184 Cultivation and Proper Management of Flax. 



started, in spite of all adverse influences, up to tlie desired length. 

 Tough and tenacious clay may be advantageously " cut " and 

 opened by an application of shells, marl, lime, or even common 

 sharp sand ; but such an application should precede the sowing 

 of flax by at least a couple of years. 



Many of the farmers in the North of France irrigate their flax 

 in its early and medium stages ; but the practicability and benefit 

 of such a process are very doubtful. Hand-labour could not 

 accomplish the work recjuired after sunset (the best time for irri- 

 gation), and the crushing of wheels and horse-hoofs would be 

 detrimental to the plant at any stage. On parched clay the water 

 would not sink so as to reach the flax-roots, but would be carried 

 off by evaporation in the course of a few hours. Let the land (if 

 clay) be worked when dry, kept close and cool in the bottom, be 

 thoroughly j)u]verised and consolidated, sown ere the natural 

 moisture has escaped, and closed in over the seed with a heavy 

 roller, and the neetl of irrigation will not be felt either in England 

 or Ireland. 



Condition of the Soil — The condition of the soil is most favour- 

 able when one white crop has been taken off either old lea or 

 manured ground. Capital flax is often grown on whcat-stubble, 

 the previous crop having been either })otatoes or turnips, the 

 former being preferable. But the heaviest yield and the finest 

 sample is always expected after an oat-crop that has been grown 

 on a rich and very old lea. The crop which follows wheat and 

 manuring may look as well upon the foot, and perhaps better, for 

 it is generally more bulky ; but the other, following the oats or 

 wheat on the old lea, will tell best in the mill, and will prove the 

 most satisfactory' in the market. 



JVIany hand-manures are spoken of as useful for strengthening 

 the crop, but such top-dressings render very doubtful service. 

 They may no doubt, at a certain stage, accelerate the growth, 

 but such forcing seldom or never gives satisfaction in the mill. 

 Any sudden and unmatured growth is apt to be carried away 

 among the shoves. Lime, though condemned in some quarters, 

 will not do harm, but good, if incorporated with the soil for a 

 3ear previously; and salt applied a month before sowing will 

 keep up the crop till it be thoroughly ripened. 



In some counties of England farmers are in the habit of 

 ploughing in manure at the close of autumn, when a flax-crop 

 is to follow. In Ireland this is seldom or never done ; it has 

 been tried in some instances, but never with marked success. 

 The new manure is not sufficiently rotted and incorporated with 

 the soil, and such management is apt to occasion a " cloudy " 

 and uneven crop, the flax being rank and green where there is a 

 lump of manure, but light and yellow where there is none. 



