230 



PROGRESS OF FLAX CULTIVATION. 



diso^vned, and the cultivation recommended mainly for the 

 sake of the oil ; but, knowing that the expiring lamp of agri- 

 culture required a restorative more enduring than the Gold of 

 Pleasure, I continued to enforce the cultivation of flax as the 

 surer source from which the British farmer might draw em- 

 ployment for his labourers, food for his cattle, and manure for 

 his land. 



In consequence, some hundreds of acres have been sown in 

 various parts of the kingdom : and the experiments have 

 proved that even the most ordinary soils produced linseed in 

 abundance. It appears that, in the present year, a still greater 

 breadth of land has been appropriated to this important plant. 

 The seed formed into compound with grain or pulse, or incor- 

 porated with hay, straw, or grass, has been found superior to 

 any other food for fattening cattle. It is now extensively used, 

 and said to be the cause of the present low price of foreign 

 oil-cake. Many eminent graziers have relinquished the old, 

 in favour of the new system of fattening cattle upon native 

 produce, which, with the additional advantages of box -feeding 

 and summer-grazing, is being rapidly adopted ; advantages 

 that include economy of food and straw, expeditious and profit- 

 able grazing, and a supply of manure more cheap and effica- 

 cious than can be obtained through any other source. Inex- 

 perience relative to the management of the fibre has been the 

 chief hindrance to a more extensive growth of flax. This 

 difficulty, however, is fast being removed ; for Belgian and 

 Irish instructors have been introduced, and some of our men 

 are already becoming expert in the steeping, scutching, and 

 handling processes. Under a multitude of disadvantages, 

 many acres of flax have been prepared ; principally by Mr. 

 Demann at North Walsham, who, we ma}^ reasonably suppose, 

 would relinquish the business, were it unconnected with profit. 

 JThe coarse description of flax appears likely to supersede hemp 

 for the manufacture of many articles ; particularly of fishing- 

 nets. Experiments w^ere made, last year, upon a limited scale ; 

 these are now much enlarged, and off'er a prospect to fisher- 

 men of purchasing their twine and cordage at one-fourth less 

 than the present price. The providing, therefore, of coarse flax 

 as a substitute for foreign hemp, and of linseed as a substitute 



