Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1853-10-22
To The Editors Oft Louisville Journal:

BosToN, Oct 4, 1853.
GENTLEMEN Agreeably to the promise made
In my letter to you of the 23d ult., send you
the material substance of the lecture on fax,
its treatment, &C., delivered before the New
York State Agricultural Society, at the Annual
Fair at Saratoga, by Prof. John Wilson, Eel
low Of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, &c, &c.
BY recent returns published by the board Of
trade it viii be seen that the importation of
textile fibers (hemp and fax into Great Brit
ain in 1851 amounted to no less than 2,495, 672
cwt 1t was to this point the speaker called
particular attention, as he found that although
flax entered largely into the cultivation of some
OF the western and southwestern States, the
seed is the only marketable return which the far
mer gets, the straw being entirely neglected.
In his travels in those sections he found that
there had been cultivated this year from 200, 900
to 100000 acres of fax, yielding from eight to
ten bushels of seed per acre, which, judging
from the relative yield in Europe, would give
about one ton of straw to the acre, or q gross
amount of from 200, 900 to 100000 tons.
These amounts, though large, are nothing
compared with the immense productive eapa-
bilities Of these fertile districts
In regard to the expensive process of hand
pulling of flax, the speaker thought successful
machinery would be soon introduced, which
would do the work as efficiently and at far less
cost than by manual labor. Even if no salts
factory machine for pulling presents ITSELF the
moscing machines would answer the purpose
sufficiently we'll.
In all cases, 1t is desirable that the cut flax
be loosely tied up in small sheaves, and set up
in the usual manner--not left lying on the
ground, by which great injury is sustained.
Flax, fortunately, has wide range Of soils
sands, sandy loans, light and heavy clays,
gravels, chalks, marls, alluvial soils, peat, and
reclaimed marsh lands, are all seen, under or
binary circumstances, to produce o crop. The
sandy loans and the alluvial soils, however, APP
pear to be best suited to its cultivation. The
plants need an open soil, through which the
water may freely percolate, as its roots are of a
fibrous nature, and extend Materially and vertical
ly to considerable distance or feet All
the conditions required for its successful cult
walton are that the soils be deep, in good heart
and in good filth, well drained, free from weeds;
if these exist, we may, under ordinary circum-
stances, expect good crop Owing to the
rapid growth Of the plant, and the consequent
shortness Of time it occupies the land, it affords
many opportunities to the grower, and admits
farm crops. Under ordinary circumstances, it
grain, or upon recently broken up ground
The mode of cultivation is too well known to
need more than passing observation. The
condition and filth of the soil must be secured;
about two bushels of clean seed to the acre
should be sown broadcast by the hand or by the
broadcast sower, and light roller run over it
completes the operation. The month of April
is the usual time for getting in the seed, but
am much inclined to think that fax might be
grown adyantageously in many late districts by
being sown in the autumn.
After being properly got in, the only care it
requires is aceediaa. II IS important that this
be done in a careful and efectire manner, as
the value Of the crop depends materially upon
its cleanliness.
The proper time Of harvesting is determined
by the color of the straw and of the seed. The
straw should assume yellow color Immediately
under the branches, and the seed should, on
cutting open the capsule be of pale brown color.
The crop now becomes divided, the one por-
ton is directly seryiceable to the farmer as a
valuable feeding substance, or as marketable
produce in great demand; the other, the straw,
is comparatively of little value until it has un-
dergone certain processes by which its charac-
ter is entirely changed. These require a series
of operations quite different from those Of the
farm, and, in fact, constitute distinct branch
of flax industry, intermediate between the
| grower of the straw and the consumer of its
prepared fiber, the spinner This division Of
labor greatly benefits the grower, as supplying
constant market for an article which a we'll.
organized establishment can dispose of far
more bene6cially than he could do at home.
with imperfect means, and, too often, imperfect
knowledge.
The fbrous portions of fax, being composed
Of bundles of very delicate flaments, may be
split up into almost any degree Of fneness,
| according to the process adopted. These may
be classed under two heads-the mechanical.
in which the operations are conducted in q
| dry state; and the chemical, in which moisture
IS more or less necessary. In the first, the
| object is obtained by the various parts being
| mechanically separated from each other, in the
latter the plant itself is disintegrated, either by
| the action of fermentation, which DESTROYS, or
of some solvent which abstracts, the cementing
matter by which its parts are held together.
Several modes have, from time to time, been
devised for effecting this mechanical separa-
| ton, but which have been gradually abandoned.
Even in the event of successful result in the
| separation, the goods thus manufactured from
the fiber are always liable to be injured by
| moisture, or any other condition that would act
upon the azotized substance, which would still
4 ASAAissliA StSSeVPssJ dAu SCHtCftUy TIC .VUeIS
| together.
The second, the chemical or net process, must
| be considered under three different heads:
The FIRST when the separation is effected by
simple fermentation, known as Sleeping"
The second, when it is due to the abstraction
Of the azotized extractive compound, by the
agency of chemical solrents.
The third, when simply mater, either heated
or in the shape of steam, is used. In the FIRST
a destructive fermentation is carried on at the
| expense of the extractive matter of the plant,
| and offensive and noxious gases are generated
in the second, this matter is moved by the aid
| of chemical ingredients, which are costly, and
render it of little value; while by the third
| the whole of the substance distracted is pre-
served in a state Immediately available, and
valuable as feeding substance. The process
Of sleeping is carried on differently in different
districts; the oldest is probably that of "dew-
rotting," common to all fax-growers. The
usual method is to immense the straw, either
in tanks or pits constructed for the purpose, or
| in slowly running streams. This method, re-
Il 49, \