22 FLAX. 



separate grain constituting an atom or elementary mole- 

 cule. Eussian seed is not so soft to the touch, and is 

 more easily held in the hand. Good seed, too, should be 

 very even in its quality, and free from all mixture with 

 the smaller seeds of weeds. Most growers prefer to sow 

 new seed, but, unlike hemp-seed, linseed preserves its 

 vitality for several years. French growers assure us 

 that home-grown, flax-seed will grow just as well at the 

 end of ten years as at first. It is probable that the vital 

 power of foreign seed is more liable to injury during the 

 packing and the journey. 



The author of " British Husbandry," alluding to the 

 generally-received opinion that the seed should be fre- 

 quently changed, because it is believed that the plants, if 

 grown from the same stock, become every year shorter and 

 shorter, states, that "throughout Holland and Germany the 

 growers uniformly import seed from Russia, which is grown 

 in the provinces of Livonia, Courland, and Lithuania, and 

 to this country it is brought under the name of ' Eiga- 

 kind.' To guard against imposition, it is there carefully 

 marked by inspectors appointed by government, who brand 

 the casks in which it is packed in order to distinguish tho 

 old from the new seed ; for, although that of a former 

 year may, if well preserved, be sown with some degree of 

 safety, yet it is an experiment which should never be re- 

 sorted to unless in cases of extreme urgency ; and any 

 one selling old for new seed is liable in damages to all 

 loss arising from a failure in the crop." 



Purchasers of foreign seed are subject to disappoint- 

 ment from other causes than the mere age of the seed ; 

 the easy remedy for which would be, that growers should 

 think it worth their while to cultivate a certain breadth 

 of flax for the sake of the seed alone. 



APPROPBIATE SOILS, AND PREVIOUS PREPARATION. 



Soils that are at the same time light and rich are the 

 most appropriate for the growth of flax. We have seen 

 it succeed well both on black bog-earth, and on tolerably 



