280 THE AUTHOR'S REPLY TO 



derived from the growth of flax in this neighbourhood, I hope 

 shortly to have an opportunity of communicating. 



I remain, yours, &c., 



JOHN WARNES, Jun. 

 Trimingham, March 13th, 1845. 



No. XX. 



SIR, 



IN offering to the public the 20th and last number of 

 this series, I feel a degree of confidence that experience, and 

 an intimate knowledge of my theme, alone can justify. 



Throughout my pamphlets, and innumerable letters both 

 public and private, I endeavoured to show that the soil of 

 Great Britain possessed resources adequate to the wants of 

 the population ; and that the flax crop was to be the medium 

 of developing those resources. As yet, no one has successfully 

 refuted my theory or disproved my statements. The last 

 attempt was made by Mr. Cobden in the House of Commons, 

 whose observations, upon that occasion, were weak and incon- 

 sistent, a mere echo of the Anti-Corn-Law League. But flax, 

 instead of being rejected as worthless, is now cultivated more 

 systematically in Norfolk and Suffolk than heretofore ; and, if 

 I may judge from an extensive correspondence, will be grown 

 this year in every county of England ; also in Scotland, North 

 and South Wales, Jersey, St. Agnes, &c. 



The congeniality of our climate to the growth of flax, the 

 non-exhausting effects of the crop, the extraordinary produce 

 of seed per acre, and value as cattle-food, the profits derived, 

 and the fund of employment afforded, are facts of more weight 

 in favour of the flax cause than a multitude of arguments, and 

 prove incontestably the soundness of my advocacy. Of these 

 facts Mr. Cobden was, or ought to have been, aware, when he 

 introduced to the notice of Parliament the Report of the Na- 

 tional Flax and Agricultural Improvement Association, for 

 they were recorded in the report itself. 



