On the Cultivation of Flax. 



473 



chance of carrying it dry ; but as this happens at a busy time of the 

 year it is seldom done. 



The best flax in this county is grown in the neighbourhood of Wel- 

 lington. It is known in the market as Taunton tlax, and will fetch 

 from 5^. to 10^. per pack more than that grown in other parts of the 

 county. 



XX.' — On Box-feeding with Linseed Compounds. By George 



NiCHOLLS. 



The general recommendations contained in the preceding article 

 on Flax Culture, with respect to the application of the seed to 

 feeding cattle, are all that seemed to come fairly within the 

 limits prescribed for that subject; but the question is in itself of 

 so much importance to the farmer, and is so intimately connected 

 with the extension of flax cultivation in this country, that I have 

 thought it right to prepare this additional article by way of con- 

 tinuation^ in order that both may appear together, if honoured by 

 acceptance. 



In recommending house-feeding as a regular branch of farm 

 management, I did not, in the article referred to, speak de- 

 cidedly as to the particular mode, whether in sheds, stalls, or 

 boxes. Each may possess certain advantages, and each may have 

 its advocates; but it is only by extended observation and experi- 

 ment, that the really preferaljle mode can be ascertained with 

 such certainty, as to warrant its being recommended for general 

 adoption in preference to all others. 



In order to obtain information on this point, I last summer 

 visited Trimingham, where I understood a system of cattle feed- 

 ing had been adopted by Mr. Warnes, comprising a liberal use 

 of flax-seed in conjunction with other farm produce; and having 

 carefully examined and inquired into all the details of the system 

 of box-feeding there established, I felt it impossible to doubt its 

 efliciency at least, if not its actual superiority over every other 

 mode heretofore practised — that is, superior as regards the cattle, 

 superior with respect to the quantity of the m^anure, and superior 

 as affording the best and most economical mode of fattening of 

 stock. This system I will now describe. 



On my arrival at Trimingham, I found thirty bullocks put up 

 in the boxes for fattening. They were of a mixed character, 

 mostly of the short-horned or polled kinds, some Scotch, some 

 Irish, and some home bred. Several of the animals were nearly 

 fit for the butcher, others in various stages of forwardness, and 

 some had only just been taken up. These last were kept upon cut 



