Flax Culture. 431 



tliat respect ; and I believe that if tiie \)V\cq paid, at the mills ceased 

 to be reimmerative, that moment the farmers would stop the growth of 

 flax. In our district the grower has no scutchers to keep on hand ; a 

 comparatively small outlay is required ; the crop occupies only four 

 months on the land, which can be immediately afterwards cleared and 

 cidtivated, and you can put a crop of turnij^s into it. Therefore it is 

 one of those crops which all who are interested in the better cultivation 

 of the land are boimd to try, if possible, or at any rate induce persons 

 in different neighbourhoods to make the experiment. On no account, 

 however, would I reconuuend any one to do that, unless he is so situ- 

 ated that he has a regular and certain market at hand to which to send 

 his flax. It is far too bulky an article to send long distances, and for 

 want of a mill at a convenient distance it might be kept until it is not 

 worth more than 11. per ton. In England hand-scutchers are very rare 

 indeed ; in fact, it is almost impossible to get them. 



I have to thank Mr. Maguire for his attendance on this occasion ; 

 we are all glad to see him here, as well as so experienced a man in the 

 manufacture of flax as Mr. Marshall. 



Mr. Beale Browne could not agi-ee with Sir E. Kerrison when he 

 stated that the machinery for flax-dressing had been improved. Hot- 

 water retting did not employ machinery, and that system he had tried, 

 and given it up. He wished to impress upon them, that the finest 

 quality of flax produced in the world was that which was grown in the 

 neighbom-hood and retted in the waters of the Lys. Being about to 

 move his flax-mills from Gloucestershire to Kerry, and to erect them 

 on a larger and more extensive scale, he had gone down to Patrington, 

 simply to ascertain whether the new pieces of machinery that were 

 talked of were worth having, and he was informed by Mr. Ai'thur 

 Marshall that they were not, and that he was increasing his old stocks. 

 Consequently, the flax-mills which he began to work with ten years ago 

 were those which he was moving from Gloucestershire to Kerry, where 

 they would be erected without the slightest alteration, under the 

 auspices of Mr. Marshall, of Patrington. He mentioned this lest 

 people might be induced to purchase machinery which would turn out 

 after all to be worthless. With regard to the feeding of cattle, his 

 experience was that flax-seed mixed with peas, beans, or barley fed an 

 animal quicker than anything else. He agreed, therefore, in the 

 importance of having the seed as a cheap and nutritious food for 

 cattle. 



Professor Wilson, of Edinbui-gh, alluding to the question of soils, 

 said there was good evidence to show that almost every class of soil, 

 supposing it to be properly tilled, was suitable for flax, but he agreed 

 ■with Sir Edward Kerrison, that soils known as loams, containing a cer- 

 tain mixture of clay and sand, were those which, under proper tillage, 

 would give the best crops of flax ; as indeed they would of most other 

 cultivated plants. He admitted that wheat was probably the best 

 preparation for a flax-crop ; but he could not go with Mr. Browne, 

 when he said that they should not plough deeply, but use a skim- 

 plough to move two or three inches of the surface. This was contrary 

 k> all good cultivation. 



YOL. I. — S. S. 2 F 



