THE SOUTHE 



RN PLANTER. 



47 



"Manure. — Super phosphate of lime, at 

 the rate of four bushels per acre, has 

 proved to be the most suitable manure for 

 the flax crop. Goano raises a soft inferior 

 fibre and injures the crop; and farm-yard 

 manure is nor. approved of. The crop is 

 found to derive most of its nourishment 

 from the atmosphere and the subsoil. 



"Seed. — The best seed is Riga, or the 

 produce of this country, grown from Riga 

 seed the previous year. Great care is ne- 

 cessary in the selection of the seed, so as 

 to get it plump and heavy, and clear of 

 the seeds of weeds. The seed should be 

 sown at the rate of three imperial bushels 

 on good land, and two and a half imperial 

 bushels per acre on inferior land, as soon 

 after the 20th of March as the land can be 

 got into proper order, and the weather will 

 permit, but not later than the 20th of April. 

 Great care should be taken that the seed 

 is distributed evenly over the surface. It 

 is not desirable to sow grass with the flax 

 crop, as it usually injures the fibre of the 

 flax unless sown after the crop has been 

 weeded. A crop of rape may be taken 

 after flax with great advantage on good 

 land, the same year, and the ground sown 

 down with grass seed if desirable. 



" Weeding. — If clean land has been se- 

 lected for the crop, and ploughed early in 

 the autumn and exposed to the winter 

 frosts, few weeds will generally appear, if 

 the seed used be thoroughly cleaned; but 

 if there be any, they must be carefully 

 ulled. This operation is best done by 

 oys and girls properly superintended. It 

 is necessary that they should always work 

 facing the wind. 



" Pulling. — The crop is ready for pulling 

 when the seed in the bolls is beginning to 

 change from a green color to a pale brown 

 color, and the stalk becomes yellow for 

 at)out two-thirds of its height from the 

 ground; this is rather a nice point to de- 

 termine and requires attention, as pulling 

 too soon or allowing the crop to get too 

 ripe are both injurious to the fibre. In 

 pulling, it is necessary to clean the flax 

 ftom all weeds (if any,) to pull it when per- 

 fectly dry, to keep the root ends even, and 

 tie it up in small sheaves to be stooked up 

 and stacked when perfectly dry and tho- 

 roughly winned, which will be in the course 

 of eight or ten days after pulling." 



Some have thought the flax crop an ex- 

 hausting one, but it is not considered so 

 either by farmers who have cultivated it 

 or by agricultural chemists. Dr. Ander- 

 son, chemist to the Highland Agricultural 



Society, states, it is scarcely possible that 

 the flax crop should produce greater ex- 

 haustion than a grain crop, certainly not 

 greater than wheat; if a portion of linseed 

 or oil-cake is consumed on the farm, we 

 should have less exhaustion than from a 

 grain crop. Mr. Brieco and Mr. Barker 

 have both sown clover and grass seeds 

 with flax and other grain crops— the 

 ground occupied by the flax producing 

 double the eatage in the following autumn 

 of that produced where grain crops were 

 sown, while the grass on the ground still 

 remains superior. 



Mr. C. Bedell, Berlin, Mahoning county, 

 Ohio, writes us his method of raising flax, 

 and the one usually adopted in northern 

 Ohio. "If on sod ground, plough very detp 

 in the spring, as early as frost will allow; 

 harrow well till it is mellow; then sow 

 about three pecks of seed per acre, and 

 drag it lightly. We think three pecks lit- 

 tle enough on sod ground, but less might 

 do on corn stubble or fallow. It is less la- 

 bor, covers the ground from the scorching 

 rays of the sun, and leaves the soil in a 

 better preparation for wheat than the old 

 plan of summer-fallowing. We get on an 

 average ten bushels of seed and four hun- 

 dred pounds of dressed flax per acre. 

 The seed sells here for $1 25 per bushel, 

 and the flax for seven cents per pound. 

 So that a crop yields us $40 50 per acre. 

 Some seasons, if the soil is well prepared, 

 we get sixteen bushels per acre, and 600 

 to 700 pounds of dressed flax. 1 do not 

 think it impoverishes the land so much as 

 a barley or an oat crop." 



RECIPE FOR CURING SORES. 



A writer in a late number of the Gene- 

 see Farmer, who signs himself 'R. R.' and 

 dates at Centre Lesle, gives us the follow- 

 ing recipe for curing sores: 



Take two and a half drachms of blue 

 vitriol, four drachms of alum, and six 

 drachms of loaf sugar; or, we will say, 

 blue vitriol of the sfze of a walnut, alum 

 a size larger, and sugar the size of a hen's 

 egg. Pulverize and turn into a glass bot- 

 tle. Add one pint of good vinegar and 

 one table-spoonful of honey. Cork, and 

 shake the mixture three or four times a 

 day, and when dissolved, it is tit for use. 



This wash will remove the film from 

 horses' eyes; will cure king's evil; and 



