AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
181 
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bes* in most cases to use the seed which is saved 
from this,- in the following year, for feeding, or 
to se.l it for the oil mills, although it often pro¬ 
duce;; good crops, The proportion of seed may 
be stared at 3| imperial bushels to the Irish or 
plantation acre; and so on, in proportion to the 
Scotch or Cunningham, and the English or 
statute acre. With thick sowing the fibre pro¬ 
duced is of greater length and fineness than in 
thin sowing; in the former case, the stem grows 
tall and straight, producing little seed; whereas, 
in the latter, the plant grows coarse, producing 
much seed and a very inferior quality of fibre. To 
give an equable supply of seed, the land should 
be marked off in divisions of 8 or 10 feet broad, 
if it has been laid without ridges. Cover it with 
a seed-harrow after sowing, and to avoid the 
small drills otherwise made by the teeth, go 
twice over it—once up and down, once across or 
anglewise. Finish with the roller, which will 
leave the seed covered about an inch, which is 
the proper depth. This rolling after sowing is 
much recommended; care, however, should be 
taken not to roll when the ground is so wet as 
to cause the soil to adhere to the roller. 
The ridges should be little raised in the centre 
when the ground is ready for the seed, otherwise 
the crop will not ripen evenly. Where it can 
be dispensed with, it is recommended not to 
sow clover and grass seeds with the flax, as 
these plants injure the root ends of the flax. 
Carrots may, however, be sown in drills where 
the soil is suitable ; and when the flax is 
being pulled, the workpeople can step over the 
rows, and afterwards hoe and clean them, finish¬ 
ing with a top-dressing of liquid manure. After 
the flax is pulled, a stolen crop of rape or winter 
vetches, or of turnips of the stone and Norfolk 
globe varieties, may be taken. As to the 
rotation of crops, different soils require a differ¬ 
ent system. In the best soils of Flanders, flax 
is grown in the third year of a seven-course, or 
the fifth of a ten-course rotation. Flax has been 
much abused as a very exhaustive crop, and is 
consequently to be charily cultivated; but from 
the experience of many years on the Continent, 
and the last four in this country, it has been 
clearly proved that it is not a more exhausting 
crop than any other ; two facts or axioms in its 
cultivation being, however, borne in mind— 
first, that “a considerable interval of time is 
necessary to enable successfull crops of the same 
kind to be grown on the same soil; secondly, 
that the best, surest, and easiest method of re¬ 
fertilizing, whether by volatile or mineral com¬ 
pound, is to be found by reapplying, as far as 
possible, whatever has been extracted from the 
soil in the refuse of crops of every kind.” It is 
considered generally unadvisable to grow flax 
more frequently on the same land than once in 
ten years. In Belgium it is made invariably to 
follow a corn crop, generally oats. In this 
country, where this crop is so usually grown, 
the same system may be adopted ; but it should 
be carefully borne in mind that it is only after 
oats follow a green crop on old lea—never to be 
adopted after two or three successive crops of 
oats. Another general error to be pointed out 
is the making of a flax follow a potato crop. 
With the exception of very poor soils, a better 
crop will be produced by following after grain, 
and the double profit of the grain and flax 
secured. A very fine crop of flax may be pro¬ 
duced by working up old lea, and planting po¬ 
tatoes ; this crop to be followed by a grain crop; 
the flax to follow this. A gentleman of much 
practical experience recommends the following 
as a most profitable system of rotation; “ 1. 
