ON THE USE OF LINSEED. 



143 



For it is only by corroborative evidence that we can expect to 

 remove prejudice, induce farmers to adopt new systems, and 

 confer upon the population the blessings of increased pro- 

 duction. 



In Norfolk generally, and in many parts of other counties, 

 the use of linseed to fatten bullocks and sheep is beginning to 

 be understood. Many suppose that they are sufficiently ac- 

 quainted with its properties; but we have yet much to learn 

 as to the extent of its value/particularly for rearing store stock 

 in combination with box-feeding and summer-grazing. The 

 direct advantage is seen in the rapid progress of the cattle ; 

 the indirect, in the superiority of the crops where the manure 

 thus obtained has been applied. Formerly, through ignorance 

 of management, linseed^ as cattle-food, failed to remunerate, 

 and consequently its use had long been discontinued in this 

 county. But, during the last four years, the demand has been 

 greater than the supply — an incontestable proof of the efficacy 

 of linseed compounds. 



Many farm premises have been metamorphosed through the 

 conversion of sheds into boxes, and the addition of new ones ; 

 not by amateur farmers alone, who are too often influenced by 

 plausible theories, but by men of long experience and sound 

 judgment. I subjoin^ with much satisfaction, an extract from 

 a letter inserted in the 'Sussex Herald,' by Sir Charles 

 Burrell, Bart. ; a plan of whose boxes, boiling-house, &c., and 

 those of many other landowners and tenant-farmers, I purpose 

 to embody in my forthcoming work. 



" I cannot lose the opportunity of repeating my entire satis- 

 faction derived from Mr. Warnes's box-feeding system as set 

 forth in his pamphlets, and brought into both summer and 

 winter practice on my farm, the beasts thriving rapidly on the 

 compound made of crushed linseed, with bean, barley, or other 

 meal, boiled and formed into a mass ; with which my beasts 

 have thriven more advantageously than others on oil-cake, and 

 at less cost; and, as regards the excellence and flavour of the 

 meat, it is superior, and specially tender and juicy. And if 

 further proof were desirable, it is afforded in their ready sale 

 to the neighbouring butchers, and in the intended increase. 



