466 



0)1 the Cultivation of Flax. 



tity obtained from the oil-pressers in this country, shows the 

 estimation in which it is deservedly held. But if the oil-cake is 

 found so valuable for feeding purposes, we can hardly doubt that 

 the linseed itself will be more so, the cake consisting of little 

 more than the husks, after the oil has been expressed, that is, 

 after the most nourishing portion of the seed has been abstracted ; 

 yet this refuse is found highly nutritious for cattle, which fatten 

 on it very rapidly. 



It has indeed been doubted whether the cake will not answer 

 better than the seed, on account of the latter being so rich as to be 

 apt to disagree with the cattle, if given in any quantity. There 

 might be ground for this objection if the seed were given singly, 

 but this is never done. As before mentioned, it is reduced to a 

 state of mucilage, and mingled with other substances: and the 

 compound may be made more or less rich by adding more or less 

 of the mucilage, which it will be necessary to give in small quan- 

 tities at first, in order to bring the cattle gradually to the use of a 

 richer description of food than that to which they have been accus- 

 tomed. 



In whatever form applied, however, the linseed would still be 

 the chief fattening ingredient ; and its extended use, conjointly 

 with an extension of house-feeding, would enable the farmer to 

 fatten more cattle, and, as a necessary consequence, to obtain 

 larger and better crops from his land. 



It is a common saying among farmers that nothing is gained 

 by cattle-feeding, although the old maxim, that muck is the 

 mother of m.oney," is, I believe, a universally admitted truth; but 

 how can ^'muck" be obtained without cattle-feeding? The 

 whole runs in sequence — the more stock, the more manure — the 

 more manure, the more produce — the more produce^ the more 

 money ; and the thing to be aimed at is, so to adjust the workmg 

 of this sequence, as to give the best return upon each branch of 

 it, and the largest return upon the whole. 



Now, having regard to the fattening qualities of linseed, there 

 can, I think, scarcely be a doubt that the best results in all these 

 respects may be obtained, by an extended use of this seed in feed- 

 ing cattle ; and if by its use, then surely by its growth ; for in 

 addition to the advantages that would accrue from thus using the 

 seed, the farmer would have the benefit of the flax, a highly 

 valuable commodity in itself, and most valuable as affording in- 

 creased means of employment for the labouring population. 



To enable the farmer to derive the full advantage from this 

 use of the seed, however, it is obviously necessary that he should 

 adopt house-feeding, either in stalls or boxes, as a regular portion 

 of farm-managemient. Without this, his cattle would obtain less 



