236 



FLAX- GROWING IN SUSSEX. 



tax-collector pass by the door of the flax -grower? The Duke 

 of Richmond assures us that the Corn Law is for the protec- 

 tion of the labourers ; does the peasant who ploughs, sows, and 

 harrows in the wheat-field earn higher wages than his neigh- 

 bour who works for Mr. Warnes in rearing flax ? 



" Your answer, my Lord Duke ! 



" The League." 



The inquirer was doubtless aware that the Duke of Rich- 

 mond would not undertake to answer his questions; and it is 

 evident that they were put by one who understood neither the 

 real bearing of the subject, nor how adverse the discussion 

 would prove to a free trade in corn. To me, the task of re- 

 plying to these questions more properJy belongs. But the 

 writer has himself answered the first by asserting that I advised 

 the farmers of Sussex to grow flax instead of wheat; than 

 w^hich nothing can be farther from the truth. Nor can he 

 point out an instance in which I ever advocated the substitu- 

 tion of flax for wheat. It is a fact worthy of observation that 

 the best flax is produced after wheat, and that the finest crops of 

 wheat will follow flax. So that upon soils such as I inspected 

 in Sussex, I had no doubt but that, under judicious manage- 

 ment, two crops of wheat and one of flax might be grown in 

 three years. With this impression I advised the agriculturists 

 of Sussex to grow flax upon small portions of those lands that 

 would otherwise lie fallow, as a far more profitable preparation 

 for wheat. 



The experiments of Sir Charles Burrell proved that the soil 

 of his part of the country was congenial to the growth of the 

 plant ; and that cattle, fattened in summer upon the seed, 

 amply repaid, without regard to the value of the fibre ; facts 

 in themselves too convincing to require any very "urgent" 

 -recommendation to follow the Hon. Baronet's example. 



With respect to the extraordinary comparison between a 

 quarter of wheat and a cwt. of flax, I must refer to 

 the eminent spinners of Leeds to decide, whether flax of a 

 fine quality, that alone could with any propriety be compared 

 to good wheat, can be purchased at less than about double 



