THE STATEMENTS OF MR. GOWER. 



213 



its use as litter for cattle, and as a vehicle for conveying manure 

 to the fields ; 3rdly, whether any reasonable reduction of rent 

 would really enable him to live as well with Avheat at 45. as at 

 85. per bushel. Upon this 4s. and 85. question I shall not 

 at present animadvert. But as agriculture has long been 

 subjected to a species of high treason on the one hand, and a 

 secret conspiracy on the other, I warn Mr. Gower against being 

 inveigled into the opinion, that land rent-free would enable 

 the British farmer to subsist with wheat at 45. per bushel. 

 Even under the present protective duties, I am convinced that 

 agriculture is doomed to a struggle more severe than it has 

 yet encountered, and that nothing short of increased produc- 

 tion will enable us to withstand the contest. 



With these views I promulgated — in pamphlets, previous 

 letters, and the present series — plans that, wherever adopted, 

 have been found efficacious. How ungenerous, then, for Mr. 

 Gower to combine with others in thwarting the dissemination 

 of benefits which, through my labours, he has been long enjoy- 

 ing, and which cost him nothing to obtain ! 



Christianity enjoins the diffusion of those blessings that we 

 possess ourselves. How narrow^, then, the policy that would 

 confine withm the limits of a locality the advantages which a 

 nation must derive from the cultivation of the inestimable 

 flax-plant! " Inestimable, because the fibre is convertible to 

 the most useful, as well as the most costly articles of wearing- 

 apparel : inestimable, because it affords more employment 

 than any other production of the earth ; inestimable, because 

 of the seed, which produces a valuable oil, a superior cake to 

 fatten bullocks, and forms the principal ingredient of the in- 

 comparable cattle-compound . ' ' 



The Hon. Mr. Rous has shown that a profit of 91. has been 

 obtained from an acre of flax, after a full allowance for rent, 

 tillage, &c., besides lOZ. for labour in preparing the fibre for 

 market. Mr. Gower shows a profit of 51. lis. for seed and 

 unprepared flax; which flax is now, I understand, "being 

 worked out " at a corresponding rate of expense. I take these 

 two cases, on account of their publicity, to prove the immea- 

 surable advantages that must accrue from the employment of 

 the people, whether the profits, in future, be one or nine 



