210 



On Drainage at different Depths, 



appear to me most worthy of your attention, and which I have 

 endeavoured to support by the evidence I have been able to lay 

 before you. They are — 



Firstly. That the demand for flax produce is greatly in ad- 

 vance of the supply ; and that the ratio of difference is annually 

 increasing. 



Secondly. That flax is not an exhausting crop : that its pecu- 

 liar suitability to different soils and climates, the short period it 

 occupies the soil, and the market returns of an average crop, 

 render it a valuable addition to the ordinary rotations. 



Thirdly. That the recent improvements in the process of 

 treating flax, whereby the fibre is prepared at an immense saving 

 both in time and labour, all nuisance avoided, and the waste pro- 

 ducts heneficiallg utilized, offer great inducements for the esta- 

 blishment of small factories in suitable districts thus directly 

 encouraging an increased cultivation by ensuring to the grower 

 a ready and constant market for the produce. 



XIV. — Experiment on Drainage at different Depths. 

 By R. MiLWARD. 



To Mr. Pitsey. 



Dear Mr. Pusey — I send according to your request the result 

 of an experiment 1 have made in draining at various depths. 

 The land is strong red clay — the subsoil red or white clay, with 

 some beds of bluestone at intervals, and at various depths. 

 There is no spring water on this farm, and my object in draining 

 it is, that the surface water shall pass off as quickly as possible, 

 to enable me to work the land soon after rain, without injury to 

 it, and that the growing crops may not be perished by the rain- 

 water remaining long in the soil. 



Having drained similar land in nearly every year since 1825, 



* The chief impediment to the introduction of the growth of flax in many of the 

 most suitable districts would seem to be the want of a ready market, or of those 

 *' small factories" which make it marketable; and the difficulty consists in the 

 question, Wh.o is to begin ? The farmer does not grow flax for want of the mill, and 

 the mill is not worked because flax is not grown. In some of our woollen manu- 

 facturing districts in the west of England, where the larger mills with steam-power 

 have absorbed the trade, there are plenty of the smaller mills with sufficient water- 

 power untenanted — mills which in former times were let at 100^., 200^., 300/., and 

 even 400/. a-year, and which might be taken at a rent certainly under hOL In such 

 districts, at least, the inducements held out in the text should have their weight; 

 and it might be worth the consideration of those interested in the question whether, 

 by some combined arrangement to plant a certain number of acres for a few years 

 with flax, they might not succeed in inducing intelligent and enterprising foremen 

 to convert some of these old woollen into flax-dressing mills. — W. H. Hyett. 



