148 CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF FLAX 
In the dressed Flax 4:48 lb. of ash. 
» fine tow . 208 4, 
» coarse tow « 266 
Or, in the whole of the fibre 9°12 Ib. of inorganic matter. 
So that 59°08 lb., which the crop had withdrawn from the 
soil, remained in the useless portion, while only 9°12 lb. were 
carried off in 824 1b. of the dressed fibre and tow. 
Analyses of the Flax plant and of the soils in which it is 
grown were first carefully made by Sir R. Kane, and after- 
wards by Dr. Hodges and others. They have been repeated 
by Messrs. Mayer and Brazier, in the Laboratory of the Royal 
College of Chemistry.'!. The localities from which the latter 
obtained their specimens of Flax, by the aid of Mr. A. Marshall, 
of Leeds, were Esthonia or Estland, Livonia or Lievland, Cour- 
land, and Lithuania. The first of these districts, with the 
second and third mentioned, are situated on the eastern shores 
of the Baltic; the fourth, Lithuania, is the only inland 
country. 
From their analyses, the following comparative table was made, from 
which it will be readily seen, in what points the ashes of these different 
specimens agree in composition. 
Lievland. Courland. | Lithuanian. Estjand. 
1 Il. ll. Iv. 
Potash . : . . 43°42 37°44 36°61 25°70 | 
Soda . 7 ‘ ‘ . _ 3°74 3°06 8:37 
Lime . 2 . ‘ . 21°35 25°39 24-09 26°41 
Magnesia. ° . . 7:79 771 7°45 11°74 
Sesquioxide of Iro . F 115 113 1:04 1:02 
Manganese . : . _ trace. _ = 
Chloride of Sodium. _— 1:94 3°75 167 
» of Potassium . % 1:31 _ _ — 
Phosphoric Acid . - . 10°94 8°31 14:30 15°47 
Sulphuric Acid . 5°66 5°89 3°65 4-64 
Silicic Acid ‘ - r 8°38 8-45 6°05 4°98 
100-00 100°00 100-00 100-00 
“ We also append, in a tabular form, the results of Sir R. Kane’s analyses 
of this plant, taken from his paper, read before the Royal Dublin Society, 
on the 6th of April, 1847. 
“To facilitate comparison, we have re-calculated these analyses after de- 
ducting the carbonic acid. 
' Mr. Mayer is now Professor of Chemistry at Madras. 