Oats after the grass and the clover. 2. Flax 
pulled in August, then ploughed and harrowed 
in with 2 cwt. guano and 2 cwt. gypsum, then 
sown with rade. 3. Potatoes or turnips well 
manured. 4. Wheat sown in spring with clover 
or 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.” A 
rotation which would bring flax once in ten 
years has been proposed, and is as follows : First 
year, potatoes ; second, barley laid down with 
grasses; third and fourth years out for soiling, 
pasture or meadow; fifth year, flax, or the one- 
half might be better in flax and the other in 
oats, so that, with the return of the rotation, 
which would be in five years, the flax could be 
put in the ground, which in the last rotatory 
course was under corn, showing a range of ten 
years between the flax crops coming into the 
same ground. The result of recent investigation 
has proved that flax does withdraw from the 
soil certain matters, although not in the pro¬ 
portion generally received, or in so large a pro¬ 
portion as other commonly cultivated crops. 
To supply to the soil all the matters which the 
entire plant requires, so as to leave the land in 
the same state of fertility as before, the follow¬ 
ing compound has been proposed by Professor 
Hodges, as a manure which may be sown broad¬ 
cast on the land, prior to the last harrowing, be¬ 
fore sowing the flax seed : 
For a Statute Acre of Land. 
Muriate of Potasli, 30 lb., cost iR Ireland - - 75c. 
Chloride of sodium, (common salt,) 28 lb., - - 06c. 
Burned gypsum, powdered, 34 lb., - - - 12c. 
Bone-dust. 54 lb.,.80c. 
Sulphate of magnesia, (Epsom salts)., 56 lb., - $1 00 
$2 73 
The growth of weeds will, be much prevented 
if attention is paid to the cleaning of the soil; 
those that make their appearance must be care¬ 
fully pulled. In Belgium this is effected by 
women and children passing over the ground 
on all-fours, having coarse cloths round their 
knees. This plan is found to be better than 
walking over, injuring the plants less; where 
walked over, heavily-nailed shoes should not 
be used. To assist the plants to regain their 
erect position after being pressed down, the 
weeding should be done face to the wind. 
Pressed in one direction, the tender plant soon 
recovers; seldom so, if twisted or carelessly flat¬ 
tened. 
The saving of the crop is the most important 
operation to be performed in flax cultivation, 
as the marketable value of the straw depends 
altogether on the manner in which it has been 
saved; hence all information of a sound prac¬ 
tical nature derived from experience is of high 
value. The Society has collected much infor¬ 
mation of this nature, an abstract of which will 
doubtless be acceptable to our readers. 
When the flax plant is pulled too early, the 
fibre is fine, but much loss is incurred by the 
processes of scutching and hackling; pulled 
late, the increased coarseness of the fibre is not 
compensated for by the extra weight; hence 
arises a difficulty in judging as to the exact 
time to pull the plant. Before the seed is quite 
ripe is the best, when the seeds are beginning 
to change from a green to a pale brown, the 
stalks for two-thirds of their height being 
yellow. Laid plants and wet should be kept 
separately. If undrained and improperly lev¬ 
eled ground is used for the crop, it will grow in 
different lengths; each length, in this case, 
should be pulled and kept separately. This is 
necessary, as it is highly important that the flax 
should be laid even like a brush at the root end; 
the value of the plant to the spinner is in¬ 
creased or diminished in proportion as this rule 
is attended to. Where there is considerable 
second growth, the plant should be pulled im¬ 
mediately underneath the bolls, leaving the 
short stalks behind; on the other hand, where 
the second growth is trifling in extent, it is 
better not to pull them at all, the loss from 
from mixture and discoloration being greater 
than the profit. 
