RESTORATIVE, NOT AN EXHAUSTING CROP. 



109 



Flax pulled and otherwise treated before the harvest opera- 

 tions commenced ; it was thus a very convenient crop for an 

 extensive farmer/' 



Sir Percy Nugent then observed that, " The opinion in 

 Westmeath was, that the fibre of the Flax was injured by 

 allowing the seed to become ripe for use." Mr. Walker 

 stated in reply that the general custom was to allow the Flax 

 to stand too long. He conceived that it should be pulled 

 before becoming 'dead ripe,' otherwise the quality of the fibre 

 would be deteriorated, In reply to a question regarding the 

 time that Flax should be allowed to lie on the ground, 

 Mr. Walker stated that, " It depended greatly on the state of 

 the w r eather, but from eight to ten days were generally re- 

 quired. The ground best suited for spreading it on was a 

 newly-mown meadow, and that, if thinly spread, it did not 

 require to be turned." 



" Mr. Hazlett, agriculturist to the Flax Improvement 

 Society, was next called upon to detail some of the modes 

 practised in the growing and handling of Flax. Mr. Hazlett 

 stated that, 6t The soil best suited for growing Flax w r as a 

 strong loam on a clay subsoil." He stated " that the difference 

 in favour of the Flax when pulled green and when allowed to 

 become ripe was £4 per acre. The produce of an acre, if 

 pulled green, would realise £20, whereas, when allowed to 

 become ripe it was worth only £16, but the green bolls were 

 only worth £3 per acre, while the ripe amounted to four 

 barrels, which, at £2 each, would bs worth £8 per acre, thus 

 leaving a balance of £1 in favour of the ripened Flax." 



Mr. M' Arthur, Randalstown, stated that, ' ' The depth to 

 which the root of the Flax-plant descended in search of food 

 being from two to three-and-a-half feet, he considered that 

 Flax was not an exhausting crop to the surface soil, as two- 

 thirds or three-fourths of its inorganic food was drawn from 

 the subsoil — the surface being thus comparatively at rest." — 

 Dublin Farmer's Gazette. 



