FLAX AND HEMP HUSBANDRY. 



349 



tention it deserves, the following notice by Mr. 

 Wakefield: •' Tlio water in which Flax has 

 been immersed is, in Ireland, entirely neglect- 

 ed, but Mr. Billingsby mentions it as an excel- 

 lent manure, and no country in the world, per- 

 haps, allords belter opportunities of employing 

 it than Ireland. I made frequent inquiries 

 about it. but could never hear of a .single in- 

 stance of its being used. The author of the 

 Survey of Somur.'^etshire (Mr. Billingsby) says: 

 ' it isobserval)!c, that land on which rotted Flax 

 is spread to prepare it for hackling, is greatly 

 improved thereby, and if it be spread on a 

 coarse sour pasture, the herbage wll be totally 

 changed, and the best sorts of grasses will make 

 their appearance. Having inyself cultivated 

 Flax on a large scale, and observing the almost 

 instantaneous effect produced by the water in 

 which the Flax w^as immersed, I was induced, 

 some years ago, to apply it to some i)asture 

 land, by means of watering carts similar to those 

 used near London for watering the roads. The 

 effect was astoni.shing, and advanced the land 

 in value ten shillings per acre.' " 



The chaff'remaining after the scutching might 

 also be formed into manure, and has actually 

 been found of as much value as its composition 

 would indicate. Thus, in fact, the farmer send- 

 ing to market only llie fibre of the Fla.x, which 

 derives nothing from the .-soil, ha.s the opportu- 

 nity of economizing in other and highly remu- 

 nerating modes all the residual niateWals. 



This chaff' was found to consist of 



Cnrbon 50-34jOxygen 41-52 



Hydrogen 6-33 Ashes 1-57 



Nitrogen -24 1 



Total 100-00 



Its nutritive quality cannot be material, but 

 mixed with the water of the Flax-steep, it should 

 complete the restoration to the soil of the con- 

 stituents of the growing Flax. 



The average produce of scutched Flax, as 

 given by Wakefield, reduced to the statute 

 acre, is 543 lbs. from nineteen gallons of seed. 

 This is thirty-four stones of si.xteen pounds. 

 The usual produce of Scotland is stated by Low 

 to be forty stones, and at present by the Re- 

 ports of the Flax Improvement Society, the 

 produce in the north of Ireland may be taken as 

 averaging forty-two stones. The weight of the 

 Flax straw, when quite dry, may be taken as 

 approximating to about two tons. 



Mr. Crosthwaite, whose intimate acquaintance 

 with all branches of this industi-y rendcn-s his 

 authority highly valuable, considers that there 

 are about 100,000 acres under Flax in Ireland, 

 and that the produce is about 30,000 tons, of an 

 average value of £50 per ton. This is 68. 3d. 

 per stone, and .'ihould give' about £12 10s. for 

 tlie usual produce of the statute acre. The 

 quantity of Flax grown appears to be on the 

 increase, and its quality also to be improving, 

 as by the Report of the Fla.x Societj- it appears, 

 that the amount of the crop in 1841 was 25,000 

 tons, averaging £45 per ton, whilst in 1843 it 

 was 36.405 tons, and the average value was con- 

 sidered to be at least £55. This increase of 

 value being, if not wholly, certainly in great 

 part, attributable to the exertions of that very 

 useful Society. 



W^herc so much depends on the mechanical 

 and chemical treatment of the plant after the 

 crop has been pulled, it is easily conceivable 

 that under the ordinary circumstances of the 

 Irish farmers, it is difficult to carry out the 

 preparation of tlic fibre, so as to give it the best 

 (713) 



quality, and in fact iu Belgium and Holland, 

 where the Flax cultivation and manufacture arc 

 in their most advanced state, the growth of the 

 plant and the fabrication of the fibre are totally 

 distinct occupations. The crop is purchased by 

 a factor, who takes the dressing into his own 

 hands, and, being devoted to that one depart- 

 ment, is acquainted v/ith all mechanical arrange- 

 ments and details necessary to success, and it 

 frequently happens that the farmer actually ob- 

 tains for the crop, as grown, more money than 

 he should have obtained for the imperfectly 

 dressed produce of it, and is spared the lo.ss of 

 time, of labor, and interference with other bu.si- 

 ness, which, retaining the mechanical D-eatment 

 of the Flax in his own hands ,should necessarily 

 entail upon him. In the present state of indus- 

 try, I conceive the general adoption of the .sys- 

 tem of factors as indispensable to progress. 

 Without improvement in quality of product, the 

 manufacture cannot extend, and without the 

 preparation of the fibre being taken up and cul- 

 tivated as a distinct profession, no important 

 amelioration in it can be expected. 



From the importance of the Flax culture, as 

 well to the farmer as to the manufacturer, it 

 might be suppo.sed that it should be at least cul- 

 tivated to such an extent as to supply our own 

 industrial wants. Such, however, is far from 

 being the case ; every year a large quantity of 

 Flax is imported into Great Britain and into 

 Ireland from the Baltic ports, and from Bel- 

 gium ; the total quantities for three late years 

 are shown iu the following table : 



It is worth observing, that the diminished im- 

 portation of 12,000 tons of 1842, is almost exact- 

 ly the quantity by -which, owing to the exer- 

 tions of the Flax Improvement Society, the 

 home crop had been iucrea.sed at the same 

 period. 



The agricultural employment which the Fla-X 

 crop gives, may be estimated from a statement 

 by Mr. Blacker, whose ability as a judge is so 

 well known ; he says: " After the most minute 

 calculation by practical men engaged in the 

 growth of Flax, the labor necessary for cvei-y 

 acre of Flax is computed to be seven days of a 

 man, fifty-four days of a woman, and four and a 

 quarter days of a hor.se. Now 55,610 tons, 

 weight [which was the import in 1833, when 

 Mr. Blacker wrote], supposing each statute acre 

 to produce four cwt. w hich is a full average 

 crop, would be the produce of 278.050 aeres, 

 which, according to the above estimate, would 

 require in labor equal to the employment of 

 6,488 men for 300 days in the year, 50,015 wo- 

 men for the same number of days, and 3,939 

 horses for ditto." 



It appears thus, that there is twice as much 

 Flax imported into Great Britain from foreign 

 ports, as there is grown in this country, and yet 

 there is no actual impediment to its culiivalion, 

 for it appears to be uniformly a remunerating 

 crop, where attended to with ordinary care, and 



