8 



DICKSON ON THE 



obtained so many prizes at the Agricultural shows, were 

 reared, it is but justice to the late Prince to publish the 

 successful experiment made by his direction in cultivating 

 Flax, an experiment which, I should say has been, if not equal, 

 little short of what any of His Royal Highness's relatives 

 could produce in Belgium, where our best Flax comes from. 



The report now before me does not mention anything 

 respecting quality^ but by it I am informed that the produce 

 or yield off 4 J acres has been 252 stones of clean Flax, fit for 

 spinning, and 76J bushels of seed, or at the rate of 56 stones of 

 Flax per acre, and 17 J bushels of seed per acre, — this is 

 certainly more than a common average crop, and tells much 

 in favour of the skill and superior management of His Royal 

 Highness's steward. 



As this very successful result arose no doubt, in a great 

 measure, from the steward selecting richly cultivated soil, on 

 the property of the most honoured when Living, and most 

 lamented Prince after death, that ever possessed one acre of 

 land in England, it would be bad taste, ungrateful, if not 

 disloyal, on my part, towards our most beloved Queen, the 

 virtuous wife and much loved children of such a truly 

 good man, as the late Prince Consort, if I made use of 

 His Royal Highness's name in this successful experiment, 

 (an experiment, an example that the noble owners of property 

 should all follow^ without a further effort to do justice to 

 the memory of a Prince so virtuous and so famed for acts 

 of benevolence, a proof of which w r e can see daily in his 

 cheap model lodging houses for the poor, whose wants and 

 comforts he studied, all of which stand as a monument now 

 that after generations may love his children for his sake. 

 The much lamented Prince Consort patronised everything 

 that he, from a highly gifted mind on almost every subject, 

 believed to be calculated to do good, and must long be held 

 up as an example as a husband, a father and a friend 



