COMMON FLAX. 



Limtm usatissimum. 



HE garden of economic plants 

 exists in idea only ; there is no 

 ; such thing as a matter of fact. 

 The subject now before us sug- 

 gests that a studious amateur 

 gardener might accomplish 

 what has been accounted one 

 of the greatest triumphs imagi- 

 nable — the creation of a new 

 pleasure — by forming a garden 

 of economic plants. Some of 

 these are exquisitely beautiful, 

 and others, that might not 

 attract by their beauty, will 

 always interest by their direct 

 relation to our daily comfort 

 and to our national prosperity ; 

 for mere usefulness is in one sense true beauty, but when -we 

 make that declaration we must beware of being overheard 

 by professors of extreme sestheticism . In the garden of 

 economic plants we should find the "flax, of course, and 

 the hemp also. How few amongst the thousands who have 

 gardens really know either of these plants ! Where shall we 

 find the pretty lentil from the seeds of which Jacob made 

 4 R 



