26 



lent gentleman, Mr. Warnes, who has spared neither time, nor 

 labour, nor money, in making himself master of the subject, a 

 full account of the mode of growing flax in Ireland, a clear 

 exposition of our own prospects if we adopt its culture, and 

 much other interesting information on the subject. 



1 have only now, my Lords and Gentlemen, to apologise for 

 the liberty I have taken in addressing you. Let my anxious 

 desire for the public good plead my excuse. 



I have the honour to be. 

 Your obedient Servant, 



W. K. Rous. 

 Worstead House, December Q>th. 



NORFOLK FLAX SOCIETY. 



Thk First Annual Meeting of this important Association was 

 held on Friday, 6th January, 1843. Our readers will recollect 

 that this Society was first formed and established at North 

 Walsham, under the Presidency of the Hon. W. R. Rous, and 

 under the most favourable auspices. It was intended to em- 

 brace all the landed proprietors and farmers of both divisions 

 of the county, and ultimately to be extended throughout tho 

 country, the object being of the greatest national importance, 

 to promote the cultivation of a plant for the produce of which 

 vast sums of money are annually sent abroad. It was well 

 ascertained and demonstrated at the North Walsham meeting, 

 that our own soil and climate are equal and perhaps superior 

 to any in the world for the growth and perfection of the plant, 

 and that its cultivation was generally more profitable than that 

 of any other crop ; all that was wanted to enable our farmers 

 to fatten their cattle with native instead of foreign produce, 

 and to supply our manufacturers with a raw material of which 

 they consume such large quantities, being the application, at 

 home, of the same skill and care in the cultivation and prepa- 

 ration of the crop that the people of the Continent, especially 

 in Belgium, bestow upon it. At the meeting on Friday, the 



