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DICKSON ON THE 



experience and personal observation, and therefore I beg to 

 refer the reader to the following : — 



To the Editor of the " Gardeners Chronicle and 

 Agricultural Gazette" 

 " Sir, — I have occupied a little of my time, and a consi- 

 derable space in the columns of your journal, for the purpose 

 of making good my arguments in favour of Flax culture ; and 

 in hope of doing away with the unfavourable impression of it 

 on the minds of the agriculturists, which your remarks, and 

 those of Mr. Sproule, on my first letter were calculated to have 

 produced, I must call attention to the evidence which the 

 latter gentleman has given elsewhere on the subject. Mr. 

 Sproule says, in page 7 of his Essay : — ' Another important cir- 

 cumstance connected with this subject should not be lost sight 

 of by the Flax-growers. The depression so severely felt for 

 several years past has chiefly affected the inferior qualities of 

 Flax, and when a superior article was brought into the 

 market it invariably brought remunerative prices. A large 

 proportion of the article brought into the market has, for 

 many years, not realised more than from 37 s. to 40s. per cwt., 

 which, even in the case of the heaviest crops, could not by any 

 means remunerate the farmer ; but it is to be observed that at 

 the same time, samples of good quality brought 80s. and 

 upwards. Indeed, so great is the difference in price between 

 superior and inferior samples of Flax, that even at the present 

 time the former will fetch £7 per cwt., while the average 

 price does not nearly approach half that sum. Here then, is 

 a splendid field for exertion. If the return from the growth of 

 Flax can be doubled without devoting another acre to its cul- 

 tivation, what an increase would thereby be made to the 

 resources of the country. That an approximation to this 

 is capable of being effected, no reasonable doubt can now be 

 entertained. The seed itself is a most important considera- 



