New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1850-08-22
Cssfau-RIax-Hemp.

our own on the subject, but simply state
what appears to be the general impression.
If this years yield Of Cotton in the States
should not exceed Two and Half Million
bales, we presume Fair Orleans cannot be
expected to average less than l5c per pound
in New-York and 7 Id in Liverpool for twelve
months to come.
This prospect prompts an inquiry which
seems to us deserving Of thoughtful consid'
Grafton: Why should the present depend
ence Of mankind on the cotton-plan: to sup
ply half the clothing Of the human family
continued Is it reasonable? Is it bench.
cials It's certainly novelty in the worlds
history, based on the accident of Whitney's
invention of the Gin, with corresponding
improvements in the machinery for Spin
ming and Weaving. Flax is the more hardy
plant, will grow and yield luxuriantly on
far greater area of the earth's surface; its
fiber is far stronger and more durable, and
it can be produced, up to the point where
machinery becomes essential, with far
smaller expediture of human labor. From
some little Though not recent experience
in its culture, we estimate that six cents per
pound for the fiber, if the crop could be sold
in the well-cured stalk undressed, would lib
orally pay for the labor and soil required
for its production, one year with another;
and Flax is a much surer crop than Cotton,
while the vast extent of territory on which
it may be grown almost precludes the pos
sibility of deficient supply. The single
State of Wisconsin might grow Flax to an
amount equal to the entire Cotton crop of
the Union.
With proper machinery, such as there is
abundant inventive genius and mechanical
knowledge in the country to produce, if it
had but 'induccment to try, Flax might be
broken and cleaned-in other words, the
fiber separated from the woody substance of
the stalk for one, or at the utmost two cents
per pound, while the saving Of the fiber,
both in quantity and quality, as compared
with the results Of the clumsy, wasteful,
tedious hand processes formerly relied on,
would not be less than twenty per cent.
One half the ingenuity and persevering eff.
fort employed land richly rewarded) in the
invention of machinery for separating, card
ing, spinning and weaving the cotton fiber
would inevitably result in the production of
machinery for separating and manufactur
ing the Flax fiber to an equal extent and
with equally henefcant results.
This is not guess-work, but reasoning from
what has been to what may and should be.
The facts that Flax, and even its harder
brother, Hemp, hare been broken, spun and
woven by machinery, are notorious. The
machinery employed for the purpose is yet
in its infancy, but it might be rapidly i'm
proved and perfected if it were but under
stood that a successful effort thus bestowed
would meet liberal reward.
The immediate Indictment to this train
of observation is an article in the Maysrille
Herald (Ky.) of the 10th, announcing the
successful establishment at that place (by
j. 7. Crook & co., of an extensive manu-
factory of Kyanized Rope and Bagging,
wherein the Hemp is taken directly from
the field as cured for the barn or stack and
broken witAom rotting either By dew or
,cater The machinery required for the
breaking is of course Of great power, but
one breaking engine will turn out half
ton of dressed hemp (fber) per day. The
saving in quantity by this process, as CON-
pared with the dew-rotting and dressing is
fully ten per cent. while the Kyanized pro-
cess, (which was found not to answer with
either dew.rotted or water-rotted hemp
here works to perfection. The reason is
said to be that Rotting is a process of de-
cay, and Kyanizing can prevent but cannot
arrest decay; on the contrary, it rather &C
CELEBRATES the process when already COM
menced. The material used by Crook & Co.
in the Kyanizing process is kept secret,
but they say it is not expensive. All the
fabrics used by them have an extraordinary
power Of endurance under the operation Of
the elements. The shires or woody portions
Of the hemp stalk are carried directly from
the breaker by machinery to the furnace,
into which fan throws them, and the sixty.
horse engine requires no other fuel
The Maysville Herald has calculation
showing that for an establishment making
10000 yards Of bsgging per week the weekly
expense would be 1892 under the old
system, while with this machinery a much
better and more durable fabric is produced
at q cost Of Sl,2S5, making a saving Of
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