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dundant. For although field-labour might be increased, yet, 

 under our present system of farming, it is impossible that the 

 culture of wheat, of barley, and of turnips, should provide 

 employment for the great majority comprised of weaker hands. 



But were flax added to the rotation of crops, the landlord 

 and tenant could so regulate the demand for labour as not only 

 to meet the requirements of the rural, but of the surplus manu- 

 facturing population also. Five years ago I advanced the 

 same theory. I now venture to enforce it with a confidence 

 resulting from experience. 



It will be necessary to form district societies, based upon the 

 principles, and regulated by the rules of the National Flax 

 and Agricultural Improvement Association, by which means 

 information would be disseminated, success ensured, and the 

 defeat of Cobden, with his party, rendered certain. 



At the present time the value of flax and linseed is daily 

 rising at market, affording remuneration to the grower, while 

 corn and meat, on the contrary, can only be produced at a 

 ruinous price to the farmer ; an argument sufficiently strong in 

 favour of the cultivation of flax and the fattening of cattle 

 upon the seed, independent of all other considerations, and 

 which, I am sure, will induce many of my correspondents at 

 least to try the following experiments : — 



Let four or six acres of land, intended for turnips, be equally 

 divided, manured, and treated in every r)ther respect alike ; 

 one half to be sown with turnips ; the other with linseed and 

 peas, or beans. The result will prove that more animal food 

 and greater fattening properties will be obtained from the 

 average of soils and of seasons than if the whole had been ap- 

 propriated to turnips, leaving the flax-stalks for purposes 

 above described. The discerning landlord and intelligent 

 tenant, in calculating the risk, will perceive the prospect of 

 gain, without the possibility of loss. 



In conclusion, allow me to repeat my readiness to attend any 

 public meeting in London, convened for a thorough investiga- 

 tion of the subject, where agriculturists, experienced and inter- 

 ested in the growth of flax, with parties desirous of purchasing 

 the crops, could be assembled. At the same time model 

 boxes and specimens of the cattle-compound shall be exhi- 



