FLAX. 19 



ness of fibre and colour, and that even the refuse 

 from rope-walks might thus be made into a sub- 

 stance valuable in the arts*. 



The produce from the flax plant is extremely un- 

 certain in quantity. It is affected by difference of 

 soil and season, as well as by the degree of care- 

 fulness bestowed on its cultivation and preparation ; 

 these different circumstances causing a variation of 

 from 280 to 980 Ibs. per acre, but the average crop 

 in the same area may be estimated at 560 to 700 Ibs. 

 of clean fibres available for spinning and weaving. 



The quantity of seed produced from an acre of 

 ground averages from six to eight bushels ; some- 

 times, however, an acre yields ten or twelve bushels. 



In the year 1810 a new method of dressing flax 

 was proposed by Mr. Lee, who not only patented the 

 invention, but obtained an act of parliament by which 

 the specification of his invention was ordered to be 

 deposited in the Court of Chancery, to be kept secret 

 from the public for fifteen months, and then to be 

 produced only by order of the Lord Chancellor, and 

 by him to be examined whenever occasion required. 



The ground on which this departure from the 

 usual practice proceeded, was the necessity of secur- 

 ing to the state, in a time of war, the benefit of a 

 most important discovery. 



The inventor had ascertained by such experiments 

 as were supposed to put the fact beyond all doubt, 

 that when hemp or flax plants are well ripened, 

 nothing more is requisite than to pull them up and 

 spread them to dry in the sun, in a manner similar 

 to that by which grass is converted into hay, taking 

 care to lay the roots only in one direction in the ridge, 

 so as to prevent, as much' as possible, the breaking 

 or entanglement of the stalks; when by these means 

 * Nicholson's Journal, 6th vol. 



