129 



BOOK XIX. 



THE NATURE AND CULTIVATION OF FLAX, AND AN 

 ACCOUNT OF VARIOUS GARDEN PLANTS. 



CHAP. 1. THE NATURE OF FLAX MARVELLOUS FACTS RELATIVE 



THERETO. 



WE have now imparted a knowledge 1 of the constellations 

 and of the seasons, in a method unattended with difficulty for 

 the most ignorant even, and free from every doubt ; indeed, 

 to those who understand these matters aright, the face of the 

 earth contributes in no less a degree to a due appreciation of 

 the celestial phenomena, than does the science of astronomy 

 to our improvement in the arts of agriculture. 



Many writers have made it their next care to treat of horti- 

 culture ; but, for my own part, it does not appear to me alto- 

 gether advisable to pass on immediately to that subject, and, 

 indeed, I am rather surprised to find that some among the 

 learned, who have either sought the pleasures of knowledge in 

 these pursuits, or have grounded their celebrity upon them, 

 have omitted so many particulars in reference thereto ;/for no 

 mention do we find in their writings of numerous vegetable 

 productions, both wild as well as cultivated, many of which 

 are found, in ordinary life, to be of higher value and of more 

 extended use to man than the cereals even. 



To commence, then, 'with a production which is of an uti- 

 lity that is universally recognized, and is employed not only 

 upon dry land but upon the seas as well, we will turn our at- 

 tention to flax, 2 a plant which is reproduced from seed, but 

 which can neither be classed among the cereals nor yet among 

 the garden plants. What department is there to be found of 

 active life in which flax is not employed ? and in what pro- 

 duction of the earth are there greater marvels 3 revealed to us 



1 More particularly in B. xvii. cc. 2 and 3, and B. xviii. cc. 57 75. 



2 The Linum usitatissimum of Linnaeus. 



3 What would he have said to the application of the powers of steam, 

 and the electric telegraph ? 



TOL. IV. K 



