494 
ON  A  NEW"  VARIETY  OF  FLAXSEED. 
variety  of  flaxseed  is  clearly  traced,  and  Mr.  Wayne  has  kindly 
given  it  to  me,  as  follows : 
Mr.  E.  Everingham,  who  resides  about  fourteen  miles  east  of 
Piqua,  Miami  County,  Ohio,  in  1846,  observed  in  his  field  of  brown 
flaxseed,  one  stalk  with  white  blossoms,  and  taller  than  the  rest 
of  the  field.  He  carefully  marked  the  place,  and  on  gathering 
the  seed,  when  ripe,  found  it,  to  his  surprise,  to  be  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  any  he  had  ever  seen.  Next  season  he  sowed  it  in 
his  garden,  but  the  plants  were  nearly  destroyed  by  worms,  yet 
he  succeeded  in  gathering  about  a  teacupful  of  the  seeds.  From 
that  time  it  succeeded  well,  and  proved  to  be  more  productive 
than  the  brown  seed."  The  first  seed  sold  was  to  Messrs.  Sawyer 
&  Jackson,  of  Piqua,  for  §3  per  bushel,  and  another  lot  at  Urbana, 
Champlain  County,  at  $4  the  bushel.  Messrs.  Sawyer  &  Jackson, 
who  have  had  considerable  experience  in  manufacturing  oil  from 
it,  still  give  it  the  preference  over  the  brown  seed. 
At  the  State-Agricultural  Fair,  held  in  Cincinnati,  in  1850,  a 
premium  was  awarded  for  it  as  a  new  and  valuable  variety.  The 
crop  of  seed  this  year  is  estimated  at  about  fifty  thousand  bushels, 
which  speaks  well  for  its  productiveness.  Mr.  Wayne  was  in- 
formed that  it  takes  three  pecks  of  brown  seed  to  sow  an  acre, 
and  of  the  white  variety  but  two  pecks  is  required,  the  product 
being  equal. 
At  first  sight  this  variety  of  flaxseed  might  readily  be  taken 
for  canary  seed,  but  on  closer  inspection  it  will  be  found  to  be 
lighter  in  color,  flatter,  and  not  so  pointed.  When  bruised  in  a 
mortar  with  a  little  water  they  afford  a  stiff,  ropy,  mucilaginous 
paste,  having  very  little  color,  with  the  peculiar  odor  of  ordinary 
flaxseed.  One  hundred  parts  of  the  powdered  seeds  afforded  to 
ether,  32  parts  of  oily  residue.  Macerated  in  cold  water  they 
communicate  a  mucilaginous  consistence  to  it,  and  the  mucilage 
affords  precipitates  with  alcohol  and  subacetate  of  lead  precisely 
as  that  of  ordinary  flaxseed  mucilage.  In  fact,  from  the  slight 
examination  to  which  it  has  been  subjected,  the  absence  of  the 
brown  coloring  matter  appears  to  be  the  only  difference.  The 
absence  of  color  is  an  advantage  in  favor  of  its  use  in  medicine, 
as  the  meal  produced  affords  a  cataplasm  less  repulsive  in  ap- 
pearance. It  is  probable  that  the  oil  it  contains  is  less  colored, 
which  is  a  desideratum  to  the  painter. 
