Yl PREFACE. 



fully and fairly the objects presented to him to lecture 

 upon. The profitableness of flax (when people know 

 how to turn it to account), the utility of hemp, and the 

 inappreciable national importance of both, are more than 

 acknowledged they are unquestionable. But still there 

 are difficulties in the way of their increased cultivation 

 in England. If English farmers will not submit to a 



o o 



greater division of labour in their profession ; if they 

 will not allow and encourage the existence of a class of 

 ilax-men and hemp-men, who will purchase and prepare 

 their vegetable produce for the market, as they allow the 

 butcher to prepare their animal produce ; if the patrons 

 of agricultural science will not generously aid in instruc- 

 ting labourers in the manipulation of flax and hemp, 

 then flax and hemp cannot be grown in England ; we 

 shall remain dependent on others for much that we 

 might produce ourselves ; we shall continue to pay enor- 

 mous sums which we might retain in our own pockets ; 

 and many a constant winter's wages will remain unearned 

 by many a willing labourer, because neither the material 

 nor the skill to work it are produced and placed within 

 his power to attain. 



The writer looks forward to a better prospect : under 

 the circumstances in which Europe is situated, he feels 

 confident that the textile plants will be restored to their 

 due rank in the husbandry of .the United Kingdom. Our 

 book may be the humble cause of visits to the flax and 

 hemp districts of the Continent. It will then be seen 

 what is done abroad ; the rest, in time, will follow at 

 home. The great agriculturists of England are not 

 deficient in either enterprise, shrewdness, or liberality. 



