180 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
land has been transferred to them in perpetuity. 
It is on this, that the new farms are being laid 
out. Negotiations have been opened with the 
others to arrive at a similar result. A tract of 
pasture land, too far from other farms, and of 
too little consequence to make a farm by itself, 
has been rented for a term of thirty years, at 
about one dollar an acre, to a rich cultivator 
with sufficient capital, and he is bound to erect 
farm buildings, the value of which will be re¬ 
turned to him at the expiration of the term, 
according to the valuation of experienced judges. 
If his capital is insufficient, the manor has agreed 
to advance funds at five per cent. A well built 
farmstead with the land in a very good state, 
adjoining the sugar factory of which I have 
spoken, has been rented to that establishment 
at $1 25 an acre. The factory purchases the 
beets raised upon the farms within eight or ten 
miles, at about three dollars the ton. This 
is a pretty good price, especially as the farmers 
are at no expense for delivering them. 
We dined at the inn of a village inhabited by 
250 families. The streets are wide, and the 
houses, which are neatly whitewashed every 
year, have a coping in front. The inhabitants 
may be divided into four classes: first-class 
peasants, second-class peasants, third-class pea¬ 
sants and day laborers. The last mentioned 
occupy only a house and garden, either as 
owners or tenants. In this village the first-class 
peasants own 450 acres, the second and third 
classes own one a half, the other a fourth of this 
extent of ground. The commune holds at this 
time upwards of 20,000 acres of very brown 
pasturage, the soil of which is generally of very 
good quality ; this is composed chiefly of black 
sand, but adhesive enough to be made into ex¬ 
cellent arable land when broken up. 
We visited after dinner several other farms 
where they kept various breeds of cattle. One 
had nothing but heifers. We saw in another 
some grade cows, which are called Murzthaler, 
which, I was informed, were produced from a 
very ancient cross between the Schwitz bulls and 
Hungarian cows. This breed has been intro¬ 
duced to Altenburg also, but does not give satis¬ 
faction there. By the use of the Schwitz bulls 
they are brought into closer affinity with that 
excellent type. 
We finished the day’s journey by visiting 
some important arrangements for irrigation ; a 
part being finished, and the remainder in course 
of completion and extension. The plan adopted 
is that of distinct compartments with a channel 
in the middle, the water being diverted at the 
same time to the right and left. The work has 
been done with the spade, which makes it more 
expensive. I have been assured that the in¬ 
crease of produce, in quantity as well as quality, 
pays a high interest for the capital embarked in 
this improvement. 
The following morning the director conducted 
me to Wieselburg, where an examination was 
being made of one of two fine cows, which the 
registrar of a neighboring farm had just lost 
out of three, his private property. They 
had caught the dreadful cattle pest on the pas¬ 
ture, merely by being approached by some 
cattle driven from the vicinity of TYsth by a 
butcher of that district. The director was ac¬ 
companied by a doctor of Altenburg, a well- 
informed man, who has been for a long time 
professor of botany and veterinary in the agri¬ 
cultural college of that city. This dangerous 
complaint, called in German die loser deurre, 
is, according to this doctor, an inflammation of 
the stomach, especially of the fourth one. The 
food contained in it is completely dried up; the 
inner membrane of the stomach sticks together 
after being taken out; the liver becomes soft 
and of a yellowish color; the inner vessels are 
a little bloody ; the bile is thin, and its greenish 
color is changed to yellow. The animals affected 
with this disease are languid ; they cease to eat; 
an intense thirst consumes them; diarrhea soon 
ensues, and the supply of milk diminishes until 
it stops entirely. This physician also states, 
that the disease is exceedingly contagious; 
neither purgatives nor irritating drugs of any de¬ 
scription should be administered to the animals 
affected. The only efficacious remedy is to be 
found in emollients or oily drenches. Of the 
cattle seized with it, about 50 or 70 per cent, are 
saved. The cattle common to the steppes, which 
arc the same breed as the Hungarian cattle, 
are those which suffer most. 
On returning to Altenburg, the director con¬ 
ducted me to the mill which he rebuilt about 
nine years ago. Previous to this the income 
from this mill was only G,375 francs a year, out 
of which there were very heavy expenses for 
repairs. It has been rebuilt in the French style. 
A turbine turns two pairs of French stones, 
two other wheels each turning two pairs, and a 
large wheel which turns six pairs, constitute 
the entire motive power. At present its income 
is upwards of 50,000 francs, which is equivalent 
to an interest of 25 per cent, on the capital in¬ 
vested, including the value of the water-power. 
It is calculated to grind from 3500 to 4000 
bushels of meal per week, most of which is 
sent to Vienna. A distillery adjoining the mill 
consumes about 140 bushels of potatoes daily. 
