362 



On the Cultivation of Flax, 



to human beings^, or to the animals of whose flesh so large a 

 proportion of human food consists, is necessarily his first care 

 on emerging- from the nomacle or savage state. This is the more 

 imperative in the infancy of a nation, when, from its limited 

 means of intercourse with foreign countries, it is dependent upon 

 the resources existing within its own bounds. 



Next to food the supply of clothing is all-important, and is at 

 first exclusively obtained from the skins of animals, or the indi- 

 genous productions of the country, rudely fashioned for the pur- 

 pose. In a more advanced stage of cultivation, an extended 

 intercourse with other nations, and the ingenious application of 

 mechanism to the fabrication of textile substances^ cause the use 

 of a variety of materials^ the produce of a variety of climates. It 

 then becomes of importance to ascertain whether the country in 

 which such manufacture is prosecuted can produce the raw 

 material, and, if so, whether it can be produced at a cost equal 

 to or less than the import price, or, in other wwds, if the value 

 of the raw material, as established by the price paid for it by the 

 manufacturer, is such as will enable the native cultivator to realise 

 a profit by its production, equal to that given him by other crops. 



This inquiry also involves many minor points, which are yet of 

 great importance in weighing the propriety of obtaining the ra\y 

 material at home. The quantity of matters forming the food of 

 plants which are abstracted by it from the soil, the amount and 

 nature of the labour required for its production and manipulation, 

 the relation which its home manufacture bears to the same manu - 

 facture abroad, are all points demanding attentive consideration. 



The animal and vegetable worlds pretty equally divide the 

 supply of the principal articles of clothing required by the human 

 race. From the former we obtain wool and silk ; to the latter 

 we are indebted for cotton and flax. Of these four substances, 

 which enter into the composition of at least nine-tenths of the 

 clothing of the civilized world, one (cotton) is the exclusive pro- 

 duction of the regions bordering on the torrid zone ; another (silk), 

 although it has, to a trifling extent, been cultivated in Great 

 Britain, may also be considered as naturally the production of 

 the same countries, since the silkworm does not thrive so cer- 

 tainly in our climate, A third (wool) is largely obtained at 

 home, and gives employment to a flourishing branch of British 

 farming ; yet it is understood that the wool of our islands is 

 inferior for felting to that of foreign countries, and cannot be 

 substituted beyond a certain proportion, or for certain kinds of 

 cloths. The last-mentioned, flax, is the only one of the four for 

 which our soil and climate are absolutely suited, and where a 

 native-grown article might be substituted to a very large extent, 

 if not altogether, for the foreign import. 



