VAEIOUS KINDS OP SEED. 15 



served that flax sown in May is more productive of woody 

 stem than of fibre ; nevertheless, circumstances often 

 oblige the farmer to defer the sowing even to a later 

 period of the year, and then it will principally depend 

 upon the season and the weather to decide on the event- 

 ual success of the crop. An agricultural produce, the 

 gathering of which can be shifted backwards or forwards 

 over a certain space of time by deferring or hastening 

 the time of sowing, is often made to yield a little to that 

 important majority of crops which cannot be thus made 

 to submit to the farmer's convenience. 



The flax-growers of the principal countries of Europe 

 unanimously declare that this plant produces seed which 

 is less and less vigorous from year to year, unless the 

 stock of grain is renewed by being brought from distant 

 places of growth. The usual Flemish practice is to 

 change the seed by a fresh importation from Eiga every 

 two years ; others have thought that every three years 

 would be sufficient to obtain a new supply from Eussia ; 

 but it is found that if a change be but made, it is by no 

 means a matter of necessity that the seed should be of 

 [Russian growth. The French farmers, although pre- 

 ferring Eiga seed, still for economy's sake often make an 

 interchange between village and village, from town to 

 town, and from one department to that which borders it. 

 In such cases, they find their flax crops succeed to their 

 perfect satisfaction. This being the fact, it will be hard 

 if England, Ireland, Belgium, and France, cannot con- 

 tinue to grow flax without Muscovite aid. 



A change of seed, however, from some good quarter, 

 must always be insisted on. In Flanders, as well as in 

 Brittany and Ireland, it has ever been the established 

 usage in time of peace, to import large quantities of seed 

 from the north of Europe, especially from Eiga, as well 

 as from America and Holland. In the Departement du 

 jSTord, such seed is usually called lin de tonne, or tunjlax, 

 because it comes in tuns or tubs ; and the seed which is 

 produced immediately from this after the first sowing 



