82 FLAX CULTURE 



the superiority of water-rotted over dew- 

 rotted flax. 



" i. That . . . there shall be paid out of the pub- 

 lick treasury the sum of . . . 37 shillings and 4 pence 

 for every 112 pounds of wafer-rotted, well-cured, and 

 clean-dressed flax, and 18 shillings and 8 pence for 

 every 112 pounds of dew-rotted, well-cured, and clean- 

 dressed flax, of the growth of this province. 



"5. That if any person shall bring to the sur- 

 veyor the quantity of 224 pounds of hemp or flax 

 ... he shall be allowed ... for water-rotted flax, 9 

 shillings and 4 pence, and for dew-rotted flax, 4 shil- 

 lings and 8 pence a hundred, over and above what is 

 before allowed in this Act. 



" 6. This Act to continue ... for ... three 

 years." I 



By this Act a bounty of $225 per ton, 

 reckoning money at its present value, was 

 granted, a sum far in excess of the 

 bounty offered by England in 1781 of four 

 pence per stone (equal to $12.80 per ton), 

 and five or six times as much as the present 

 duty on dressed flax imported to this 

 country, with results equally meagre. 



In 1722, and at other times, premiums 



1 Province Laws, 1734, chap. 15. 



