268 THE FLAX CROP. 



quick habit of growth, and of perhaps less powers of assi- 

 milation than those of our other ordinary crops ; there- 

 fore, if we wish to carry on a successful cultivation, we 

 must assist it by those means which experience and a 

 proper knowledge of the requirements of the plant have 

 shown to be usually followed by satisfactory results. 



In England flax is so sparingly and irregularly grown as 

 hardly to assume the character of a regular rotation crop. 

 In Ireland and on the Continent it assumes a different im- 

 portance, and there always occupies an important position 

 in their farming systems. Its botanical characters are such 

 as to enable it to occupy any position in the rotation that 

 the circumstances of the case soil, markets, or convenience 

 of the grower may render most suitable. It may follow 

 or precede a straw crop, or a fallowing, or a forage crop ; 

 and indeed it may be met with in cultivation in , different 

 countries occupying each of these positions. As a rule, 

 however, it is generally arranged to follow a straw crop ; 

 the autumn then affords the opportunity for thoroughly 

 cleaning the land, and for leaving it deeply tilled during 

 the winter, the stubble keeping the land open for the 

 action of the frosts and rains, and thus rendering a fine 

 surface tilth for the seed-bed pretty secure in the succeed- 

 ing spring. 



In Belgium the following rotations are met with on 

 some of the best-managed farms, the soil and the district 

 appearing generally to determine the particular practice : 

 1, potatoes; 2, wheat; 3, rape; 4, oats; 5, flax with 

 seeds; 6, seeds; 7, barley. On the better sort of light 

 sands, which are not adapted for wheat, we find, l; rye 

 and turnips ; 2, oats ; 3, roots (parsnips or carrots) ; 4, rye 

 and turnips ; 5, flax ; 6, seeds. Where the sand becomes, 

 by the admixture of a larger proportion of clay, a good 

 staple loam, wheat is taken after the parsnips or carrots ; 

 if the soil be better suited for barley, then that takes the 



