166 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
this city, has purchased several tons, for a manufacturer, of water rot¬ 
ted hemp, at 11 cents per lb, which is $220 per ton. We have been ad¬ 
vised, that this indifference to the flax crop, or rather to the flax, arises 
from a want of knowledge of the process of water rotting, and to the 
tedious operation of dressing it by hand. We are disposed to give in¬ 
structions upon the first head, and heg that some gentleman, acquainted 
with the best process of extracting the fibre from the shive, will assist 
us to do it on the other, in the hope of preventing the further waste of 
a material essential to our manufactures and our comfort. 
The process of water rotting flax is simple, and lasts but 10 or 12 
days. It consists in preparing a pool or pond, near a stream, or where 
water is at command, of sufficient capacity,*into which the water may 
be introduced, and suffered to become warm. The flax is placed in this 
in small bundles, and kept beneath the surface by boards or plank and 
weights, until, by repeated examinations after the 7th day, it is found 
that the fibre will separate freely, when it is taken out, unbound and 
spread evenly upon the grass a few days to dry and bleach; and for 
coarse fabrics, it need only be suffered to dry. 
It may be well to add, that flax does best on a light wheat soil per¬ 
fectly pulverized,—that it should be put in with a bush harrow, and 
then rolled. An Irish report upon the culture of flax, recommends an 
open, black, loamy soil, enriched by having lain long in pasture, as be¬ 
ing superior to a clay, or any other soil; and that either on the first or 
second crop after pasture, they have always found it to do better than 
after potatoes or turnips. 
The sheaves, being made small, are placed in the pit, crosswise up¬ 
on each other, until the pile rises to within six inches of the surface, 
when it is strewed with rushes, straw or any coarse rubbish, and load- 
wilh blocks or stone to keep them down or suspended. The pit should 
not exceed six feet in depth, as otherwise it will not acquire the requi¬ 
site or uniform warmth; the water should be clear and soft, though 
stagnant during the rotting process—the steeping being designed to ef¬ 
fect a partial rotting by means of fermentation. The pit should not be 
shaded, as the sun and air should freely act upon it. The water in 
which flax has been steeped should not be given to cattle ; but it affords 
a good liquid manure. Mr. Billings says, in his Survey of Somerset¬ 
shire, that he has found its effects, when applied to pasture lands by 
watering carts, to advance the land in value ten shillings per acre. He 
considered it superior to animal urine. It derives its fertilizing pro¬ 
perties from the gummy matter separated from the flax in the steeping 
process. 
The Flemish mode of steeping flax, as described in Radcliffe’s Flan¬ 
ders, is said to improve the quality of the lint greatly, to increase its 
whiteness, and to effect a saving of 10 per cent, in the product. It con¬ 
sists in placing the bundles in the steep vertically, instead of horizon¬ 
tally, as is the usual practice; in immersing the flax by means of trans¬ 
verse sticks, with that degree of weight annexed which shall not push 
it down to the bottom, but leave it the power to descend spontaneously 
towards the conclusion of the steepage; and of leaving at first a space 
of at least six inches between the bottom and the roots of the flax. The 
spontaneous descent of the flax is an indication of its being sufficiently 
steeped ; and the strength and quality of the fibre are said to be much 
better preserved by this mode, in which the temperature of the atmos¬ 
phere acts with more force upon the upper part of the plant, which 
containing the most gum, needs it most. Radcliffe gives the dimen¬ 
sions of a Flemish pool as two rods long, one rod wide, and six feet 
deep. Clear and soft watei is preferred. 
Loudon speaks of a practice, of recent introduction in England, of 
breaking and dressing both hemp and flax without rotting; and he gives 
a drawing of Hill and Bundy’s machines for performing the process, 
without describing them or their mode of operation; but he does not 
leave us to doubt of its being a great improvement, calculated to abridge 
greatly the labor and expense of the process. “ The machines are por¬ 
table,” says he, “ and may be worked in barns or any kind of out-hou¬ 
ses ; they are also well calculated for work-houses or charitable institu¬ 
tions ; a great part of the work being so light that it may be done by 
children and infirm persons ; and such the construction and simplicity 
of the machines, that no previous instruction or practice is required. 
The woody part of the hemp or flax is removed by a very simple ma¬ 
chine; and, by passing through a second machine equally simple, the 
flax may be brought to any degree of fineness, equal to the best used in 
France and the Netherlands, for the finest lace and cambric. The ori¬ 
ginal length of the fibre, as well as its strength, remain unimpaired; 
and the difference in the product is immense, being near two-thirds— 
one ton of flax being produced from four tons of stems. The expense 
of working each ton obtained by this method is only five pounds [about 
$22.] The glutinous matter may be removed by soap and water only, 
which will bring the flax to such perfect whiteness, that no further 
bleaching is necessary, even after the linen is woven; and the whole 
process of preparing flax may be completed in six days.”— Enc. of Ag. 
p. 850. 
