The Portland daily press., 1901-02-22

adventaee Is that the straw on the inside
OF the drill is tine and that on the out
side coarse. The latter requires twice as
much time 10 rot ~ the former, and the
two grades are hopelessly mixed In the
The seed should be narrowed or raked
under,
me time OF growth is about three
months, and In Maine we are fortunate
In having frequent showers during this
period.
The harvesting for fibre occurs before the
crop IL fully ripe. When the straw begins
| to turn yellow and the foliage within six
/ inches OF the ground IL dropping, pull ~
once. Where labor IL cheap TINS ~ aone
| by hand. 1t Is laborious WORK ana rev rev.
| dertake it, The handfuls OF straw -
| thew are pulled sre laid side hy SIDE on
| the field Tangling Is prevented oy manu- ,t
pulling. and long line nbre results
morsover the first few inches OF the Tax
plant are richer infthre than the portions
higher up, and this Ia all saved by pull
ing, Notwithstanding this, 1t IL ques-
tionabie whether the extra expense In
voIved does not more than offset the gain
in tax. American Ingenuity has pro
duced several fax pulling machines, the
details of which l can give to the curl
Gus, II they so desire,
For all practical purposes, it is suiii-
Client to cut the crop within two Inches Of
she ground by q moving machine.
Where the field has first been rolled and
is free from stones, good results may be
/ expected
| The straw Is allowed TO lie in the
/ swatb for a few hours, when IL Is stacked
into "hedges," which are formed by
standing on end and inclined TO and
crossing each other, handfuls OF straw,
much az soldiers stack arms BY this
arrangement rain is shed, aud the curing
evenly and expeditiously accomplished
When fully dry the straw is ready to be
removed TO the mill.
The strictly farming operati ons end
here. II is hitting to remark, however,
that an aftermath can be secured II the
farmer so desires II, by planting at once
TO fodder corn, while the next seaaou
the field should be sown to wheaee
Large crops of the latter are SAID 10 re-
ward those who follow this practice.
The order OF rotation Is then, nrst, clover,
second, lax, third wheat.
At the scratoh mill the seed Is nrst re-
moved. IL care is taken In the process.
the fibre is not appreoiably damaged
thereby. Various methods ars employed,
from the old-fashioned hand thresninR
to passing the straw through cylinders,
I SO constructed that only the heads are
crushed There Ia no reason why tine
thrifty farmer should not do this him
self The Yield OF seed is from ten to
twenty -eight bushels per acre, and the
market price is about one dollar per
bushel.
After the seed is of, the straw must
then be "retted" or rotted to dissolve
out the inter-hbrillar cement, or gum
and set the fibre Tree
There are various ways OF doing this,
from simple exposure TO the elements Tor
several months called "dew retting," to
the more elaborate and expeditions chem
ical processes Abroad the common GUS
tom is to steep the straw tied In bundles,
in soft running or still water till fer
mentation occurs Water rettiug, how
ever, is a distinctly expert process, as
only experience can tell the operator
from the steep. IL is not to be recon-
mended to beginners
Various chemical processes have been
| suggested, but the test of time has
proved most Of them Of Indifferent value.
There is one process, however, OF which
am aware, which, II it can be judged
by It's product, is worthy OF most careful
Investigation. The fibre Is fms and silk
like in Its sheen, and II anything, Is
stronger than the nbre from water retted
flax.
Its inventor, DIR. j. f Chittenden, of
New York, in a lettsr to me, says
"In detail the process is as follows;
The dried straw IL run through twenty
sets OF fluted rollers. Thus it il practi-
calIy freed from the worst OF the shtve
or boon My reason for breaKing the
straw before retting Is that 1t is easier to
handle one ton Of tihre than i've tons OF
straw when wst. The hbre as 1t comes
from tho brake is packed into wire crates
| and Immersed in a solution at 2l2 degrees
f tor thirty minutes. The crates are
then hoisted ont, drained and thoroughly
rinsed. The hbre is run through rollers
to remove as much moisture as possible
and dried in the sun or In a dry house.
II the weather Is wet.
The secret OF the process resides, of
course, In the comUosition OF the solu-
tion.
Where water retting Is employed, the
thoroughly dried and is then passed
through tiuted rollers, as In the Chitten-
DEN process The woody portion
("shive' or "boon") Is crushed and
rails to the ground
The glistening fibre must then be
"buffsd' or bsaten TO dislodge any re-
manning detritus, and scutched, or
hacked to comb out the tow or tan.
gled TAX
1t is then ready for the spinner
As an example OF one mans experience
in the growing of 1iax, albeit long ago,
1 give that OF MIR. b. Brown, of Al
Ieghany Co, Penn. 1t occurs in the
Congressional Report on fax culture OF
1868, already referred to No reliance is
to be placed on the zig uTes named as they
| are not thoss OF the present day.
MIR. Brown seIscted for his experiment
four acres OF creek bottom land, rich,
black and loamy. lie pIoughed, har-
rowed and rolled 1t, and sowed broadcast
one bushel OF seed to the acre. he cut
the straw with a scythe: cured like hay
in the swath, used a thresheP and separ-
ator to remove the seed; spread the
straw on meadow anu occasionally
turned It for two months, when he sold
it at Pittsburg for $25 90 per ton
The seed 90 bushels Of 1.-THE sold for
81. 20 per bushel. His receipts were
$l62.50 or $40 81 per acre.
"a pleasant crop to HANDLE" says Mr.
Brown, "giving about as much trouble
as wheat"
In my next letter / Will dicsuss the
commercial aspect OF the question and
whether or not 1t will pay to raise flax IN