265 



nufacture of cotton may be replaced by that of linen. * * * * 

 Flax may surely be as cheaply grown here, as cotton may be 

 imported : and if the manufacture of it is not more costly, 

 why may not British skill and enterprise be exerted to supply 

 the world with a fabric more beautiful, more durable, and there • 

 fore more desirable, than cotton ? The more a nation can 

 produce of those articles which the world requires, the more 

 wealthy that nation will by consequence become ; now, could 

 we grow cotton, as well as manufacture it, we should be richer 

 by all those vast sums paid every year for the raw material." 



It is certain that flax can be grown in this country to any 

 extent, and that it must ever be the interest of the owners and 

 occupiers of the soil to supply the demand ; thus enabling 

 our manufacturers to compete with the cotton trade, and 

 rendering them real, instead of nominal exporters of linen. 

 Spinning-mil!s would be erected in every populous district, 

 hand-loom weavers find ample employment, markets be opened 

 to the farmer for the sale of flax, and the suffering poor be 

 emancipated through the multitudinous occupations arising 

 from the inestimable flax-plant. Nor let it be supposed that 

 1 indulge in empty theories : for flax cannot, like cotton, be 

 woven by the power-loom, and the erection of spinning-mills 

 in one populous and distressed locality is already in contem- 

 plation ; particulars of which, with recent accounts of profits 

 derived from the growth of flax in this neighbourhood, I hope 

 shortly to have an opportunity of communicating. 



I remain, yours, &c., 



John Warni:s, Jun. 



Triminyham, Mar. l^th, 1845. 



No. XX. 



Sir, 



In offering to the public the 20th and last number of 

 this series, I feel a degree of confidence that experience, and 

 an intimate knowledge of my theme, alone can justify. 



