FLAX-SPINNING. 



303 



then under Flax was only about 950 plantation acres. A 

 century afterwards, the total breadth similarly cropped had 

 extended to 10,000 acres. At that date the value of Flax- 

 seed imported into Ireland was set down at £120,000, and the 

 quantity of undressed FJax landed from foreign parts was 

 estimated at 3,500 tons. 



In the course of these papers, we have frequently had 

 occasion to notice the policy pursued by the Prince of Orange 

 in reference to Ireland's staple manufacture. That monarch 

 exhibited an enlarged system of mercantile economy, very 

 far in advance of the age in which he lived. The gates of 

 commercial freedom had long been closed against Irish manu- 

 factures, and when he left the way clear, and gave native 

 enterprise a fair field, rapid improvements and extended 

 business almost immediately followed. 



The year preceding the repeal of fiscal duties, the total 

 exports of linen-cloth from Ireland only reached 320,000 

 yards, valued at £18,000. We have already shown °that 

 the eighteenth century was remarkable for the advances made 

 in the linen-trade through all its phases, and we now 

 give the account of the exports for the different centenary 

 epochs : — 



Yards. Value. 

 1695 . . . 320,000 . . . £18,000 - 

 1795 . . . 42,780,000 . . . £3,000,000 

 While such satisfactory advances had taken place in the 

 demand for the manufactured article, linen-yarns also felt the 

 impetus of unfettered trade. Exports of yarns increased from 

 5,400 cwts. in 1695 to 34,000 cwts. in 1795. During the 

 American war there had been very serious inconvenience felt 

 by the Irish farmer, in consequence of the inadequate supplies 

 of Flax-seed, and the same cause extended from the homestead 

 of the Flax-grower to the markets of the linendraper. The 

 quantity of seed saved by home-growers in those days was 



