444 



On the Cultivation of Flax. 



tion the quantity raised, to the means at hand for its management. 

 One acre in a hundred-, and one in fifty, have each been named as 

 a suitable proportion to be applied to the growth of flax. It has 

 been seen that in former times the farmer was by law required to 

 cultivate one acre with flax, out of every sixty acres occupied. All 

 such rules are, however, obviously incapable of strict application. 

 The* quantity must in every case be governed by local circum- 

 stances, and be left to the farmer's own discretion ; always bearing 

 in mind, that the more flax the more employment for the people, 

 the more fattening material for his cattle, and the more manure 

 for his land. 



If the quantity of flax grown be limited by the labour which 

 can be obtained, so may the amount of obtainable labour be said 

 to indicate the extent to which flax culture ought to be carried in 

 any locality. To keep the rural population fully and profitably 

 employed, is unquestionably the interest both of the farmer and 

 the landowner, they being each liable to support the people, 

 whether employed or not ; and there is no description of crop 

 which affords so much employment as flax, or that yields the 

 same return for the labour employed upon it. 



It is calculated that an acre of good flax as it stands in the 

 field, containing, say about 50 stone of fibre, will afford employ- 

 ment for from twelve to fourteen weeks to a man skilled in the 

 several processes of its preparation. A woman, or young per- 

 son less skilled and less able, would require twice that time, at 

 least, before the flax could be made ready for the manufacturer. 

 It must not be inferred from this calculation, that the work is 

 to be performed by men singly, or by women or young persons 

 singly. The preparation of the flax in its several stages affords 

 employment for each, but in a much larger degree for the two 

 latter classes, the labour being for the most part light, and well 

 suited for women, and boys and girls. All such estimations, how- 

 ever, must be taken as approximations merely, without pretension 

 to minute accuracy : but the above will serve to show the great 

 amount of employment afforded by the flax crop in its various 

 stages, and more especially to the class of persons for whom em- 

 ployment is most difficult to be found, a large portion of the 

 labour being usually performed by females. 



In this point of view, the extension of flax culture becomes an 

 object of important consideration with reference to the social 

 condition of the agricultural labourer, for if eligible employment 

 can thus be found for his wife, and also for his children as they 

 attain a suitable age, it will be a great relief to him, and of in- 

 finite service to them. The females will then no longer be 

 necessitated to resort to fieldwork in common with men, and the 

 union or the parish will not be habitually applied to in every 



