THE WI8CONSIN FARMER.



most crops. Suppose, then, that you receivi
only a fair average crop, say 16 bushels of see(
and one ton of straw.  In ordinary times thi
seed will sell for $1 per bushel, and the crudi
fibre for $10. If the straw is pulled, the her
vesting will cost more than the harvesting o
grain. But pulling Is not necessary. It ma3
be cut by machinery; in which case the extri
expense will be a mere trifle. According t(
this estimate, the aggregate income would bi
$26 per acre rer annum.
  But suppose the seed is worth $1.50 pei
bushel, (it is now worth $4,) and the straw
$15 per ton, and that you raise 25 bushels and
Ij tons to the acre-figures but moderate in
view of the demand for the next several years,
and entirely within the possibility of good soil



and good culture.  In that case your cror
would be worth $60 per acre-a result certain-



ly more profitable than even 80 bushels ol
wheat at the unusual price of one dollar per
bushel.
  " But is flax not a hard crop on the soil?"
They say so; and when it was the fashion to
pull it up root and branch, and never to ma-
nure the soil, it is not unreasonable to conclude
that it did prove an exhaustive crop. But that
it must necessarily be more exhaustive than
many others in common cultivation, we have
no conclusive evidence.
       THE SOIL AND ITS PrEPAXATION.
  As the desirable portions of the flax plant
are the fibre and oil-substances rich in carbon
-it is apparent that the soil on which it is to
be grown should also be rich in carbonaceous
materials. Good, dark, rich, alluvial soils are
the best, therefore, although successful crops
may be grown upon well sanured soils of a
poorer quality. In this regard it does not ma-
terially differ from corn or root crops. No
crop will succeed, in the best sense of the word,
without proper rotation, and it is probably true
of flax that so far from being an exception to
the rule, It is believed by those who have had
most experience that it is more exacting than
many others. The farmers of the Netherlands
and of Flanders are more particular than any
others in the world, perhaps, in regard to the



matter of rotaticn and manuring, and it is
ther thra fiax of the best quality is produced
-flax At for the finest work in linen produced
in any country.
  During our travels last summer in Flanders,
we had frequent occasion to observe this. Ev-
erything that could be made to contribute to
the fertility of the soil was put upon it, while
the cultivation was as thorough as the best
garden culture we ever saw in America. The
crops which flax is made to follow in those
countries, especially in light soils, are rye and
barley with turnips after them the same year.
In Ireland it is sown after potatoes.
                 8EEDIXG.
  The seed is usually sown broadcast, though
it may also be sown in drills, like wheat, with



corresponding advantage. The quantity will
vary according to the object of iti planting-



If for the seed, one bushel will be ample-es-
pecially if drilled-but if for fibre, then the
quantity should be about one half more, as
the straws will, in that case, require to be small-
er and more numerous.
  It should be sown about the last of April or
first of Slay-in other words, after the frosty
nights are passed-on well pulverized soil, and
either lightly harrowed in with a wooden-tooth-
ed harrow, or "Ibrushed" in with the bushy
bough of a tree.  This is because it will not
bear deep covering.  Moist weather is desira-
ble.
  If sown in drills the same caution must be
observed relative to deep covering-it should
not be covered more than about half an inch
deep.
  In the old countries the crop, when two or
three inches high, is carefully weeded. In this
country, it is hardly supposable that our im-
patient, unreasonable farmers will do anything
of that sort.
            [TO BE CONTINUED.]

         New to Cultvate Peanuts.
 Mg. EDITOR:-I see by the February No.
one of your correspondents wishes to cultivate
the peanut. I have raised them two years and
will give him my mode. They are raised in



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