307 



" The public are much indebted to Mr. Postle for the great care 

 with wliich this experiment has been carried through, and for the 

 pains taken to procure an accurate and satisfactory statement of the 

 result." 



From the above experiment some idea may be formed of the direct 

 advantages to be derived from the use of linseed. But no calculation 

 can be made of the indirect advantages arising from fattening cattle 

 upon native produce, nor from the diffusion of manure thus obtained, as 

 every description of farm produce yields a heavier crop where manure 

 from compound-fed cattle has been applied. 



J^nances. 



The want of funds may be considered the only real cause of com- 

 plaint ; for, while the advancement in every other department has ex- 

 ceeded the anticipations of the most sanguine advocates, and astonished 

 every attentive observer, the subscriptions have not been adequate 

 to the expenditure of the year. The usefulness of the Society has, 

 consequently, been greatly retarded. Much of the present and past 

 years' crops of flax could not be prepared for the want of proper 

 local establishments and instructors, and thus many hundreds of the 

 poor were prevented from earning wages through that source of 

 employment. For the correctness of this statement, your Committee 

 need only refer to the present holders of flax, and to the numbers 

 of persons employed in those parishes where the preparation of the 

 fibre has been carried on. That a cause so truly patriotic should 

 languish for want of funds, be subjected to cold neglect, and incon- 

 siderate opposition, is deeply to be regretted ; a cause that involves 

 employment for the redundant population, and a remedy for the dis- 

 tresses of the people. At a time, too, when the unemployed poor are 

 reduced to a state of wretchedness unparalleled in the history of this 

 country ; to alleviate which, expressions of the deepest anxiety pervade, 

 not only the Councils of the State, but the discussions of Agricultural 

 Meetings from one end of the kingdom to the other. Tlie Legislature 

 avow their inability to meet the diflrtculty ; and every proposition to 

 remove the prevailing distress, though emanating from the most influ- 

 ential and talented quarters, proves ineffectual. 



Concltision, 

 From the abundant materials placed before him, your Secretary 

 drew up this report. It is submitted to the ordeal of the strictest 

 scrutiny. The inquirer will discover that every attempt at exaggera- 

 tion has been carefully avoided, and that many corroborative instances 

 might have been added. 



But, if the linseed and flax exhibited at the present meeting, with 



x2 



