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AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
Flax Culture—Profits. 
Flax grows well wherever oats will—so far 
as climate is concerned. It requires good corn 
ground, neither too stiff nor too light. It will 
not bear fresh manure in any quantity, yet 
needs a fertile soil. Good sward, plowed in the 
fall and sowed in the spring, or corn stubble 
ground is adapted to it. When raised for seed, 
grass or clover seed may be sown at the same 
time—that is, after or with the flax. A common 
rule for the quantity of seed to sow is, 3 pecks 
per acre when the crop is raised for seed , and 2 
bushels when raised for fibre. The object with 
American farmers has hitherto been chiefly to 
obtain the greatest quantity of seed, but now 
the fibre is in demand at very remunerative 
prices, at least in some parts of the country, and 
the demand is rapidly widening. It is not custom¬ 
ary for us to spend the home labor upon the 
straw usual in Europe, but it is got in marketable 
condition at the least possible expense of labor. 
Mr. J. E. Cookingham, of Dutchess Co., N. 
Y., who is a successful cultivator, gives us briefly 
an account of his last year’s crop, a fair average 
one, as follows: Plowed in last year’s stubble 
(the corn was well manured), sowed broadcast 
5 pecks good North River seed, harrowed it 
in lightly and rolled the ground. The sowing 
was done at the time he sowed oats, about the 
first of May. When the top bolls turned brown, 
the crop was pulled and laid as in swaths from 
a cradle; after two or three days it was bound 
with rye straw in bundles about 6 to 8 inches 
in diameter at the bands, and housed. As soon 
convenient it was threshed, one man opening 
the bundles, another spreading the straw out by 
large handfuls in a fan-shaped form, and apply¬ 
ing the heads to the cylinder of a threshing 
machine, the “ concave ” being raised so that 
the teeth scarcely touched. [The straw is all re¬ 
tained in the hands in this process.] Another 
man raps out any seed which may still be lodg¬ 
ed in the straw, and re-bundles it. After mow¬ 
ing, in the month of September, the straw was 
spread out upon the meadow, just thick enough 
to cover the ground. Here it lay about one 
month, being turned at the end of two weeks, by 
which time it was rotted enough. [The length of 
time depends upon the weather.] At this time 
it was raked and bound as at first, but whether 
stacked or housed, Mr. C. does not mention. 
His crop was 78 i bushels of seed, which sold 
at $3.00 per bushel, and nearly 5 tons of straw, 
•which sold at $40 per ton, making in all $435i. 
Amount of Butter and Cheese in Milk. 
According to the reports of several of the 
associated cheese dairies, an average of 10.14 
pounds of milk is required to yield a pound of 
cheese. One pound of butter requires on an 
average about 15 quarts of milk. This would 
give from the same amount of milk about 3 lbs. 
of cheese to 1 of butter. A dairyman in West¬ 
ern New-York after repeated trials of making 
cheese and butter from the same quantity and 
quality of milk, has found the above proportion 
to be pretty uniformly maintained; occasionally 
the cheese slightly exceeds the given rate. At 
present prices cheese would give the best profit. 
Hard Times. —A farmer who lives on a cer¬ 
tain hill, called “ Hard Scrabble,” in Central N. 
Y., says that last suipnler, owing to the drouth 
and poor land together, the grass was so short 
they had to lather it before they could mow it! 
Grape Vines in the Garden. 
In the Agriculturist for November of last year, 
a detailed account was given of two methods of 
training the vine. As these may appear too 
complicated, and require too much outlay for 
trellis, (although they are really very simple and 
Fig. 1—2nd tear. 
will be found so in practice,) we give some oth¬ 
er plans which are suited to narrow limits and 
which will give good results, although less fruit 
will be produced from each vine, as they will be 
dwarfed. Directions for setting the vine are 
given on page 111; it is cut back to 18 inches, 
and one bud allowed to grow the first year. In 
autumn this single cane, thus produced, is cut 
back leaving three buds of new growth, and the 
next year two buds are allowed to grow. If the 
vine is a strong one it may be allowed to bear a 
few bunches of fruit; if weak, the blossom buds 
should be pinched off to allow the whole strength 
to go to make wood. The vine in autumn will 
appear like fig. 1. Of course the canes each 
year are supported by tying to stakes. The fol¬ 
lowing autumn the canes are cut off above the 
lower two buds, if the vine is to be protected; or 
if left exposed, we prune above the third bud 
and cut back to the second one early in spring. 
The next year’s growth is represented in fig. 2, 
and a vine of this size will bear from 12 to 20 
bunches of fruit, and will need only a single 
stake for support. In pruning this vine in au¬ 
tumn, cut away the uppermost two canes entirely, 
and shorten the others to two buds each if pro¬ 
tected, or to three if not, as before. The vine 
when pruned will appear as in fig. 3, and this 
manner of pruning may be repeated each year, 
if the space is confined; or if there is room for a 
trellis, instead of removing two of the canes 
entirely, all four may be cut back to two buds, 
and these will produce eight canes as in fig. 4, 
which may be disposed on a trellis and will give 
from 30 to 40 bunches of fruit. This vine has 
four short spurs producing two canes each and 
may be pruned according to circumstances. If 
double the number of canes can be grown with¬ 
out crowding, then 
prune each cane to two 
buds, and next year six¬ 
teen canes will grow. If, 
however, eight canes are 
all that are needed, then 
cut away the upper cane 
on each spur and short¬ 
en each of the others to 
two buds. This is es¬ 
sentially the same plan 
of training as shown in 
the upper figure on page 340 of last November, 
except that there are fewer spurs, and these are 
not distributed on long arms as there represent¬ 
ed. There are often situations and gardens 
where the best place for training the vine is at 
some distance from the most suitable spot for 
planting it. In such cases, the arm or arms up¬ 
on which the canes are to be borne may be 
started ten or more feet from the ground, and 
all shoots kept off below the arm. The man¬ 
ner of laying down arms is shown in the figure 
