ON FLAX IN INDIA. 169 
suited to the production of good fibre. Mr. M‘Adam, Secretary 
to the Royal Flax Improvement Society, has, in his Prize Essay 
on ‘The Cultivation of Flax,’ well observed “ that a slow, steady 
growth is requisite for the quality and yield of fibre; also a 
temperate climate, that between the parallels of 48° and 55° 
being the best ; and a continued supply of moisture from spring 
till autumn.” He also observes that “the hot summers of 
Russia and of Egypt cause a dryness and brittleness of fibre, 
and prevent its retaining that elasticity, pliancy, and oiliness 
which characterise the Flaxes of Belgium, Holland, and 
Treland.” 
But considered generally, it is not to be expected that a 
plant which attains perfection in Belgium, and is so success- 
fully cultivated in the vicinity of Belfast, would succeed well in 
the hot and moist, but sometimes dry climate of Bengal. In 
fact, if the Flax was not one of those plants which, like the 
cereal grains and pulses, can be grown in the cold-weather 
months of India, it could not be cultivated there at all. But with 
this culture, we have the anomaly, of the seeds being sown in 
autumn,' when the climate is still hot and the ground moist, 
and the plant has to grow while the temperature is daily becoming 
lower and the soil drier—no irrigation being usually employed 
with these winter crops, though dew begins to fall as soon as 
the ground becomes cooled at night. In some places, the 
crop attains perfection in about ninety days, is collected in 
January, the coldest month; in others, not until February 
or March, when the rapid rise of temperature is favorable to 
the ripening of seeds, but not to the production of fibre. 
Of all parts of India there are none that appear to me better 
suited to the growth of Flax than the Saugur and Nerbuddah 
territories, as the soil is rich and prolific, and the climate a me- 
dium between the extreme moisture of Bengal and the dryness 
of the North-West provinces. The Wheat of this district is con- 
sidered superior to any seen in the English market, with the 
exception of what comes from Australia. The Gram (Cicer 
arietinum) and the Linseed are also of finer quality than any 
produced elsewhere in India; while the suitableness of the 
climate for the production of good fibre is proved by the length 
1 In Egypt, also, the seeds are sown about the middle of November, in the plains 
which have been inundated by the Nile, and plucked in about 110 days. 
