I4* On the Raifing of Plax* May 



The raifing of flax in Scotland, has long been held out as an 

 obje£l of national importance ; and premiums have been annual- 

 ly given by the Board of Truftees, for many years paft, to en- 

 courage the growth of it. Thefe premiums have certainly a 

 tendency to produce the defired effedl ; but they never can, and 

 never ought to be fivch, as to induce a farmer to raife an unpro- 

 fitable crop. A much greater inducement, and which appears 

 to me to deferve the ferious confideration of every farmer who 

 has it in his power to raife this article, has been held out for 

 fome years paft, and has every appearance of continuing for 

 fome years to come, viz. the high price of flax in every part 

 of the Continent. 



The price of the foreign, regulates, in a great meafure, the 

 price of this country flax •, and the follov/ing may be taken as 

 nearly the average price of tlie beft twelve-head Peterfburgh Has 

 for the lad nise years. 



jdnno 1794, at 35s. /». cwt. of 112 lib. Englifh. 



1796, at 543./. do. 



1797, at 52s./. do, 



1798, at 485./. do. 



1799, ^^ S9^' P' ^^* 



1800, at 66s. p. do. 

 iBor, at J2s.p. do. 

 1802, at 75s./). do. 



Pe^ent price, Jan. 1803, atSos. ^. do. 



As the price in 1802, is more ttun double that of 1794, it is c- 

 vident, that, if the price of flax raifed here, bears any propor- 

 tion to that raifed in Ruflia, (and it muft be fo), the farmer who 

 could raife it in 1794 and 1795 without a lofs, mud have had a 

 jrreat profit in 1801 and 1802, fuppofing the feafons to have been 

 equally favourable. If this circumftance is not fufEcient to (li- 

 mulate our farmers to cultivate the article, it would appear that 

 there are fome great objedlions which cannot be got over ; and, 

 in that cafe, that the premiums granted by the Board of Truf- 

 rees are loft, and might perhaps be better applied in bounties 

 upon the importation of flax from America or elfewhere, or the 

 raifing of it in fome of the colonies. 



Be that as it may, the high price of flax is certainly occafion- 

 cd principally by the monopoly enjoyed by the Ruflians, Ger- 

 mans, and Dutch, as they find that we can neither raife a quan- 

 tity equal to our confumption at home, nor get it from other 

 countries ; and it will probably continue to be high, until our 

 own farmers, the farmers of other countries, or the Ruflians 

 themfelves, are induced, from the high price, to raife and bring 

 to market a quantity greater than the demands A. P. 



8//^ January 1 803. 



to 



