LINEZ. 
Andr. bot. rep. 477, Flowers large, almost the size of those of 
a Mallow. Perhaps a distinct species. 
Clammy Flax. Fl. June, Aug. Clt. 1807. Pl. 1 to 2 feet. 
43 L. prti’cerum (Presl. ex Spreng. syst. p. 127.) stem sim- 
ple, hairy; leaves oblong-lanceolate, 3-nerved ; sepals linear, 
pilose ; styles equal in length with the stamens. 2/.H. Native 
of Sicily and Crete. 
Hair-bearing Flax. Pl. 1 to 2 feet. 
44 L. nirsvu’tum (Lin. spec. 398.) leaves lanceolate, 3-5- 
nerved, alternate, and somewhat opposite, and are as well as 
the stems hairy, upper ones as well as sepals ciliated, with glan- 
dular hairs; stamens connate to the middle. %. H. Native 
of Italy, south of France, Tauria, Caucasus, and Hungary, in 
elevated places exposed to the sun. Flowers bluish, rarely 
rose-coloured. Jacq. aust. t. 31. Smith, fl. greec. t. 302.—Moris. 
hist. 2. p. 573. sect. 5. t. 26. f. 5. Panicle corymbose. 
Var. ÌB, elatius (Roem. ined. Schult. syst. 6. p. 740.) leaves 
evidently 3-nerved. 2%.H. Native of Caucasus. 
Hairy Flax. Fl. July, Aug. Clt.1759. Pl. 1 foot. 
45 L. AscyRIFÒLIUM (Sims, bot. mag. t. 1087.) leaves alter- 
nate, 3-nerved, ovate, cordate, pubescent, upper ones somewhat 
opposite ; flowers somewhat spiked ; sepals acuminated, hairy. 
u%. H. Native of Portugal near Coimbra. Flowers white, 
streaked with bluish-purple veins, with a yellow bottom. Petals 
crenulated. 
Ascyrum-leaved Flax. Fl. July, Aug. Clt. 1800. Pl. 1 ft. 
46 L. nervosum (Walds. et Kit. pl. hung. 2. t. 105.) stem 
hairy at the base ; leaves lanceolate, pointed, 3-5-nerved, gla- 
brous; panicle loose ; sepals awl-shaped, pointed, serrated at the 
base. 1. H. Native of Hungary, the Ukraine, and Tauria, on 
hills. Flowers large, blue. Petals emarginated or pointed, 
crenated at the apex. Styles white. Capsules with 10 promi- 
nent sutures.—Barrel. icon. p. 1009. 
Var. B, glabratum (D. C. prod. 1. p. 426.) stem glabrous at 
the base. Y%.H. Native of Russia on the banks of the Don. 
Nerved-leaved Flax. Fl. June, July. Clt. 1822. Pl. 1 to 
13 foot. 
47 L. Narpone’nsE (Lin. spec. 398.) plant glabrous, erect, 
rather glaucous ; leaves alternate, distant, lanceolate-linear, very 
acute, and rather stiff; panicle sub-corymbose ; sepals acumi- 
nated, with the margins scariose at the base. 2%. H. Native 
of Spain, south of France, and Italy, in elevated sunny places. 
Flowers large, beautiful, blue, very rarely white. Hook. bot. 
mag. icon.—Barrel. icon. p. 1007. 
Narbonne Flax. Fl. May, July. Clt. 1759. Pl. 2 feet. 
48 L. puncta'tum (Presl. ex Spreng. syst. 1. p. 962.) stem 
diffuse, usually 3-flowered ; leaves imbricate, lanceolate, acute, 
rather scabrous, full of pellucid dots; sepals ovate. 4%. H 
Native of Sicily. 
Dotted-leaved Flax. PI. diffuse. 
49 L. usirati'sstmum’ (Lin. spec. 397.) plant erect, glabrous ; 
leaves lanceolate or linear acute; panicle corymbose; sepals 
Ovate, acute, or mucronate, with scarious or membranaceous 
margins ; petals rather crenated, 3-times larger than the calyx. 
