193 



Govver belongs to the Committee of the Norfolk Flax Society, 

 of which Mr. Rous is the president. 



I here lay down my pen with honour, for volumes could not 

 afford stronger evidence to prove that where flax is grown for 

 seed, the fibre will make a profitable return for " labour and 

 cost." Nor could volumes more clearly acquit me of having 

 indulged in •' idle visions" to "deceive the public." 



I remain. Sir, your obedient servant, 



John Warnes, jun. 

 Trimingham, January 14<A, 1S44. 



No. X. 



Sir, 



It is with no common feelings of regret that I find my- 

 self compelled to devote a portion of the present number to the 

 refutation of Mr. Gower's letter, that appeared in your paper of 

 January 27 ; a letter ihat I should have considered totally 

 unworthy of notice in times less alarming than the present. 

 But, knowing how prompt the Anti-Corn Law League is to lay 

 hold of, and to disseminate, anything that may be turned to the 

 destruction of the farmer, I am bound to pronounce it as a most 

 inconsistent and fallacious document. 



In vain would be the remonstrances of the tenant, the pro- 

 testations of the landlortl, and the exertions of protective 

 associations to stem the torrent of free trade, if Mr. Gower's 

 monster-calculations are suffered to remain unexplained. 



Whether the net profit upon an acre of prepared flax^ accord- 

 ing to the Hon. Mr. Rous's account, amounts to 9/. 4s. or to 

 5/. 1 \s. per acre for unprepared flax, according to Mr. Gower's 

 account; or whether the seed is worth 25s., 30s., or 405. per 

 coomb, arc questions of minor importance to the public, seeing 

 that the crop ensures, at all events, an abundance of employment 

 to the labourer, and a profitable return to the grower. Thus 

 much even Mr. Gower himself has established without the aid of 

 a " College education." Indeed, he has proved, beyond dispu- 



