238 



THE author's controversy 



the few growers of wheat, like the few growers of flax, would 

 alone reap a profit. 



It will be perceived that my reply to the first question 

 embodies that of the second. Short indeed is the explanation 

 required to show the impossibility of our contending against 

 the farmers of foreign countries, even under the present pro- 

 tective duties ; for, as surely as they now rule the flax-market, 

 so will they ultimately the wheat-market also. 



Sixty years ago the Belgians were an insignificant people. 

 Now, through their flax dealings with us, they have become 

 rich and powerful. Imitating their example, our continental 

 neighbours are rapidl}^ improving their agriculture. They 

 employ agents to traverse our best cultivated districts for 

 the purpose of acquiring information, and of purchasing our 

 machines, cattle, &c. ; and, unless we meet the approaching 

 danger by securing profit through increased production, the 

 tenant farmer will discover too late, that land, though divested 

 of all the burdens to which the Manchester Guardian refers, 

 could not avert his ruin. 



I now wish to observe, that, when speaking of " cheap bread," 

 I mean not the price of wheat per quarter, but the acreable 

 profit to the grower ; and that by " cheap meat " I mean, not 

 the price per pound of beef or mutton, but the profit obtained 

 through the increased number of fat cattle sent to market. I 

 cannot better enforce this part of my subject than by subjoining 

 an extract from the seventh number of this series, which the 

 League, though they claim me for an "old acquaintance," had 

 not the courage to circulate amongst their deluded followers : — 



" An apprehension has been expressed, that my object in in- 

 troducing the cultivation of flax was to supersede that of corn, 

 to raise the price of provisions, and lessen the means of subsis- 

 tence; hence the loudly expressed alarm, 'We cannot eat flax.' 

 It certainly might appear to the superficial reasoner that the 

 appropriation of land to the growth of flax would necessarily 

 diminish the supply of wheat. But a careful investigation of 

 the subject will soon disperse this fear. It mil be discovered 

 that the best flax is grown upon wheat stubble ; that, upon 

 strong soils in particular, flax is an excellent crop to precede 



