REMARKS ON THE FLAX SUBJECT. 153 



think him a competent instructor) what caused the last 250 

 stooks of Mr. Dobbin's Flax to be so much more valuable than 

 the first 250 stooks? Waiting his reply, and being anxious 

 that he may have an opportunity of consulting Professor Sir 

 B. Kane's most valuable work on the Industrial Resources of 

 Ireland, as in that book he will find the information that may 

 suit his purpose, before he writes another Appeal to the 

 Common Sense of the Country , I shall leave him to ruminate 

 on the above facts, and add a few moie accounts of experiments 

 to show how ignorant he is of what has been done, or what can 

 be done by the farmers of Ulster, when he so broadly asserts 

 that, c they have certainly not been making 20 or 25 an 

 acre from any part of their farms.' 



" At a meeting, last month, of the Belfast Flax Improve- 

 ment Society, when a discussion took place on the merits of 

 the new system of steeping Flax in warm water to decompose 

 the woody part on which the fibre is produced, or dissolve the 

 adhesive matter that causes the fibre to cling to the wood, one 

 of the members, Mr. Borthwick, said that he was thoroughly 

 convinced of the excellence of the system. He had sold his 

 crop of Flax -straw grown near Carrickfergus, pulled and 

 dried, to the company at Cregagh, getting 12 per Irish 

 acre for it, which paid him better than any of his other 

 crops. He had since been told by the purchasers that 

 they were offered 8 for the seed off an acre of this Flax; 

 and he had himself seen some of the fibre which they had 

 steeped, and which was of such good quality as to be 

 valued by the spinners at 63s. per cwt., or 93 per ton. 

 It was producing from the straw at the rate of about 

 80 stones of 16 Ibs. to the acre, which would be 28 worth 

 of fibre, and adding 8 for the seed, the Irish acre would 

 bring 36. He thought that was a conclusive proof of 

 the benefit of the system. 



" A sample of Flax grown in 1849, by Messrs. M'Carton and 1 



