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THE LETTER OF CTNCINNATUS." 291 



In those remote ages when Quintus Cincinnatus held the 

 plough, land was allowed to rest every other year, and to 

 become hard with rubbish. 



Alternis idem tonsas cessare novalis, 



Et segnam patiere situ durescere campum." 



Virgil laid the foundation for the improvement of agri- 

 culture in the Roman provinces. His rules are universally 

 practised at the present day, forming a part even of our own 

 husbandry. The agriculture of England, however, is now 

 become the envy of surrounding nations. Her best cultivated 

 districts are being traversed by foreigners in search of informa- 

 tion, who export our cattle, machinery, and men, to every part 

 of the world. Common sense must foresee the result, and 

 ''Cincinnatus" acknowledge that ''an extended cultivation 

 of flax is necessary." Quintus Cincinnatus was a lover of 

 his country ; he tilled his own farm, and rendered it subservient 

 to his w^ants. But the modern Cincinnati traverse every clime 

 in search of cattle-food and manure, while both may be had 

 from their own resources. 



Your correspondent further observes, " We must be excused 

 for thinking flax will not succeed, for the kind of land required 

 for its growth wdll produce much more benefit to the occupier 

 by farming it in a judicious manner." Herein is a palpable 

 error ; for " flax will grow upon any soils that produce corn, 

 and upon soils where corn will not grow at all." It is possible 

 that the best lands may produce, on the average, the most 

 valuable flax ; but it is not necessary to appropriate such lands 

 to its growth, nor to displace a single acre of corn, while thou- 

 sands and tens of thousands of acres lie fallow every year. 

 Were only small portions of those fallows sown with linseed, 

 inestimable advantages w^ould be conferred upon the cultivator, 

 the labourer, and the public. 



For instance, if out of one hundred acres of fallow, twenty 

 were sowm with linseed, the produce would be fifty quarters ; 

 which, with grass, would fatten fifty bullocks, according to my 

 system of summer-feeding in boxes, provide a rich supply of 

 manure for all the hundred acres in question, and return an 

 ample profit to the grazier. 



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