New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-09-20
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE



FLAX.
To a. EIiior q Ts< n. \ Tribuae
SIR: II TIE TRIBUNE Of the 18th inst. tld an
article signed Geo. Anderson OF Diamond Mills. LHn-
spgtuIgb in which he quotes remarks sad to have
Teen ade by at the Farmers Club, rel ltive 70
the ia. machine invented by A. II. Caryl. No such
r,msiks as be quotes were made by me and every
objection urged by Mr.. A. Is wrongly deduced from
ny remarks. Go the day Of the meeting Of the Ciuo
sent you article on Tax. including DESCRIPTION
Of Caryl's machine which you now have in msnu-
script and which contains my remarks made at tue
Club. By pernsal Of that manuscript you will per-
,eive that did not say thst the product OF one tun
Of hax-strsw worth $40, bat that the product
was worth $40 per tun.' Mr. A. then makes me
ssy or deduces from what he says for me:
Had he above srPeAsa As az advertise nent pnthDs 4
ns bot y hen .ush statement. pat forward bys
.3ss gTot.e S :, S .. that s.ed .ni d
.rrihi in Ths See,se An'rIn Of Am N viii pass
,., ~ SGD per TIM 18th Of which such go-
tsr $. not m-lesd any who he's knowledge OF the
cannot understand why these gross errors, de-
dnoed bv the writer Of the above, did not convince
lin that the report, and not |, was IN fault did
tn. straw Hworth 70 Ohio after having been ro,ted, IS
to so per vii Prod1se q" ne Of clean d.a Ths ,3
r. ibe Po;tss sax when eesned BY this machine worth
per and instead Of the product beng n ne form o.
cleaned By ths machine to render good ha1 Tor
s,dnn.pz"
Mr. A. then says
A # CryPs machine m,y make tow Of tangled haN
straw be ivsiuable to the Paper bit Vii meyer
single sa-ce 81 the machine by any cenyerssat with
dressrs and spinning will convince them Of the fact
On this point take issue with, Mr. A. have seen
the product and repeat what have before said; Mr.
A. next says:
II wcndei wher. Prof M.pes has learned that the Fall
Riy,r Gonrsny .Sp1 b.rs b 1,o..d apou BY some
one II he had sid go 81" trns he would have been
or Ire and that manufacture. 500 uns Per annum md
contain about three times the number OF spnde
th,r. 10 Fall River
This is too evidently the false deduction of Mr.. a
TO require repy-wbat did say was
The .c.ehns from hemp may be also tre-ted by this ns
eordsse twine The Esll River Laen Factory are now
spnLns and Tanuisetarns seuie VOW ., a pa n =.
purrhae 1t the market price, all that be cleaned 10 the
sboot Yori 70 Be into ,wns carpet
and eodase The AGENTS Of the English and scotch msnns
tnrs are pdns hone this style Of result "a be seumehted
viii IN ID, other side and tey probably will demand
airy other than home manufacture Will be required equal
the total product of Der country
think on a review of the above MIR. A. WI ma II
difficult TO deduce that | ever asserted anything
which could be tortured into such results as he pre-
,enos TO have arrived at and hs closing paragraph,
in which he SAYS:
IN future Prof Mspes viii pay lii,s attention
is beneath reply. Whenever you may think proper
10 publish my entire article Flax, now IN your pos
session Mr. A. will, perhaps, learn that the hurried
reports Of public meetings should not be quoted as
implicitly correct. Yours respectfully,
JAMES J. MAPES
The article above alluded to is az follows:
"Tbe treatment and manufacture of fax is fast be-
coming Of great importance to the American people,
and particularly of that portion which 10 now wasted
from fax grown for the purpose Of saving the seed
THOUSANDS Of tuDs Of tangled fax straw are annually
burned in some single counties in Ohio and untll the
present time it has been nearly quite yaueess ex-
cept manure fer land. Improvements OF all kinds
followed the discovery Of Clausons process, and
among others, Mr.. A. Fl. Caryl OF Ohio has invented
machine for manufacturing this tangled straw, and
uany other of the now wasted products oil max ana
hemp manufacture into mereheutsble articles ana
so large is our fax crop that this machine becomes
one OF the most important inventions OF the day. lts
operation tangled flax straw may be thus described
sit breaks the straw, separates the noer IRON the
woody portions and renders il N for market. The
machine will break about 5000 lbs of straw per day,
delivering its product in finished shape, aud requir-
ing the attendance of two men, and three horse pow
er The straw il worth in Ohio, after having been
rotted IS TO $40 per tun A tun will produce 800 lbs
of clean flax when rotted, and II treated by tue ma
chine before being rOtted. 42J tbs. The roted max
when ceened by this machine is worth - 10 a tun and
;pstead of the product being in the form OF tow, 1t Is
the whole body OF fax. Scutched tow may be clean
ed by this machine 20 rs To render It good ndx Tor
spinning As the hax is now spun, the difference be-
tween straw ard tangled fax is but small TIE tan
gled flax being worth. within few cents per pound,
new stvle Of machine invented by Mr.. Cdryl, VIII
straiehten the tangled fax delivered from Careys
machine in the early part Of the process OF spinning
The straw is fed upon endless apron, and pass
ed between several pairs of huted rollers 10 break the
wood thence through pair of feed rollers, armed
with coarse card, the teeth being hooked toward the
Auted rollers to prevent the fax from being thrown
too rapidly into the machine by the picker.
"The picker is cylinder fourfeet in diameter, hav-
ing on It's peri; hery from sixteen to thrty-tw) bars,
three feet long On each of these bars u sroF OF
teeth and between each of the bars rods at dis
lance of tbree-quarers Of inch apart which rods
hold the fax up TO the cards above, but al the same
time permitting the dirt to fall through them. Above
this pcker are cards three inches wide and three feet
long through which the fax is drawn by the picker.
The fax is carried upward and over to point oppo-
Site The feed roller where it met by brush cylinder
/ revolving downward toward the picker, aud with
twice the speed Of the picker. Below the point OF
J contact between the teeth and the brush is a tin
spr which presses slightly against the face OF the
! brush; the brush revolving downward reverses the
no,Iton Of the ends Of the fbers thus pulling OF the
FAX from the teeth and passing il between lts III and
the tin pressing il half round ITSELF where II Is met
nv n blast Of wind from fan blowing IN an opposite
direction to The rotation Of the brush, aud by which
IL i strpped from it, surface in state ready for tue
market and suited for immediate in the carting
| mill.
/ Flax-seed raised in Ohio is variously estimated
! but supposed to be 400 coo bushels per annum. At
DAYTON alone go. 900 bushels are receiyed-and Of
all this immense amount, not more than two per cent
of the fax is ever worked or saved at all-and thus
has arisen entirely from the want fprOper machinery
Inv which il might be worked The invention Of Mr..
Caryl. however, has supplied the necessary means,
and will this year convert 40 600 tuns OF straw into
merchantable fax, and possibly much larger
amount.
The principal aa1;growing States, many Of which
| do IL prircipally for the seed are Kentucky, Mis-
] Tam. 49,. Indiana Illinois Wir(OD-in, Iowa