast 

 with its efi'ects on undrained land. 



4. The variation of the season in consequence 

 of drainage. 



5. The l&ss coat of cultivation on land made po- 

 rous, warm and friable, by drainage, and the great 

 increase of crop, with the same amount of ma- 

 nure, and at a greatly reduced amount of lalior. 



Mr. Bkown briefly illustrated these ])<)iii;s by 

 results gained in his own experience in draining 

 wet u])lands. He then called u])on others to 

 state their views upon this important subject. 



Mr. WakKKN, of Auburn, said he had drained 

 lands for several years. Wet lands bordering on 

 swales should be dr.ained. He drained such lands, 

 and ii improved them so much that six iiills of 

 potatoes made a bushel. His first crop more than 

 paid for the labor of drainage. He drained to 

 the depth of from two to three feet, filkd the 

 drains with stone, and covered them with straw 

 and turf, and had since gathered annually a good 

 crop of hay. He found it was a good piece of 

 land. 



