13 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Januabt, 
MALLORY & SANFORD'S 
Prospects for Flax Culture— An Improved 
Brake. 
The long and prosperous reiga of cotton as 
king of textile materials, has in good measure 
thrown into obscurity the plant that from ear- 
liest history gave royal robes of fine linen to 
monarchs and comfortable apparel to their sub- 
jects. In the memory of many now living, no 
fanner's stock of implements was complete with- 
out the flax brake and the hackle at the barn, 
and the foot spinning-wheel by the fire-side, 
with which, and the loom, were wrought from 
the annual crop, clothing for the present use, and 
for the daughters' dowry. It is consoling to 
know that if the accustomed supply of cotton 
be cut off by the desolating storm of war, we 
have yet resources which have in former times 
proved adequate to furnish the necessities, if not 
all the luxuries, of late years supplied by the 
southern staple. Numerous costly experiments 
have been long in progress to discover, if possible, 
some mode of treating flax to render it capable 
of taking the place of cotton, and though the 
end is not yet fully reached, advancement has 
been made, and ultimate success is not hopeless. 
A large establishment in New-England former- 
ly used for the manufacture of cotton goods, we 
believe, has recently been purchased by a com- 
pany for the purpose of working flax on cotton 
machinery, under new patents, for the produc- 
tion of what is called flax-cotton. 
But even if flax can not be manipulated so as 
to come into competition with cotton, and sup- 
posing the supply of the latter to be fully re- 
stored, there is ye.t a good prospect that flax- 
growing will prove remunerative. The supply 
of the staple for the manufacture of linens and 
other fabrics has been growing more and more 
scanty for some time past. A year or two since 
an agent was sent to this country from Great 
Britain to inquire concerning the amount pro- 
duced here, and to take measures if possible to 
increase the breadth of land devoted to this crop. 
In addition to the call for flax for manufac- 
turing purposes, the seed is in constant request, 
IMPROVED FLAX BRAKE. 
and, by itself alone, is considered in many sec- 
tions as good a paying crop as wheat or corn. 
It is evident that to make flax-growing pay 
well, at least in ordinary times, it is neces- 
sary to employ improved machinery in pre- 
paring the fiber for market. Flax-dressing by 
hand is too slow to be profitable. Mills in va- 
rious parts of the country are ready to perform 
this work, but they can serve for only a limit- 
ed area ; flax in the straw is too bulky to allow 
of distant transportation. On account of this 
difficulty the fiber has been wholly neglected in 
large districts where the plant is cultivated, and 
only the seed has been saved, for the manufac- 
ture of oil. We have recently examined a new- 
ly invented flax-brake intended to meet this 
want, which if successful will do much to stim- 
ulate flax culture. The machine is shown in the 
above engraving. It consists of a series of 
fluted iron rollers, seen at the top, between 
which the flax is drawn from the feeding board. 
A peculiar vibratory motion is given to the 
rollers by means of ingeniously arranged gear- 
ing seen near the base of the machine, which 
causes the flax-straw to pass repeatedly back 
and forth between the-rollers, and it comes out 
with the " boon " or woody part so thoroughly 
broken that a very large part of it (64 per cent, 
it is claimed) can be readily shaken out of the 
fiber without any further dressing. Machines 
for a similar purpose are already in operation 
at flax mills, but they require trained workmen 
to tend them, greater power to work them, they 
leave a large part of the " shoove " or broken 
straw mixed with the fiber, and their operation 
is not without danger to the workmen. Nu- 
merous iustauces of the loss of an arm have oc- 
curred to inexperienced operators. The Mal- 
lory & Sanford brake can be run by an ordina- 
ry horse-power, and any laborer can use it with- 
out danger. Another advantage claimed for 
the new brake is a great saving of fiber. In 
experiments made in the flax mill at Union Vil- 
lage, Rensselaer Co., N. Y., 500 lbs. of flax 
straw dressed on a brake of the old pattern, 
yielded 02i lbs. dressed flax, 43 lbs. coarse tow, 
and 9 lbs. fine tow. A like quantity of the same 
quality under the new brake gave 1104 lbs. 
dressed flax, 16 coarse tow, and 3 lbs. fine tow 
— a gain in good fiber of over 3£ per cent. The 
greater weight of tow in the first lot above the 
10 lbs. saved in the "line" or dressed flax, was 
owing to the larger quantity of "shoove" or 
broken straw remaining among it, rendering it 
of less value than the tow from the new brake. 
The capacity of the above machiue is said to be 
from twenty to twenty five hundred lbs. of llax- 
straw per day often hours. If the above claims 
of the inventors are reliable, and they appear to 
be well substantiated, the machine will greatly 
aid in making flax culture more profitable. 
Further information concerning this apparatus 
can be obtained from Messrs. Mallory & San- 
ford, corner of Center and White streets, in this 
city, where the brake may be seen in operation. 
We consider the subject of flax culture of such 
importance that we are preparing to give dur- 
ing this year the fullest possible information 
on all the practical points involved. We are 
already in communication with those w T ho have 
had much experience in the business, and shall 
lay the result of our investigations before our 
readers in time for putting in the next crop. 
We will also esteem it a favor if those of our 
subscribers who are familiar with flax culture 
will contribute their knowledge on the subject 
for the general benefit, giving particulars as to 
best soil, proper preparation of ground, time 
and manner of sowing, quantity of seed per 
acre, after-culture and treatment; in short all 
the items that the inexperienced desire to know. 
Agricultural Inventions in 1861. 
In the last number of the American Agriculturist 
page 326, we gave a synopsis from the latest 
official list of some of the patents issued in the 
year 1861. The topic is worth referring to again, 
for there is perhaps no better indication of the 
progress making in agricultural science and 
practice. The progress already made is very 
great. It is probably safe to estimate that the 
inventions of 1861, as compared with the imple- 
ments in common use only twenty years ago, 
will effect a saving of the labor of more men than 
are enrolled in our great armies, even if these 
men were all taken from the farm. The de- 
mand which calls forth these inventions, shows 
that farmers are not satisfied with the old meth- 
ods, but are looking for something better. As 
long as people were content to mow an acre a 
day with the hand scythe, no machine was 
thought of; capable of doing the same work in 
a fifth part of the time, and with brute force in- 
stead of human muscles. The same may be said 
of the horse-rake, which puts the larger part of 
the afternoon work of the hay field upon the 
horse. So of all the other inventions that light- 
en the labors of the husbandman and increase 
his profits; they have their origin in the conscious 
imperfection of the old implements. The list of 
inventions furnishes a good mirror of the 
thoughts of the farming population, and shows 
whither the current is tending. 
We find in the list for 1861, twenty-five inven- 
tions pertaining to bee-hives, showing that a 
new impulse has been given to this branch of 
rural economy. The interest in hoed crops is 
represented by fifty-three patents for cultivators. 
When it is recollected that in each one of these 
patents are represented a number of unsuccessful 
applicants, it will be seen that a great amount 
of study has been bestowed upon a field of in- 
