PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 305 



MANNER OF GATHERING, 



When properly ripened in the field, the flax maj be cut with the ordinary- 

 scythe, cradle or mowing machine, and should in all respects be cured the 

 same as hay. It should be placed in the barn, or in stacks in the field, as 

 soon as drj' enough after cutting, and should not be exposed to constant dews 

 or rain. It may be threshed by an ordinary threshing machine, as the 

 tangling of the straw is no injury to the fiber for making fibrilia. And 

 when the seed is thus removed, it may be broken on the farm by the brake, 

 needing less power than a thrashing machine, or it may be hauled like hay, 

 to designated spots in the neighborhood where a brake maybe permanently 

 worked; and the tow thus cleaned and scutched, may be sent to market to 

 be cottonized at the factories where used. The usual crop of flax per acre 

 is from one to two tons of unrotted straw, and from fifteen to twenty-five 

 bushels of seed. 



BREAKING AND SCUTCHING. 



The recent improved brakes of the Fibrilia company are prepared for 

 the breaking and cleaning of both long and short line flax or hemp, rotted 

 or unrotted. One machine will do the whole work and can be run by 

 horse-power on the farm, the same as a threshing machine, turning out the 

 fiber ready for steeping, from one to three tons of straw per day, and will 

 cost, according to size, from $250 to $500. One good brake will answer 

 the purpose of a whole neighborhood or town. 



The flax straw should be thoroughly dry when broken, and care should 

 be taken that the fiber and shives should be kept separate. As soon as the 

 fiber is properly broken and cleaned by the machine, it should be carefull}'- 

 baled, without being wet, and sent to market, where it is steeped, fibridized 

 and bleached or colored, as required for spinning on short stapled machinery 

 prepared for the purpose. The steeping and fibrilizing process is not 

 usually carried on by the farmer, but more properly belongs to the manu- 

 facturer. 



GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 



By the foregoing method the roots of the flax are left in the ground, and 

 act as a fertilizer. The shives or woody portion of the stalk, after break- 

 ing, if used unrotted, and before the albuminous properties are suffered to 

 ferment, make the best of feed for stock on the farm; and this, in unrotted 

 straw, forming three-quarters of the whole weight of the original straw, 

 is an important item for the consideration of the farmer in estimating the 

 value of his crop. The rotting process heretofore practiced by farmers, 

 which has always been so tedious a part in the culture of flax, is sought 

 to be avoided. In fact, the only value that there can be in rotted above 

 unrotted straw, to the purchasers for the raanufactute of fibrilia, is in the 

 great dilference in weight, which is about one-third. One ton of unrotted 

 straw, when fully rotted, will only weigh about from twelve to fourteen 

 hundred pounds; the fiber being about the same. It will be seen that the 

 farmer can afford his unrotted straw for one-half the price of rotted, besides 

 saving all the trouble and expense of rotting; therefore, with this allow- 

 ance, it is better for both the farmer and the manufacturer that the straw 

 should not be rotted. One ton of unrotted straw will produce about 500 



[Am. Inst.] 20 



