LINE^E. I. LINUM. 



453 



Andr. hot. rep. 477. Flowers large, almost the size of those of 

 a Mallow. Perhaps a distinct species. 



Clammy Flax. Fl. June, Aug. Clt. 1807. PI. 1 to 2 feet. 



43 L. PIII'GERUM (Presl. ex Spreng. syst. p. 127.) stem sim- 

 ple, hairy ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, 3-nerved ; sepals linear, 

 pilose ; styles equal in length with the stamens. I/ . H. Native 

 of Sicily and Crete. 



Hair-bearing Flax. PI. 1 to 2 feet. 



44 L. HIRSU'TUM (Lin. spec. 398.) leaves lanceolate, 3-5- 

 nerved, alternate, and somewhat opposite, and are as well as 

 the stems hairy, upper ones as well as sepals ciliated, with glan- 

 dular hairs ; stamens connate to the middle. If. . H. Native 

 of Italy, south of France, Tauria, Caucasus, and Hungary, in 

 elevated places exposed to the sun. Flowers bluish, rarely 

 rose-coloured. Jacq. aust. t. 31. Smith, fl. grsoc. t. 302. Moris, 

 hist. 2. p. 573. sect. 5. t. 26. f. 5. Panicle corymbose. 



Var. fl, elatius (Rcem. ined. Schult. syst. 6. p. 740.) leaves 

 evidently 3-nerved. If. . H. Native of Caucasus. 

 Hairy Flax. Fl. July, Aug. Clt. 1759. PI. 1 foot. 



45 L. ASCYRIFOLIUM (Sims, hot. mag. t. 1087.) leaves alter- 

 nate, 3-nerved, ovate, cordate, pubescent, upper ones somewhat 

 opposite ; flowers somewhat spiked ; sepals acuminated, hairy. 

 %. H. Native of Portugal near Coimbra. Flowers white, 



streaked with bluish-purple veins, with a yellow bottom. Petals 

 crenulated. 



Ascyrum-leaved Flax. Fl. July, Aug. Clt. 1800. PI. 1 ft. 



46 L. NERVOSUM (Walds. et Kit. pi. hung. 2. t. 105.) stem 

 hairy at the base ; leaves lanceolate, pointed, 3-5-nerved, gla- 

 brous ; panicle loose ; sepals awl-shaped, pointed, serrated at the 

 base. I/ . H. Native of Hungary, the Ukraine, and Tauria, on 

 hills. Flowers large, blue. Petals emarginated or pointed, 

 crenated at the apex. Styles white. Capsules with 10 promi- 

 nent sutures. Barrel, icon. p. 1009. 



Var. ft, glabratum (D. C. prod. 1. p. 426.) stem glabrous at 

 die base. If.. H. Native of Russia on the hanks of the Don. 



Nerved-leaved. Flax. Fl. June, July. Clt. 1822. PI. 1 to 

 H foot. 



47 L. NARBONE'NSE (Lin. spec. 398.) plant glabrous, erect, 

 rather glaucous ; leaves alternate, distant, lanceolate-linear, very 

 acute, and rather stiff; panicle sub-corymbose ; sepals acumi- 

 nated, with the margins scariose at the base. ~H . H. Native 

 of Spain, south of France, and Italy, in elevated sunny places. 

 Flowers large, beautiful, blue, very rarely white. Hook. bot. 

 mag. icon. Barrel, icon. p. 1007. 



Narbonne Flax. Fl. May, July. Clt. 1759. PI. 2 feet. 



48 L. PUNCTA'TUM (Presl. ex Spreng. syst. 1. p. 962.) stem 

 diffuse, usually 3-flowered ; leaves imbricate, lanceolate, acute, 

 rather scabrous, full of pellucid dots; sepals ovate. 3. H. 

 Native of Sicily. 



Doited-leaved Flax. PI. diffuse. 



49 L. USITATI'SSIMUM (Lin. spec. 397.) plant erect, glabrous ; 

 leaves lanceolate or linear acute ; panicle corymbose ; sepals 

 ovate, acute, or mucronate, with scarious or membranaceous 

 margins ; petals rather crenated, 3-times larger than the calyx. 

 0. H. Native of many parts of Europe, as well as in Nipaul 

 and North America, in corn-fields, said to be originally from 

 Egypt. Tratt. tab. t. 744. Smith, engl. bot. t. 1357. Curt. fl. 

 lond. fasc. 5. t. 22. Mart. fl. rust. t. 133. L. sativum, Black, 

 herb. t. 160. Plench. t. 243. L. arvense, Neck, gallob. 159. 

 Flowers blue. Sepals 3-nerved. 



Var. ft, humile (Mill. diet. no. 2.) petals emarginate ; stem 

 dwarf-branched. 



Flax has been cultivated from the earliest ages and for an 

 unknown length of time in Britain, of which it is now considered 

 a naturalized inhabitant. It is cultivated both for its fibre for 

 making thread, and its seed for being crushed for oil, but never 



has been grown in sufficient quantity for either purpose. The 

 legislature of the country, as Brown observes, has paid more 

 attention to framing laws regarding the husbandry of flax than 

 to any other branch of rural economy ; but it need not excite 

 surprise that these laws, even though accompanied by premiums, 

 have failed to induce men to act in a manner contrary to their 

 own interest. The fact is, the culture of flax is found on the 

 whole less profitable than the culture of corn. It is one of the 

 most severe crops when allowed to ripen its seed ; but by no 

 means so when pulled green. Loud, encycl. agri. p. 846. 



The varieties of the common Flax are few, and hardly de- 

 serving notice. Marshall mentions the Blue or Lead-coloured 

 Flax, as being cultivated in Yorkshire, and Professor Thaer 

 mentions a finer and coarser variety ; he also as well as some 

 other agriculturists has tried the Linum perenne, but though it 

 affords a strong fibre, it is coarser, and difficult to separate from 

 the woody matter. 



The soil most proper for flax, besides the alluvial kinds, are 

 deep and friable loams, and such as contain a large proportion 

 of vegetable matter. Strong clays do not answer well, nor 

 soils of a gravelly or dry sandy nature. But whatever be the 

 kinds of soil, it ought neither to be too poor nor in too rich a 

 condition ; because in the latter case tliejlax 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. 

 (Treat, on Rural Affairs.) If 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 underneath 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 that 

 but fine flax is also raised on light 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 

 most stiff soils yield much larger quantities of flax and far 

 better seed than can be obtained from light lands, and that the 

 seeds reared from the former may with proper care be rendered 

 full as good as any that can be imported from Riga or Zealand. 

 M. Du Hamel, however, thinks that strong land can hardly yield 

 such fine flax as that which grows on lighter ground. The 

 place of flax 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 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 better 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 mis- 

 gives, unless the season proves remarkably adverse. 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 

 peas or beans, nor to succeed if sown oftener on the same soil 

 than twice. (Von Thaer.} 



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 

 preparation is required to procure 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 in the first 

 case, therefore the grass land ought always to be earliest 



