FLAX MOVEMENT IN IRELAND. 



161 



THE EDITOR OF THE LONDON STANDARD, v. THE 

 INCREASE OF FLAX-CULTURE IN IRELAND. 



Without going to Ulster farmers or Flax-growers to prove 

 that the statements of the Standard are not to be relied on, 

 as they have no foundation, in fact, I think the profits so 

 clearly brought out by Mr. Druce on the cultivation of 

 5A. 2r. 6p. of land with Flax, by selling his Flax-straw at 

 the low price of £3 per ton, which shows that £47 17s. Id. 

 was realized, proves error No. 1. on the part of the Standard; 

 but suppose Mr. Druce had scutched his 12 tons of Flax- straw, 

 his produce should have been, taking the average yield of If 



tons of fibre, say at £70 per ton £105 



Deduct scutching, carting, etc. ... £18 



and the 12 tons straw 36 7 6 



;. -• •; ;• 54 i 6 



Balance £50 12 6 

 By this mode of going to work, as Ulster farmers do, 

 Mr, Druce would have had £98 9s. 7d. clear profit by making 

 his Flax-straw into fibre for the spinner ; and this profit on 

 five acres the Standard thinks should not be encouraged, 

 especially in Ireland. As this is close on £20 per acre profit, 

 the facts speak for themselves ; seeing that Mr. Druce sold 

 £46 worth of seed, and the cost of produce was only £36, 

 including rent of land at £2 4s. per acre,^-rather a smart 

 rent. 



It seems strange that any man possessing a knowledge of, 

 and having the great privilege to write on Irish affairs in a 

 leading journal such as the Standard, should commit so great 

 a blunder as to write so discouragingly on a subject which so 

 deeply concerns the south and western provinces of Ireland, 

 when it is universally known that the cultivation of Flax and 

 the increase of the linen trade in Ulster have been the chief 



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