112 



DICKSON ON FLAX AS A 



will produce over all other crops, to restore those ingredients 

 of which it will (like all kinds of crops) rob the soil, but I will 

 produce other evidence to prove that in this assertion also, 

 Mr. Stephen has fallen into error. 



In the Irish Farmers Journal, of the 26th March last, the 

 editor in his remarks on Dr. Kane's wo?'Ic, says : "In the case 

 of the Flax-plant, to which our author has paid more than 

 ordinary attention, it is seen that the really valuable part, the 

 fibre, is produced from ingredients supplied by the atmosphere ; 

 and however much it may be regarded as an exhauster of the 

 soil on which it is produced, yet it cannot be said to be an 

 exhauster of the farm, the materials originally derived from 

 the soil being again returned to it after the plant has under- 

 gone the manufacturing processes. 



" Hence this fibre, which constitutes the entire money 

 value of the Flax- crop, is produced during the life of the plant 

 by the elements of the atmosphere ; and the materials taken 

 from the manure, and from the soil, are in reality, employed 

 by the plant in organising substances which do not make any 

 return to the farmer, but which are on the contrary, under 

 certain circumstances, considered to be positively a disad- 

 vantage. It is therefore important it should be understood, 

 that by a proper system, the growth of Flax and similar fibre 

 crops would be destitute of all exhausting influence. That the 

 materials drawn from the soil by such a crop would be found 

 in the waste products of its manufacture, and would be 

 available by being returned to soil to restore it to its original 

 condition of fertility. In order to render this principle fully 

 intelligible, I shall enter into some detail regarding the 

 processes to which the Flax is subjected, and the nature of the 

 products obtained from it. 



" The Flax, when it has grown to suitable maturity, 

 according as the design is to allow it to ripen its seed or not, 

 is pulled, and either immediately or in the next spare season,. 



