1 2 IN TROD UCTION. 



minor quantity ; recalling Sir Isaac New- 

 ton's amusing adventure during an absent- 

 minded spell in cutting a hole in the door 

 for his cat to pass through, and then 

 making a smaller aperture for the accom- 

 modation of the kitten. 



It need not be doubted that the growers 

 will discover the proper time to produce 

 flax fibre, without being helped thereunto 

 by peripatetic blowing of penny whistles, 

 and the periodical explosion of sky-rockets, 

 which has been witnessed in these modern 

 times, in relation to this question. 



When we consider the fact that Russia 

 can annually export over four hundred 

 million pounds of flax, in addition to a 

 large home consumption ; when we reflect 

 that under the stimulus of good prices and 

 a special demand during the period of 

 scarcity of cotton in this country, our flax- 

 growers never attained an annual product 

 of thirty million pounds, say one -fif- 

 teenth of the Russian export, what is 

 the inevitable deduction from such data ? 

 Is it not clear and conclusive that the 

 farmers fully appreciate the merits of 

 the case, " the want of a regular and 



