294 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



extended growth and cheapness of cotton has superseded the use 

 of linen ; but when the vastly-superior comfort of linen, especially 

 in hot weather, is considered, its greater durability and strength, 

 so requisite for many purposes, its important uses as twine and 

 thread, and its indispensable use in those very delicate fabrics for 

 which increasing wealth and luxury are constantly making new 

 demands, we may expect that the cultivation of it in the United 

 States will be much extended. 



2. SOIL, AND PREPARATION or THE SOIL. The best soil for 

 the cultivation of flax is stated to be a deep, rich loam, with a 

 strong subsoil : and the land should be thoroughly drained, and 

 so laid as not to retain water upon the surface. Wetness of the 

 soil, or standing water upon it, is most fatal to the flax crop. 

 A calcareous soil is never to be chosen for flax, lime being un 

 friendly to the plant. The best crop to which flax can succeed 

 is a grain crop, such as wheat or oats. It should not be manured 

 the same year in which it is sown, but the manure should have 

 been applied with a previous crop. It is desirable that the land 

 should be deeply ploughed, or subsoiled, as the roots of flax 

 penetrate to a considerable depth, and above all, that it should be 

 thoroughly cleansed from weeds. Fall ploughing is recom 

 mended, and two ploughings in the spring, that the land may b|e 

 brought into a fine tilth. The land should be well harrowed 

 and rolled ; then harrowed with a light or seed-harrow, the seed 

 sown, and again harrowed so as to give it a very light covering, 

 as, if buried deep, the seed will perish ; and then again rolled, if 

 the ground is light, but not on heavy land, that the ground may 

 be left smooth and consolidated. The rolling after sowing, 

 however, is much condemned by some successful and experienced 

 flax-growers. 



3. SEED AND SOWING. The seed should be plump, shining, 

 and heavy, and should be, as far as possible, cleaned from the 

 seeds of all weeds. Two nnd a half bushels of seed are recom 

 mended to a statute acre. I may remark in passing, that the use 

 of American seed is much discouraged in Ireland, and farmers 

 are strongly cautioned against sowing it, as producing a coarse, 

 branchy kind of flax, and of very inferior quality. This fact may 

 prove of great importance to the farmers of the United States. 



