■BRITISH AND IRISH FLAX CULTURE.-NO. 3. -ITEMS. 
29 
chief reading of a large proportion of the people of 
the rural districts, far removed from our large 
cities, whence they emanate. 
That the thirst for knowledge, and the spirit of 
inquiry once fairly awakened, will not soon be 
lulled to rest, needs no other proof- than is evident 
in the rapidly increasing number of agricultural and 
horticultural societies, that are already established 
or proposed, and nearly ready to be put in active 
operation in places where but a few years ago, the 
idea, if it ever entered the aspiring mind of some 
enterprising man, was hopelessly laid aside as soon 
as formed, as if it were a dream of Utopia—or, if 
some visionary enthusiast ventured in a moment of 
unguarded confidence, to whisper his hopes of such 
a scheme being realized, the sneering laugh soon 
obliged him to acknowledge there was no reason¬ 
able prospect of its accomplishment. Among these 
unbelievers were men who are now arousing from 
the sleep of ages—men who have hitherto opposed 
“ innovations”—whose progress in the arts and 
improvements of farming has been “ a caution to a 
snail,”—whose only answer to the strongest re¬ 
commendation of a better plow, or new labor-saving 
machine was, “ the old kind was good enough for 
my father, and it is good enough for me.” These 
men are now standing on their feet, more than half 
awake; taking and reading some Farmer’s Journal, 
and talking and bustling about getting up an Agri¬ 
cultural Society. Success attend them ! 
A MERIC ANUS. 
BRITISH AND IRISH FLAX CULTURE.—No. 3. 
Pulling .—When the plant is arrived at its growth, 
and is in full blossom, which in common seasons 
will be about the beginning of July (a few weeks 
later in the. northern parts of the United States), it 
is fit to be pulled, if the grower has a greater regard 
to the produce of the stalk than to the seed. How¬ 
ever, it is a common practice to injure the whole 
crop for the sake of the seed ; and to let it remain 
till the seed begins to ripen, so as to have both flax 
and seed. In this, case the land suffers greatly, for 
flax seeded is a great impoverisher; but if pulled 
whilst in blossom, is an excellent preparative for 
turnips, which should always follow a flax crop 
instead of wheat. The great reason why the Irish, 
and, indeed, most foreign flax, is finer than the 
English, is because they pull it early, and sow par¬ 
ticular spots purposely for seed. 
In order to determine when the flax is ready for 
pulling, try it every day, when approaching to ma¬ 
turity, by cutting the ripest capsule, on an average 
stock, across (horizontally), and when the seeds 
have changed from the white milky substance, 
which they first shov r , to a greenish color, pretty 
firm, then is the time to pull. The old prejudice, 
in favor of much ripening, is most injurious, even 
as regards quantity ; and the usual test of the stalk 
stripping at the root, and turning yellow, should 
not be depended on. Where there is one man that 
pulls too green, five hundred over-ripen. 
In some parts of Ireland, where flax is raised for 
cambric and fine lawn, the lint is pulled as soon as 
the seed is formed, or a few days after it is out of 
bloom, before the stalks begin to turn yellow. If 
any be coarser than the rest it is kept separate. 
Every handful, when pulled, is laid upon brush¬ 
wood, previously adjusted in the field, a little above 
the ground, by means of forked sticks and poles, 
where it is suffered to remain for four or five hours 
to dry, if the weather be fine. It is then put into 
a barn at night, and spread out during four or five 
days, taking care that it get no rain, which would 
cause it to turn black. If it get wet, it is better to 
leave it on the grass till dry, than to house it while 
wet. Each bundle is either opened when in the 
barn, or made very loose, in order to prevent it 
from heating. 
It may be further observed, that although it is of 
much importance, yet it very seldom happens that 
much attention is bestowed to separate the different 
sorts of flax from each other, in pulling the crops. 
In most fields there are varieties of soils ; of course, 
some parts of a field will produce fine flax, others 
coarse; some long and some short; in a word, 
crops of different lengths and qualities. It cannot 
be supposed that all these sorts of flax will undergo 
an equal degree of watering, grassing, breaking, and 
heckling,without sustaining great injury. There¬ 
fore, when flax of various qualities is promiscuously 
mixed together in pulling, it is impossible to pre¬ 
vent some part of it from being lost in the after¬ 
management; a loss which might be avoided with 
a small share of attention and some additional 
trouble when the crop is pulled .—Condensed from 
Warnes’ Treatise. 
Recipe for Coloring Green. —For ten or twelve 
pounds of the material you wish to color, take one 
ounce of indigo and one pound of oil of vitriol, 
stirring it for half an hour in an earthen vessel—let 
it stand twenty-four hours. Make a strong decoc¬ 
tion of equal parts, of the bark of hickory and 
black oak, with water enough to wet ten or twelve 
pounds of material to be colored; to this add one 
pound of alum, and strain it through a thick bag; 
place it over the fire, and when nearly boiling, 
add the liquid blue, then let it stand twenty minutes, 
and strain it well. Should any sediment remain, 
another straining will be necessary—then put in 
your yarn dry, stir it for a few minutes over the 
fire, and after ten minutes airing, rinse it well in 
cold water. The stronger the yellow dye, the 
darker will be the green. 
Estimation of Agriculture by the Ancients. 
—Agriculture, says Socrates, is an employment the 
most worthy the application of man, the most an¬ 
cient and the most suitable to his nature; it is the 
common nurse of all persons, in every age and con¬ 
dition of life; it is the source of health, strength, 
plenty, and riches ; and of a thousand sober de¬ 
lights and honest pleasures. It is the mistress and 
school of sobriety, temperance, justice, religion, 
and, in short, of all virtues, civil and military. 
Ashes Tea, prescribed by Dr. Physic for indi¬ 
gestion, one wine-glassful to be taken a quarter of 
an hour after dinner. Put a quart of sifted hickory 
ashes and a tea-cupful of soot into a jug, and pour 
a gallon of cold water on them. Stir the mixture 
frequently for three days, and then let it stand until 
perfectly clear; the.n bottle and cork it tight. 
