quietly departed, leaving her afflicted family and friends comforted with the belief that she is an inheritor of the precious promises given to those who love the appearing of the Lord Jesus.

WEST TOWN SCHOOL.

the calculations appear reasonable, and so far as we can judge, correct; but you may rely upon it there is some capital flaw in your figures, or we should not be making the discovery at this late day." They were unwilling to admit that an energy and intelligence which had built up their The Committee to superintend the Boarding great cotton and woolen interests, and had even School at West Town, will meet there, on Fourth pressed them to a point of competition actually day, the 7th of next month, at 10 o'clock, A. M. injurious to themselves, should have entirely neThe Committee on Instruction meet on the pre-glected an equally important and profitable manuceding evening at half past seven o'clock. The Visiting Committee assemble at the School on Seventh day the 3d of the month.

THOMAS KIMBER, Clerk. Philadelphia, 11th mo. 26, 1853.-2t

PIETY PROMOTED.

The publishers of the above work have received a number of subscription papers, but as there are still many which have not come in, and as it is desirable to them to be able to decide soon on the propriety of going on with the printing, they would respectfully request Friends in whose hands the papers may be, to complete the subscriptions in their respective neighborhoods, and forward them as early as may be. It is designed, if the subscription is such as to warrant it, to have the work ready for delivery in the Fourth month next. Philadelphia, 11th month 24th, 1853.

Having thus traced a tolerably fair outline of the progress of the Flax manufacture abroad, and its position at home, let us now enter upon the more practical details of the subject. An accurate examination into these has been deferred thus far, in the hope of awakening in the reader's mind a more lively interest in the promotion of this great industrial pursuit; as well as a deeper sense of its importance to the general interests of our country.

facture.

It is therefore no less flattering to our national vanity, than encouraging to future endeavors, if we can satisfy ourselves that this anomalous and unnatural position of things has been brought about, not so much from any fault of ours, as from the necessities of the case. For while linens were made by hand labor, we could do a better business; and if the restless and all grasping energy of the American people has since been so occupied in other pursuits, as to neglect its true interests in this, it will at least be not slow to overtake its European competitors, when once convinced that it would be most profitable to do so. Let us then first see whether the proper culture of Flax, would be remunerative to our western farmers.

There is a general prejudice in this country against the growth of Flax, from a belief that it is injurious to the soil. The entire experience of those countries, however, which have longest paid attention to its culture, completely disproves this assertion; and on the contrary establishes the fact that when grown judiciously, Flax is highly improving to the ground.

If we examine a stalk of the Flax plant, (Linum usitatissimum),* it will be found to consist of a woody heart or center, around which lie closely packed the fibres, which are the object of our notice. These fibres are firmly united to the central pith, as well as to each other, by a sort of gluten, or albuminous compound, which is extremely difficult of removal; and the whole

As the value of the statements made in this article

It seemed also desirable, before presenting any depend entirely upon the authorities which support very extravagant figures of the profits of the va- them, I may here mention that they are drawn from the published proceedings of the Royal Flax Sorious processes, first to offer a rational explana-ciety of Ireland; from a work entitled "Flax-its tion of the causes which have hitherto prevented cultivation and management, with instructions in our discovery of them. There is a tendency in the human mind, and particularly in the American mind, to reject as impossible any idea which involves the conviction of a palpable neglect of one's own true interests. The presumption is all against the new movement.

the various Belgian methods of growing and preparing it for market, by E. F. Deman, Belgian Agriculturist and late technical instructor to the Royal Flax Society in Ireland;" from a copious treatise by John Warnes "On the cultivation of Flax, the fattening of cattle with native produce, box feeding and summer grazing; and also from a valuable publication by James H. Dickson, entitled "A series of letters on the improved modes of the cultivation and management of Flax, with various rules and instructions, &c. &c." Occasional reference will be made to a pamphlet published in 1851, by P. Fairbairn & Co., of Leeds, on this subject; and to Professor Wilson's lectures, before

Hence, when an effort was made about two years since, to arouse the attention of our New England manufacturers to this neglected branch of industry, and to prove to them by unanswerable evidence, the great profits in every departalluded to. All these authorities are considered of the ment of its manufacture, it was difficult to secure first character in Great Britain; save some technical a patient hearing from any of them. "The theories of Warnes and Dickson's, which will not be subject is all new to us," they would say, "and lluded to here.

is covered by a fine cuticle, or smooth tubular, for giving milk; it is so light, and contains so much of bark.

