200 
THE CULTIVATOR 
7. That flax-fibre can be always produced with profit 
to the British grower at a less price than cotton can be 
imported into this country with profit to the foreign pro¬ 
ducer. 
8. That as a consequence of this advantage, the manu¬ 
factures of this country will be less dependent on the 
fluctuations of the cotton crop for a supply of the raw 
material, and a more regular employment will be giving 
to the manufacturing population, and the present amount 
of local rates be greatly diminished thereby, 
9. That the grower will derive great benefit from a 
supply of the wide demand thus opened to him. 
10. That with respect to the advantages of being able 
to spin flax in combination with wool on the existing 
woollen machinery, the first is, that the flax prepared by 
M. Claussen is capable of being scribbled, spun, woven, 
and milled, in all respects as if it were entirely wool; 
having an advantage in this respect over cotton, which 
has not the slightest milling properties; on the contrary 
the flax-fibre is capable of being even made into com¬ 
mon felt hats with or without admixture of wool. To 
such an extent has the milling properties of flax been 
proved, that the sample of cloth exhibited had been 
woven to 54 inches wide, and milled up to 28 inches wide. 
11. That the flax-fibre will not, under any circumstan 
ces, when prepared for spinning with wool, cost more than 
from fid. to 8d. per pound, while the wool with which it 
may be mixed will cost from 2s. to 4s. per lb.; conse¬ 
quently reducing the price of cloth produced from this 
mixture 25 or 30 per cent, below the present prices of 
cloth made wholly from wool, and being of equal, if not 
greater durability. 
12. That short-wool refuse, which cannot by itself be 
spun into a thread, may, by being mixed with this 
thread, be readily spun, and manufactured into servicea¬ 
ble cloths. 
13. That there is a probability of a further demand 
being opened for this fibre in the flannel and woolen 
trade. 
14. That by this process, flax may be also so prepared as 
to be spun in any certain proportions with silk, upon the 
existing silk machinery; that when so spun, it is capable 
of receiving considerable brilliancy of tint. That the fi¬ 
bre may be prepared for thus spinning, at an uniform 
price of from 6d. to 8d. per pound. That as it may be 
spun in any proportions with silk, it is evident that the 
price of the yarns must be reduced according to the re¬ 
lative proportions of the material emploj^ed, thus ex¬ 
tending the markets, and giving increased employment 
to the operatives. 
15. That b} 7 M. Claussen’s process of bleaching, any 
useless flax can be converted into a first rate article for 
the paper maker, at a less price than the paper maker 
is now paying for white rags, and suitable for the manu¬ 
facture of first class papers. 
Sir James Graham inquired, whether the farmer, in 
separating the seed from the straw, would be liable to 
injure the fibre? To which 
M. Claussen replied, that no such injury to the fibre 
would arise from any of the present modes of separating 
the seed from the straw, so long as the separation was 
made longitudinally; that an ordinary thrashing-machine 
might be so employed as not to injure the fibre; in fact, 
that the only injury that could arise would ensue from 
breaking the fibre across, or steeping it on the old system. 
Mr. Shelley remarked, that there was no difficulty in 
farmers growing flax, the only difficulty was to get a 
market for it. If M. Claussen could make it marketable 
for them, he would find no want of growers. 
M. Claussen replied, that it was both simple and easy 
to prepare the flax for the spindle, and he would under¬ 
take to furnish persons properly instructed who would 
direct the farmers how to proceed. There was one house 
at Bradford, that of Messrs. Quitzow, Schlesinger, & Co., 
flax-spinners, dyers, and merchants, whose only fear was 
June. 
that enough flax wouldnot be grown for their use; and 
they were, he believed, ready to give £4 per ton for flax 
of fair quality. 
Professor Way observed that the present system of 
preparing flax only applied to existing markets. M. 
Claussen’s method, as he understood it, had the merit 
of opening new and extensive markets for this article; 
and there was one important point in the new plan—that 
there would in future be no distinction of flax into 
fine or coarse qualities. The farmer, too, under the new 
system, would not be obliged to pull his flax, as under 
the system hitherto in use, before it was ripe, in order 
to secure a higher price for his fibre; but, on the con¬ 
trary, it will not be necessary to pull it until the seed 
and stalk were fully ripe. The farmer would thus ob¬ 
tain a larger proportion of fibre in proportion to the 
bulk, and a heavier crop of seed. He understood the 
quality of fibre in the new process not to be so essen¬ 
tially of importance as under the former plan, and that 
farmers may break the flax to reduce its bulk. The 
new material would be intermediate between linen and 
cotton; less valuable than the one, but more valuable 
than the other. 
Drainage and Irrigation. 
Eds. Cultivator —Many valuable articles on the im¬ 
portance of drainage to the agricultural interest of al¬ 
most every section of the country, have been given in 
your valuable paper for years past; but it is a subject of 
such magnitude, lying, as it does, at the foundation of 
all correct tillage, that the advantages arising from it 
should be repeated and reiterated, till farmers will hear, 
believe, understand and act. Although a good deal of 
that work has been successfully done, rendering land 
which was unfit for the profitable cultivation of wheat, 
(owing to the heaving of the wet soil by frost) dry and 
capable of raising crops of the best quality, where for¬ 
merly a thin crop of mildewed stalks, and shrivelled grain 
was all that the best tillage could produce, yet a tithe of 
what is requisite is not done. 
Travel where you will in western Pennsylvania, and 
you cannot find a farm that does not need further im¬ 
provement by underdrainage, except some favored ones, 
where nature has done the work. And yet, in most pla¬ 
ces, we might render our arable land dry and produc¬ 
tive, at less cost than the farmers of New-York, who 
use principally draining tiles; while we can very fre¬ 
quently be ridding the surface of the encumbrance of 
small stones, and with them constructing very efficient 
and permanent drains, and at the same time be putting 
the stones forever out of the way. It may seem para¬ 
doxical to recommend the drying and wetting of land at 
the same time. 
It is nevertheless true, that irrigation, on soils and sit¬ 
uations properly adapted to it, is scarcely less important 
than drainage. In the December number of the Culti¬ 
vator, there is an excellent article on the value of that 
method of improving the soil, and its immediate pro¬ 
duct. An experience of forty summers enables me ful¬ 
ly to add my testimony to that of Mr. Turner, that one 
acre of judiciously watered meadow land will, from its 
increased products, fully sustain and keep in a state of 
progressive improvement, alike quantity of upland. If 