Hill and Bundy’s machines, according to this veritable author, would 
have given to the immense quantity of flax thrown away in the west, 
an intrinsic value of fifty dollars to every ton of stems—and it amount¬ 
ed, we think probable, to some hundreds of tons. It stands the manu¬ 
facturer at least in hand, to inquire into the character of these ma¬ 
chines, and to procure their introduction into the country. 
Compost. —Mixing farm-yard dung, in a state of fermentation, with 
earth, in which there is much inert vegetable matter, as the banks of 
old ditches, or what is collected from the sides of lanes, &c. [or from 
marshes and swamps] will bring this inert dead matter, consisting of 
the roots of decayed grasses and other plants, into a state of putridity 
and solubility, and prepare it for nourishing the crops of plants it may 
be applied to, in the very manner it acts on peat. Dung, however, mix¬ 
ed with earth, taken from rich arable fields which have been long ma¬ 
nured and cultivated, can have no effect as manure to other land that 
the same dung and earth would not produce applied separately; because 
there is generally no inert matter in this description of earth to be ren¬ 
dered soluble.— Loudon. Mr. Loudon, in the last part of the sentence 
must allude to fermented manure—as the earth, in a compost of unfer 
mented manure, will become enriched by the gases, if not the liquids, 
given off by the fermenting mass. Hence one advantage of covering 
unfermented manure heaps with earth. The compost, to be sure, is 
easiest made in the soil, and in the field. 
Jerusalem Artichoke. —We are induced to speak of this root, because 
we have seen it recommended for field culture in several journals, as a 
profitable article for cattle food. That it is a native of a warmer cli¬ 
mate than ours, is evident from the fact, that its seeds never mature 
with us, and in some seasons the blossoms scarcely expand. But it is, 
nevertheless, readily propagated by the tubers, which remain in the 
soil uninjured by frost during our most intense winters. This root was 
once extensively cultivated in Europe, but its culture gave way to that 
of the potato. As it grows to a height of six or ten feet, the intervals 
between the plants require to be farther apart than is usual with the 
potato, though their product has been 500 bushels or more, to the acre. 
As compared with potatoes, they are watery, and inferior in their nu¬ 
tritive properties; and although they are greedily eaten by farm stock, 
they do not possess great fattening properties. The Germans use the 
stocks and leaves as forage. Though we do not think the culture of 
this plant an object where the potato or ruta baga thrive well, yet fur¬ 
ther south, where they do not do well, it might be advantagously in¬ 
troduced. __ 
Morus Multicaulis. —Gideon B. Smith, of Baltimore, says he has many 
inquiries “ how to preserve the morus multicaulis from injury from win 
ter weather.” Thus it would seem, that even in the mild climate of 
Maryland, this plant is liable to be injured by the frosts of winter. Mr. 
Smith very properly advises, that it be there planted on high dry ground, 
where the growth will be moderate, and the wood matured. We ad¬ 
vise, that in this latitude, the plants be cut down to near the ground, in 
the Belgian mode, and the stumps covered in winter, at least till the 
roots have become strong, and the plants well established. 
The Silk Business is rapidly progressing among us,—faster, we opine, 
than is justified by our experience and a due regard to prudence. We 
are in the height of a silk fever, and when the paroxysm abates, al¬ 
though some will lament their credulity, and abandon the pursuit, yet 
the business will ultimately progress, and become a source of indivi¬ 
dual and national wealth. We see only the fair side of the picture— 
the disappointed do not publish their opinions. Like all other business, 
it requires intelligence, and prudence, and experience, to ensure suc¬ 
cess. But our object, when we began this article, was simply to state, 
that several successful attempts have been made in obtaining two crops 
in a season. To effect this, the eggs should be exposed to a proper 
temperature for hatching, as soon as the leaves of the mulberry are 
sufficiently developed to nourish the worms, say 10th to 15th of May. 
In forty or fifty days thereafter, the worms will have completed their 
labor, and the moth have laid its eggs. By exposing these, a new ge¬ 
neration of worms will come forth in July. 
An Improvement in Tanning. —The tanning process is likely to be 
greatly cheapened and expedited, by a recent improvement, patented 
by Messrs. Bells, of Virginia. The improvement consists in freeing 
the hide, as a preliminary measure, from grease, and every useless sub¬ 
stance, by mechanical pressure, by means of rollers passing over them 
when drawn from the vats. They then imbibe the tanning readily, and 
the whole process is completed in from two to eight weeks. 
■ PRESERVATION OF FRUIT. 
Our holiday rounds have afforded ample proof of the efficacy of cot¬ 
ton in preserving fruits, in their natural state, for a long time after their 
natural period of decay. We have seen anil tasted black Hamburgh, 
Sweetwater and Isabella grapes, in this year 1837, as fresh and plump 
as they were when plucked from the vines in September or October, 
preserved in cotton, according to the directions given in the Cultivator 
