FLAX STEEP FOR MANURE. 35 



as in the case of parasites, they grow on other plants, and at the 

 expense of their proper sap. The dodders are remarkable for 

 their destructive effects in this way, those in particular infesting 

 the clover and the Flax. The former kind is not met with 

 here, but the Flax dodder does often occur. Last year, I had 

 some samples of Flax given me on which the dodders were 

 abundant, and it was mentioned as being of general occurrence 

 in many fields. Like a bundle of entangled threads, these 

 plants lie on the Flax, twisting round the stems and binding 

 them together. Such samples are usually not so fully grown 

 as others. Fortunately this kind is not indigenous, being 

 brought over with the seed of the Flax, and mostly the Odessa 

 or Riga Flax seed. The indigenous dodder is "said to grow on 

 Flax ; but it is believed that it is always this exotic speoies 

 that infests it, and it does not appear, notwithstanding the 

 yearly renewals of it, that the parasite is likely to become 

 naturalised."" 



FLAX STEEP, OR WATER, A LIQUID^ MANURE. 



Having advised that the water in which Flax has been 

 steeped or retted, should be taken care of because of the 

 fertilising properties of the matter it contains, and the proof I 

 have had of its value during the year 1847-8, in the cultiva- 

 tion of flowers, as noticed in two London newspapers, the 

 Gardener's Chronicle and Agricultural Gazette, and the Gar- 

 deners and Farmers Journal, I will briefly refer to my 

 experiments. I first experimented in my flower garden, 

 situated in De-Beauvoir Square, London, using Flax water 

 in the cultivation of dahlias. I selected six] plants out of 

 thirty-six I had in my garden, and when about six inches long 

 after having properly taken with the open air and soil, I gave 

 them the same quantity of Flax water as I gave the thirty other 

 plants of the New River Company's water every other day, 



