to moft of the land ia the kingdom, there is Little doubt but that the produce will at firft be large, and It is very 

 definable to introduce a new kind of grain into husbandry to extend the-iuccefiion of crops. " 



" For the viciffitudes of various grain 



61 Tend to prefer ve the vigour of the plain." 



Flax not only fupplies US with cloathing, but its feeds, well known by the name of lin-feed, afford an oil of great 

 ufe in painting, varnifhmg, &c. They are alio ufed medicinally. Infufions of lin-feed, like other mucilaginbu's 

 liquors, are ufed as emollients, incraffants, and ©blunders of acrimony, in heat of urine, ftranguries thin 

 defiuxions on the lungs, and other like dilorders. A fpoonful of .the feeds, unbruifed, is fufficient foFa quart of 

 water, larger proportions rendering the liquor diiagreeably {limy. The mucilage obtained by infpiffating the 

 infufions or decoftions is an excellent addition for reducing difguftful powders into the form of an electuary 

 occafionmg the compound to pafs the fauces freely, without flicking or difcovering its tafte in the mouth. The 

 expreffed oil is fuppofed to be more of a healing and balfamic nature than the other oils of this elafs, and has been 

 particularly recommended in coughs, fpitting of blood, cholics, and conllipations of the belly. 'The feeds" in 

 fubftance, or the matter remaining after the expreflion of the oil, are employed externally in emollient and 

 maturating cataplafms. In fome places thefe feeds in times of fcarcity have fupplied thc.place of grain ; bill 

 appearedto.be an unwholefome as well as an unpalatable food. Tragus relates, that thofe who fed on them in 

 Zealand had the hypochondres in a fhort time diflended, and the face and other parts Swelled ; and that not a few 

 died of thefe complaints. 



m 

 of 



The following reflections communicated to me by a friend will, I flatter myfelf, not be unacceptable to my 

 readers. Should practice juftify the theory, I will venture to fay, they will be golden reflection's to the nation, 



Some reflexions relative to the watering off ax by a new method, Jo as toJJjortcn labow\ add to the fire ngtB ofthejiax, and 

 \ give it a much finer colour, which would render the operation of bleaching ffer and lefs tedious, 



THOUGH the following reflections have for their object an improvement in the very efientiul article of watering 

 of flax, yet I muff advertile my reader, that they are only theory, and mutt depend entirely for their truth and 

 juftification upon future experiments, fldl fully and judicioufly made. Should repeated trials prove the advantage of 

 the method propofed, we may venture to affirm, it would be an improvement that would increafe the national 

 income in the agricultural branch many thoufand pounds annually, would add greatly to the perfection of the linen 

 manufacture, and over and above would fupprefs a very difagreeable nuilance, which the prefent method of watering 

 flax occafions during fome part of the fummer in every flax-growing country. 



The intention of watering flax is, in my opinion, to make the boon more brittle or friable, and by foaking to 

 diffolve that gluey kind of fap that makes the bark of plants and trees adhere, in a fmall degree, to the woody part. The 

 bark is called the harle, and produces the flax ; the ufelefs woody part, which remains when the bark is feparated, 

 the boon. To effect this feparation eafily, the practice has long prevailed of foaking the flax in water to a certain 

 degree of fermentation, and afterwards drying it. For this foaking fome prefer rivulets that have a imall current, 

 and others fbgnant water in ponds and lakes. In both thefe ways the water acts as in all other cafes of infufion and 

 maceration. After two or three weeks it extracts a great many juices of a very itrong quality, which in ponds give 

 the water an inky tinge, and offenfive fmell, and in rivulets mix in the ftream, and kill the fifh. 



Nay, if this maceration is too long continued, the extracted and fermented fap will completely kill the flaxitfelf: 

 for if," inftead of two or three weeks, the new flax were to lay foaking in the water four or five months, 1 prefume 

 it would be good for nothing but to be thrown upon the dunghill. Both harle and boon would in that time be 



ropes 

 and L 

 of incorruptibility. 



It appears then effential, to the right management of new flax, to get rid of this pernicious vegetative fap, and to 

 macerate the boon ; but from the complaints made againft both the methods of watering now in ufe, there is reafon 

 to think, that there is itili great room for improvement in that article. In rivulets, the vegetative fap, as it is 

 diflblved, is carried off by the current, to the deftruction of the fin. This prevents the flax from being ffained ; 

 but the operation is tedious, and, 1 have been told, often not complete, from the uncertainty of knowing the precife 

 times when it is juft enough, and not too much, or perhaps from neglect. In ponds, the inkv tinge of the water 

 often ferves as a kind dye to the flax, which imbibes it fo ftrongly, that double the labour in bleaching will hardly 

 bring the linen made of fuch flax to an equality in whitenefs with linen made of flax untinged. This feems to be 

 equally unwife, as though we were to dye cotton black firft, as a means to whiten it afterwards. Thefe ponds 

 befides become a great nuifance to the neighbourhood : the impregnated water is often of fuch a pernicious quality, 

 that cattle, however thirity, will not drink of it, and the effluvia of it may perhaps be nearly as infectious as it is 

 offenfive. If this effluvia is really attended with any contagious effects in our cold climates, a thing worth 

 enquiring into, how much more pernicious muff its effects have been in the hot climate of Egypt, a country early 

 noted for its great cultivation of flax ! 



From thefe confiderations I have been led to think, that the procefs of watering might be greatly improved and 

 fhortened by plunging the new flax, after it is rippled, into fcalding water, which, in regard to extracting the 

 vegetative fap, would do in five minutes more than cold water would do in a fortnight, or perhaps more than cold 

 water could do at all, in refpect to the clearing the plant of that fap'. Rough almonds, when thrown into fcalding 

 water, are blanched in an inftant ; but perhaps a fortnight macerating thofe almonds in cold water would not make 

 them part fo ealily with their Ikins, which are the fame to them as the harle to the flax. Were tea leaves to be 

 infufed in cold water a fortnight, perhaps the tea produced by that infufion would not be fo good to the tafte, nor fo 

 Itrongly tinged to the eye, as what is effected by fcalding water in five minutes. By the lame analogy, I think, 

 flax, or any fmall twig, would be made to part with its bark much eafier and quicker, by being dipped in boiling 

 water, than by being fteeped in cold water. 1 his reflection opens a door for a great variety of new experiments in 

 regard to flax, I would therefore recommend to gentlemen cultivators and farmers to make repeated trials upon 

 this new fyitem, which would focn afcertain whether it ought to be adopted in practice or rejected. One thing, I 



think, 



