20 



DICKSON ON THE 



point, as it is questionable if seed saved from coarse, bad 

 Flax, will grow so as to produce fine fibre, no matter how 

 well or excellent the quality may appear to be ; however, as 

 to the description, I should say (from the many years expe- 

 rience I have had) that Riga seed is the best the grower can 

 purchase ; and, as I have been for years both a grower and 

 seller of the article, I know it to be so ; and although I have 

 known Dutch seed to produce excellent crops of good quality, 

 yet I have invariably found the Riga seed best suited to 

 Ireland. The Russians grow Flax more for the value of the 

 seed than for its fibre, because their soil and climate will not 

 produce fine or valuable Flax, such as that produced in 

 Flanders or Ireland, and until the harvest of 1858, their 

 average price seldom or never exceeded £35 to £40 per ton 

 for the best kind, because they allow the seed to become fully 

 ripe before they pull it, and, as a consequence, it contains 

 more oil than if pulled in an unripe state, — and coming to a 

 more congenial climate, it grows better than any other sort of 

 seed imported. Farmers should take care, in purchasing seed, 

 to select that which is heavy, plump, and shining, and be sure 

 that it is from a merchant who will not mix old seed with 

 new, for although two or three years old seed will breard as 

 well as new, or year old seed, yet it will not grow within some 

 inches of being as long as the new seed, and therefore, when 

 it is mixed, it is sadly against the grower's interest, as Flax 

 spinners will not give within 20 per cent, of the price for Flax 

 of long and short lengths, that they will give for even lengths, 

 or what is termed by the trade well ended Flax. Flax seed 

 before being sowed should be put through a close sieve and 

 barn fanners, so that all other seeds of weeds may be got rid 

 of; and as the foreign sowing seed cost the farmers at all 

 times from 12s. to 15s. per bushel, when they cannot get more 

 than 8s. or 9s. for home saved, of as good quality, I would 

 recommend every farmer to sow each year as much fresh Riga 



