CULTURE OF FLAX. 
349 
must be a little careful in selecting early varieties, 
and a more careful cultivation. 
Rye. —When, I first cleared my land, I raised good 
rye, but within a few years I have found, that even 
with all the risk of the grain worm, 1 can raise more 
wheat than rye on an acre. It is, however, raised 
to considerable extent, but not largely in this part of 
Maine. 
Oats. —Perhaps after wheat and corn, oats will 
follow next as a generally cultivated crop. 1 can¬ 
not, however, from any figuring I can make, find it 
so profitable as some other crops; and I find Mr. 
Colman's report of the agriculture of Massachusetts, 
gives the smallest profit on oats of any crop culti¬ 
vated there. 
Potatoes. —This crop, I suppose, all know is our 
hobby up east; and if the remark be true some have 
made, that every bushel of potatoes round here in 
Maine will nett as much as every bushel of corn 
does the inhabitants of the western States, we have 
but little reason to complain of our lot. 
Peru , Maine, Sept. 2, 1845. J. H. Jenne. 
CULTURE OF FLAX. 
The following directions for the culture and proper 
management of the flax crop, were compiled by the 
Committee of the Society, for the promotion and 
growth of flax in Ireland. They have been carefully 
arranged from the mass of information obtained by 
the Society and their agriculturists, during their four 
years’ experience, in the improved system of manage¬ 
ment. By this system, Irish flax has been produced, 
which brought, in some cases, the high prices of £90 
to £140 ($450 to $700), per ton. Messrs. Abraham 
Bell and Son, extensive shipping merchants of this 
city, have deemed them of so much importance, that 
they have had them extensively published, and we 
transfer the same to our columns, esteeming it the 
most valuable article we have ever met on the sub¬ 
ject. If the Flax rotting and dressing machines 
spoken of page 331 of this number, perform all that 
is anticipated, the United States will be able to grow 
large quantities of it for the foreign market, which 
will be adding another important item to our agricul¬ 
tural exports, and greatly increase the wealth of the 
farming population. Formerly, considerable quanti¬ 
ties of flax were grown in this state and New Eng¬ 
land, but since the introduction of cheap cotton 
fabrics as a substitute for linen, its culture has been 
almost entirely neglected. It is still grown exten¬ 
sively in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and parts of Kentucky. 
Soil and Rotation. —By attention and careful culti¬ 
vation, good flax may be grown on various soils ; but 
some are much better adapted for it than others The 
best is a sound, dry, deep loam, with a clay subsoil. 
It is very desirable that the land should be properly 
drained, and subsoiledas, when it is saturated with 
either underground or surface water, good flax cannot 
be expected. 
Without method, there cannot be success—different 
soils require a difference of rotation. In the best soils 
of Flanders, flax is grown in the third year of a 
seven-course rotation, or the fifth of a ten-course ro¬ 
tation. It is not considered generally advisable to 
grow flax more frequently than once in ten years 
In Belgium, it invariably follows a corn crop—gene¬ 
rally oats ; and, in this country, where oats'is such a 
principal crop, the same system might be profitably 
pursued ; but it must be understood, that it is only 
after oats following a green crop or old lea, and 
never after two or three succeeding crops of oats, 
which bad practice still prevails in some districts. It 
is a very general error among farmers, to consider it 
necessary that flax should follow a potato crop. Ex¬ 
cept on very poor soils, a better crop will be produc¬ 
ed after grain, and the double benefit of the grain and 
flax secured. If old lea be broken up, and potatoes 
planted, a very fine crop of flax may be obtained in 
the following year. 
Rotation of Crops for Flax. —The following rota¬ 
tion, which would bring flax once in ten years, has 
been proposed :—First year, potatoes ; second, barley, 
laid down with grasses; third year, cut for soiling; 
fourth year, pasture; fifth year, flax; or the one-half 
might be better in flax, the other in oats—so that, 
with the return of the rotation, which would be in 
five years, the flax could be put on the ground which, 
in the last rotatory course, was under corn, throwing 
a range of ten years between the flax crops coming 
into the same ground. 
A gentleman of much practical knowledge, recom¬ 
mends the following as being the most profitable :—• 
1. Oats, after grass and clover. 2. Flax, pulled in 
August; then plowed and harrowed in two cwt. 
guano and two cwt. gypsum ; then sown with rape. 
3. Potatoes or turnips, well manured. 4. Wheat, 
and sown in spring, with clover and rye-grass. 5. 
Hay and clover. 6. Grazing. 7. Oats. 8 Flax 
and winter vetches; guano, as before-mentioned. 9. 
Turnips, well manured. 10 Barley, sown with 
rye-grass and clover. 11. Clover and hay. 12. 
Grazing. 13. Oats. 
Preparation of the Soil .—One of the points of the 
greatest importance in the culture of flax, is by 
thorough-draining, and by careful and repeated cleans¬ 
ing of the land from weeds, to render it of the finest, 
deepest, and cleanest nature. This will make room 
for the roots to penetrate, which they will often do to 
a depth equal to one-half the length of the stem 
above ground. 
After wheat, one plowing may be sufficient on 
light friable loam, but two are better; and, on stiff 
soils, three are advisable—one in autumn, and two in 
spring, so as to be ready for sowing in the first or 
second week of April. Much will, of course, de¬ 
pend on the nature of the soil, and the knowledge 
and experience of the farmer. The land should be 
so drained and subsoiled, that it can be sown in flats, 
which will give more evenly, and much better crops. 
But, until the system of thorough-draining be general, 
it will be necessary, after oats, to plow early in 
autumn. Throw the land into ridges, that it may re¬ 
ceive the frost and air; and make surface drains, to 
carry off the rains of winter. Plow and harrow very 
early in spring; and again, a month after, to bring 
the land into good tilth, and clean it thoroughly from 
weeds and roots. Following the last harrowing, it is 
necessary to roll, to give an even surface, and conso¬ 
lidate the land, breaking this up again with a short¬ 
toothed or seed harrow, ere sowing. 
Sowing. —The seed best adapted for the generality 
of soils is Riga, although Dutch has been used in 
many districts of country, for a series of years, with 
perfect success. American seed does not generally 
suit well, as it is apt to produce a coarse, branchy 
