10 INTRODUCTION. 



that the statement of the competent wit- 

 ness given on page 40 may be accepted as 

 true, that " if there was $1000 per ton duty 

 on flax, it would not make the slightest 

 difference with farmers." 



Why should the American farmer devote 

 years of preparation for the supply of such 

 a limited requirement? He wisely scatters 

 his flax-seed thinly, raises a seed crop with- 

 out effort or special study, and markets the 

 product readily at a profit. He has more 

 sunlight, more heat, and less moisture in 

 the air, than any flax-grower has in coun- 

 tries where fibre chiefly is produced. He 

 will do well to continue his self-appointed 

 course, which takes into the account the 

 meteorological conditions which surround 

 him ; leaving the growth of fibre to those 

 who have experience, cheap labor, and a 

 humid atmosphere, to aid them. 



It might be inferred from the display of 

 pyrotechnics with which we have been 

 favored on this subject, that American 

 farmers must grow flax for fibre that they 

 may be entitled to a respectable status in 

 this connection. As a matter of fact, 

 showing the fallacy in this assumption, 



