: CULTURE OF FLAX IN SINDH. 197 
also some tools as specimens. But as it is extremely doubtful 
what kind of seed will answer best in the soil and climate of 
the Punjab, it has been thought preferable to send the seeds 
of different kinds—as Riga, Dutch, American, English, and 
Trish. 
CULTURE OF FLAX IN SINDH. 
The province of Sindh, about 360 miles in length, extending 
from 23° 37’ to 28° 82’ N., consists of a delta of extensive alluvial 
tracts, intersected by numerous canals and water-courses, which 
enable cultivation to be carried on by irrigation ; thus making 
up for the deficiency of rain. Though the temperature of a 
great part of the year is high, it is probable that that of the 
cold-weather months may be sufficiently low to allow of the 
successful cultivation of Flax and Linseed, at the same time 
with the Wheat, Barley, and Oil-seeds which form the Rubbee 
or cold-weather crops of Sindh, as of most parts of India. 
Indeed, Mr. Frere, the enlightened Commissioner of Sindh, 
wrote to the Board of Administration of the Punjab, to have 
inquiries made throughout that territory on the extent and 
nature of the Linseed cultivation therem—the result of which 
inquiry has been given in the preceding pages. 
A commercial gentleman, to whom were referred the speci- 
mens of the Punjab Linseed, and the prices at which it was 
sold, observes “that there, as in Sindh, the culture of it is 
altogether upon so limited a scale as barely to supply local 
wants, and judging from the Rs. 2; per maund quoted as its 
sale price in Lahore, which, with cost of carriage to Kurrachee, 
800 to 1000 miles, would stand in higher than the ruling rates 
in Bombay.” “The quality of the Linseed” he considered 
“ood, and such as would command the highest prices in 
Mark Lane, which average about 48s. per quarter.” 
Upon this, Mr. Frere justly remarks that “ the present prices 
of an article, which is at present grown in small quantities 
merely for local consumption, afford no means of judging of the 
price at which it can be profitably grown in large quantities 
for exportation ; and looking at the way in which it usually 
flourishes in wheat-land in India, and at the present prices of 
wheat, I feél little doubt but that it can be grown very cheaply 
