20 FI.AX. 



is chiefly practised in Bussia, whence most of the im- 

 ported seed (which on account of that very circumstance 

 is the best), is obtained ; though a large quantity of flax- 

 seed comes to us both from the East Indies and from 

 North America. The reason of the superiority of im- 

 ported over native seed is, that at the time when the flax 

 is gathered for its fibre, the seed is only partially or 

 imperfectly ripened. To have a full crop of perfectly ripe 

 seed, the stems must be allowed to stand till they are 

 rigid and all but worthless. The compulsory immaturity 

 of the seed is the cause of its degenerating, and involves 

 the necessity of continued fresh importations. The 

 practice and its effect are, however, merely a question 

 of convenience and economy, of a division of labour; 

 in fact, allotting different shares of the process to dif- 

 ferent nations in Europe, instead of to different indi- 

 viduals in a factory. By sacrificing the fibre of a portion 

 of the crop, as good seed, though perhaps at a dearer 

 cost, could be grown in England, Prance, and Belgium, 

 as is grown in Eussia. Hitherto it has been cheaper 

 and more convenient to import the seed required ; 

 "Western Europe has now to decide whether it be not 

 wiser and more agreeable to grow it ourselves. 



If it were necessary to insist any further on this point, 

 it might be explained, that the most elementary acquaint- 

 ance with vegetable physiology would suffice to convince 

 us that plants which are thickly crowded together, 

 etiolated, so to speak, wire-drawn, and run up to such a 

 height that they are often obliged to be supported by 

 sticks, to prevent them from falling and rotting on the 

 ground, must not only produce a very limited proportion 

 of seed, but also of a very imperfect quality, and un- 

 likely, when employed in turn as seed, to furnish a second 

 generation of plants of equal vigour with the primitive 

 race. On the other hand, analogy would lead us to 

 believe, that by sowing the seeds of a plant of flax which 

 unites in itself every desirable quality, in such a way 

 that the seedlings can enjoy all the air and light neces- 

 sary for their complete development on land of superior 



