WITH MR. TAYLOR. 261 



linseed per acre were sown a drop in the ocean compared to 

 the quantity required ! ! But whether 10 Ibs. or 160, the proper 

 proportion for the soil and high condition described, were sown, 

 is immaterial ; since the nine and twelve inch drilled rows 

 sufficiently account for the deficiency on the one hand, and the 

 inferiority of the stalks on the other. That Mr. Taylor, a 

 Fellow of the Linnean Society, an eminent chemist and a 

 botanist, should have so little understood the nature and pro- 

 perties of the inestimable flax-plant, is a striking illustration 

 of the incompetency of chemists to regulate the operations of 

 practical farmers. 



Again, Mr. Taylor observes, " The land it was grown upon 

 will take several years to bring it to its original state ;" an 

 assertion which, with the soil, manuring, hoeing, and treatment 

 described, is at variance with the experience of flax-growers; 

 and ought, before hazarded, to have been tested by a suc- 

 ceeding crop. 



In attempting to prove too much, Mr. Taylor defeated his 

 own aim in the first instance ; while, in the second, he is equally 

 unsuccessful ; for, as his Gold of Pleasure was harvested in the 

 last week in July, and the land sown with turnips, so was my 

 flax, and the same field is now producing turnips. Mr. Taylor 

 adds, " The Gold of Pleasure may be again sown after the first 

 crop in July;" whereas another field of my own produced a 

 second crop of flax, which was fed off with horses and sheep, 

 and is now with wheat. And here I think it right to observe 

 that, three years ago, I sowed about four bushels of flax-seed 

 in the latter end of August, upon two acres of land which had 

 failed with turnips, and obtained an excellent crop of green 

 feed, which was mowed, cut into chaff, and given to the horses 

 in October and November following* a striking instance of 

 the rapid growth and multitudinous properties of this extra- 

 ordinary plant ! ! 



Mr. Taylor concludes his letter by informing us that the 



* Mr. Eton, of Spixworth, near Norwich, had four acres of flax last year, 

 1846, which, owing to the drought, was too short for manufacturing purposes. 

 He therefore mowed the crop, stacked it like corn, and in the spring of this 

 year threshed the seed, and gave the stalks to his breeding ewes, with perfect 

 satisfaction. 



