Flax Culture. 429 



greatly dimluisli tlie waste in tlie processes, and to increase the value 

 of tlie produce. 



The Pkesident said, considering the great importance of this sub- 

 ject, and knowing Mr. Beale Browne has had great experience relating 

 to it, I had hoped that he would have entered more minutely than he 

 has done into the general question of the cultui'e and management of 

 flax, which I believe is very little understood in England, He has 

 mentioned the kinds of soil upon which flax mostly succeeds the best. 

 My experience in the matter, which is now of some duration — and I 

 have as large a rettery, perhaps, upon my property as any in England 

 — is that, putting aside alluvial soils, flax generally flourishes best 

 upon loamy soils with a clay subsoil ; certainly not upon the lighter 

 soils. But I think, upon the whole, that climate has much less influ- 

 ence than soil on the growth of flax. I am not saying that a certain 

 amount of moisture is not necessary ; for this year, in the eastern part 

 of England, the flax will probably have to be ploughed up in conse- 

 quence of the extreme drought. Still, as a rule, with a small amount 

 of rainfall, upon a loamy soil capable of growing wheat and beans, 

 flax may be grown in England almost as well as in Ireland, where the 

 quantity of rain is so much greater. In Ireland, as Mr, Maguire has 

 mentioned, considerable interest has for some time been manifested in 

 the growth of flax. The fibre of flax grown there is, I believe, in a 

 general way, of a finer texture than the fibre of much that is produced 

 in this country. With regard to seed, however, we know that in Ire- 

 land they cannot grow so large an amount per acre as we can upon 

 GUI' drier English soils. The reason that in Ireland flax fetches so 

 variable a price, as has been mentioned by Mr, Maguire, is very evi- 

 dent. The management is principally in the hands of the smaller 

 farmers, who ret and scutch their own flax, and, in many cases, do not 

 half ret or scutch it. They put it in ponds, ditches, and places of that 

 description, where only part of it is properly steeped. They have 

 little or no capital, consequently they do not possess the means of 

 perfecting the retting process, and when prices are not good they are 

 obliged to sell their flax whatever its state may happen to be. In my 

 opinion it is impossible for flax to be grown profitably to any great 

 extent over a country — whether in England or Ireland — unless there 

 be in the neighbourhood where it is grown, retteries or manufactories 

 of some description capable of receiving and preparing it. I do not 

 agree with what Mr. Beale Browne says, " that machinery is not ap- 

 plicable for the preparation of flax-straw." I consider that very great 

 improvements have of late years been eff'ected in the machinery em- 

 ployed in the manufacture of flax ; and I think that it is preferable to 

 steep the plant in warm water rather than in cold, imless it be in par- 

 ticular streams. 



Anyone who is acquainted with Belgium must be aware that the. 

 chief reason why flax is so exceedingly valuable there, is the extra- 

 ordinary excellence of the water in the river Lys, and some other 

 streams in which the retting process is carried on. They are very par- 

 ticular in Belgium on this head. They ret the flax twice over, in order 



