PURGING FLAX Pam catharlicum) is a graceful little annual with branching stem, opposite leaves, and small white flowers, common iu fields and meadows throughout Britain and-most parts of Europe. It possesses purgative and diuretic properties, owing to the presence of a substance which has been called limn. As a domestic medicine, a handful of the fresh herb is often administered, infused in whey; and it has a popular reputation in rheumatism.
'FLAX (ante), cultivated in the United States less for its fiber than for the oil which is produced from the seed. When the supply of cotton was cut off during the war of the rebellion, efforts were made in some quarters to substitute flax and to spin and weave it by means of the machinery employed in the manufacture of cotton fabrics; but the result of the'se efforts was not satisfactory, the two products requiring essentially differ ent treatment. The plant will grow in almost any part of the United States, but it needs a strong, rich soil, and careful manipulation at every stage of its production and manu facture. It requires a greater amount of labor than almost any other crop, and unless extreme care is exercised at every step. the value of the crop will be seriously impaired.
Flax has been cultivated in this country from its-earliest settlement, According to the census of 1870, the total amount of the production here was 27,138,034 lbs. Of this amount, 17,880,024 has, Were produced in Ohio; 3,070,8184Mcew York, and 2,204,006 in Illinois. The total production of thrt-seed in the was 1,730,444 bushels, and of this 631,849 were produced in Ohio. In 1S72, the number of acres sown to flax in Ohio was 85,863; the production was 733,000 bushels of seed and over 24,000 lbs. of fiber. There were in 1870 in the United States 90 flax-dressing establishments, the pro ducts of which were valued at $815,000. Of these establishments, 46 were in New York, and 27 in Ohio. The importation of raw flax into the United States in the vear ending June 30, 1873, was 4,171 tons, valued at $1,137,737, The importation of manufactures in the same year, chiefly from England and Scotland, amounted .to $20,428,391. •