506 Transactions of the American Institute. 



to pull it either by hand or. machine, although if the flax is long and 

 cut very low, it may be used for long fiber. A good hand will pull 

 one-third of an acre per day, and there are machines which will pull 

 about four acres. One of the greatest drawbacks would be the scarcity 

 of labor; but if good machines were introduced, there is no doubt 

 that the business would be profitable. In Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, 

 where the flax is converted into tow, flax is either cut by machines or 

 cradled, and the straw is left in the best condition when the^seed is 

 tramped out. If thrashed by machines, the fiber will be shortened 

 and its value lessened by at least one-fourth. North river and Canada 

 flax is now worth about seventeen cents per pound. Bagging tow 

 will not average much over three cents. There may be locations 

 where the cost of transportation would be so great that it would not 

 pay to make tow, but the long fiber might pay reasonably well. 

 The books generally tell us that flax is an exhausting crop, but 

 if the testimony of farmers can be relied on, there is not a 

 crop which leaves the ground in better condition for rye or 

 wheat. Some farmers here consider it the best crop they can raise. 

 As to the comparative value of seed and oil, it is about as two to one 

 in this section, viz. : oil, seventy-five to seventy-six cents per gallon ; 

 seed, one dollar and fifty-five to one dollar and sixty cents. In New 

 York, two and a half to one. If the agent you referred to would 

 give a detailed report of his steam-rotting process, and could show 

 that it was remunerative for bagging tow, he would confer an immense 

 benefit on the country, as during a dry season the dew-rotting process 

 is very slow, requiring sometimes from two to three months, while 

 with steam the same number of days would suffice. I am aware that 

 the warm-water system of rotting is practiced to a limited extent in 

 Europe as well as in Canada, but it does not seem to supersede the 

 cold-water or dew-rotting process, although it has been in use over 

 twenty years. Anything new and practical on steam rotting would 

 be appreciated by many readers. 



Mr. F. D. Curtis — Growing flax will not be profitable unless near 

 a mill, where a good and uniform price can be had. A few years 

 since, in my town, it was started quite extensively, but was soon 

 abandoned. It leaves the ground light and loose, owing to the denser 

 shade of the crop, but it is exhaustive. I am going to grow flax in 

 my oats for the sake of the seed to feed my stock, getting it ground 

 at the grist-mill. I think I can do this cheaper than to buy oil meal, 

 as the latter, now-a-days, is squeezed so effectually that nearly all of 

 the good is gone. 



