No. 149.] 437 



Purchase in the Straw. — The mode in which I should most 

 prefer to purchase flax would be in the straw, precisely as it is 

 left after the removal of the seed. In this state it can be dealt 

 with a far greater degree of certainty than in any otlier, and may 

 be within four-and-twenty hours from the time of its being pull- 

 ed ripe from the field, placed in a condition fit for preparation 

 for spinning, upon any of the flax, cotton, wool, or silk machinery 

 of the country. 



Facility of Transit. — As there would be obviously many in- 

 conveniences connected with the transit and carriage to a large 

 distance of a material so bulky as tliat of flax in the straw, the 

 grower might in certain cases, by the use of a common breaker 

 and a pair of toothed cylinders, remove a great portion of the 

 more bulky part of the plant, and thus send the fibre in a partial- 

 ly-cleaned state to the market. The chaff obtained from this 

 partial separation of the straw from the fibre, which contains a 

 very large proportion of the inorganic matter from the soil, and 

 which not having been destroyed by the process of steeping, will 

 form a most valuable material for mixing with cake, crushed 

 seed, the mucilage formed from it, or other articles of cattle-food. 



Landlords, — There is also a third mode which might be made 

 available in the case of the failure of either of the preceding 

 plans, which is that of the erection of the required accommoda- 

 tion by the landlords for the use of their tenants, upon the 

 payment of such sums as would be calculatec^ to cover the inter- 

 est of the capital invested, and the cost of keeping the buildings 

 and apparatus in an efficient state of repair. 



Profit. — There remains yet one very important point, to 

 which I have at present only incidentally alluded; I mean the 

 profit to the farmer upon the cultivation of flax. If I have suc- 

 ceeded in convincing jou of the extent and certainty of the 

 market which exists for the produce, and of the absolute neces- 

 sity which exists for your endeavoring to obtain possession of 

 those markets, I have no doubt that I shall be enabled most 

 satisfactorily to prove tliat you can do so with considerable 

 profit and advantage to yourselves. 



