24i TLAX. 



the Flemish farmer is his flax, it is also the crop to which 

 the most attention is paid, to ensure the event of its 

 turning out satisfactorily. There is not a single agricul- 

 tural product of temperate climes which requires more 

 pains and labour to be bestowed upon it than flax, and 

 which stands more in need of the grower's patient care ; 

 nor is there a plant which is cultivated in a greater 

 variety of modes, the difference, however, almost always 

 consisting in the manner of manuring the land, in ac- 

 cordance with the teachings of local experience. An 

 intelligent flax-grower, who prepares and manures his 

 land suitably to its nature and situation, will get good 

 flax from almost every quality of soil, but especially from 

 good light land, and from clays that are sufficiently inter- 

 mingled with sand. Eut soils which are fertile naturally 

 are much better adapted for flax, than those that are 

 made so artificially by manure; because they insure a 

 much more even growth. When lumps of manure are 

 irregularly left in the earth, they supply nourishment to 

 so many patches of excessive vigour, which overtop their 

 brethren, send forth side shoots, and only serve to ruffle 

 the future flaxen skein. To avoid this blemish in the 

 sample, the crop previous to flax is sometimes heavily 

 manured, none being given to the flax itself; or the 

 manure is applied during autumn or winter, to become 

 well amalgamated with the earth previous to the spring 

 sowing ; hence also the fondness of the most successful 

 cultivators for liquid manures and those reduced to the 

 state of powder, as readily admitting dilution, and there- 

 fore capable of being distributed so as to act with a more 

 uniform effect than solid matters. 



No crop more requires the land to be well worked and 

 thoroughly cleaned, than flax does. Light lands should 

 be deeply ploughed. On strong and wet lands, it is 

 desirable to cross-plough deeply, or even better, to em- 

 ploy spade-husbandry. Elax seed must not be buried too 

 deep ; and therefore an aspect winch is either too dry, 

 too wet, or too cold, does not suit it. The soil ought to 

 be soft and well pulverised ; the manure, short and well 



