The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1863-04-23
NUMBER 46,
To Flax
Directions for Fac culture, any the farm prep
GrGti0n Of fac StrdW. .
DBy S. A. CLEMENS, formerly of Rockford

will grow flax well, if suitably prepared. On
timber cIearings which are recent, on new
prairie and old turf lands in favorable seasons,
it hourishes free of weeds and with a heavy
yield of straw and seed. Deep blowing and
thorough narrowing, to make the surface hne
and even, and land free of weeds are necessa-
ry to get a superior crop. The yield of seed
will not largely vary, whatever quality over
one-half of a bushel may be sown so the acre,
but the crop of flax straw will be increased in
quantity and improved in quality, proportion
ally, up to two bushels of seed sown to the
acre. With this heavy seeding, twenty bush
els of fax seed and three tons of flax straw
have been grown to the acre in this region
Clean bright seed should alone be used for
sowing, and farmers who can obtain imported
Russian or German seed, or that from the
East or Canada, from crops grown for fine
flax fibre, will realize a much more valuable
product than by using western flax seed, from
crops which, for successive years, have been
thinly sown, and hence tends by hereditary
deterioration, to produce short branching
plants and Of coarse quality of fibre. Much
care should be taken i'll sowing to distribute
the seed evenly over the ground, which insures
an even growth and size Of the flax plants
To do this, many farmers SOW over the field
twice, passing each time at right angles to
the other. A light toothed or a brush harrow
serves to cover the seeds, and this may be fol
lowed with a field roller, which is necessary
for the best results. Sow as early in the spring
as the ground can well prepared as slight
frosts do not kill the young plants, and early
sowing often f~orestalls weeds and drough, and
gives, as a rule, a better yield and quantity,
both of seed and fibre. When the new crop
of seed is barely hard and brown, though the
stalks may yet be green, cut the flax with
the scytEe OF moving machine closely to the
ground to save all the lint and get the flax
dried and stacked as soon as possible, to pre-
vent losses from rains and field crlckets, which
often destroy the best hopes Of the flax grow
er. If the harvest weather is wet, 1t is best
to let the flax lie in the sWath as it is cut, and
turn it over between showers to keep the straw
from mildew and the seed from spOlling.-
When the rains continue two or three weeks
after the fax is cut, the straw by being eX-
posed becomes harvest rotted, which produces
fax fibre of inferior value, in respect to color,
strength and ~fineness, which results from the
too rapid rotting in warm weather, The seed
is generally removed by the straw with hors-
es. which move in a circle on a plank or earth
floor, prepared in the field near the Stacks
The threshing machine is sometimes used, but
more often abandoned after trial. Flax straw
should be kept dry and bright until about the
1st of October, when it may be put out for
dew rotting by spreading it evenly upon grass
land, at the rate of about one ton to the acre.
Uniformity of the rottng process IS very I'M
portant to the quality of the fibre, and, during
its progress, the flax straw should be turned
over, If it appears to be rotting unevenly, and
the punches picked open with a fork as III max
ing hay. When the lint or fibre separates
very freely from the shives or fragments OF
broken stalks, on being rubbed between the
hands, the flax is ready to be taken up, which
should only be done in dry weather. TO dew
rot flax to a suitable condition, which is best
done in the fall or spring, requires an expos
ure from one to two months, according to the
witness of the season. Care should be taken,
however, that the flax does not lie out so long
as to over-rot, and thus weaken the fibre. At
ter taking the rotted fax from the field, it
should be housed or well stacked above the
reach of moisture from the ground, and the
stacks covered with wheat straw or hay, as
rotted fax rapidly absorbs moisture and is IL
able to be wet through and spoiled by the
rains.
When the flax crop stands thick upon the
ground, is free of weeds, and with long slen-
der stalks, heavily coated with lint, it is most
valuable to handle it for straight or long flax
instead of allowing it go from the field loose
or tangled as before described. For this pur-
pose it should be cut closely to the ground
with a combined reaper and mower, the flax
being removed from the machine in straight
gavels like W heat, and at once be bound up
in small bundles, with care to keep the butt
ends even, and remove weeds and grass. The
bundles may be set up in small shocks, and a
few days of fair weather will drythem through
when they should be attacked without delay.
The seed can be removed from the bundled
flax by the fail, by a ripple or single row OF
wooden hackle teeth, or by removing the con-
cave of a threshing machine and fastening a
bar in front of the cylinder, to support the
seed end of the flax bundle as it is held by the
butt end, and the tops subjected to the action
of the teeth Of the revolving cylinder, With
care this last mode is expeditions and safe
while, by removing the branching seed ends
of the stalks, along with the seed bolls, the
value of the flax is increased.
For dew-rotting the bundles Of straight flax
are to be unbound, and flax spread out evenly,
on grass land, in parallel rows, with a space
of about one foot between them. When the
flax is about half rotted it should be turned
over by hand with the aid ola light pole about
twelve feet long, which is thrust under the
top ends of the fax stalks, and raised by a
movement which turns over the flax while
the butt ends rest on the ground. Advanc-
ing by the length of the pole, in successive
movements, the whole Of the flax, row after
row, is turned over without entanglement.-I
When sufficiently rotted, which may be known
by the indications before described for loose
flax, straight flax should be taken up and
bound in strong bundles, with care in all the
handling, to keep it straight, parallel and
even at the butt ends.
Not least OF all, having taken up the rotted
fax perfectly dry, be sure and keep it SO, as
damp fax cannot be cleaned by machinery,
and in that state is comparatively worthless.
The writer does not give directions tor the
disposal of the flax straw after it is rotted.-
Those who seem to be best prepared to give
advice say that here the work OF the farmer
should end and that Of the manufactures com
mence-that the straw should be sold IN It's
rotted condition. The price OF the straw VIII
vary, according to it's condition, the prospects
of a settlement of the civil war and the pro
duction of cotton, and the number of manu-
factories Of flax. We believe there Is but one
in this section, and that is at Chicago. They
offer from five to seven dollars per ton for un-
rotted flax straw, delivered at the nearest de
pot. We believe the usual yield when sown
for seed is from twelve to fourteen bushels, and
about a ton of straw.
-
Gen. ROsecrRns' Way.
Nh. J.. w. Gum has handed us a letter from
his brother, a Chaplain in the army Of the
Cumberland, who gives this interesting anec-
dote of Gen Rosecrans. le
On Wednesday while We were. stationed as
guard to the ford, General Rosecrans came up
r. Colonial Price COMMANDING the brigade, and