©. H. Native of many parts of Europe, as well as in Nipaul 
and North America, in corn-fields, said to be originally from 
Egypt. Tratt. tab. t. 744. Smith, engl. bot. t. 1357. Curt. fl. 
lond. fasc. 5. t. 22. Mart. fl. rust. t. 133. L. sativum, Black. 
herb. t. 160. Plench. t. 243. L. arvénse, Neck. gallob. 159. 
Flowers blue. Sepals 3-nerved. 
Var. B, himile (Mill. dict. no. 2.) petals emarginate ; stem 
dwarf-branched. 
Flax has been cultivated from the earliest ages and for an 
unknown length of time in Britain, of which it is now considered 
a naturalized inhabitant. It is cultivated both for its fibre for 
making thread, and its seed for being crushed for oil, but never 
I. Lrxum. 
453 
has been grown in sufficient quantity for either purpose. The 
legislature of the country, as Brown observes, has paid more 
attention to framing laws regarding the husbandry of flax than 
to any other branch of rural economy; but it need not excite 
surprise that these laws, even though accompanied by premiums, 
have failed to induce men to act in a manner contrary to their 
own interest. The fact is, the culture of flax is found on the 
whole less profitable than the culture of corn. It is one of the 
most severe crops when allowed to ripen its seed; but by no 
means so when pulled green. Loud. encycl. agri. p. 846. 
The varieties of the common Flax are few, and hardly de- 
serving notice. Marshall mentions the Blue or Lead-coloured 
Flax, as being cultivated in Yorkshire, and Professor Thaer 
mentions a finer and coarser variety; he also as well as some 
other agriculturists has tried the Linum perénne, but though it 
affords a strong fibre, it is coarser, and difficult to separate from 
the woody matter. 
The soil most proper for flax, besides the alluvial kinds, are 
deep and friable loams, and such as contain a large proportion 
of vegetable matter. Strong clays do not answer well, nor 
soils of a gravelly or dry sandy nature. But whatever be the 
kinds of soil, it ought neither to be too poor nor in too rich a 
condition ; because in the latter case the flax is apt to grow too 
luxuriant, and to produce a coarse sort ; and, in the former case, 
the plant from growing weakly affords only a small produce. 
(Treat. on Rural Affairs.) If there be water at a small depth 
below the surface of the ground, it is thought by some still 
better, as is the case in Zealand, which is remarkable for the 
fineness of its flax, and where the soil is deep and rather stiff, 
with water almost every where at the depth of a foot and a half 
or two feet underneath it. It is said to be owing to the want of 
this advantage, that the other provinces of Holland do not 
succeed equally well in the culture of this useful plant; not that 
but fine flax is also raised on light lands, if they have been well 
tilled and manured, and if the seasons are not very dry. It is 
remarked in the letters of the Dublin Agricultural Society, that 
most stiff soils yield much larger quantities of flax and far 
better seed than can be obtained from light lands, and that the 
seeds reared from the former may with proper care be rendered 
full as good as any that can be imported from Riga or Zealand. 
M. Du Hamel, however, thinks that strong land can hardly yield 
such fine flax as that which grows on lighter ground. The 
place of flax in a rotation of crops is various, but in general 
it is considered as a corn or exhausting crop, when the seed is 
allowed to ripen, and as a green pea or bean crop, when the 
plant is pulled green. Flax, Donaldson observes, is sown after 
all sorts of crops, but is found to succeed better on lands lately 
broken up from grass. In Scotland, the most skilful cultivators 
of flax generally prefer lands from which one crop of grain 
only has been taken, after having been several years in pasture. 
When such lands have been limed or marled, immediately before 
being laid down to grass, the crop of flax seldom or never mis- 
gives, unless the season proves remarkably adverse. In the 
north of Ireland flax is generally sown by the small farmers 
after potatoes. In Belgium it is supposed not to do well after 
peas or beans, nor to succeed if sown oftener on the same soil 
than twice. (Von Thaer.) ; 
The preparation of the soil when grass land is intended for 
Flax consists in breaking it up as early in the season as possible, 
so that the soil may be duly mellowed by the winter frosts, and 
in good order for being reduced by the harrows when the seed 
process is attempted. If flax is to succeed a corn crop, the like 
preparation is required to procure the aid of frost, without which 
the surface cannot be rendered fine enough for receiving the 
seed. Less frost, however, will do in the last than in the first 
case, therefore the grass land ought always to be earliest 
