Sttt. IV. THE COUNTY OF FIFE. 21* 



other part of the county. Even on very poor, 

 cold bottomed land, inclining to clay, and rent- 

 ed at or below I o s. per acre, where the best 

 management cannot produce a tolerable crop of 

 any kind of grain, flax will yield a good crop. 

 To the farmer possessing such land, the raising 

 of flax must be a very material object ; and the 

 course found most advantageous is; u/, Oats from 

 old pasture, the produce not exceeding three 

 seeds. 2<tf, Flax, the produce at an average 20 

 stones tron. 3^, Oats with dung, the produce 

 from four to five bolls per acre. 4/, After oats, 

 the ground fallowed, limed and dunged ; for, 5^, 

 Barley or oats with grass seeds. 6/>6, Pasture, to 

 continue for fix or seven years. If the quality 

 of the soil will admit, wheat with dung is intro- 

 duced after the flax, the produce seven or eight 

 bolls. Whether this practice can be justified 

 upon the principles of good husbandry, I pre- 

 tend not to say. But it proves that the flax is 

 no way injurious to the ground, because it ap- 

 pears that the crop of oats following the flax, 

 even when no dung is given, is uniformly equal, 

 and often superior, to the one preceding it ; and 

 wheat after flax seldom fails, if the land be other- 

 wise answerable. 



But supposing it proved that the culture of 

 flax, when managed with judgment, does not 

 injure the land, it is still insisted, that, as it pro- 

 duces neither food for cattle nor manure for the 

 ground, it ought to be discouraged. Perhaps, 

 however, this objection will be found to have 

 no great weight, when the following observa- 

 tions are considered : 



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