To prepare the plants for the rippling pro¬ 
cess, the handfulls should be laid diagonally 
across each other. These two processes are to 
be carried on at the same time, and in the same 
field. The rippling should invariably be carried 
out, if only for its use in rendering the flax 
more easy to be handled in after-processes; but 
another, and possibly, to many, more obvious 
advantage derived from the process, is, that the 
seed is saved, which, if used for feeding stock, 
is calculated to be worth £4 ($20) per acre ; if 
for making oil, £3. The rippling apparatus is 
very simple; the rippler is made by screwing 
half-inch square rods of iron, 18 inches long, into 
a block of wood, the rods being placed so as to 
present the angles to the operator, 3-16ths of 
an inch apart at the bottom, and half an inch at 
the top, the upper ends beginning to taper to a 
point from three inches from the top. The ripple 
thus made is secured to the centre of a 9-feet 
plank, resting at its ends on stools. The rippler 
sits at each end, at such a distance from the ripple 
as to admit of a proper “throw” being given; the 
two operators or ripplers strike the ripple with 
the handful of flax plants alternately, a winnow¬ 
ing sheet being placed beneath to catch the 
bolls. The sheaf of flax plants is placed at the 
right hand of the rippler. Taking up a hand¬ 
ful with one hand about six inches from the 
root, and the other nearer the top, and spread¬ 
ing the top like a fan, he draws one-half through 
the teeth of the ripple, and the other half past 
the side, and by a half-turn of the wrist the 
same process is gone through with the remain¬ 
der of the handful. The flax is sometimes 
rippled without turning the hand, it being 
pulled through the comb one or two times, ac¬ 
cording to the quantity of seed; it may, how¬ 
ever, be rippled by only one pull. As each 
handful is rippled it is laid down at the left 
hand of the operator, each being laid down so 
as to cross the preceding handful. This cros¬ 
sing is of the greatest importance, as they will 
part freely when taken out of the steep to be 
spread out on the grass, and not intertwine 
with each other, as would be the case were not 
this precaution attended to. After pulling, the 
rippling should be at once performed; the 
plants should not be left in the field even to a 
second day. In a small but valuable work re¬ 
cently issued by M. J. de Cock-kenifeck, agri¬ 
culturist to the Royal Flax Society, there is 
much practical information as to the rippling of 
flax. The following paragraphs contain the 
gist of his information on this point: Three 
ripplers should be employed for every acre of 
flax pulled in one day. To get through the 
work rapidly, he recommends six ripplers to be 
employed, three on each side of a 9-feet plank, 
on the upper side of which the ripples or comb 
extends the whole length ; three ripplers sit on 
each side, and are attended by two women and 
two girls, with a cart and horse to bring for¬ 
ward the flax. With this staff, one acre may 
be rippled in a day. The women are employed 
in binding the rippled flax, the girls supplying 
the ripplers with the flax, and carrying it when 
rippled to the binder, at intervals cleaning the 
teeth of the combs. “The ripplers should in¬ 
variably sit down, (though some prefer stand¬ 
ing), and in the rippling operations they should 
keep both elbows close to their sides, which 
greatly lightens the labor, by enabling- them 
simply to throw back the body, thus giving the 
weight of their whole frame, in assistance to 
the arms, in pulling through the flax straw. 
The rippler should be at such a distance from 
the comb, that, by a little forward inclination 
of the body, the handful might be introduced, 
not by a stroke, but by forming a slight curve 
with the ends, simply bending forward till the 
bolls are caught before the body is thrown 
back. 
(To bo continued.) 
For tlic American Agriculturist. 
EXPERIMENT WITH FERTILIZERS. 
Tiie value of wood ashes, the necessity of 
housing stable manures, and the valuable quali¬ 
ties of black swamp mud, or muck, are questions 
that have often been discussed, and I am aware 
that nothing new can be said as to their value 
or mode of preparation; but the result of a trial 
of several sorts of fertilizers may not be unin¬ 
teresting. 
At the time of my experiments I lived in Mas¬ 
sachusetts, where I purchased an old worn-out 
farm. The soil was a deep, fine, sandy loam, 
and completely exhausted by shallow plowing 
and light manuring, both easily remedied, as it 
was easily worked. As there was a good de¬ 
posit of rich mud near the field, I had a quan¬ 
tity thrown out in the autumn for the winter’s 
frost to operate on. I was short in cattle too 
so I saved not only all their solid droppings, bu 
bedded them in dry sand instead of straw, as i 
was cheaper, and served more effectively to ab - 
