266 



THE FLAX CROP. 



Flax fortunately has a very wide range of soils j 1 sands, 

 sandy loams, light and heavy clays, gravels, chalks, marls, 

 alluvial and warped soils, even reclaimed marsh lands, 

 peats, and moors, are all t to be met with under cultivation, 

 and under ordinary circumstances producing a crop. The 

 classes of sandy loams and of alluvial soils, natural as well 

 as artificial (warped), however, appear to be those best 

 suited to its cultivation. In this country we rarely meeiJ 

 with it except on the better description of soils and those 

 in good condition. In Ireland large crops are sometimes 

 obtained on peat-bog lands with a clay substratum. The 

 plant delights in an open soil, through which the rain- 

 water may freely percolate, as its roots are of a fibrous 

 character, and extend laterally and vertically to a con- 

 siderable distance, frequently from 2 to 3 feet. All the 

 conditions required for its successful cultivation are, that 

 the soil be deeply tilled, in good heart and good tilth, 

 well drained and well cleaned. If all these conditions be 

 secured we may, under ordinary circumstances, calculate 

 upon a good crop ; and neither of them can be neglected 

 with impunity, though perhaps the influence they exert 

 respectively upon the crop during its growth may not be 

 of equal importance to it. 



Depth of tillage always adds to the feeding-ground 

 of a crop, and places increased supplies of mineral 



1 The following tabulated statement gives the general analysis of the soils of 

 the most noted flax-growing districts in Ireland and in Belgium. In some of 

 the latter, take No. 4, for instance, the soil must have been of the poorest 

 character. 



