or THE SEEDLING CROP. 39 



with wooden pins of less than three inches, and the sur- 

 face, to conclude the operation, is again carefully rolled, 

 so that nothing can exceed the smoothness and cultivated 

 appearance of the fields thus prepared. Any English 

 farmer who has had the gratification of observing a weil- 

 grown flax-field either in French or Belgian Flanders, 

 will be sure, on his return home, to pay greater attention 

 to the important subject of liquid manure. 



PBOGKESS OE THE SEEDLING CEOP. 



The quicker the flax germinates and appears above 

 ground, the better the crop is likely to turn out. On 

 this account, it is a great advantage when the sowing can 

 be effected immediately after a shower or a tempest. The 

 seedlings then are sure to rise all at once, instead of ap- 

 pearing in patches, as will often happen in dry weather. 

 Indeed, when there is any serious check from drought, it 

 is a good plan to water till the evil is remedied, supposing 

 that the situation of the field admits of it. For instance, 

 a long narrow strip of flax, with a ditch on one or either 

 side, as often is- the case in alluvial districts, admits of 

 easy watering ~by means of a scoop. The trouble and ex- 

 pense will be well repaid. But this is one of the minor 

 details which unavoidably render flax peculiarly the small 

 farmer's and the cottager's crop. From the very nature 

 of things, it answers their purpose better than it possibly 

 can that of the great agriculturist. Not that the great 

 agriculturist need gain less, if a proper amount of capital, 

 skill, and attention are employed, but that the small 

 holder may gain more, because every additional atom or 

 drop of manure, and every spare five minutes devoted to 

 it, are sure to tell advantageously in the end. Some, 

 certainly, of the late well-meant experiments of flax- 

 growing in England, have been made on much too large 

 a scale. A six or eight-acre field of flax, in a slovenly, 

 irregular, and half- cultivated state, is neither more nor 

 less than a pitiable sight, a certain source of disappoint- 

 ment, probably of loss, and a monster of farming ab- 



