46 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



of the late William Lowndes, that he be- 

 came so impressed with the value of the 

 cow pea, as a fertilizer, he took in special 

 charge an experiment on poor lands near 

 Charleston. The first year he gathered 

 seven bushels of oats to the acre. Imme- 

 diately alter cutting, he sowed the field in 

 peas, and in the autumn ploughed them 

 -jnder. The next year he gathered four- 

 een bushels of oats. Again as before, 

 he sowed the pea and ploughed in the vine, 

 and the following season took from the 

 land twenty-eight bushels of oats. A third 

 time he sowed and turned under the vine, 

 and the succeeding harvest cut forty 

 bushels to the acre. 



Our experience has not been quite as 

 specific and systematic as this — but it has 

 been not less convincing. As an improv- 

 ing crop for worn-out lands, in our judg- 

 ment, the pea has no rival. If the peas 

 are sown broad-cast — which practice we 

 do not approve — we think a suggestion 

 of B. H. Burgwin, which we published in 

 volume first, as worth a trial, particularly 

 on good land. He says: "As it is im- 

 portant to give the peas a start over the 

 weeds and grass, I soak them six hours 

 in water, and rub them in plaster of Paris; 

 and, when they begin to leaf and branch, 

 say, when twelve inches high, I sow plas- 

 ter at the rate of a bushel per acre. This 

 stimulates their growth, and they over- 



ower the weeds and grass." 



From the Genesee Farmer. 



FLAX CULTURE. 



There is much discussion in Great Bri- 

 tain at the present time, as to the necessity 

 of paying $45,000,000 to foreigners for 

 flax, when their own climate is equally 

 adapted to its growth as that of Belgium 

 and other European countries. It is said 

 that when wheat was from three to four 

 dollars per bushel, land that was not well 

 adapted to its growth was sown, and 

 though the yield was small, yet, from the 

 high prices obtained, it was profitable to 

 grow it. But now, when wheat is but one 

 dollar per bushel, this land can no longer 

 be cultivated with wheat without serious 

 loss. What, therefore, shall be done with 

 it? The reply of many intelligent practi- 

 cal farmers is, "cultivate oats, peas, beans, 

 turnips and flax;" and there can be no 

 doubt that if free trade continues, which it 

 undoubtedly will, a much smaller area of 



wheat will be sown in future in England. 

 The same thing is true in relation to 

 France. Free trade with England pro- 

 mised high prices for the surplus wheat 

 and a large breadth of land was sown in 

 consequence; but prices are so low that 

 wheat culture in France 13 anything but a 

 profitable business and will not be so ex- 

 tensive as in the last few years. We 

 therefore predict somewhat higher prices 

 for the future. 



At the Penrith Farmers' Club, Mr. 

 Rome, a practical farmer who has been 

 engaged in the culture of flax for some 

 time, gave a lecture on the subject, from 

 which we will make a few extracts: 



"The value of a crop of flax, standing 

 in a field, is from forty to sixty dollars an 

 acre — the purchaser to pull the flax. The 

 yield of flax will vary from thirty cwt. to 

 forty cwt. per acre; the produce of seed 

 about sixteen bushels. The price of the 

 flax, after threshing out the seed, fourteen 

 to fifteen dollars per ton, 



" Soils. — The flax crop may be grown 

 with advantage on all moderately cohesive 

 soils, resting on a sound clay subsoil, pro- 

 viding the land is naturally dry, or tho- 

 roughly drained; but gravels or very light 

 soils, or lands upon a weak tilly subsoil, 

 are not suited to its growth. 



"Rotation. — Flax will succeed best af- 

 ter clover sod, or oat stubble properly pre- 

 pared on good land; and after a white crop 

 following a green crop, or after potatoes 

 or bare fallows on inferior land. 



" Preparation of Soil. — Deep plough- 

 ing in early autumn by one plough follow- 

 ing another in the same furrow, is neces- 

 sary to the success of the crop under all 

 circumstances, (except when the land has 

 been previously subsoiled,) to break the 

 crust or pan formed below the surface soil, 

 so as to allow the roots of the flax and the 

 surface water to go freely down ; a second 

 furrow will in some cases be necessary in 

 spring before sowing, but generally run- 

 ning through the soil with the cultivator 

 will be found preferable. Dry lands should 

 be laid into flats, but cold ground ought to 

 be ploughed into twelve feet ridges, very 

 slightly raised in the centre; the manure 

 should then be applied, the land well har- 

 rowed and rolled, the seed sown on the 

 rolled surface and harrowed in with light 

 seed harrows, taking care to keep the 

 horses as much off the ridges as possible 

 on cold land. It is very desirable that the 

 ground selected for flax should be per- 

 fectly clean to begin with. 