The stalk generally grows to the height of two or three feet, then separates into several branches; and these terminate in small, bell-shaped, blue flowers; which are followed, as the plant germinates, by globular capsules of ten cells each, which contain as many seeds. These seeds are valuable, not only for the natural purpose of reproducing the plant, but also for their medicinal and soothing properties in allaying inflammation, and more especially for the oily fluid they contain, which under the name of Linseed oil, is extensively used in a variety of arts; and particularly, from its rapidly drying qualities, in the manufacture of paint.

albumaceous matter."

Dickson also relates many instances of the nutritive properties of the flax seed bolls.

But a still more nourishing portion of this plant for cattle feeding, is the oil cake, or refuse of the seed after pressing out the linseed oil. So valuable is this deemed in England, that many farmers use from 50 to 100 tons a year, and some as much as 200 tons, for the sole purpose of fattening cattle; and the price, a few years ago, of the foreign oil cake was equal to the price of the English flax seed per pound, though the latter contained the more valuable ingredient of the linseed oil. England imports annually of oil cake alone, 150,000,000 pounds, which average about $2,500,000 in value.*

An acre of ground will, with proper cultivation, readily produce 20 bushels of this seed, It thus appears, that so far as the seed vessels and in England and Belgium, 25 to 30 bushels and their contents are concerned, much of the per acre have been frequently obtained. The nutriment, so exhaustive to the soil, may profitapresent market value of the American seed is bly be returned to the ground, by wholesale $1.50 per bushel; and it cannot be imported cattle feeding. And it is a curious fact, that the from Riga or Belgium under $3.50 per bushel. barn yard manures are the only ones, as a geneOwing to the carelessness of its cultivation, how-ral rule, which are useful to the flax crop. ever, our western farmers do not appear to average over 12 to 15 bushels per acre; and yet it has been found so profitable a crop, that notwithstanding the high prices of corn and grain, over 200,000 acres have been cultivated the present year for the seed alone. How immeasurably greater would be the profit to the farmer, if instead of wasting the straw he would pay the requisite attention to its proper preservation, and would incur the trifling additional expense of a more careful preparation of the soil before sowing the seed, and of a single weeding in its early growth.

The chaff of the flax seed is said also to be well worth preserving for its nutritive properties. Mr. Warnes, in the course of his arguments in favor of the growth of flax, relates the following experiment:

"I purchased," says he, "an old and poor cow, the worst in the market giving milk, which did not exceed two quarts per day. I commenced with one bushel of the chaff, which weighed 31 pounds; at the end of one week she was giving four quarts. I then gave her two bushels per day, and at the end of three weeks she was giving from eight to nine quarts per day; and continued to do so as long as she was fed on this kind of food, which was given morning and evening, steamed, with a feed of turnips in the middle of the day, and two pounds of hay between each feeding. The animal became sleek, and she got into a good condition, but not fat. At the end of the sixth week she was fed like the other cows, on cut hay with sheaf corn steamed with turnips, three feeds a day and hay between; when she fell off gradually from her milk to four quarts a day, which she continued for three months, and then got into good condition. It thus appears to me, that there is nothing like flax seed chaff

A late number of the Indiana Journal states that "A farmer in Preble County Ohio, raised 63 bushels of Flax seed on less than 3 acres of ground, being over 22 bushels to the acre."

Neither guano, lime, bone dust, nor any other artificial manure has been found of any value. It will be seen that the same compensating law holds good with regard to the stalk of the plant. The Belfast Flax Society reported on this subject" a few years ago, after a careful examination, as follows:

"The principal objection urged against the extended growth of flax is, that it exhausts the soil, without returning anything to it. But by saving the seed and the seed balls, and feeding upon them, the manure thus produced can be returned to the ground, and will supply most of the valuable constituents abstracted from from the mill, and the putrescent water from the flax it during the growth of the plant. The flax shaws pools, should be fermented together and returned to the soil. The land would thus have replaced on it by the crops, as it has been ascertained beyond a doubt almost every particle of matter formerly abstracted by chemical analysis, that the fibre for which the flaz plant is cultivated, is produced entirely from the atmo sphere."

By the new method, alluded to in the first number of these articles, of separating the fibres from the flax stalk by solution in warm water, instead of the old method of fermentation or rotting, referred to in the above report of the Irish Flax Society, this result is much more apparent. In this way there is obtained, in solution, from every ton of flax straw, about 650 pounds, (according to Professor Wilson's report) of solid albu

See Warnes on the Flax crop, p. 138, and Wilson's American Lecture, p. 48.

† Deman on Flax Cultivation, p. 17; Dickson's Letters, p. 71.

