274 REPORT—1852. 
cultivation ; and by the labours of the Royal Dublin Society, the parent of 
all our agricultural associations, important improvements were introduced in 
the management of this crop. Since the establishment, in 1841, of the Royal 
Flax Improvement Society of Ireland—an association of proprietors and ma- 
nufacturers, which was originated, and holds its meetings in this town—there 
has been expended of money, collected by subscriptions from members, 
£8000, and of money granted by the government to the Society, for the pro- 
motion of flax cultivation in the south and west of Ireland, £4000. Yet, 
notwithstanding the efforts which have been-made by governments and 
societies to stimulate the culture of flax, and though the total extent of the 
crop produced last year was estimated by the Census Commissioners as equal 
to 138,619 acres, the value of which would be about £1,700,000, this produce 
is only about a fourth of that annually required by the rapidly increasing 
manufactures of the United Kingdom. Though flax is at present cultivated 
in almost every part of Ireland, yet it is in Ulster that this branch of industry 
has attained its chief development. Of the 138,619 acres of flax grown in 
1851, only 14,893 acres were beyond the bounds of this province. It is in 
Ulster, also, that the principal seats of its manufacture are to be found. 
2. The Composition of the Flax Plant.—In reference to the third division 
of the subject, I conceive that the most satisfactory method will be to com- 
municate the history of a crop grown by myself for experimental purposes, 
the progress of which I was able carefully to watch, from the sowing of the 
seed till its conversion into dressed flax for the market. Some of the details 
which I have collected, though of importance in the study of agricultural 
science, have not been hitherto much attended to in this country. 
The field selected for the experiments was situated about a mile anda 
half from Belfast; it has a south-west aspect, and the soil is a sandy loam, 
composed of transported materials, such as are common in the districts sur- 
rounding Belfast. It had been occupied as a grazing field for four years, 
and allowed to produce rich crops of thistles and ragweeds. Its chemical 
examination proved that it contained a fair supply of all the ingredients re- 
quired for the purposes of cultivation: 100 parts had the following compo- 
sition :—-- 
Ciranic mthets oes ee) OOO 
MURS E OF NOM sieck cut hottest obs eA 
PIAA 0 CRS yeos'e,s vacate gear ae ©, O 
Darnntate Gene” eon ge oe, POF 
mulphate- Of lima... ee es OF 
Phosphate of lime .........../... 018 
Carbonate of magnesia .......... 0:06 
Salts of potash and soda.......... 240 
Insoluble siliceous matters ........ 83°32 
99°54 
Water in the sample .... 3°00 
Textural composition.—Clay, fine sand, and organic matters.... 16°50 
Coarse sand and gravel ...........-.. 83°50 

100:00 
Progress of the Crop.—-On the 16th of April, 1851,a portion of the field, 
measuring exactly 70 yards by 70, which had been prepared by spade labour 
‘in winter, was reduced to a fine tilth by harrowing and rolling, and sown 



