78 



EFFECT OF FLAX ON THE SOIL. 



considered that at the usual time of pulling, the seed is not 

 only formed, but has made very considerable progress, if a 

 careful inquiry is made, it will be found that the crop has in 

 that stage drawn as much oil and other useful principles from 

 the earth as it possibly can do. For though the seed of the 

 flax at that period contains less oil than it does when completely 

 ripened, yet that portion which is deficient in the seed will be 

 found to exist in the stalk in the form of a mucilage which the 

 vessels of the plant, aided by the operation of light and heat, 

 would soon have converted into oil also. If this reasoning is 

 sustained (and some trials which I have made go a great way 

 to support it), the exhaustion of the soil must be the same in 

 both cases ; the only difference is, that by allowing the crop to 

 remain in the ground, vegetation is continued till the plant is 

 perfected, and a complete separation of its component parts 

 takes place. By this separation the oil will be deposited in the 

 seed; the aqueous juices will be dried and exhaled by the sun ; 

 the stalk and flax, being deprived of these, will assume a white 

 appearance, and the gummy mucilaginous juices being ex- 

 hausted, little or no impediment will remain in the separation 

 of the flax from the stalk ; for, as I will afterwards show, one 

 of the principal obstacles to the separation of the flax from the 

 stalk, arises from the glutinous nature of the juices contained 

 in green flax. With regard to the flax bemg of a coarser qua- 

 lity, when the seed is allowed to ripen, than when it is pulled 

 green, I have no hesitation in saying that this is an error. I 

 will even go farther, and assert, that the ripening of the seed 

 may not only be attempted with perfect safety, but that the 

 flax will be whiter, and every operation it has to go through 

 facilitated thereby ; but this will be illustrated more at large 

 in a different part of this memoir : the only thing intended 

 to be inculcated in this place is, that flax-seed of the best 

 quality may be raised in Britain without injuring the flax or 

 exhausting the soil more than is commonly done for crops 

 where the flax is pulled green. Such are the ideas that have 

 occurred to me, in considering this very important branch of 

 the rural economy of Great Britain, and which I now submit 

 with all possible deference to the Honourable Board of Agri- 

 culture. I trust that they will ultimately lead to a complete 



