600 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



of £s being imposed upon persons not growing at least one 

 acre of flax for every sixty acres of land cultivated. 



With the object of still further encouraging the growth of 

 flax in England, the tithe on this commodity was reduced 

 to 4-S. per acre in 1691 and in 1712 a bounty of one penny 

 per ell was given on all exported British-made sail cloth. In 

 1806 a bounty was offered for the importation of flax from 

 British Colonies and every effort was made to increase the 

 production of fibre at home so as to supply the requirements 

 of the growing British industry more completely. 



At that time flax was grown more or less in every part of 

 England and in many counties several thousand acres were 

 annually under this crop ; but the supply of raw material did 

 not keep pace with the home demand, as may be seen from 

 the Parliamentary Returns of that period, in which fairly large 

 imports of flax are recorded. 



Flax suffered considerable depreciation on the introduction 

 of cotton and the success obtained in spinning cotton fibre by 

 machinery led to a further reduction in the demand for linen, as 

 it was impossible for that material to compete with the low 

 price of cotton fabrics. About 1820 steam-driven flax-spinning 

 machinery became commercially successful and the demand for 

 flax fibre became greater inconsequence ; but, at that time, the 

 difference in the value of a flax crop and of a wheat crop was 

 insufficient to induce the better farmers of this country to embark 

 again on the troublesome task of preparing the fibre. British 

 flax culture fell into discredit, apparently owing to the fact that 

 only low quality fibre was prepared and whilst the quantity 

 grown in England diminished, the amount imported became 

 steadily larger. To take one county as an example, in 18 10 

 between 4,000 and 5,000 acres of flax were grown in Dorset but 

 in 1850 the acreage under the crop had fallen to some 300 acres. 



Writing in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of 

 England in 1847, J. MacAdam states that the great markets for flax 

 supplying the spinning trade were Leeds, Belfast and Dundee ; 

 the finest yarns were made by English spinners, the great bulk 

 of medium yarns by Irish manufacturers, Scotland producing 

 the very coarsest. MacAdam advocated the more extensive 

 cultivation of flax in the United Kingdom and showed clearly 

 that a profit of £10 per acre was obtainable at that time provided 

 cultivation were carried on in the proper manner. 



