152 



INDIRECT ADVANTAGES OF FLAX GROAVIJ^G. 



In this country, where the seed, as an ingredient of the 

 cattle-compound, has been proved of such incalculable value, 

 the strictest regard ought to be paid to its preservation ; other- 

 wise, the present attempt to cultivate flax must inevitably fail, 

 as did that in 1531, when a statute was enacted requiring that 

 for every 60 acres of land fit for tillage, one rood should be 

 sown with flax and hemp -seed ; and in 1767, when 15,000/. 

 were proposed to be divided amongst the most successful culti- 

 vators of those plants. 



At that period the value of the seed as cattle-food was 

 unknown : it was therefore disregarded, and the only chance 

 of remuneration centred in the fibre. But to us flax is a double 

 crop, the most important part of which is the seed. For ad- 

 mitting that the flax will obtain more money at market, yet, 

 the seed being consumed by cattle on the land where grown, 

 difi'uses its influence over the whole farm, and returns to the 

 pocket a tenfold greater profit in the shape of meat and corn, 

 &c., &c. 



The indirect Rdva^ntsiges of growing flax are infinitely superior 

 to the direct. It is impossible fully to estimate them ; nor can 

 they be ever rightly appreciated till experience has made them 

 sure. In former times the exercise of agricultural skill was 

 extremely limited ; and whether flax or wheat, the exhausting 

 efi*ects of a good crop were not easily remedied. Then, suffi- 

 cient hands were scarcel}^ found to till the soil ; now, science 

 has advanced in an extraordinar}^ degree, aided by industry, 

 learning, and chemical research, so that deterioration of soil is 

 no lonsrer to be feared. Besides, we have now an overwhelm- 

 ing population, to find employ ment for which all the skill of 

 scientific men, and all the eff*orts of a talented and powerful 

 government, are at a perfect stand: and why ? — Simply because 

 they " vainly compass sea and land to obtain an alleviation of 

 our national distress, while the finger of an all- bountiful Creator 

 points to our own soil as the source whence the remed}^ can 

 alone be derived." Yes, to our own soil ! And I confidently 

 invite the candid and philanthropic mind to survey our present 

 flax crops in Norfolk ; to take into consideration the five 

 millions annually expended to maintain people in idleness, 

 with the ten millions sent out of the country every year to 



