Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1857-05-07
Che garnter.
Culture of Flax.

Flax has been an important crop from the
earliest ages of the world. Among the pla-
CUES that came upon the Egyptians for their
oppression Of the Israelites, we find that
=" the fax and the barley were smitten." 1t
was also cultivated in Palestine, at the time
the spies visited that "goodly land" as Ra-
hab :. hid them with the stalks of fax, which
she had laid in order upon the roof" Russia
is at present the greatest flax and hemp pro-
,ducing country in the world. Large quanti-
ties of seed are raised in this country for the
manufacture of oil, but the straw is only used
in very limited extent for the preparation
of fibre.
The best soil for fax is mellow vegetable
loam-not too light and sandy, nor too stiff.
We have, however, seen excellent crops of
fax grown on very light land by the use of
plaster. In the ground is very rich, the
fbres grow too coarse, and if the ground is
very poor, enoug will not be grown to pay
for culture. A medium state of fertility, is
therefore the best. Flax growers in Ireland
never manure for flax, but always for the pre-
ceding crop. Nothing is better for flax than
an old pasture, well plowed, and the turf rot
ted.
IF the fax is cultivated for seed, it should
be sown quite thin--a bushel to an acre, sown
broadcast, is sufficient When the principal
object is the growth of fibre, at least two
bushels Of seed should be sown. When sown
thin, the plants branch, and every side shoot
terminates with bole of seed. When sown
jthickly, from two to three bushels to an acre.
the stems grow with single stem, without
side branches, and with long fine irore.-
After sowing, the ground should be lightly
narrowed and rolled. The most troublesome
part of the cultivation, is the wedding. The
young plants are much injured by the growth
Of weeds, and these can only be done by hand
wedding. This in Europe is done by boys,
who work barefooted, SO as to injure the
plants as little as possible. When the previ-
GUS crop, (which should be roots,) has been
kept clean, no manure being used, weeds will
not Delivery troublesome.
In flax growing countries, when the fibre is
designed for the finest fabribs, such as cam.
brics, the plants are pulled when in flower,
but In this country even when it is designed
to preserve the fibre, it is not pulled until the
seed IS formed, although not fully ripe. When
seed alone is the object, the plants should be
allowed to remain in the ground until the
earliest seeds are we'll ripened. 1t is then
gathered, bound into small bundles, and when
dry, is placed under cover.
The separation of the fbrous from the
other portions of the straw, is work that
does net legitimately belong to the farmer
1t is not an agricultural work, and could be
better done at factories established for the
purpose, where the most improved machinery
should be introduced, and the best system
adopted. If the farmer could sell his fax
straw, as he does his wheat, or even take il
to the factory and haye it prepared as he
does his grist, there would be some encour.
agement for growing fax. Immense quaint.
ties of flax are imported by England from
Russia, and manufactured into linen, which i,
then sent to the United States. IF we can
not compete with England in the manufacture
Of linen, we should certainly furnish the raw
material, as we do for the cotton goods VIC
import so literally. The centre of fax-strav
consists of cellular tissue, which looks like
wood, and around this is sheath of lon.
tough fbres adhering firmly together, thu
whole being cemented together, and envelop
ed by thin bark and skin. These fibres
are a valuable part Of the straw, and tn,
great point is to separate them from the othe
substances the most easily, without injuriny
the fibre. In Europe this separation is il
some cases effected by machinery, but whel