MIXING FLAX SEED. 27 



way of doing so, by such practice. This I consider is the 

 more necessary as the system of steeping in HOT WATER, and 

 of STEAMING FLAX straw, has got so much into disfavour in 

 Ireland, as to be condemned by the Flax spinners, and in 

 most cases abandoned altogether by the patentees or ORIGI- 

 NATORS, and those that unfortunately adopted their method of 

 operating on Flax straw. 



MIXING OF FLAX SEED, AND SELLING 

 OLD FOR NEW. 



It is a sad and lamentable affair, after the hospitality, free- 

 dom of speech, and protection^ which the British Government 

 gives to foreign refugees that come to England, to find that 

 they so far forget their position as to forget all that is honour- 

 able in dealing ; and as the growth and preparation of Flax 

 in Yorkshire must have been severely injured by the unpar- 

 donable offence of mixing and selling old seed for new Riga 

 seed, I must here notice what I have been told by Mr. JOHN 

 BOYLE, a man who thoroughly understands the cultivation of 

 Flax, from forty years practical experience, and who is a man 

 above making false assertions. 



Mr. Boyle wanted new Riga seed for his customers. He 

 called on a certain merchant in Leeds and saw samples, but 

 insisted on seeing the bulk. One of the clerks being rather 

 green^ and not up to the truly unfair conduct of his 

 employer, allowed Mr. Boyle to go upstairs, and there he 

 found, much to his annoyance, the mixing process going on, 

 knowing, as he did, that such a practice would be the death- 

 blow to Flax culture in Yorkshire. Let the guilty ask him- 

 self if he, by such conduct, deserves the protection our country 

 gives to the runaways of all nations. 



