178 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Mat. 
The Cultivation and Management of Flax. 
The culture of flax is yearly becoming a subject of in¬ 
creasing interest to the farmers of the northern and west¬ 
ern states, and hence the importance of disseminating 
through the agricultural press, the most reliable informa¬ 
tion, that can be obtained. The American farmers, so 
far as our knowledge has extended, have not been so suc¬ 
cessful in the culture of flax, as the adaptation of the 
soil and climate of the country would warrant ; and this 
defect, in a majority of cases, may be traced to the im¬ 
perfect system of management, and not to any defect in 
the soil or other natural cause. Having had a very ex¬ 
tensive acquaintanct with flax growing, cultivating some 
seasons as high as fifty acres, and in every instance ob¬ 
taining the most satisfactory returns, both in seed and 
fibre, for both of which purposes the crop was grown; 
w r e shall scarcely be accused of recommending details to 
others that were not fully treated on a large scale, and 
the flattering results of which, should form a sufficient 
reason why a similar practice may with confidence be 
urged upon the attention of others, interested in this de¬ 
partment of agriculture. 
Flax may be successfully grown upon land that will 
yield heavy crops of barley or oats. The soil should be 
rich, deep, and mellow, and the subsoil, if clay, should 
be permeable, by which the roots will extend to a great 
depth. The soil should not be manured for flax, but the 
crop preceding it may be manured with impunity, so far 
as relates to the flax crop, and the yield of seed will be 
increased and the quality of the fibre improved, in ratio 
with the increased quantity of manure applied for the 
previous crop, provided that the soil be deepened in the 
same ratio. It is on this account that no other prepara¬ 
tion of the soil seems to be so well adapted for flax, as a 
well manured and thoroughly cultivated field of pota¬ 
toes, in which case the land should be plowed in autumn, 
and the flax sown the following season, about the period 
the indigenous fruit trees of the country put forth their 
blossoms. Flax maybe sown after other crops besides 
potatoes ; and the next best course is to select a recently 
broken meadow, which had raised only one crop since it 
was broken, and by deep autumn plowing, and a spring 
plowing, and thorough harrowing and rolling, the soil 
will be ready for the reception of seed. The older the 
sod, and the more thorough the decomposition, the greater 
will be the yield of both seed and fibre. Almost any 
other crop besides potatoes, if the ground be liberally 
manured, and the manure be thoroughly decomposed, will 
answer to precede flax; but a very abundant yield of seed, 
and a superior quality of fibre can only be obtained upon 
a rich and well cultivated soil; and unless due regard be 
had to these particulars, it is worse than folly to hope 
for flattering returns. 
Something more than a suitably rich soil, deep cul¬ 
ture, early sowing and a finely pulverised soil, are neces¬ 
sary to obtain success in flax growing, though none of 
these conditions can be dispensed with, without imparing 
the prospect of an abundant crop. The seed should be 
of good quality, free from the seeds of weeds, and the 
quantity sown should in no case be less than two bushels 
per acre, which is about double the quantity of seed 
sown in this conntry. Then if there be any prospect of 
the crop sustaining injury from drouth, an application of 
gypsum, salt, and house ashes, at the rate of one bushel 
each of the two former and three of the latter, should be 
applied broadcast upon the young flax plants in their 
earliest stages of growth, by which a uniform and luxu¬ 
riant crop will be the result. 
Where pains have been taken to bring the soil to a 
suitable state of tilth for flax, the land may be seeded 
with clover, and the young clover plants will obtain a 
larger and richer growth, and be subject to less casaulties, 
than if seeded with any other spring crop. This will be 
especially so-when the top dressing of artificial manure, 
recommended as above, is applied. The pulling of the 
flax will loosen the soil around the roots of the young 
clover, and thus greatly promote its growth; and where 
it is desirable to seed also with timothy, the latter 
should be sown as soon as the flax is pulled and removed 
off the ground. If the soil be rich, and will bear such a 
severe course of cropping, a crop of winter wheat may 
be made to succeed the flax, in which case only one plow¬ 
ing will be requisite for the wheat. The flax, when 
managed as here recommended, will leave the ground per¬ 
fectly free from weeds, and the land will be in better con¬ 
dition for wheat than if a very expensive process of sum¬ 
mer fallowing had been adopted. Flax, however, is a 
very exhausting crop, more so perhaps than any other 
spring crop, and the question to be decided is, whether 
two exhausting crops following in succession, would not 
tax the capacity of the soil further than prudence would 
warrant. Every intelligent farmer should be the best 
judge of this matter; and having repeatedly tested the 
system, on a large scale, we can with confidence rcom- 
mend the sowing of wheat after flax; but invariably the 
ground should be seeded down with clover and timothy 
with the wheat crop, in order that its fertility may be 
again restored for future crops. In those sections of 
country where the wheat plants grow exceedingly luxu¬ 
riant, and are more or less disposed to rust, this great 
bane to the wheat growing interests, may be very ma¬ 
terially obviated by sowing wheat after flax in the man¬ 
ner here described. The wheat plants by this means 
would grow shorter and stiffer, and would arrive at a 
much earlier maturity, than if the land had been sum¬ 
mer fallowed; and as an antidote for such no system of 
cropping land deserves greater favor than the one here 
submitted for consideration. It is, however, subject to 
abuse by being imperfectly done, or by being repeated 
too frequently on the same soil. From the exhausting 
tendency of flax, even on the richest soil, it should not 
be repeated more than once in seven or eight years; and 
it is only advisable to cultivate the crop extensively where 
the soil is remarkably rich, and distinguished for the 
rankness of its vegetation. On soils of this description, 
cultivated in the manner described, from fifteen to twen¬ 
ty bushels of seed, and from three to four hundred lbs. 
of clear scutched flax, may be confidently anticipated 
per acre, and the profit yielded will be greater than that 
of most other crops, requiring an equal amount of labor 
and skill. W. G. Edmundson. Keokuk , Iowa, Jan., 
1852. 
-- 
It is better to suffer wrong than to do it. 