Dr. Kane, in a paper read before the Royal Academy of Ireland, fully confirms this report of the Flax Society; proving by chemical analysis that, while the woody stem of the flax plant yields a considerable quantity of ash, consisting of inorganic compounds derived from the soil, the fibre is composed solely of organic matters derived from water and the atmosphere.

minous or glutinous matter, which is of the highest value for its nutritive properties; and which, when poured over chaff or straw, forms an excellent food for fattening cattle.

It would be easy to furnish abundant evidence on this subject, from those who have been long engaged in the cultivation of flax, but perhaps enough has been adduced to prove that with proper management it is not an exhausting crop. If therefore its immediate returns to the farmer can be shown to be larger than those from any other great staple product of the soil, the policy of its culture is at once established.

extraordinary care has been bestowed, more than double the profits have been realized.

William Rous published in the Norwich Mercury, 30th December, 1843, the following statement, which is quoted by Warnes (p. 199), who states that the "flax was grown by Mr. Deman the Belgian." It will be observed that the seed is not estimated at all; and also that more than one-third of the expenses are such as would make a farmer in Wisconsin or Ohio smile.* Expenses and profits of one acre of flax.

£ S. d.

11

800

15

1 0

Rent, tithe and church and poor rates, 2
Two winter ploughings,
Spring harrowing down, ploughing,
sowing and bushing,
One thousand gallons of liquid manure,
Three bushels of seed,
Weeding and pulling crop,
Steeping, drying, retying, &c.,
Scutching 51 stone of flax, 3s per stone, 8
Expenses,
Value of crop.

£15

1 2 0
1 0
2 0

2 0

Assuming the low figures of 15 bushels of seed to the acre, at the present market value, the farmer would have, from this source alone, a return of $22.50 per acre, exclusive of the straw. The quantity of straw produced in Ireland and Belgium, varies from 1 to 2 tons per acre. As more care is taken of the crop in those countries, where labor is cheap, than it would be profitable to bestow here, perhaps on an average not over 1 tons of straw per acre, exclusive of the seed, would be obtained. It has been found by experience that from 7 to 8 tons of the Flax straw are required to produce one ton of the fibre. 54 stone of flax sold at 9s per stone, 24 This would give, as an average return per acre, about 400 to 450 pounds of flax fibre suitable for spinning. In Europe this would be considered a very poor crop, 650 to 800 pounds being obtained with careful cultivation, and even so much as 1000 pounds occasionally reached, though 600 is accounted an average return.

With the small amount of labor and attention

which our western farmers are accustomed to bestow upon their crops, and the vast tracts of land which could be turned into the service, it is probable that the maximum profit would be realized, by a growth such as has been statedsay 425 pounds per acre.

Estimating this at 12 cents a pound, though if carefully prepared it would be worth from 15 to 20 cents, and we have a return to the farmer of $53.10 from this source; making with the $22.50 realized for the seed, a gross aggregate of over $75 per acre. Of course there are many expenses to deduct from this-the preparing of the fibre alone, unless done as in olden times, by the farmer and his family in their leisure hours, would detract largely from the profit. But the margin is so considerable over the ordinary returns of agricultural labor, that deducting 33 per cent for all contingencies and expenses, it still leaves a profit of $50 per acre; or more than could well be counted on, from any other crop. That these estimates, based on actual facts of price and quantity as ascertained here, are not extravagant or theoretical, is obvious from the following tables selected indiscriminately from different authorities: it being observed that they are not special instances, but average returns. In many cases, reported in the works quoted, where

Realized profit,

60

£9 4 0 Now, if to this were added the seed, and also the expenses of preparing the ground so thoroughly, as well as the heavy item of tithe and taxes, the returns will be greater than the American estimate.

Samuel Druce, a distinguished Agriculturalist of England, read before the Royal Agricultural Society, of which he is a member, the following result of an experiment, fairly made to test the profits of the flax culture :

Cultivated 1851--5 acres, 2 roods, 36 perches.
Sale of produce.

Sale of flax seed, 116 bushels at 8s,
Sale of flax straw, 12 tons, 2 cwts., 2 qrs.,

not prepared, which would have
been far more profitable, but sold
on gross, at £3 sterling per ton,
Sale of chaff, at 5s per acre,

£ s. d. 46 10 0

36 7 6 187

Gross returns of seed and straw, £84 6 1
Expenses of cultivation.

£ s d

One ploughing, 10s per acre, 2 17 3
Sowing and harrowing, 1s 6d,
8 7
Weeding, at 2s per acre,
11 5
Flax seed, 134 bushels at 9s, 61 6
Rent of land, 48s per acre, 13 14 9
Taxes, at 6s per acre,

1 14 4

*The figures are in the English sterling currency, rison may be arrived at, by considering the pound but an approximation sufficiently accurate for compasterling at $5, which will make the shilling 25 cents, and the penny about two cents.