Ch. XXVII.] ON FLAX. 317 



without allowing the seed to ripen, it does not exhaust tlie soil*; thougli 

 it is by many thought a barl preparation for wheat, and perhaps would 

 be better followed by spring-corn or peas f. In Flanders, however, where 

 the cultivation of flax is as well understood as perhaps in any part of 

 Europe, wheat is generally made to succeed it, and it is there very pro- 

 fusely manured with night-soil I : it is also generally preceded by turnips, 

 though many intelligent farmers disapprove of sowing it after them ; 

 and, in Scotland, the best plan that has been yet discovered is to 

 sow oats as a ley crop, and flax after it §. Upon much land in England 

 and Ireland it is, liowever, sown upon one ploughing after a clover 

 ley, which is better for the purpose if it has lain two years. The 

 land is in this case broken up about Candlemas, after which it gets 

 three or four harrowings, and is rolled previous to the sowing. The seed 

 is then lightly harrowed in, and rolled rather heavily if the ground be dry, 

 but, if it be very tenacious or moist, this may be omitted. Clover seed is 

 also sometimes sown along with that of flax, to form a succeeding crop ; 

 but, in that case, it is better to defer the sowing of the former until the time 

 when the flax is weeded, when it may be eflectually loosened, or, at all 

 events, they should be sown separately. The period of sowing is, in this 

 country, as soon as possible after the first week in April, early sowing 

 being considered advantageous to the quality of the flax ; but, in the North, 

 they are not unfrequently obliged to defer it until the beginning of 

 May 11. 



The seed is always sown broad-cast, as the object is rather to produce a 

 thick crop of plants which, standing closely together, will bring up straight 

 stems better adapted to the growth of yarn than if they were allowed to 

 branch out. The quantity sown is therefore large, and is generally as much 

 as three bushels per acre ; though many intelligent farmers use only two- 

 thirds of that quantity, which, considering the price it usually bears, is still 

 a very serious expense. 



The chief portion of the seed sown throughout the kingdom is imported 

 from abroad, either from North America or from the Baltic, and a consi- 

 derable quantity from Holland ; for, whether arising from inattention to 

 the proper mode of rearing it, or from defects in our soil or climate, it is 

 an incontestable fact, that seed produced in those countries is superior 

 to that reared in England. It is indeed a generally-received opinion that 

 the seed should be frequently changed, as the plants, if grown from the 

 same species, evidently become every year shorter. Throughout Holland 

 and Germany the growers therefore uniformly import seed from Russia, 

 which is grown in the provinces of Livonia, Courland, and Lithuania, and 

 to this country it is brought under the name of " Riga-kind.'' To guard 

 ag?.inst imposition it is there carefully marked by inspectors appointed by 

 government, who brand the casks in which it is packed in order to dis- 

 tinguish the old from the new seed ; for although that of a former year 

 may, if it be well preserved, be sown with some degree of safety, yet it is 

 an experiment which should never be resorted to unless in cases of extreme 

 urgency ; and any one selling old for new seed is liable in damages to all 

 loss arising from a failure in the crop. To have it of good quality, fresh 



* Lambert's Observations on the Rural Affairs of Ireland, p. 119. 

 f Von Thaer, Prin. Rids. d'Agric. 2nde edit. torn. iv. j). 282. 



I On the manntr of manuring and sowing the flax, see the account of /iquid 

 manu7-e in vol. ii. chap. xi. p. '270. 



§ Alton on the Cultivation of Flax in Scotland. — Quart. Jour, of Agric. N. S, vol. iv. 

 p. 163. 



II Lincolnshire Rep. p. 139. 



