APPROPIIIATE SOILS. 23 



strong clayey loam. Sandy loauis or loose marles, neither 

 too wet, nor too dry, nor too poor, are by no means Tin- 

 favourable. The best of all are rich alluvial bottoms, 

 with a staple three or four feet thick, or thicker, when it 

 is to be had. Upon poor clays, or dry gravelly soils, flax 

 will not thrive satisfactorily. Large quantities of flax, it 

 is true, are grown upon soils of a medium quality ; but 

 with the exception of the stiflest clays, all soils which 

 possess the texture, the firmness, the depth, and the 

 degree of moisture which would enable them to be con- 

 sidered good wheat lands, are appropriate to the growth 

 of flax. 



De Serres's observations on the soil to be devoted to 

 flax are so pithy as well as so true, that we cannot refrain 

 from translating them. " As flax takes the precedence 

 of hemp in delicacy, so does it require to be more deli- 

 cately lodged and treated ; for which reason, if you desire 

 to have a great quantity of fine flax, destine for its pro- 

 duction the most fertile spot you have, and if possible 

 let it be capable of being well watered. It will do well 

 enough without water, but when you come to gather the 

 crop, you will see how much the watered flax will surpass 

 in value that which has suffered thirst during summer, 

 such not being either fine or abundant, except very rarely. 

 As to climate, a temperate one inclining rather to cold 

 than to heat is that which best agrees with it. It exhausts 

 the land on which it grows, differing in that respect from 

 hemp ; which land, on this account, must be heavily 

 manured and carefully tilled. You may grow flax at 

 pleasure and without limit on newly broken-up pasture ; 

 the same also where there has been a great deal of trefoil 

 or clover, on the roots of which, as they rot in the earth, 

 it supports itself well." 



After all, it is not so much the soil alone, as the skill 

 and attention employed, w-hich will secure a good crop of 

 flax. Elanders, for 'instance, boasts of a soil to which 

 few are superior, and the flax produced there is notori- 

 ously of first-rate quality ; but it must also be acknow- 

 ledged that if the most profitable plant in the hands of 



