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sarily rise, and as much, if not more money, would be obtained 

 for the small as for the large supply, and consequently the 

 whole amount of the 500,000 acres of flax would be returned a 

 clear profit to the grower, while the linseed alone would not 

 amount to less than two or three millions. I'he whole of this 

 seed would, according to the new system of grazing, be con- 

 sumed on the farms where grown, and the necessity of import- 

 ing a single ton of oil-cake be obviated. Also, instead of im- 

 porting corn and meat in the shape of cake, we should export 

 500,000 acres of flax ; and thus, about nine millions would be 

 added to the home circulation, and expended in the advance- 

 ment of agriculture, the renovation of trade, and the employ- 

 ment of the people. 



But the substitution of one acre in twenty-five of the turnip 

 crop, and the appropriation of less than half the land that would 

 otherwise lie fallow, to the growth of flax, would render the 

 supplanting of corn unnecessary, and confer upon the nation 

 those benefits which could not fail to realise the hopes of every 

 true friend to humanity. 



The scheme undoubtedly appears chimerical to many, but it 

 ought to be remembered that mankind is generally more hasty 

 in condemning new theories than anxious to ascertain whether 

 those theories are founded upon sound principles. Thus did 

 the substitution of cattle-compound for foreign oil-cake 

 undergo the ordeal of a vehement opposition ; but now, the 

 opposers have become its most zealous advocates; and I ven- 

 ture to predict that similar results will attend the cultivation 

 of flax. In truth, many agriculturists, in various parts of the 

 kingdom, who formerly expended hundreds in the purchase of 

 foreign oil-cake, do not now spend as many pence. This sim- 

 ple fact speaks strongly in favour of home-grown and home- 

 made cattle food; but volumes would be required to describe 

 the indirect advantages which must inevitably accrue to agri- 

 culture and to the nation, would every farmer reject entirely 

 the use of foreign cake in favour of the produce of his own 

 land. 



The whole process connected with the growth and prepa- 

 ration of the flax crop to the farmer, is far more simple than 

 writers in general would lead us to su])pose. My own expe- 



