On the Cultivation of Flax. 



439 



every person occupying land apt for tillage, should for every 60 

 acres sow 1 rood at least with flax. This provision was re- 

 enacted in 1541 ; and in 1562 (5 Eliz. cap. 5) the quantity was 

 increased to 1 acre under a penalty of 5/. In 1691 (3 Wm. and 

 Mary, cap. 3) with a view to encourage its cultivation, the tithe on 

 flax was fixed at 4.9. per acre, which was afterwards increased to 

 55. by the 11 & 12 Win. III. In 1713 a bounty of Id per ell 

 was granted by the 12 Anne, cap. 16, on the exportation of British- 

 made sail-cloth; and in 1806, 46 Geo. III., a bounty was offered 

 for the importation of flax and hemp from our American colonies ; 

 and finally, in 1809, the sum of 20,000/. was appropriated to en- 

 courage the saving of flax-seed in Ireland. 



These enactments show the importance heretofore attached to 

 the growth of flax, and they likewise lead us to infer that our 

 supply of home-grown flax was never equal to the demand ; in 

 consequence of which our manufacturers were then compelled, as 

 they are compelled at the present day, to resort to foreign markets 

 for an article which ought to be raised at home. Flax was never- 

 theless grown more or less in every part of England ; and its use 

 for domestic purposes was everywhere observable, the spinning- 

 wheel being seen in almost every dwelling, from the cottage to 

 the palace ; and the thrifty housewife used to exhibit her stores of 

 snow-white linen, the handy work of her ovv^n household, with as 

 much pride as a modern fine lady now feels in exhibiting her 

 worsted work and embroidery. The spinning-wheel is now rarely 

 seen, and stores of linen are only found in the warehouse of the 

 manufacturer, or in the shop of the retail dealer. 



Hitherto one of the chief impediments to an extended growth 

 of flax has been the notion generally entertained of its being a 

 peculiarly exhausting crop. It was not unusual a century ago, 

 and the practice is not altogether discontinued at the present day, 

 to introduce covenants into leases restricting tenants from its cul- 

 tivation, or limiting the extent and frequency of the crop. De- 

 spite of these restrictions, however, flax has continued to be culti- 

 vated, especially in the county of Somerset; and although for the 

 most part it is roughly and imperfectly managed, so as to be fitted 

 only for the coarser purposes, it has not, we may presume, been 

 on the whole otherwise than remunerative to the grower. 



The prevalent notion as to the very exhausting effects of the 

 flax crop, was, nevertheless, it must be confessed, not altogether 

 an exaggeration, for under the old system it returned nothing 

 to the soil. The fault, however, lay in the management, not in 

 the nature of the crop. All crops are more or less exhausting, in 

 proportion to what they abstract from the soil, and to what they 

 again return to it in the shape of manure ; and measured by this 

 test, flax under a right system of management will be found less 



