On Claiissetis Flax-Cotton. 



249 



of oil-cake and cattle-food than he at present obtains from 

 foreign countries, and thus to increase the quantity of his stock 

 and manure, and improve the condition of the other crops in 

 his rotation. These subjects, as well as that of the additional 

 employment which the cultivation of flax would afford to the 

 labouring population, may be treated of more appropriately in 

 a consideration of the general question of flax culture. There is 

 one point, however, in connexion with the preparation of flax- 

 cotton, bearing upon the interests of the agriculturist, which ought 

 not to be overlooked, viz. that the flax will not be required to be 

 pulled, as in cases where it is desirable to obtain a flne flax for 

 the present linen manufacture, before it is fully and completely 

 ripe. The grower will thus be enabled to obtain, in addition 

 to the fibre or straw, a valuable crop of fully ripened seed, avail- 

 able for the purposes of the oil-crusher or for feeding his cattle. 



We are informed that already several foreign countries are on 

 the qui vive on the subject, and that the State of Massachusetts 

 has sanctioned the formation of a company for the purpose of 

 carrying out the invention upon a large scale in that State. 



Edward M'Dermott. 



XV. — On American Phosphate of Lime. By the Secretary. 



The Secretary having been directed by the Council to make 

 special inquiries on the subject of the occurrence of mineral 

 phosphate of lime in the United States, and in reference to the 

 specimen of that substance which Dr. Daubeny had forwarded 

 to the Duke of Richmond, replies were received from his Ex- 

 cellency the American Minister, Dr. Daubeny, Sir R. I. Mur- 

 chison. Sir Charles Lyell, Captain W. H. Smyth, Dr. Shawe, 

 Professor Johnston, of Durham, Mr. Johnson, Secretary of the 

 New York State Agricultural Society, and Dr. Cooke, Professor 

 of Mineralogy in Harvard University, and laid before the 

 Council on the 25th of June last. The following results may be 

 deduced from this correspondence : — 



1, The mineral phosphate of lime has been found in abun- 

 dance in the American States of New Jersey and New York ; 

 and there is a great probability that supplies of it will be dis- 

 covered in other States of that Union, as well as in Canada ; it 

 is also not improbable, from analogiccd considerations, that this 

 crystalline substance may be found to exist among the meta- 

 morphic masses of the Highlands of Scotland and elsewhere. 



2. The specimen from New Jersey, forwarded by Dr. Daubeny 

 to the Duke of Richmond, had the appearance of a remarkable 

 variety of crystalline rock ; but the formation in which it oc- 