There is also a brewery and a manufactory of 
agricultural implements, which appear to be 
well made. American and Zugmayer plows 
are also constructed here, in which I do not see 
much merit. Doubtless M. Pabst will introduce 
here the newly constructed plow from Ilohen- 
heim, which is an excellent one. I noticed in 
this factory several very large ditching plows 
for the purpose of throwing up fences. The 
seed sowers made here have the bottom of the 
seed box made of zinc, perforated all round with 
holes, which can be increased or diminished at 
pleasure. The horse hoes resemble those man¬ 
ufactured by Garrett. They clean six rows of 
wheat at a time, or four rows of turnips with a 
single horse, when working on a light soil. The 
rest of the implements are not worthy of notice 
except the subsoil plow of Smith of Deanston. 
It is very desirable that such an establishment 
should receive, for the purpose of multiplying 
and extending their use in other countries, the 
best agricultural implements known in any part 
of the world. There are also some double plows. 
In the light soils these plow’s operate satisfac¬ 
torily ; with one man and two horses, they each 
accomplish as much work as two single ones. 
Two efficient horses are allowed for each re¬ 
gistrar to drive around; a double team is 
always used. The ox-yoke used in Hun¬ 
gary is always fixed on the necks of the oxen, 
and they walk much more steadily than in the 
countries where it is attached to the horns. 
- © $ e- 
An, Things have their Uses. —Punch sug¬ 
gests, as a remedy for damp walls, that they be 
prepared with parliamentary speeches, the 
usual dryness of which would render any little 
dampness impossible. There is plenty of ma¬ 
terial to make the remedy cheap. 
FLAX. 
In the last Journal of the Transactions of the 
Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, 
we find an article entitled The Cultivation of 
Flax in Ireland, which contains much useful 
information on the cultivation of this important 
product, and w r e transfer portions of it to our 
columns. Many things in these notes are pecu¬ 
liar to the cultivation and soil of Ireland, yet 
many hints will be found equally interesting and 
useful to the cultivators of Flax in this country, 
and the entire article will well pay for perusal. 
We have seldom seen a.greater number of plain, 
practical directions condensed into one article. 
A full history of flax cultivation and manufac¬ 
ture is first given, with the annual product of 
each year. We notice that in 1849 the total 
cultivation amounted to 60,314 acres ; in 1850, 
91,040; in 1851, 138,619; in 1852, 136,009; 
and the estimated cultivation of this year is 
160,000 acres. What follows is an abstract 
from the recommendation of a committee of the 
Royal Flax Society. 
The soil found to be best adapted to the cul¬ 
tivation of flax is a sound, dry, deep loam, 
with a clay subsoil. As with other crops' drain¬ 
ing and subsoiling are essential; good flax can¬ 
not be expected where surface or underground 
water abounds. The land should be carefully 
and repeatedly’ cleansed from weeds, to place it 
in the “finest, deepest, and cleanest state.” This 
will enable the roots to penetrate the soil, which 
they will frequently do to a depth equal to half 
the height of the plant above ground. On light 
friable loam, one ploughing after wheat may be 
sufficient, but two will be better; on stiff soils 
three are advised, one of these immediately after 
harvest, across the ridges, the remaining tw T o in 
spring, so as to be ready for sowing in the first 
or second week of April. Better crops will be 
obtained, if the land is so worked that the seed 
can be sown in flats. To give the land time to 
consolidate, the subsoiling should be done at a 
not less interval than two years previous to the 
flax crop. After oats, where thorough-draining 
has not been carried out, it will be necessary to 
plough early in autumn, to the depth of 6 or 8 
inches, the land to be thrown into ridges, to re¬ 
ceive the frost and air, with surface drains; to 
be ploughed again in spring 3 or 4 inches deep, 
so as to preserve the winter surface for the roots 
of the flax. This spring ploughing should be 
done some time before sowing, to give time for 
weeds in the land to spring up, and these w’hen 
harrowing in the flax seed, will be killed. To 
give an even surface, and to consolidate the land, 
it should be rolled after the last harrowing ; this 
to be again broken up w r ith a short-toothed or 
seed-harrow before sowing; this to be up and 
down, not across the ridges, or angularly. The 
seed best adapted for the generality of soils is 
Riga, although Dutch has been used in many dis¬ 
tricts of the country for a series of years with 
perfect success. American seed does not gen¬ 
erally suit well, as it is apt to produce a coarse 
branchy stem ; if used, it should be in deep 
loamy soils. In buying seed, select it plump, 
shining, and heavy, and of the best brands, 
from a respectable merchant. Sift it clean of 
all the seeds of urneds, v’hich will save a great 
deal of after-trouble when the crop is growing. 
This may be done by fanners, and through a 
wire sieve twelve bars to the inch. Home-saved 
seed has produced such excellent crops of late, 
that ic is strongly recommended that every’ 
farmer should only sow, each year, as much 
foreign seed as w r ould produce a sufficient quan¬ 
tity lor his flax crop of the following season. 
(The produce of seed averages about 12 bushels 
the statute acre, so that the seed saved oil’ one 
statute acre will sow about 5.) The thinner 
portion of the crop would be the best for this 
purpose, as when flax grow r s thin it produces 
much seed. This plan, besides the saving effect¬ 
ed in the price of foreign sowing-seed, would ef¬ 
fectually secure the farmer from any danger of 
loss from fraudulently r -made-up seed. It will be 
