Book VI. FLAX. 847 



well as some other agriculturists, has tried the Linum perenne (J), but though it affbrds a strong fibre, it 

 is coarse and difficult to separate from the woody matter. 



5294. The soils most proper for flax> besides the alluvial kinds, are deep and friable 

 loams, and such as contain a large proportion of vegetable matter in their composition. 

 Strong clays do not answer well, nor soils of a gravelly or dry sandy nature. But 

 whatever be the kind of soil, it ought neither to be in too poor nor in too rich a 

 condition ; because, in the latter case, the flax is apt to grow too luxuriant, and to 

 produce a coarse sort ; and, in the former case, the plant, from growing weakly, affords 

 only a small produce. (Tr. on Rural Affairs,^ 



5295. IJ there be water at a small depth below the surface of the ground, it is thought by some still 

 better, as is the case in Zealand, which is remarkable for the fineness of its flax, and where the soil is 

 deep and rather stiff, with water almost every where, at the depth of a foot and a half or two feet under- 

 neath it. It is said to be owing to the want of this advantage, that the other provinces of Holland do 

 not succeed equally well in the culture of this useful plant ; not but that fine flax is also raised on high 

 lands, if they have been well tilled and manured, and if the seasons are not very dry. It is remarked, 

 in the letters of the Dublin Agricultural Society, that moist stiff soils yield much larger quantities of 

 flax, 'and far better seed, than can be obtained from light lands ; and that the seed secured from the 

 former may, with proper care, be rendered full as good as any that is imported from Riga or Zealand, 

 M. Uu Hamel, however, thinks that strong land can hardly yield such fine flax as that which grows on 

 lighter ground. ' * 



5296. The place ofjlax in a rotation of crops is various, but in general it is considered 

 as a corn or exhausting crop, when the seed is allowed to ripen ; and as a green, or pea, or 

 bean crop, when the plant is pulled green. Flax, Donaldson observes, is sown after all 

 sorts of crops, but is found to succeed best on lands lately broken up from grass. In 

 Scotland, the most skilful cultivators of flax generally prefer lands from which 

 one crop of grain only has been taken, after having been several years in pasture. 

 "When such lands have been limed or marled, immediately before being laid down to 

 grass, the crop of flax seldom or never misgives, unless the season prove remarkably ad- 

 verse. In the north of Ireland flax is generally sown by the small farmers after potatoes. 

 In Belgium, it is supposed not to do well after pease or beans; nor to succeed if sown 

 oftener on the same soil than twice in nine years, f Von Thaer.) 



5297. The preparation of the soil, when grass land is intended for flax, consists in. 

 breaking it up as early in the season as possible, so that the soil may be duly mellowed 

 by the winter frosts, and in good order for being reduced by the harrows, when the seed 

 process is attempted. If flax is to succeed a corn crop, the like care is required to pro- 

 cure the aid of frost, without which the surface cannot be rendered fine enough for 

 receiving the seed. Less frost, however, will do in the last, than m the first case ; there- 

 fore, the grass land ought always to be earliest ploughed. At seed-time, harrow the 

 land well before the seed is distributed, then cover the seed to a sufficient depth, by giving 

 a close double tine of the harrows. Water-furrow the land, and remove any stones and 

 roots that may remain on the surface, which finishes the seed process. 



5298. The ordinary season of sowing Jlax seed is from the middle of March to the 

 middle or end of April, but the last week of March and the first ten days of April is 

 esteemed the best time.; and accordingly within these periods the greatest quantity of 

 flax-seed is sown in this country. In France and Italy it is often sown in the autumn, 

 by which a larger crop is produced, especially when seed is desired- 



5299. The quantity of seed depends on the intention of the crop. When a crop of 

 seed is intended to be taken, thin sowing is preferable, in order that the plants may have 

 room to throw out lateral shoots, and to obtain air in the blossoming and filling 

 seasons. But it is a mistake to sow thin when flax is intended to be taken, for the crop 

 then becomes coarse, and often unproductive. From eight to ten pecks per acre, is the 

 proper quantity in the last case, but when seed is the object, six pecks will do very well. 

 (Brown.) Thick-sown flax runs up in height, and produces fine soft flax ; if sown thin^ 

 it does not rise so high, but spreads more and puts forth many side branches, which pro- 

 duce abundance of seed, and such seed is much better filled, plump, and heavy, than the 

 seed produced from thick-sown flax. {Donaldson.) 



5300. In the choice of seed, that which is of a bright brownish color, oily to the feel, 

 and at the same time weighty, is considered the best. Linseed, imported from various 

 countries, is employed. That brought from Holland is, however, in the highest esti- 

 mation, as it not only ripens sooner than any other that is imported, but also produces 

 greater crops, and flax of that quality which best suits the chief manufactures of the 

 country. American seed produces, in common, fine flax, but neither the quantity of flax 

 nor of the pods, provincially the " bolls," which contain the seeds, is so large as the produce 

 from Dutch linseed. Riga seed yields a very coarse sort of flax, but a greater quantity 

 of seeds than any other. It is common in some parts of Scotland to sow seeds saved 

 from the crop of the preceding year, especially when that crop was raised from seed 

 imported from Holland. -The success of this practice is found to depend greatly on 

 changing the seed from one sort of soil to another of an opposite nature ; but the saving 

 in the expense of purchasing that sort of seed, in place of what is newly imported from 



