THE author's interview WITH MESSRS. MARSHALL. 153 



purchase this very crop — to the support and encouragement 

 of foreign agriculture, and to the employment of tens of thou- 

 sands of foreign labourers ; when I am persuaded that he will 

 perceive a door open, by the cultivation of flax with reference 

 to the seed^ for universal employment, and consequently for the 

 advancement of our best interests and the overthrow of the 

 ruinous designs of those itinerant demagogues who infest the 

 land at the present day. 



Workmen from Belgium have lately arrived in this neigh- 

 bourhood to assist in pulling and preparing our flax — men of 

 experience, who state that they never saw finer crops, and that 

 they are superior this year to those of their own country. 



I returned last week from a journey of 700 miles, under- 

 taken for the purpose of obtaining information respecting this 

 important object. I took with me many specimens of the 

 past and present years' crops of flax and submitted them to 

 the inspection of experienced persons, all of whom were sur- 

 prised at the perfection to which we had arrived in so short a 

 time, and agreed in the opinion, that the cultivation of this 

 plant ought to become a national undertaking. At Leeds I 

 had a long conference with the Messrs. Marshall, proprietors of 

 the extensive flax-spinning mills in that town, who renewed 

 their declarations of willingness to co-operate in promoting so 

 desirable an end. No higher authority can be adduced than 

 this eminent firm, because, independent of the influence which 

 their immense purchases must have had in stimulating the 

 growth of flax in foreign parts, they subscribed largely and 

 expressly for that purpose, and are now anxious to promote an 

 extended cultivation of the plant at home. I repeat, that 

 these gentlemen take a deep interest in our present proceed- 

 ings, and, therefore, any advice through such a medium 

 relative to the pulling of the present crops must be received 

 with peculiar interest. They recommend us to allow the 

 seed first nearly to ripen in the bolls, then to pull, dry, 

 and stack the flax. Afterwards to thresh the seed from the 

 stalks at our leisure, and prepare the flax for sale with a 

 scutching-mill. Their opinion is, that we are likely to ensure 

 a more profitable return upon this system than upon any other. 

 To illustrate their views, I would instance my present grow- 



